Holistic Insights Research Articles

Dose-Related Urinary Metabolic Alterations of a Combination of Quercetin and Resveratrol-Treated High-Fat Diet Fed Rats.

Most herbal polyphenols and flavonoids reveals multiple ameliorative benefits for obesity caused by chronic metabolic disorders. Accumulated studies have revealed that preferable therapeutic effects can be obtained through clinical combination of these two kinds of natural compounds for obesity improvement. The typical representative research was the combination of quercetin and resveratrol (CQR), in which the ratio of quercetin and resveratrol is 2:1, demonstrating a synergistic effect in anti-obesity process. Although there exists reports clarifying the mechanism of the combination of two to improve obesity from the perspective of improving adipose tissue inflammation or modulating the composition of intestinal flora, there are few further studies on the mechanism of drug action from the perspective of metabolites transformation. In this research, we mainly focused on the alterations of endogenous metabolites in rats, and analyzed the urine metabolites of obese and intervention model. Therefore, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabolomics approach was applied to assess the potential effects and mechanisms of CQR at different dosages (45, 90, and 180 mg/kg) in high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity rats. Body weight gain and visceral fat weight were reduced by CQR, as well as blood lipid and inflammatory factor levels were increased by CQR in a dose-related manner. Urinary metabolomics revealed 22 differential metabolites related to the HFD-induced obesity, which were reversed in a dose-dependent manner by CQR, of which 8 were reversed in the 45 mg/kg CQR group, 15 were reversed in the 90 mg/kg CQR group, and 18 were reversed in the 180 mg/kg CQR group. Combined with bioinformatics and pattern recognition, the results demonstrated that the key differential metabolites were basically involved in amino acid metabolism, galactose metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, pyruvate metabolism and lysine degradation. In summary, our results showed significant therapeutic action by CQR administration and remarkable metabolomic changes after HFD feeding and CQR intervention. Urinary metabolomic analysis was highlighted on account of providing holistic and comprehensive insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of the HFD-induced obesity, which also supplied clues for the future mechanism studies of CQR’s anti-obesity effects.

Untargeted Stable Isotope Probing of the Gut Microbiota Metabolome Using 13C-Labeled Dietary Fibers.

The gut microbiome generates numerous metabolites that exert local effects and enter the circulation to affect the functions of many organs. Despite extensive sequencing-based characterization of the gut microbiome, there remains a lack of understanding of microbial metabolism. Here, we developed an untargeted stable isotope-resolved metabolomics (SIRM) approach for the holistic study of gut microbial metabolites. Viable microbial cells were extracted from fresh mice feces and incubated anaerobically with 13C-labeled dietary fibers including inulin or cellulose. High-resolution mass spectrometry was used to monitor 13C enrichment in metabolites associated with glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, the pentose phosphate pathway, nucleotide synthesis, and pyruvate catabolism in both microbial cells and the culture medium. We observed the differential use of inulin and cellulose as substrates for biosynthesis of essential and non-essential amino acids, neurotransmitters, vitamin B5, and other coenzymes. Specifically, the use of inulin for these biosynthetic pathways was markedly more efficient than the use of cellulose, reflecting distinct metabolic pathways of dietary fibers in the gut microbiome, which could be related with host effects. This technology facilitates deeper and holistic insights into the metabolic function of the gut microbiome (Metabolomic Workbench Study ID: ST001651).

An interdisciplinary framework to describe and evaluate the functioning of forest ecosystems

Forest ecosystems are shaped by internal dynamics and external factors like forest management. A modified physical appearance of ecosystems may affect the short- and long-term provision of ecosystem goods and services (EG&S) from forests. Ecosystem functioning research provides powerful tools for both, the mechanistic description of ecosystem dynamics and the normative assessment of the value of ecosystems. Holistic insights into the functioning of ecosystems require interdisciplinary projects. However, disciplinary differences in terminology and implicit underlying assumptions about relationships between descriptive ecosystem characteristics and their relevance for society may lead to misunderstandings hindering conceptual integration of disciplines. This highlights the need for a common language in ecosystem functioning research. Here, we provide a classification scheme of different types of ecosystem characteristics applicable across disciplines. We introduce a terminology that unambiguously differentiates between normative and descriptive uses of the terms ‘ecosystem function’, ‘ecosystem functioning’ and ‘ecosystem goods and services’. Based on this terminology, we propose a framework facilitating the explicit communication of hypotheses, underlying assumptions, analyses and conclusions belonging to three different aspects of ecosystem functioning: (1) mechanistic ecosystem functioning, (2) supplying ecosystem functioning and (3) ecosystem integrity. ‘Mechanistic ecosystem functioning’ addresses relationships and interactions between purely descriptive ecosystem characteristics and their dependence on external factors. ‘Supplying ecosystem functioning’ translates descriptive ecosystem characteristics into benefits for society in providing EG&S. ‘Ecosystem integrity’ assesses the capabilities of ecosystems to provide EG&S in the long term. We further propose the use of a mathematical interpretation of the term ‘ecosystem function’ as ‘characteristic A is the function of characteristics B, C, …, X’. This definition clearly accounts for complex relationships between ecosystem characteristics and avoids ambiguity inherent in the discrimination of ‘ecosystem-functions’ and other (‘non-functional’) ecosystem characteristics. Our approach will increase understanding across disciplines and foster joint syntheses by providing a unified framework for interdisciplinary studies.

