International E-Banking: ICT Investments and the Basel Accord

This study investigates how the Basel Accord and Information and Telecommunications Technologies (ICT) investments affect the commercial banking industries across countries. We employ the stochastic frontier approach to explore a data set composed of commercial banks from 51 countries. We find that telecommunications investment reduces, and the Basel Accord proxy enhances, the cost efficiency of commercial banks under study. Moreover, it is found that ICT investments improve cost efficiencies of commercial banks for countries in which the regulations are consistent with the international supervision

Particle bonding mechanism in CGDS-a three-dimensional approach

Abstract: Cold gas dynamics spray (CGDS) is a surface coating process using highly accelerated particles to form the surface coating by high speed impact of the particles. In the CGDS process, metal particles of generally 1-50 μm diameter is carried by a gas stream in high pressure (typically 20-30 atm) through a DE Laval type nozzle to achieve supersonic flying so as to impact on the substrate. Typically, the impact velocity ranges between 300 and 1200 m/s in the CGDS process. When the particle gains its critical velocity, the minimum in-flight speed at which it can deposit, adiabatic shear instabilities will occur. Herein, to ascertain the critical velocities of different particle sizes on the bonding efficiency in CGDS process, three-dimensional numerical simulations of single particle deposition process were performed. In the CGDS process, one of the most important parameters which determine the bonding strength with the substrate is particle impact temperature. Bonding will occur when the particle’s impacting velocity surpass the critical velocity, at which the interface can achieve 60 % of melting temperature of particle material (Ref 1). Therefore, critical velocity should be a main parameter on the coating quality. The particle critical velocity is determined not only by its size, but also by its material properties. This study numerically investigate the critical velocity for the particle deposition process in CGDS. In the present numerical analysis, copper (Cu) was chosen as particle material and aluminum (Al) as substrate material for this study. The impacting velocities were selected between 300 m/s and 800 m/s increasing in steps of 100 m/s. The simulation result reveals temporal and spatial interfacial temperature distribution and deformation between particle(s) and substrate. Finally, comparison is carried out between the computed results and experimental data

A Review of Western and Traditional Chinese Medical Approaches to Managing Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a disease of attention because of increase in prevalence from 20% to 41%. The clinical and pathological conditions in patients with NAFLD range from steatosis alone to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with or without fibrosis to hepatic cancer. In the United States, NAFLD was the second-leading indication for liver transplant between 2004 and 2013. Although imaging studies such as magnetic resonance elastography and the use of diagnostic panels and scoring systems can provide a fairly accurate diagnosis of NAFLD, there are few treatment options for patients with mild to moderate disease other than lifestyle modification. Many of the currently used medical treatments have been shown to cause severe side effects and some have been shown to be associated with increased risk for certain types of cancer. In recent years, a number of traditional Chinese herbal treatments have been examined for their potential uses as treatment for NAFLD. In this review, we provide a general overview of NAFLD and a survey of Western pharmacologic drugs currently used to treat the disease as well as the results of recent studies on the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal remedies for managing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Association between interleukin-6 receptor gene variations and atherosclerotic lipid profiles among young adolescents in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To analyze the potential genetic associations between four polymorphisms of interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) gene and atherosclerotic lipid profiles among young adolescents in Taiwan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using data from the Taipei Children Heart Study-II - a cross-sectional survey in 2003. After multi-stage sampling, we selected 418 boys and 441 girls with an average age of 13.1 years. We genotyped the subjects for four IL-6R gene polymorphisms (rs4845617 G/A, rs4845623 A/G, rs8192284 A/C, and rs2229238 C/T) using a TaqMan 5' nuclease assay. Lipid profiles, including total cholesterol (CHOL), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured using standard methods. We also calculated CHOL/HDL-C ratio, LDL-C/HDL-C ratio, and TG/HDL-C ratio as atherosclerotic indexes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IL-6R rs8192284 A/C and rs2229238 C/T variants showed strong associations with high TG (additive model, OR = 1.58, 95%CI: 1.05-2.37; OR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.04-2.29, respectively), low HDL-C (additive model, OR = 1.57, 95%CI: 1.03-2.39; OR = 1.68, 95%CI: 1.12-2.52, respectively), and high CHOL/HDL-C (additive model, OR = 1.68, 95%CI: 1.08-2.61, OR = 1.82, 95%CI: 1.18-2.79, respectively) in girls. We inferred five common haplotypes using rs4845617 G/A, rs4845623 A/G, and rs2229238 C/T (GAC, GAT, GGC, AAC, and AAT). In girls, the AAT haplotype was associated with a significant risk of high TG, low HDL-C, high CHOL/HDL-C, and abnormal lipid levels (high TG or low HDL-C) when compared with the GAC haplotype (OR range = 3.08-4.40, all p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The IL-6R rs8192284 A/C and rs2229238 C/T variants are associated with dyslipidemia in girls, but not in boys. The AAT haplotype of the IL-6R gene (rs4845617 G/A, rs4845623 A/G, and rs2229238 C/T) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis in girls.</p

