CD80 and CD86 Differentially Regulate Mechanical Interactions of T-Cells with Antigen-Presenting Dendritic Cells and B-Cells

10.1371/journal.pone.0045185PLoS ONE79

Symmetry breaking and spin-orbit coupling for individual vacancy-induced in-gap states in MoS2 monolayers

Spins confined to point defects in atomically-thin semiconductors constitute well-defined atomic-scale quantum systems that are being explored as single photon emitters and spin qubits. Here, we investigate the in-gap electronic structure of individual sulphur vacancies in molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) monolayers using resonant tunneling scanning probe spectroscopy in the Coulomb blockade regime. Spectroscopic mapping of defect wavefunctions reveals an interplay of local symmetry breaking by a charge-state dependent Jahn-Teller lattice distortion that, when combined with strong (~100 meV) spin-orbit coupling, leads to a locking of an unpaired spin-1/2 magnetic moment to the lattice at low temperature, susceptible to lattice strain. Our results provide new insights into spin and electronic structure of vacancy induced in-gap states towards their application as electrically and optically addressable quantum systems

The national stem cell therapy patient registry of Malaysia — measuring clinical outcomes of stem cell therapy.

Very few registries worldwide focus on clinical outcomes of stem cell therapy (SCT) as the large number of applications and rapid development of the field complicates registry design considerably. The National Stem Cell Therapy Patient Registry of Malaysia aims to accommodate this by using a main protocol which covers the overall design and administration of the registry, and condition-specific sub-protocols which deal with outcome measures. The registry will start with a few sub-protocols covering existing modes of SCT in Malaysia, with new sub-protocols released periodically as the need arises

Retirement village in Singapore - A feasibility study of an independent life-style for retirees.

84 p.Situated along the north-eastern coast of Singapore in Pasir Ris West, Springleaf Retirement Village overlooks the picturesque Serangoon Harbour and Pulau Ubin. Springfield Retirement Village is more than just a beautiful, private apartment; it is a 6.5-ha residential community that offers retirement living. It is an arrangement by which the retiree pays an initial accommodation tee and a regular maintenance fee in exchange for living accommodation, life care and services.ACCOUNTANC

Catalyst-free C-N bond formation under biocompatible reaction conditions

A C-N bond formation reaction under biocompatible conditions for the amination of allenic ketone compounds to access a diversity of β-keto enamines is developed. This reaction is atom economical, green, and highly regioselective and works well with many structurally important amines such as amino sugar and amino acid esters or peptides. A wide array of β-keto enamines was obtained in modest to excellent yields with wide functional group tolerance using this protocol. A gram-scale synthesis of an anti-microbial agent was also realized using this strategy under green reaction conditions.Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityPublished versionThe authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Distinguished University Professor grant (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), AcRF Tier 1 grants from the Ministry of Education of Singapore (RG107/19, RG11/20 and RT14/20), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) under its MTC Individual Research Grant (IRG)

The board of directors and firm growth of small and medium enterprises in Malaysia

Prior studies on the role of board of directors and the performance of firm are conducted in large firms. Board of directors’ attributes comprising of board size, board independency and board ownership are used in these previous studies. In addition, accounting ratio such as return on asset and return on equity are employed in these previous studies as the performance indicator. Nevertheless, the study on the role of board of directors and firm performance using growth as an indicator in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has yet to take its ground. Thus, this present study aims to assess the role of the board of directors and firm growth in Malaysia SMEs’ context. This present study has examined the roles of board of directors, namely, board transparency, board guanxi and board entrepreneurial orientation in relation with SMEs’ firm growth as a performance indicator. The objectives of this study are to predict overall SMEs’ firm growth based on the roles of the board of directors. Survey questionnaire was used to collect data from a total of 205 respondents. The empirical results revealed that board transparency, board guanxi and board entrepreneurial orientation are positively and significantly associated with SMEs’ firm growth

Economic Analysis of Patient’s Own Medication, Unit-Use and Ward Stock Utilization: Results of the First Pilot Study

Background: Medication wastage is causing a cost burden to the healthcare system that is worth millions of dollars. An economic and ecological friendly intervention such as using a patient’s own medications (POM) has proven to reduce wastage and save the cost spent by the hospital. The potential benefits of using POM in inpatient settings have yet to be explored in a country with universal health coverage. This study aimed to pilot test the POM intervention in an adult ward setting and to perform the economic analysis of using POM and ward stock during hospitalization. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional observational study was conducted among the patients admitted to the medical and surgical wards in a public hospital located in Brunei Darussalam between February 2022 and April 2022. Hospitalized adults above 18 years old with regular medications with a minimum length of stay of 48 h and a maximum length of stay of 21 days were included in the study. These eligible patients were divided into a POM group and a non-POM group. The economic analysis of using POM was performed by calculating the direct cost per unit of medication used during admission (from unit-use, ward stock and POM) and comparing the cost spent for both groups. Expired ward stock deemed as medication wastage was determined. Medical research ethics were approved, and all participating patients had given their written informed consent before enrolling in this study. Results: A total of 112 patients aged 63.2 ± 15.8 years participated in this study. The average cost of medication supplied by the inpatient pharmacy for the non-POM group was USD 21.60 ± 34.20 per patient, whereas, for the POM group, it was approximately USD 13.00 ± 18.30 per patient, with a mean difference of USD 8.60 ± 5.17 per patient (95% CI: −3.95, 27.47, p ≥ 0.05). The use of POM minimized 54.03% (USD 625.04) of the total cost spent by the hospital for the POM group within the period of the study. Conclusion: The pilot study showed that the supplied medication cost per patient was not significantly different between the POM and non-POM groups. Nevertheless, the utilization of POM during hospitalization is capable of reducing at least 50% of the total cost spent on inpatient medications by the hospital. The use of POM during hospitalization also helped in reducing the total time spent on the medication process per patient

The relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction in the Malaysian textile industry

In Malaysia, textile industry is facing several issues such as decline in performance, shortage of new talents and challenges to retain existing employees. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles and employee job satisfaction in the textile industry in Malaysia. The leadership styles investigated in this study are transformational leadership, transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership. In addition, the level of employee job satisfaction in this industry has also been analyzed. This research proposed a conceptual framework that links the leadership styles with employee job satisfaction. In this study, survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the target respondents and a total of 140 responses was obtained from the survey. Although the findings show that all the leadership styles were significantly associated with job satisfaction, the dominated leadership styles were transformational and transactional leadership. Employees were found moderately satisfied with their job. The research findings are useful for the top management to determine appropriate leadership style to adopt in order to improve their employee job satisfaction level

Capital structure, internal governance mechanisms and firm performance

This study examines the impact of capital structure and internal governance mechanisms on Malaysian manufacturing firms’ performance. A total of 183 companies were selected from the list of listed companies in Bursa Malaysia within the year 2007 to 2010. We collect the corporate governance data from the annual financial data from Thompson Reuter’s DataStream. The study shows the positive impact of capital structure on firm performance of manufacturing firms in Malaysia. However, this study found CEO duality and independent director do not affect firm performance. The implication of this study is that the manufacturing firms in Malaysia should achieve optimal capital structure in improving firm performance