Financial Behavior of Family Businesses: A Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

The aim of this paper is to identify some holistic insights and to assess the evolution of the “financial behavior of family businesses” as a field of research. Authors performed an objective, and comprehensive analysis using a bibliometric and systematic review. Thus, three major databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO host) were queried and 256 retrieved publications were analyzed. Findings showed an increasing dynamic of the number of publications from 1990 to 2020. The text mining of retrieved publications enables a thematic analysis of the intellectual streams and key concepts underpinning financial policies within family businesses. From a managerial perspective, a review of literature on financial behavior can help raise awareness among family members, managers, and policymakers about family business’ peculiarities that make the financial decisions complex. Finally, this paper reveals trends but also some knowledge gaps to consider in future research about the study of financial decisions within the context of family businesses.

Reliability Modeling of Multistate Degraded Power Electronic Converters With Simultaneous Exposure to Dependent Competing Failure Processes

Depending on the application in which power electronic converters (PECs) are deployed, failure processes may endanger the desirable performance of PECs. This paper offers holistic insights on reliability modeling of PECs considering dependencies in two simultaneous failure processes, namely gradual wearing-out degradation and vibration sudden degradation. While sudden and gradual degradation processes may individually affect the useful lifetime of PECs, their mutual interdependencies could significantly accelerate the aging mechanisms. A new analytical model for reliability assessment of PECs is proposed that can capture such mutual interdependence of simultaneous failure processes. The proposed analytics are applied to a DC-DC boost converter in a hybrid electric vehicle exposed to both gradual wearing-out and vibration sudden degradations. Monte Carlo-aided numerical results will demonstrate how critical it is to take into account the mutual interdependence in the failure processes when assessing the reliability performance of PECs, failure to do which may lead to inaccurate useful lifetime estimations and the corresponding maintenance and replacement decisions.

Millennia-Old Coral Holobiont DNA Provides Insight into Future Adaptive Trajectories

Ancient DNA (aDNA) has been applied to evolutionary questions across a wide variety of taxa. Here, we leverage aDNA from millennia-old coral fossil fragments for the first time to gain holistic insights into a rapidly declining western Atlantic reef ecosystem. We sampled four Acropora palmata fragments (dated 4215 BCE - 1099 CE) obtained from two Florida Keys reef cores. From these samples, we established it is possible to both sequence ancient DNA (aDNA) from reef cores and place the data in the context of modern-day genetic variation. We recovered varying amounts of nuclear DNA exhibiting the characteristic signatures of aDNA from all A. palmata fragments. To describe the holobiont sensu lato, which plays a crucial role in reef health, we utilized metagenome-assembled genomes as a reference to recover a large additional proportion of ancient microbial DNA from the samples. The samples shared many common microbes with modern-day coral holobionts from the same reef, suggesting remarkable holobiont stability over time. Comparing the ancient Acropora palmata data to whole-genome sequencing data from living acroporids, we found that while slightly separate, ancient samples were most closely related to individuals of their own species. Together, these results paint a broad picture of coral holobiont change over time and lay a foundation to study historical environmental stress and evolutionary constraints. By better understanding the past genetic pressures on coral, we can gain valuable insights into the adaptive potential and trajectories of reefs under changing climatic conditions in the future.