Reduction of Airway Hyperresponsiveness by KWLL in Dermatophagoides-pteronyssinus

Urine therapy has been commonly practiced in ancient civilizations including those of India, China, and Greece. The traditional Chinese medicine KWLL, the precipitation of human urine, has been used in China to alleviate the symptoms of asthma for thousands of years. However, the mechanism of action by which KWLL exerts its immunotherapy is unclear. This study attempted to elucidate the pharmacology of KWLL in mice that had been challenged recurrently by Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p). BALB/c mice were orally administered KWLL (1 g/kg) before an intratracheal (i.t.) challenge of Der p. Allergic airway inflammation and remodeling were provoked by repetitive Der p (50 μg/mice) challenges six times at 1 wk intervals. Airway hypersensitivity, histological lung characteristics, and the expression profiles of cytokines and various genes were assessed. KWLL reduced Der p-induced airway hyperresponsiveness and inhibited eosinophil infiltration by downregulating the protein expression of IL-5 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). It also inhibited neutrophil recruitment by downregulating IL-17A in BALF. KWLL effectively diminished inflammatory cells, goblet cell hyperplasia, and mRNA expression of IL-6 and IL-17A in the lung. The reduction by KWLL of airway inflammatory and hyperresponsiveness in allergic asthmatic mice was mediated via immunomodulation of IL-5, IL-6, and IL-17A

Reduction of Airway Hyperresponsiveness by KWLL in Dermatophagoides-pteronyssinus-Challenged Mice

Urine therapy has been commonly practiced in ancient civilizations including those of India, China, and Greece. The traditional Chinese medicine KWLL, the precipitation of human urine, has been used in China to alleviate the symptoms of asthma for thousands of years. However, the mechanism of action by which KWLL exerts its immunotherapy is unclear. This study attempted to elucidate the pharmacology of KWLL in mice that had been challenged recurrently by Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p). BALB/c mice were orally administered KWLL (1 g/kg) before an intratracheal (i.t.) challenge of Der p. Allergic airway inflammation and remodeling were provoked by repetitive Der p (50 g/mice) challenges six times at 1 wk intervals. Airway hypersensitivity, histological lung characteristics, and the expression profiles of cytokines and various genes were assessed. KWLL reduced Der p-induced airway hyperresponsiveness and inhibited eosinophil infiltration by downregulating the protein expression of IL-5 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). It also inhibited neutrophil recruitment by downregulating IL-17A in BALF. KWLL effectively diminished inflammatory cells, goblet cell hyperplasia, and mRNA expression of IL-6 and IL-17A in the lung. The reduction by KWLL of airway inflammatory and hyperresponsiveness in allergic asthmatic mice was mediated via immunomodulation of IL-5, IL-6, and IL-17A

Stage-Specific Expression of TNFα Regulates Bad/Bid-Mediated Apoptosis and RIP1/ROS-Mediated Secondary Necrosis in Birnavirus-Infected Fish Cells

