Identification of Customer Attitudes towards Banking Products

Tato bakalářská práce má za cíl identifikovat postoje zákazníků k bankovním produktům. Charakterizovanou společností je Česká spořitelna, a.s., která je nejstarší a největší bankou na tuzemském trhu v České republice. Pozornost je věnována zejména výnosovým, úvěrovým a investičním produktům z její nabídky. Postoje klientů byly zjišťovány formou dotazníkového šetření prostřednictvím internetu. Výsledky ukazují, že se většina respondentů o zhodnocení svých financí nezajímá. V závěru jsou formulována určitá doporučení, díky kterým by banka mohla své klienty více motivovat například k investování.This bachelor's thesis aims to identify the customers' attitudes towards banking products. The characterized company is Česká spořitelna, a.s., which is the oldest and largest bank on the domestic market in the Czech Republic. The focus is mainly on income, credit and investment products from its offer. Client attitudes were collected by means of a questionnaire survey via the Internet. The results show that the majority of respondents are not interested in the appreciation of their finances. In the conclusion, some recommendations are formulated which could help the bank to motivate its clients for example to invest.116 - Katedra marketingu a obchoduvýborn

A systematic overexpression approach reveals native targets to increase squalene production in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Cyanobacteria are a promising platform for the production of the triterpene squalene (C30), a precursor for all plant and animal sterols, and a highly attractive intermediate towards triterpenoids, a large group of secondary plant metabolites. Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 natively produces squalene from CO2 through the MEP pathway. Based on the predictions of a constraint-based metabolic model, we took a systematic overexpression approach to quantify native Synechocystis gene’s impact on squalene production in a squalene-hopene cyclase gene knock-out strain (Δshc). Our in silico analysis revealed an increased flux through the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle in the Δshc mutant compared to the wildtype, including the pentose phosphate pathway, as well as lower glycolysis, while the tricarboxylic acid cycle predicted to be downregulated. Further, all enzymes of the MEP pathway and terpenoid synthesis, as well as enzymes from the central carbon metabolism, Gap2, Tpi and PyrK, were predicted to positively contribute to squalene production upon their overexpression. Each identified target gene was integrated into the genome of Synechocystis Δshc under the control of the rhamnose-inducible promoter Prha. Squalene production was increased in an inducer concentration dependent manner through the overexpression of most predicted genes, which are genes of the MEP pathway, ispH, ispE, and idi, leading to the greatest improvements. Moreover, we were able to overexpress the native squalene synthase gene (sqs) in Synechocystis Δshc, which reached the highest production titer of 13.72 mg l-1 reported for squalene in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 so far, thereby providing a promising and sustainable platform for triterpene production

Effects of add-on Celecoxib treatment on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and inflammatory cytokine profile trial (TargetFlame): study design and methodology of a multicentre randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Neuroinflammation has been proposed to impact symptomatology in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While previous studies have shown equivocal effects of treatments with add-on anti-inflammatory drugs such as Aspirin, N-acetylcysteine and Celecoxib, none have used a subset of prospectively recruited patients exhibiting an inflammatory profile. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety as well as the cost-effectiveness of a treatment with 400 mg Celecoxib added to an ongoing antipsychotic treatment in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders exhibiting an inflammatory profile. The “Add-on Celecoxib treatment in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and inflammatory cytokine profile trial (TargetFlame)” is a multicentre randomized, placebo-controlled phase III investigator-initiated clinical trial with the following two arms: patients exhibiting an inflammatory profile receiving either add-on Celecoxib 400 mg/day or add-on placebo. A total of 199 patients will be assessed for eligibility by measuring blood levels of three pro-inflammatory cytokines, and 109 patients with an inflammatory profile, i.e. inflamed, will be randomized, treated for 8 weeks and followed-up for additional four months. The primary endpoint will be changes in symptom severity as assessed by total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score changes from baseline to week 8. Secondary endpoints include various other measures of psychopathology and safety. Additional health economic analyses will be performed. TargetFlame is the first study aimed at evaluating the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of the antiphlogistic agent Celecoxib in a subset of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders exhibiting an inflammatory profile. With TargetFlame, we intended to investigate a novel precision medicine approach towards anti-inflammatory antipsychotic treatment augmentation using drug repurposing. Clinical trial registration: http://www.drks.de/DRKS00029044 and https://trialsearch.who.int/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=DRKS0002904

Influence of deposition parameters on the optical absorption of amorphous silicon thin films