How are nature based solutions helping in the greening of cities in the context of crises such as climate change and pandemics? A comprehensive review

Urban areas are expanding due to rural-urban migration and due to population increases. Their resilience is being challenged due to socio-political consequences of increasingly frequent and severe storms, due to climate changes, influx of human and animal refugees and as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors prepared a systematic literature of ways cities can be transformed into more resilient, and sustainable regions by creatively enhancing the quality and quantity of blue and green areas in and around them. The literature review was conducted to provide holistic insights into selection, implementation monitoring, assessment, and valuation of Nature-based Solutions in diverse urban regions. The authors reviewed no fewer than 298 articles from 109 academic journals and related sources, published within 1997–2020. The focus of the articles was upon ‘nature-based’ changes that are being implemented in urban areas, globally to enhance their resilience and the ‘quality-of-life’ of humans and other species. By implementing nature-based solutions, and complimentary ‘urban wilding ’ approaches, urban areas and their hinterlands are expanding their ‘blue’ and ‘green’ areas and are thereby decreasing the ‘heat-island’ effects, while improving human health by surrounding them with rich bio-diversities of locally adapted, aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals. Although, many NBS options have been documented to be beneficial, their environmental, economic and social/psychological dimensions have not been adequately quantified, especially in the context of climate changes, and with regard to COVID-19. It is essential that the benefits of NBS are quantified with easily measurable outcomes, that are readily understood by practitioners, city policy-makers and members of community organizations, based upon specific geographical and climatological contexts. This will help them accelerate implementation of NBS and wilding into their urban systems. The reviewers found that more research is needed on anticipatory learning, backcasting and community participation to help to effectively implement the appropriate NBS for improving the sustainability of urban systems. The reviewers provide guidance for urban leaders to incorporate NBS into their policies and strategies to improve urban resilience and equity and to more effectively reduce impacts of climate change, population growth and pandemics. • Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) provide valuable approaches for improving urban resilience and sustainability. • Barriers to implementation of NBS include knowledge gaps between science and policy. • Citizens and urban leaders should build upon the experiences that NBS improve quality-of-life. • Rewilding needs to be an integral part of improving urban resilience. • Metrics are essential for monitoring the short and long-term benefits of NBS and rewilding. • Implementation should be supported by global urban partnerships. • Research is needed to broaden the scope of NBS integration within the context of climate changes, and pandemics.

Feature selection for data integration with mixed multiview data

Data integration methods that analyze multiple sources of data simultaneously can often provide more holistic insights than can separate inquiries of each data source. Motivated by the advantages of data integration in the era of “big data,” we investigate feature selection for high-dimensional multiview data with mixed data types (e.g., continuous, binary, count-valued). This heterogeneity of multiview data poses numerous challenges for existing feature selection methods. However, after critically examining these issues through empirical and theoretically-guided lenses, we develop a practical solution, the Block Randomized Adaptive Iterative Lasso (B-RAIL) which combines the strengths of the randomized Lasso, adaptive weighting schemes and stability selection. B-RAIL serves as a versatile data integration method for sparse regression and graph selection, and we demonstrate the effectiveness of B-RAIL through extensive simulations and a case study to infer the ovarian cancer gene regulatory network. In this case study, B-RAIL successfully identifies well-known biomarkers associated with ovarian cancer and hints at novel candidates for future ovarian cancer research.

Environmental assessment of a product-service system for renting electric-powered tools

To address increasing environmental sustainability concerns among consumers, many companies have developed approaches to provide functions, rather than products through product-service systems (PSS). This study evaluates a use-oriented tool rental service from Husqvarna, called ‘Tools for you,’ with the aim to identify critical processes to improve the sustainability of the offering. The environmental implications of the system are assessed using life cycle assessment for the annual service of one electric chainsaw and compared with a conventional sales alternative. The results suggest that rental service is influenced extensively by the location of the rental depot. Furthermore, while the impacts of the product and accessories, infrastructure, waste management, and use are reduced compared to the sales alternative, their contribution is only minor compared to environmental impacts from transportation. The results are also sensitive to the methodological choices, where the lifetime of the products, data choices, transportation assumptions, maintenance intervals, and other user-related variables for the use of the products have a significant influence on the results. The conclusions confirm and extend previous assertions on the challenges of applying LCA to PSS and add to the emerging literature on sustainable business models through empirical evidence from a case study. The findings also point to the holistic insights required to optimize the potential environmental sustainability of the services for Husqvarna and other retailers interested in adopting use-oriented business models. Future research could focus on the geographical differences of the rental lockers worldwide, models for optimizing their location, in addition to further input on user behavior, and the role of refurbishment and remanufacturing for more robust analyses of the sustainability of PSS offerings.

