University of Warwick

About: University of Warwick is a education organization based out in Coventry, Warwickshire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 26212 authors who have published 77127 publications receiving 2666552 citations. The organization is also known as: Warwick University & The University of Warwick.

Methylglyoxal, glyoxalase 1 and the dicarbonyl proteome.

Abstract: Methylglyoxal (MG) is a potent protein glycating agent. Glycation is directed to guanidino groups of arginine residues forming mainly hydroimidazolone N δ-(5-hydro-5-methyl-4-imidazolon-2-yl)-ornithine (MG-H1) residues. MG-H1 formation is damaging to the proteome as modification is often directed to functionally important arginine residues. MG-H1 content of proteins is quantified by stable isotopic dilution analysis tandem mass spectrometry and also by immunoblotting with specific monoclonal antibodies. MG-glycated proteins undergo cellular proteolysis and release MG-H1 free adduct for excretion. MG-H1 residues have been found in proteins of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi and protoctista. MG-H1 is often the major advanced glycation endproduct in proteins of tissues and body fluids, increasing in diabetes and associated vascular complications, renal failure, cirrhosis, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and ageing. Glyoxalase 1 and aldo–keto reductase 1B1 metabolise >99% MG to innocuous products and thereby protect the proteome, providing an enzymatic defence against MG-mediated glycation. Proteins susceptible to MG modification with related functional impairment are called the “dicarbonyl proteome” (DCP). DCP includes albumin, haemoglobin, transcription factors, mitochondrial proteins, extracellular matrix proteins, lens crystallins and other proteins. DCP component proteins are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetes and ageing, oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, cell detachment and anoikis and apoptosis. Biochemical and physiological susceptibility of a protein to modification by MG and sensitivity of biochemical pathways and physiological systems to related functional impairment under challenge of physiologically relevant increases in MG exposure are key concepts. Improved understanding of the DCP will likely have profound importance for human health, longevity and treatment of disease.

Mapping interactions between the sustainable development goals: lessons learned and ways forward

Abstract: Pursuing integrated research and decision-making to advance action on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) fundamentally depends on understanding interactions between the SDGs, both negative ones (“trade-offs”) and positive ones (“co-benefits”). This quest, triggered by the 2030 Agenda, has however pointed to a gap in current research and policy analysis regarding how to think systematically about interactions across the SDGs. This paper synthesizes experiences and insights from the application of a new conceptual framework for mapping and assessing SDG interactions using a defined typology and characterization approach. Drawing on results from a major international research study applied to the SDGs on health, energy and the ocean, it analyses how interactions depend on key factors such as geographical context, resource endowments, time horizon and governance. The paper discusses the future potential, barriers and opportunities for applying the approach in scientific research, in policy making and in bridging the two through a global SDG Interactions Knowledge Platform as a key mechanism for assembling, systematizing and aggregating knowledge on interactions.

The ELF3 zeitnehmer regulates light signalling to the circadian clock.

Abstract: The circadian system regulates 24-hour biological rhythms and seasonal rhythms, such as flowering. Long-day flowering plants like Arabidopsis thaliana, measure day length with a rhythm that is not reset at lights-off, whereas short-day plants measure night length on the basis of circadian rhythm of light sensitivity that is set from dusk, early flowering 3 (elf3) mutants of Arabidopsis are aphotoperiodic and exhibit light-conditional arrhythmias. Here we show that the elf3-7 mutant retains oscillator function in the light but blunts circadian gating of CAB gene activation, indicating that deregulated phototransduction may mask rhythmicity. Furthermore, elf3 mutations confer the resetting pattern of short-day photoperiodism, indicating that gating of phototransduction may control resetting. Temperature entrainment can bypass the requirement for normal ELF3 function for the oscillator and partially restore rhythmic CAB expression. Therefore, ELF3 specifically affects light input to the oscillator, similar to its function in gating CAB activation, allowing oscillator progression past a light-sensitive phase in the subjective evening. ELF3 provides experimental demonstration of the zeitnehmer ('time-taker') concept.

The Sublime Object of Entrepreneurship

Abstract: This paper engages with debates on enterprise culture and one of its key subjects—the entrepreneur. Enlisting the work of Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, we attempt to explain the continuing failure of entrepreneurship discourse to assign the character of the entrepreneur a positive identity. Shifting away from stable categories such as ‘the entrepreneur’, we describe entrepreneurship in terms of Lacan’s concept of the Real and Žižek’s concept of the sublime object. This allows us to critically scrutinize the operation of the phantasmic category of the entrepreneur. In addition to indicating some prospects for the future of psychoanalytic cultural criticism in organization studies, we make a case for a continual questioning of the subject, a questioning that is today being foreclosed by those critics who were first to call the subject into question.

The impact of lean methods and tools on the operational performance of manufacturing organisations

Abstract: Evidence suggests that lean methods and tools have helped manufacturing organisations to improve their operations and processes. However, the real effect of these methods and tools on contemporary measures of operational performance, i.e. cost, speed, dependability, quality and flexibility, is still unclear. This paper investigates the impact of five essential lean methods, i.e. JIT, autonomation, kaizen, total productive maintenance (TPM) and value stream mapping (VSM), on these measures. A linear regression analysis modelled the correlation and impact of these lean practices on the operational performance of 140 manufacturing organisations around the world. In addition, structural equation modelling (SME) was used to cross verify the findings of the regression and correlation analyses. The results indicate that JIT and automation have the strongest significance on operational performance while kaizen, TPM and VSM seem to have a lesser, or even negative, effect on it. This paper provides further evidence...