Amorphous silicon (aSi) is a promising material for application in mirror coatings with low thermal noise in future gravitational-wave detectors. However, the optical absorption of aSi is currently too high to meet the requirements of these instruments. Previously measured absorption values vary significantly for different deposition methods and postdeposition treatments. To investigate the absorption of aSi, we systematically varied key deposition parameters using pulsed laser deposition. Varying the deposition temperature resulted in a spread in mobility gap energy of the aSi; however, no clear correlation of temperature and mobility gap could be observed. Varying the pulse energy and repetition frequency altered the deposition rate of the coating and produced a correlated change in the absorption

Correction to: On-drug and drug-free remission by baseline symptom duration: abatacept with methotrexate in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Clinical outcomes in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were assessed by baseline symptom duration in the Assessing Very Early Rheumatoid arthritis Treatment trial (ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT01142726). Patients with early, active RA were randomized to subcutaneous (SC) abatacept 125 mg/week plus methotrexate (MTX), SC abatacept alone, or MTX monotherapy for 12 months. All RA treatments were withdrawn after 12 months in patients with Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (C-reactive protein; DAS28-CRP)  3 to ≤ 6 months, or > 6 months) and treatment group. No clinically significant differences were seen in baseline demographics or characteristics across symptom duration groups. Irrespective of baseline symptom duration, a numerically higher proportion of abatacept plus MTX-treated patients achieved DAS-defined remission at month 12 and sustained remission at month 18 compared with MTX monotherapy. A numerically higher proportion of abatacept plus MTX-treated patients with symptom duration ≤ 3 months maintained DAS-defined remission after complete treatment withdrawal from 12 to 18 months compared with longer symptom duration groups. This subgroup also had the fastest onset of clinical response (DAS28-CRP < 2.6) after initiation of treatment. Health Assessment Questionnaire–Disability Index response was similar regardless of baseline symptom duration. Overall, symptom duration of ≤ 3 months was associated with a faster onset of clinical response and higher rates of drug-free remission following treatment with abatacept plus MTX

Designing synthetic communities with organism-free modular computational models

Synthetic biology designs and constructs new biological parts, devices and systems with predetermined functionalities. With the unlimited ability to synthesise any DNA and RNA and transfer it to almost any organism, we are at the dawn of a new era in which biology is being recreated in ways never before possible. It has reached a maturity level that enables construction of artificial communities of synthetic organisms. Considering the strong engineering component in synthetic biology design, we highlight the role of computational models in reaching the full potential of this emerging field. Computational models have been shown to be an essential part of biology entangling the nonlinearly increasing complexity with the growing number of components, and emerging properties of biological phenomena. In recent years, great hope has been put in modelling efforts to guide synthetic biology approaches in much the same way as they guided engineers to design new technical devices. Yet, till now, modelling has not been fully integrated into the synthetic design process. Here we summarise the state of the art and discuss how synthetic biology design can be supported with an organism-free modular modelling approach focussing on designing synthetic multi-species communities. We argue that efforts should shift from organism- and context-specific complex systems or even whole-cell models to modular computational models with mathematical descriptions of parts and circuits, from which synthetic systems could be systematically assembled. Such an approach would be more compatible with synthetic biology approaches, opening the door to designing artificial communities

Effect of aerobic exercise combined with cognitive remediation on cortical thickness and prediction of social adaptation in patients with schizophrenia

Item does not contain fulltextAerobic exercise is a promising intervention for patients with schizophrenia, but structural neuroplastic effects on brain regions relevant to the pathophysiology of the disease remain unclear. This study aimed to elucidate longitudinal changes in cortical thickness after aerobic exercise intervention in schizophrenia patients and the relationship of these changes to clinical correlates. We investigated 21 schizophrenia patients and 23 healthy controls who performed aerobic exercise and 21 schizophrenia patients who played table soccer. The 12-week exercise intervention was combined with computer-assisted cognitive remediation training from week 6 to week 12. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired at baseline and weeks 6,12, and 24. The thickness of the entorhinal, parahippocampal, and lateral and medial prefrontal cortices was assessed with FreeSurfer 6.0. The schizophrenia aerobic exercise group showed a significant increase of cortical thickness in the right entorhinal cortex at week 6, and we found a significant correlation between the cortical thickness of the right lateral prefrontal cortex at baseline and improvement of social adaptation at week 12. In the schizophrenia table soccer and healthy control groups, we found no significant longitudinal change in cortical thickness through the intervention and follow-up period and no correlation of cortical thickness at baseline with clinical measures. Our results suggest that aerobic exercise in schizophrenia modulates the thickness of the entorhinal cortex, a structure adjacent to the hippocampus. Greater cortical thickness of the right lateral prefrontal cortex appears to predict better clinical response to an aerobic exercise intervention in patients with schizophrenia.11 p