Layering, unknowing, and unlocking: Thinking beyond structure through arts-based research

While it is still disputed in some academic traditions, the potentials of artistic practice as research and arts-based research have demonstrated that creative engagement with materials, processes and ideas lead to holistic insights that move well beyond the goals of objective research and its quest for solid answers. The article retraces our experience as Art Education instructors guiding graduate students through an online capstone arts-based research course, as we endeavored to bring our students' artists’, researchers’ and in-service K-12 art teachers’ identities into a productive place of “knowing-in-being," an embodied and relational model of inquiry. Emphasizing students' voices and their thinking throughout their a/r/tographic and phenomenological projects, we reexamine their artistic experiences and scholarly reflections as the course unfolded, arguing that our students' identity as teaching artists transformed in the process of making and thinking in, with, and through arts-based inquiry. The discussion of the paper is a narrative about pedagogical strategies and curricular decisions that were adopted as we designed, taught, and reflected upon the outcomes of the course. The article emphasizes how the processes of layering, unknowing and unlocking constituted experiential thresholds through which students discovered new creative capacities as artists, scholars and art teachers.

Future developments in biosensors for field-ready SARS-CoV-2 virus diagnostics.

According to the evidence, the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID‐19) is caused by a zoonotic pathogen named respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). This virus can spread through personal contact, respiratory droplets, and also through airborne transmission. A rapid, low‐cost, and effective biosensor platform is essential to diagnose patients with COVID‐19 infection, predominantly the asymptomatic individuals, and prevent the spread of the SARS‐CoV‐2 via transmission routes. The objective of this review is to provide a comparative view among current diagnostic methods, focusing on recently suggested biosensors for the detection of SARS‐CoV2 in clinical samples. A capable SARS‐CoV‐2 biosensor can be designed by the holistic insights of various biosensor studies.

Assessment of reusable graphene wool adsorbent for the simultaneous removal of selected 2–6 ringed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from aqueous solution

ABSTRACT The United States Environmental Protection Agency categorized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as hazardous to humans upon acute and/or chronic exposure. This study investigated the simultaneous adsorption of several PAHs onto graphene wool (GW), thereby providing holistic insights into the competitive adsorption of PAHs onto graphene-based materials. SEM, TEM and FTIR provided evidence for the adsorption of PAHs and successful regeneration of the adsorbent accompanied by distinct morphological changes. Isotherm experiments revealed that adsorption of PAHs was significantly influenced by hydrophobic interactions between the sorbate and hydrophobic surface of GW. The Freundlich multilayer isotherm model best fit the experimental data obtained for both multi-component PAH and single-solute experiments as indicated by the Error Sum of Squares (SSE) obtained from nonlinear regression analysis. Experiments revealed that competitive adsorption had a limiting effect on the overall adsorption capacity as q max and Kd were higher in single-solute than multi-component PAH experiments. The results suggest that partition distribution coefficients (Kd ) between the solid–liquid interphase played a significant role in the overall adsorption and a positive correlation between Kd and LogKow of PAHs was established in single-solute experiments. Sorption-desorption experiments revealed that PAHs were adsorbed with a maximum removal efficiency of 100% at an optimum GW dosage of 2 g/L. Adsorption thermodynamics revealed that PAH adsorption onto GW is spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorbent was regenerated and reused for up to six times and its efficiency remained fairly constant.

Constructing information experience: a grounded theory portrait of academic information management

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss what it means to consider the information experience of academic information management from a constructivist grounded theory perspective. Using a doctoral study in progress as a case illustration, the authors demonstrate how information experience research applies a wide lens to achieve a holistic view of information management phenomena. By unifying a range of elements, and understanding information and its management to be inseparable from the totality of human experience, an information experience perspective offers a fresh approach to answering today's research questions.Design/methodology/approachThe case illustration is a constructivist grounded theory study using interactive interviews, an original form of semi-structured qualitative interviews combined with card-sorting exercises (Conrad and Tucker, 2019), to deepen reflections by participants and externalize their information experiences. The constructivist variant of grounded theory offers an inductive, exploratory approach to address the highly contextualized information experiences of student-researchers in managing academic information.FindingsPreliminary results are reported in the form of three interpretative categories that outline the key aspects of the information experience for student-researchers. By presenting these initial results, the study demonstrates how the constructivist grounded theory methodology can illuminate multiple truths and bring a focus on interpretive practices to the understanding of information management experiences.Research limitations/implicationsThis new approach offers holistic insights into academic information management phenomena as contextual, fluid and informed by meaning-making and adaptive practices. Limitations include the small sample size customary to qualitative research, within one situated perspective on the academic information management experience.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the theoretical and methodological contributions of the constructivist information experience research to illuminate information management in an academic setting.