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) can induce Bad-mediated apoptosis followed by secondary necrosis in fish cells, but it is not known how these two types of cell death are regulated by IPNV. We found that IPNV infection can regulate Bad/Bid-mediated apoptotic and Rip1/ROS-mediated necrotic death pathways via the up-regulation of TNFα in zebrafish ZF4 cells. Using a DNA microarray and quantitative RT-PCR analyses, two major subsets of differentially expressed genes were characterized, including the innate immune response gene TNFα and the pro-apoptotic genes Bad and Bid. In the early replication stage (0–6 h post-infection, or p.i.), we observed that the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα underwent a rapid six-fold induction. Then, during the early-middle replication stages (6–12 h p.i.), TNFα level was eight-fold induction and the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bad and Bid were up-regulated. Furthermore, specific inhibitors of TNFα expression (AG-126 or TNFα-specific siRNA) were used to block apoptotic and necrotic death signaling during the early or early-middle stages of IPNV infection. Inhibition of TNFα expression dramatically reduced the Bad/Bid-mediated apoptotic and Rip1/ROS-mediated necrotic cell death pathways and rescued host cell viability. Moreover, we used Rip1-specific inhibitors (Nec-1 and Rip1-specific siRNA) to block Rip1 expression. The Rip1/ROS-mediated secondary necrotic pathway appeared to be reduced in IPNV-infected fish cells during the middle-late stage of infection (12–18 h p.i.). Taken together, our results indicate that IPNV triggers two death pathways via up-stream induction of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα, and these results may provide new insights into the pathogenesis of RNA viruses

The spontaneous emergence of ordered phases in crumpled sheets

X-ray tomography is performed to acquire 3D images of crumpled aluminum foils. We develop an algorithm to trace out the labyrinthian paths in the three perpendicular cross sections of the data matrices. The tangent-tangent correlation function along each path is found to decay exponentially with an effective persistence length that shortens as the crumpled ball becomes more compact. In the mean time, we observed ordered domains near the crust, similar to the lamellae phase mixed by the amorphous portion in lyotropic liquid crystals. The size and density of these domains grow with further compaction, and their orientation favors either perpendicular or parallel to the radial direction. Ordering is also identified near the core with an arbitrary orientation, exemplary of the spontaneous symmetry breaking

Automatic event-level textual emotion sensing using mutual action histogram between entities

International audienceAutomatic emotion sensing in textual data is crucial for the development of intelligent interfaces in many interactive computer applications. This paper describes a high-precision, knowledgebase-independent approach for automatic emotion sensing for the subjects of events embedded within sentences. The proposed approach is based on the probability distribution of common mutual actions between the subject and the object of an event. We have incorporated web-based text mining and semantic role labeling techniques, together with a number of reference entity pairs and hand-crafted emotion generation rules to realize an event emotion detection system. The evaluation outcome reveals a satisfactory result with about 85% accuracy for detecting the positive, negative and neutral emotions

Efficacy and safety of nanohybrids comprising silver nanoparticles and silicate clay for controlling Salmonella infection

Developing effective and safe drugs is imperative for replacing antibiotics and controlling multidrug-resistant microbes. Nanoscale silicate platelet (NSP) and its nanohybrid, silver nanoparticle/NSP (AgNP/NSP), have been developed, and the nanohybrids show a strong and general antibacterial activity in vitro. Here, their efficacy for protecting Salmonella-infected chicks from fatality and septicemia was evaluated. Both orally administrated NSP and AgNP/NSP, but not AgNPs alone, effectively reduced the systemic Salmonella infection and mortality. In addition, quantitative Ag analyses demonstrated that Ag deposition from AgNP/NSP in the intestines was less than that from conventional AgNPs, indicating that the presence of NSP for immobilizing AgNPs reduced Ag accumulation in tissue and improved the safety of AgNPs. These in vivo results illustrated that both NSP and AgNP/NSP nanohybrid represent potential agents for controlling enteric bacterial infections