Multipotent vascular stem cells contribute to neurovascular regeneration of peripheral nerve.

BackgroundNeurovascular unit restoration is crucial for nerve regeneration, especially in critical gaps of injured peripheral nerve. Multipotent vascular stem cells (MVSCs) harvested from an adult blood vessel are involved in vascular remodeling; however, the therapeutic benefit for nerve regeneration is not clear.MethodsMVSCs were isolated from rats expressing green fluorescence protein (GFP), expanded, mixed with Matrigel matrix, and loaded into the nerve conduits. A nerve autograft or a nerve conduit (with acellular matrigel or MVSCs in matrigel) was used to bridge a transected sciatic nerve (10-mm critical gap) in rats. The functional motor recovery and cell fate in the regenerated nerve were investigated to understand the therapeutic benefit.ResultsMVSCs expressed markers such as Sox 17 and Sox10 and could differentiate into neural cells in vitro. One month following MVSC transplantation, the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) significantly increased as compared to the acellular group. MVSCs facilitated the recruitment of Schwann cell to regenerated axons. The transplanted cells, traced by GFP, differentiated into perineurial cells around the bundles of regenerated myelinated axons. In addition, MVSCs enhanced tight junction formation as a part of the blood-nerve barrier (BNB). Furthermore, MVSCs differentiated into perivascular cells and enhanced microvessel formation within regenerated neurovascular bundles.ConclusionsIn rats with peripheral nerve injuries, the transplantation of MVSCs into the nerve conduits improved the recovery of neuromuscular function; MVSCs differentiated into perineural cells and perivascular cells and enhanced the formation of tight junctions in perineural BNB. This study demonstrates the in vivo therapeutic benefit of adult MVSCs for peripheral nerve regeneration and provides insight into the role of MVSCs in BNB regeneration

Impacts in Research Administration from the COVID-19 Pandemic within the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant issues and confusion within the Research Administration field and prevented research administrators within the U.S. from maintaining normal administrative activities and award management. As the pandemic continues to evolve unexpectedly, it is critically important for institutions and government agencies to understand the different impacts this epidemic has caused in Research Administration and to collaborate to seek best practices during this time. Specifically, this study investigated the various types of effects in an award lifecycle caused by the pandemic. Furthermore, by assessing useful research administrative processes, the study determined some best practices for research administrative personnel. To examine the impacts in Research Administration from the pandemic, the author conducted an electronic survey distributed to participants in the related Research Administration field. Participants were asked to respond to a set of questionnaires that helped determine the research administrative impacts and levels of these impacts encountered during the pandemic; a list of practices was also included in the survey's final part. Responses were analyzed using a descriptive statistics method and illustrated by histograms and charts. The final research results reported relatively high percentages of research administrative impacts and confirmed the best practice during this time: offering virtual training and workshops to research administrative personnel. These results suggest multiple areas in Research Administration are highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The best practice involves adequate guidance and training provided to related personnel in the field

SOCIAL COGNITION AND THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT QUALITY ON ONLINE REPURCHASE INTENTION

An electronic commerce marketing channel is fully mediated by information technology, creating information asymmetry (i.e., limited information). Such asymmetry may impede consumers’ ability to effectively assess certain types of products, thus creating challenges for online sellers. Signaling theory can aid in the understanding of how extrinsic cues—signals—can be used by sellers to convey product quality information to consumers, reducing uncertainty and facilitating a purchase or exchange. This study proposes a model to investigate website quality as a potential signal of product quality and consider the moderating effects of product information asymmetries and signal credibility. The study also finds that perceived value and cognitive lock-in can predict consumer purchase intentions. Furthermore, personalized product recommendation (PPR) services offered by online retailers are found to influence consumer store loyalty. The results indicate that website quality influences consumers’ perceptions of product quality, and affects online purchase intentions. Website quality is found to have a greater influence on perceived product quality when consumers have higher information asymmetry. Signal credibility is found to strengthen the relationship between website quality and product quality perceptions for a high quality website. The implications of cognitive lock-in and product cues for increasing purchase intentions are discussed. Retailer learning reflected in higher quality PPRs is associated with both lower product screening cost and higher product evaluation cost. We also discuss which PPRs influence consumer repurchase intentions in electronic markets

Development and Validations of a 3-D Numerical Wave Model in Cartesian Grid System Using Level Set Method

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

THE EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE’S COMMITMENTS ON CUSTOMER’S LOYALTY BASED ON TRANSACTION COST

Few researchers, such as Hansen, Sandvick and Selnes (2003) and Jones, Taylor and Bansal (2008), have mentioned about the effect of employee’s commitments and individual commitment on consumer’s loyalty for products. This study aims to integrate the organizational commitment provided by Hansen, Sandvik and Selnes (2003) with the affective commitment and the calculative commitment presented by Jones et al. (2008) to explore the three types of commitments which affect customer’s loyalty to the providers. Individual commitment, employee commitment, affective commitment and calculative commitment are selected as research variables. The research attempts to understand the factors and the effects of different commitments on consumer’s loyalty and consumer’s willing to continue consumptions under the agent’s services from the different insurance companies. The 300 consumers serviced by insurance agents are selected as research samples. The research method is applied questionnaires analyzed by multiple Hierarchical Regression analysis. The research results show that employee’s commitments and individual commitments positively influence the calculative commitment and the affective commitment which affect consumer’s loyalty. Transaction cost does not have positive effect on consumer’s loyalty