Holistic insights into meningitic Escherichia coli infection of astrocytes based on whole transcriptome profiling.

Aim: To investigate the mRNAs and noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) expression in astrocytes upon meningitic-Escherichia coli infection. Materials & methods: The transcription of mRNAs and ncRNAs were fully investigated and profiled by whole transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatic approaches. Whole transcriptome differences between the infected astrocytes and brain microvascular endothelial cells were further compared and characterized. Results: A total of2045 mRNAs, 74 long noncoding RNAs, 27 miRNAs and 418 circular RNAs were differentially transcribed in astrocytes upon infection. Competing endogenous RNAs regulatory networks were constructed and preliminary validated. Transcriptomic differences between astrocyte and brain microvascular endothelial cells revealed the cell-specific responses against the infection. Conclusion: Our study comprehensively characterized the ncRNAs and mRNAs profiles in astrocytes upon meningitic-E. coli infection, which will facilitate future functional studies.

Limits and Constraints on Mechanisms of Cell-Cycle Regulation Imposed by Cell Size-Homeostasis Measurements

High-throughput imaging has led to an explosion of observations about cell-size homeostasis across the kingdoms of life. Among bacteria, "adder" behavior-in which a constant size increment appears to be added during each cell cycle-is ubiquitous, while various eukaryotes show other size-homeostasis behaviors. Since interactions between cell-cycle progression and growth ultimately determine such behaviors, we developed a general model of cell-cycle regulation. Our analyses reveal a range of scenarios that are plausible but fail to regulate cell size, indicating that mechanisms of cell-cycle regulation are stringently limited by size-control requirements, and possibly why certain cell-cycle features are strongly conserved. Cell-cycle features can play unintuitive roles in altering size-homeostasis behaviors: noisy regulator production can enhance adder behavior, while Whi5-like inhibitor dilutors respond sensitively to perturbations to G2/M control and noisy G1/S checkpoints. Our model thus provides holistic insights into the mechanistic implications of size-homeostasis experimental measurements.

Modelling the enablers of food supply chain for reduction in carbon footprint

Reducing carbon footprints has become a pertinent global issue. The creation of carbon footprints is germane in the food supply chain owing to food-wastage. Food is a valuable commodity that not only quickly transforms to waste but also adversely impacts the environment. It leads to loss of labour hours, futile resources, unfed lives, lost profits and an increase in environmental hazards. With this backdrop, the present study aims to identify the key enablers which are crucial in diminishing the inefficiencies across the entire food supply chain. Interpretive structural modelling and matrix of cross-impact multiplications applied to classification techniques are used to understand the interdependence of the shortlisted enablers. The study provides holistic and practical insights to the stakeholders for improving the effectiveness of their firms by level partitioning the enablers as ‘givens’ (regulations and governance), ‘means’ (technology, financial implication, perishability, logistics and traceability) and ‘ends’ (inventory management, storage, collaboration, trust, hygiene, packaging and information sharing). The research findings will facilitate the strategic decision making regarding the reduction in the wastage of food thereby diminishing the level of carbon footprint creation. Apart from providing significant implications for the policymakers, the results also add the theoretical implications in the extant literature.

Opportunities and Challenges for Biosensors and Nanoscale Analytical Tools for Pandemics: COVID-19.

Biosensors and nanoscale analytical tools have shown huge growth in literature in the past 20 years, with a large number of reports on the topic of ‘ultrasensitive’, ‘cost-effective’, and ‘early detection’ tools with a potential of ‘mass-production’ cited on the web of science. Yet none of these tools are commercially available in the market or practically viable for mass production and use in pandemic diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this context, we review the technological challenges and opportunities of current bio/chemical sensors and analytical tools by critically analyzing the bottlenecks which have hindered the implementation of advanced sensing technologies in pandemic diseases. We also describe in brief COVID-19 by comparing it with other pandemic strains such as that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) for the identification of features that enable biosensing. Moreover, we discuss visualization and characterization tools that can potentially be used not only for sensing applications but also to assist in speeding up the drug discovery and vaccine development process. Furthermore, we discuss the emerging monitoring mechanism, namely wastewater-based epidemiology, for early warning of the outbreak, focusing on sensors for rapid and on-site analysis of SARS-CoV2 in sewage. To conclude, we provide holistic insights into challenges associated with the quick translation of sensing technologies, policies, ethical issues, technology adoption, and an overall outlook of the role of the sensing technologies in pandemics.

