Are you growing systems thinking managers? Use a systems model to teach and practice organizational analysis and planning,management policy,and organizational development

This paper discusses the use of the Kast and Rosenzweig systems and contingency model for teaching and practice in organizational analysis and planning, management policy, and organizational development. The need for an organizational model for graduate students and field-based managers and executives is identified. The model is presented beginning with the Kast and Rosenzweig work, with integration of research by Daft, Schein, Trist, Deal and Kennedy, Ackoff, Delbecq, and Mintzberg. The teaching and practice uses of the model in four areas are presented, including organizational analysis and planning, management policy making, and organizational development. In each area case examples of the use of the model in teaching and practice are presented. Needs for future research and implications for the use of the model are discussed.     

Fibulin-5/DANCE is essential for elastogenesis in vivo.

The elastic fibre system has a principal role in the structure and function of various types of organs that require elasticity, such as large arteries, lung and skin. Although elastic fibres are known to be composed of microfibril proteins (for example, fibrillins and latent transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-binding proteins) and polymerized elastin, the mechanism of their assembly and development is not well understood. Here we report that fibulin-5 (also known as DANCE), a recently discovered integrin ligand, is an essential determinant of elastic fibre organization. fibulin-5-/- mice generated by gene targeting exhibit a severely disorganized elastic fibre system throughout the body. fibulin-5-/- mice survive to adulthood, but have a tortuous aorta with loss of compliance, severe emphysema, and loose skin (cutis laxa). These tissues contain fragmented elastin without an increase of elastase activity, indicating defective development of elastic fibres. Fibulin-5 interacts directly with elastic fibres in vitro, and serves as a ligand for cell surface integrins alphavbeta3, alphavbeta5 and alpha9beta1 through its amino-terminal domain. Thus, fibulin-5 may provide anchorage of elastic fibres to cells, thereby acting to stabilize and organize elastic fibres in the skin, lung and vasculature.     

An enzyme immunoassay for mouse epidermal growth factor utilizing a liquid phase double-antibody system

Summary An enzyme immunoassay for mouse epidermal growth factor (EGF) involving a liquid phase double-antibody system was developed. The EGF--galactosidase conjugate prepared was stable for at least 8 months. By this method, EGF was detectable at a concentration as low as 20 pg per tube. The concentrations of EGF in various tissues of mice are also presented.This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.     

Survival and endogenous spleen colonies of irradiated mice after skin wounding and hydroxyurea treatment

Summary Wound trauma-induced survival from radiation may be related to increased mitosis in hematopoietic cells. This is supported by the cell cycle-dependent drug hydroxyurea, which 1. blocked survival of wounded mice injected 2 or 3 days after 900 rad and 2. reduced the number of endogenous CFU-s in wounded mice injected shortly before 700 rad.Supported by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Defense Nuclear Agency, under Research Work Unit MJ00018. Views presented in this paper are those of the authors; no endorsement by the Defense Nuclear Agency has been given or should be inferred.Research was conducted according to the principles enunciated in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals prepared by the Institute of Laboratory Research, National Research Council.     

Novel neurotrophic factor CDNF protects and rescues midbrain dopamine neurons in vivo

In Parkinson's disease, brain dopamine neurons degenerate most prominently in the substantia nigra. Neurotrophic factors promote survival, differentiation and maintenance of neurons in developing and adult vertebrate nervous system. The most potent neurotrophic factor for dopamine neurons described so far is the glial-cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). Here we have identified a conserved dopamine neurotrophic factor (CDNF) as a trophic factor for dopamine neurons. CDNF, together with its previously described vertebrate and invertebrate homologue the mesencephalic-astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor, is a secreted protein with eight conserved cysteine residues, predicting a unique protein fold and defining a new, evolutionarily conserved protein family. CDNF (Armetl1) is expressed in several tissues of mouse and human, including the mouse embryonic and postnatal brain. In vivo, CDNF prevented the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in a rat experimental model of Parkinson's disease. A single injection of CDNF before 6-OHDA delivery into the striatum significantly reduced amphetamine-induced ipsilateral turning behaviour and almost completely rescued dopaminergic tyrosine-hydroxylase-positive cells in the substantia nigra. When administered four weeks after 6-OHDA, intrastriatal injection of CDNF was able to restore the dopaminergic function and prevent the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra. Thus, CDNF was at least as efficient as GDNF in both experimental settings. Our results suggest that CDNF might be beneficial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.     

Jaws and teeth of the earliest bony fishes

Extant jawed vertebrates, or gnathostomes, fall into two major monophyletic groups, namely chondrichthyans (cartilaginous fishes) and osteichthyans (bony fishes and tetrapods). Fossil representatives of the osteichthyan crown group are known from the latest Silurian period, 418 million years (Myr) ago, to the present. By contrast, stem chondrichthyans and stem osteichthyans are still largely unknown. Two extinct Palaeozoic groups, the acanthodians and placoderms, may fall into these stem groups or the common stem group of gnathostomes, but their relationships and monophyletic status are both debated. Here we report unambiguous evidence for osteichthyan characters in jaw bones referred to the late Silurian (423-416-Myr-old) fishes Andreolepis hedei and Lophosteus superbus, long known from isolated bone fragments, scales and teeth, and whose affinities to, or within, osteichthyans have been debated. The bones are a characteristic osteichthyan maxillary and dentary, but the organization of the tooth-like denticles they bear differs from the large, conical teeth of crown-group osteichthyans, indicating that they can be assigned to the stem group. Andreolepis and Lophosteus are thus not only the oldest but also the most phylogenetically basal securely identified osteichthyans known so far.     

Canids from the late Pleistocene of Utah

Two canids, Vulpes vulpes and Canis lupus , are recorded from shoreline deposits of Lake Bonneville in north central Utah. Both species are new records in the Pleistocene sediments of Utah and add to our scarce knowledge of the large carnivores that inhabited the shoreline environments of Lake Bonneville.     

Genome-wide association study identifies a new melanoma susceptibility locus at 1q21.3

We performed a genome-wide association study of melanoma in a discovery cohort of 2,168 Australian individuals with melanoma and 4,387 control individuals. In this discovery phase, we confirm several previously characterized melanoma-associated loci at MC1R, ASIP and MTAP-CDKN2A. We selected variants at nine loci for replication in three independent case-control studies (Europe: 2,804 subjects with melanoma, 7,618 control subjects; United States 1: 1,804 subjects with melanoma, 1,026 control subjects; United States 2: 585 subjects with melanoma, 6,500 control subjects). The combined meta-analysis of all case-control studies identified a new susceptibility locus at 1q21.3 (rs7412746, P = 9.0 × 10(-11), OR in combined replication cohorts of 0.89 (95% CI 0.85-0.95)). We also show evidence suggesting that melanoma associates with 1q42.12 (rs3219090, P = 9.3 × 10(-8)). The associated variants at the 1q21.3 locus span a region with ten genes, and plausible candidate genes for melanoma susceptibility include ARNT and SETDB1. Variants at the 1q21.3 locus do not seem to be associated with human pigmentation or measures of nevus density.     

Common variation at 10p12.31 near MLLT10 influences meningioma risk

To identify susceptibility loci for meningioma, we conducted a genome-wide association study of 859 affected individuals (cases) and 704 controls with validation in two independent sample sets totaling 774 cases and 1,764 controls. We identified a new susceptibility locus for meningioma at 10p12.31 (MLLT10, rs11012732, odds ratio = 1.46, P(combined) = 1.88 × 10(-14)). This finding advances our understanding of the genetic basis of meningioma development.