Biomarkers of progression in diabetic nephropathy: The past, present and future

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Effects of overexpression of IL-10, IL-12, TGF-β and IL-4 on allergen induced change in bronchial responsiveness

BACKGROUND: An increasing prevalence of allergic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma, has been noted worldwide. Allergic asthma strongly correlates with airway inflammation caused by the unregulated production of cytokines secreted by allergen-specific type-2 T helper (Th2) cells. This study aims to explore the therapeutic effect of the airway gene transfer of IL-12, IL-10 and TGF-β on airway inflammation in a mouse model of allergic asthma. METHODS: BALB/c mice were sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA) by intraperitoneal injections with OVA and challenged by nebulized OVA. Different cytokine gene plasmids or non-coding vector plasmids were instilled daily into the trachea up to one day before the inhalatory OVA challenge phase. RESULTS: Intratracheal administration of IL-10, IL-12 or TGF-β can efficiently inhibit antigen-induced airway hyper-responsiveness and is able to largely significantly lower the number of eosinophils and neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of ovalbumin (OVA) sensitized and challenged mice during the effector phase. Furthermore, the effect of IL-10 plasmids is more remarkable than any other cytokine gene plasmid. On the other hand, local administration of IL-4 gene plasmids before antigen challenge can induce severe airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) and airway eosinophilia. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrated that anti- inflammatory cytokines, particularly IL-10, have the therapeutic potential for the alleviation of airway inflammation in murine model of asthma

Modeling in Confidentiality and Integrity for a Supply Chain Network

Bell-LaPadula Model and Markov Chain Model are used for supply chain networks in the previous literature. However, Bell-LaPadula Model only considers the confidentiality aspect of security. Markov Chain Model is used to simulate the dynamics of the security states. In a typical supply chain network, the integrity of business transactions should be as important as confidentiality of those transactions. The purpose of this paper is to apply Clark-Wilson model to the supply chain network integrity. The major concepts of the Clark-Wilson model such as separation of duty, constrained data items, well-formed transactions, and transform procedures are applied to different situations of a supply chain network

Simulation of a Two-Category Secured Access Database

Electronic commerce users continually access sensitive information on business databases through the Internet. In order to protect databases from unauthorized access, confidentiality policies must be applied. Confidentiality of the database is often protected by data encryption or proprietary software. It can be protected by a monitoring system using Markov Chain and Bell- LaPadula Models. In this paper, a two category secured access database model by semi-Markov chains is discussed. This paper simulates this simplified two category secured access database model, and issues on security management are also addressed

A study of consumer protection law in Hong Kong

Consumption of goods and services is inevitable in our daily life. So consumer protection is essential for every consumer. However, the existing consumer protection system in Hong Kong is not comprehensive enough to protect consumers. Thus, this project concentrates on studying the consumer protection law in Hong Kong to evaluate its sufficiency for protecting consumers. Besides, we also investigate the Hong Kong consumer protection system, including the functions and powers of the Consumer Council, and make compare it with Australia’s consumer protection system. The Consumer Council is the only statutory consumer protection body in Hong Kong. It is not an independent unit in its operation. Moreover, it lacks investigative, legislative and enforcement powers. Furthermore, the laws and ordinances are not sufficient and comprehensive enough to protect all consumers. Most importantly, the government’s attitude towards consumer protection is non-interventionist. After a comparison is made with the Australia’s system, we discover that Australia’s consumer protection body, the National Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, is a purely advisory body to deal with the matters about consumer protection. It is independent from the other non-government consumer organizations, such as the Trade Practices Commission. Not only does it have investigative, legislative and enforcement power, it also has a comprehensive competition policy to protect consumers. Due to the lack of the consumer protection law in Hong Kong, we recommend that other developed countries’ consumer protection systems, such as Australia, should be used as an example to improve our consumer protection system. The comprehensive competition policy, including competition laws and authority, should be introduced in order to ensure that more consumers could be in the protective net. Besides, the Consumer Council should be given more powers to operate and deal with the consumer problems. In addition, the government should do more for consumer protection. It can be done by increasing the resources to the Consumer Council and educating the public about their consumer rights. Most importantly, the Consumer Council should act independently to achieve its objectives on consumer protection. Thus, all consumers can be better protected under these improvements

A retrospective study of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound ablation for uterine myoma in Taiwan

AbstractObjectiveTo report our experiences with 40 patients who were treated with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) for uterine fibroids and their 6-month follow-up status.Materials and MethodsA total of 40 patients with uterine fibroids underwent MRgFUS from January 2009 to November 2011. The Uterine Fibroid Symptoms and Quality of Life Questionnaire was used to determine the patients' Symptom Severity Scores (SSS) prior to and 6 months after treatment. The nonperfused volume (NPV) values and NPV ratio were obtained immediately at the end of the treatment and at 6 months follow-up.ResultsNo procedure-related complications were noted throughout the 6-month follow-up period among the 40 patients who underwent MRgFUS for uterine fibroids. The mean reduction in SSS in our patients after 6 months was 43.7%, and the mean reduction of fibroid volume was 31.7%. In addition, the mean reduction of NPV and mean NPV ratio was 52.7% and 33.3%, respectively.ConclusionThe results obtained from this study demonstrated that MRgFUS can be safely and effectively used to ablate uterine fibroids to produce a significant decrease in mean fibroid volume and improve SSS for up to 6 months after treatment