Investigating the perceived quality of a special event and its influence on perceived value and behavioural intentions in a special event in Thailand

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine the impact of perceived special event quality on perceived value and behavioural intentions. Specifically, it was proposed that attendees' perceived special event quality has direct and indirect effects on behavioural intentions through the mediating role of social value, economic value and emotional value.Design/methodology/approachA self-administered, onsite survey was deployed to gather the data to formulate the hypothesised relationships in this study. Data collection also included event-intercepted panel surveys, conducted with actual consumers who attended the Agricultural and Cultural Fair. The surveys were distributed and conducted during the afternoon and early evenings at the event area and exit point of the event. In total, 250 questionnaires were distributed to domestic visitors and 176 respondents completed the survey.FindingsThe study found the perceived quality of the special event directly impacted social value, economic value, emotional value and behavioural intentions. The results also indicated that social value and emotional value had significant effects on behavioural intentions. Further, this study found that both social value and emotional value components mediated the relationship between perceived quality of the special event and behavioural intentions. These results confirmed the existence of a perceived-quality-value-behavioural intentions chain.Research limitations/implicationsThere are some key limitations including the sample size in this study was relatively small and all the respondents were domestic attendees, providing findings specific to one culture only. In term of implications, the results offer event organisers holistic insights into elements to be adopted as the foundation for special event consumption. It helps event organisers to build upon customer choice behaviour, which can be employed to effectively cultivate more attendees for the special events.Originality/valueThis is the first study that examined the extent to which attendees' perceived quality of a special event influenced their perceived values in Agricultural and Cultural Fair which is a special event held each year in the major city of Khon Kaen in the northeast region in Thailand.

Human Heart Cardiomyocytes in Drug Discovery and Research: New Opportunities in Translational Sciences.

In preclinical drug development, accurate prediction of drug effects on the human heart is critically important, whether in the context of cardiovascular safety or for the purpose of modulating cardiac function to treat heart disease. Current strategies have significant limitations, whereby, cardiotoxic drugs can escape detection or potential life-saving therapies are abandoned due to false positive toxicity signals. Thus, new and more reliable translational approaches are urgently needed to help accelerate the rate of new therapy development. Renewed efforts in the recovery of human donor hearts for research and in cardiomyocyte isolation methods, are providing new opportunities for preclinical studies in adult primary cardiomyocytes. These cells exhibit the native physiological and pharmacological properties, overcoming the limitations presented by artificial cellular models, animal models and have great potential for providing an excellent tool for preclinical drug testing. Adult human primary cardiomyocytes have already shown utility in assessing drug-induced cardiotoxicity risk and helping in the identification of new treatments for cardiac diseases, such as heart failure and atrial fibrillation. Finally, strategies with actionable decision-making trees that rely on data derived from adult human primary cardiomyocytes will provide the holistic insights necessary to accurately predict human heart effects of drugs.

Analysing the adoption of cloud computing service: a systematic literature review

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to presents an analysis of geographically and disciplinary scattered academic publications of cloud computing (CC) research in information systems. This review aims to understand the research methodology, research frameworks and models, geographical distribution, trends, critical factors and causal relationships associated with cloud computing adoption (CCA). Design/methodology/approach Systematic-literature-review using natural language processing is conducted to explore the phenomenon. The relevant research studies are extracted from various online databases using quality-assessment-criteria. Findings The study is a novel attempt to highlight the differences in critical factors for CCA in different country-settings. Further, the research explores the causal relationships among the identified factors. The findings of this 12-year systematic-review contribute by aiding the providers and potential adopters to devise context-specific strategies for the penetration of cloud services and sound adoption decisions (ADs), respectively. The findings also highlight the prospective avenues of research in the domain for researchers. Using the in-depth analysis, conceptual frameworks have been proposed that can assist in exploring the pre-adoption and post-adoption of CC. Originality/value This study contributes to CCA research by providing holistic insights into the methodology, research framework and models, geographical focus, critical factors and causal relationships influencing the AD or intention. The review highlights the unexplored emerging research topics in the field of CCA for future research directions.