Kallahan Invocations to the Dead

Thomas Phillip L., Afable Patricia O. Kallahan Invocations to the Dead. In: L'Homme, 1994, tome 34 n°132. Anthropologie de la prière. pp. 89-99

The effect of corporate governance and ownership structure variables on the return on assets of selected publicly listed firms in the Philippines for the period 2005-2008

The study determined the degree of the effect of corporate governance and ownership structure on the profitability of publicly listed firms in the Philippines for the period 2005-2008. To measure corporate governance, the researchers used board size, board composition and CEO duality. For the ownership structure variables, foreign ownership and family ownership were used. The data were collected from the annual reports of the Philippine Stock Exchange, as well as the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The researchers found that none of the corporate governance variables had a significant relationship with ROA. Likewise, foreign ownership had a significant and positive effect on ROA, while family ownership had a negative but insignificant relationship with ROA. This can be attributed to firms with foreign owners having more access to international standards of good business practice. For this control variables, size and debt both had a negative and significant relationship with ROA. The inverse relationship between size and ROA can be explained by the tendency of larger firms to understate their earnings for tax purposes, the higher profit rate of smaller firms, and the greater costs and difficulty in managing larger firms. Likewise, firms with higher debt-to-equity ratios are more prone to financial downfalls, since these firms are less likely to pay financial obligations on time

Immunogenicity of a Fap2 peptide mimotope of Fusobacterium nucleatum and its potential use in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer

Abstract Background The role of Fusobacterium nucleatum Fap2 protein in the development of colorectal cancer has recently been explained. Fap2, when bound to the human inhibitory receptor, TIGIT, inhibits the cytotoxic activity of natural killer (NK) cells against cancer cells, thus, allowing proliferation of the latter eventually leading to tumor growth. The aim of the study was to identify the immunogenicity of a peptide mimotope of the Fap2 protein and to determine the reactivity of colorectal cancer patients’ sera against the mimotope. Methods Immunogenic epitope of the Fap2 protein of F. nucleatum was selected using the B-cell epitope prediction of the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB). The immunogenicity of the synthetic peptide mimotope of the Fap2 protein was determined in animal models and reactivity of colorectal cancer patients’ sera against the mimotope was done by indirect ELISA. Results Results show that the selected peptide mimotope, with sequence TELAYKHYFGT, of the outer membrane protein Fap2 of F. nucleatum is immunogenic. Increase in the absorbance readings of peptide-immunized rabbit sera was observed starting Week 1 which was sustained up to Week 10 in the indirect ELISA performed. Colorectal cancer cases (n = 37) were all reactive in an ELISA-based analysis using the mimotope as the capture antigen. Conclusions In this study, we identified an immunogenic epitope of the Fap2 protein of the Fusobacterium nucleatum. We demonstrated the reactivity of serum of histopathologically confirmed CRC patients in a peptide-capture indirect ELISA which may serve as proof of concept for the development of CRC diagnostics

Factors Influencing Time to Diagnosis After Abnormal Mammography in Diverse Women

BACKGROUND: Abnormal mammograms are common, and the risk of false positives is high. We surveyed women in order to understand the factors influencing the efficiency of the evaluation of an abnormal mammogram. METHODS: Women aged 40–80 years, identified from lists with Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS) classifications of 0, 3, 4, or 5, were surveyed. Telephone surveys asked about the process of evaluation, and medical records were reviewed for tests and timing of evaluation. RESULTS: In this study, 970 women were surveyed, and 951 had chart reviews. Overall, 36% were college graduates, 68% were members of a group model health plan, 18% were Latinas, 25% were African Americans, 15% were Asian, and 43% were white. Of the 352 women who underwent biopsies, 151 were diagnosed with cancer (93 invasive). Median time to diagnosis was 183 days for BIRADS 3 compared to 29 days for BIRADS 4/5 and 27 days for BIRADS 0. At 60 days, 84% of BIRADS 4/5 women had a diagnosis. Being African American (hazard ratio [HR] 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49-0.97, p=0.03), income < $10,000 (HR 0.55, 95% CI 0.31-0.98, p<0.04), perceived discrimination (HR 0.22, 95% CI 0.09-0.52, p<0.001), not fully understanding the results of the index mammogram (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.32-0.75, p=0.001), and being notified by letter (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.48-0.90, p=0.01) or telephone (HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.42-0.92, p=0.02) rather than in person were all associated with significant delays in diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of BIRADS 0, 4, or 5 abnormal mammograms was completed in most women within the recommended 60 days. Even within effective systems, correctible communication factors may adversely affect time to diagnosis