Degradation of human kininogens with the release of kinin peptides by extracellular proteinases of Candida spp.

The secretion of proteolytic enzymes by pathogenic microorganisms is one of the most successful strategies used by pathogens to colonize and infect the host organism. The extracellular microbial proteinases can seriously deregulate the homeostatic proteolytic cascades of the host, including the kinin-forming system, repeatedly reported to he activated during bacterial infection. The current study assigns a kinin-releasing activity to secreted proteinases of Candida spp. yeasts, the major fungal pathogens of humans. Of several Candida species studied, C. parapsilosis and C. albicans in their invasive filamentous forms are shown to produce proteinases which most effectively degrade proteinaceous kinin precursors, the kininogens. These enzymes, classified as aspartyl proteinases, have the highest kininogen-degrading activity at low pH (approx. 3.5), but the associated production of bradykinin-related peptides from a small fraction of kininogen molecules is optimal at neutral pH (6.5). The peptides effectively interact with cellular B2-type kinin receptors. Moreover, kinin-related peptides capable of interacting with inflammation-induced B1-type receptors are also formed, but with a reversed pH dependence. The presented variability of the potential extracellular kinin production by secreted aspartyl proteinases of Candida spp. is consistent with the known adaptability of these opportunistic pathogens to different niches in the host organism

Co-transplantation of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-derived Neural Progenitors and Schwann Cells in a Rat Spinal Cord Contusion Injury Model Elicits a Distinct Neurogenesis and Functional Recovery

Co-transplantation of neural progenitors (NPs) with Schwann cells (SCs) might be a way to overcome low rate of neuronal differentiation of NPs following transplantation in spinal cord injury (SCI) and the improvement of locomotor recovery. In this study, we initially generated NPs from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and investigated their potential for neuronal differentiation and functional recovery when co-cultured with SCs in vitro and co-transplanted in a rat acute model of contused SCI. Co-cultivation results revealed that the presence of SCs provided a consistent status for hESC-NPs and recharged their neural differentiation toward a predominantly neuronal fate. Following transplantation, a significant functional recovery was observed in all engrafted groups (NPs, SCs, NPs+SCs) relative to the vehicle and control groups. We also observed that animals receiving co-transplants established a better state as assessed with the BBB functional test. Immunohistofluorescence evaluation five weeks after transplantation showed invigorated neuronal differentiation and limited proliferation in the co-transplanted group when compared to the individual hESC-NPs grafted group. These findings have demonstrated that the co-transplantation of SCs with hESC-NPs could offer a synergistic effect, promoting neuronal differentiation and functional recovery

Do SWF investments matter for bond ratings? The role of corporate governance

We investigate the impact of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) equity ownership on bonds’ credit ratings of their target firms. Using a sample of 2045 bonds issued by 324 SWF target firms from 16 countries over the period 1996–2020, we find evidence linking SWF investments to lower likelihood of bond rating upgrades. Consistent with value-reducing political agenda hypothesis, our results suggest that credit rating agencies perceive SWFs as a structure that could affect the quality of corporate governance and harm bondholder interests by leaving them vulnerable to losses. Our results also show that credit rating could be improved: (i) with SWF transparency and experience; (ii) when SWFs take a more passive investment stance; and (iii) within the financial crisis period. Finally, and interestingly, using generalized structural equation modelling, we provide evidence supporting the mediating role of target firm's corporate governance quality in the relationship between SWF investments and bond ratings. Our findings are robust to controls for the endogeneity and heteroscedasticity issues and to alternative sample compositions and regression frameworks

Default risk, state ownership and the cross-section of stock returns: evidence from China

We apply a structural model to estimate firm-level default risk in China and investigate the stock return predictability of default risk and the moderating effects of state ownership for the sample period from 2003 to 2015. We show unique evidence that in China, default risk is positively associated with expected stock returns and state ownership matters considerably to the return predictability of default risk. We find investors of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are not compensated appropriately in China despite of their higher default risk exposure. Our empirical evidence supports the conjecture on shareholder advantages and suggests that a strong bargaining power of equity holders would have a negative impact on stock returns

Metasurface-inspired flexible wearable MIMO antenna array for wireless body area network applications and biomedical telemetry devices

This article presents a sub-6GHz ISM-band flexible wearable MIMO antenna array for wireless body area networks (WBANs) and biomedical telemetry devices. The array is based on metasurface inspired technology. The antenna array consists of 2× 2 matrix of triangular-shaped radiation elements that were realized on 0.8 mm thick Rogers RT/duroid 5880 substrate. Radiation characteristics of the array are enhanced by isolating the surface current interaction between the individual radiators in the array. This is achieved by inserting an electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) decoupling structure between the radiating elements. The radiating elements were transformed into a metasurface by etching sub-wavelength slots inside them. The periodic arrangement of slots acts like resonant scatterers that manipulate the electromagnetic response of the surface. Results confirm that by employing the decoupling structure and sub-wavelength slots the isolation between the radiators is significantly improved (>34.8 dB). Moreover, there is an improvement in the array's fractional bandwidth, gain and the radiation efficiency. The optimized array design for operation over 5.0-6.6 GHz has an average gain and efficiency of 10 dBi and 83%, respectively. Results show that the array's performance is not greatly affected by a certain amount of bending. In fact, the antenna maintains a gain between 8.65-10.5 dBi and the efficiency between 77-83%. The proposed MIMO antenna array is relatively compact, can be easily fabricated on one side of a dielectric material, allows easy integration with RF circuitry, is robust, and maintains its characteristics with some bending. These features make it suitable for various wearable applications and biomedical telemetry devices.This work was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Jouf University under Grant Number (DSR2022-RG-0110). Besides that, Dr. Mohammad Alibakhshikenari acknowledges support from the CONnecting EXcellence (CONEX)-Plus programme funded by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 801538. In addition, this work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional -FEDER-, European Union) under the research grant PID2021-127409OB-C31 CONDOR

A New Zn(II) Metal Hybrid Material of 5-Nitrobenzimidazolium Organic Cation (C7H6N3O2)2[ZnCl4]: Elaboration, Structure, Hirshfeld Surface, Spectroscopic, Molecular Docking Analysis, Electric and Dielectric Properties

The slow solvent evaporation approach was used to create a single crystal of (CHNO)[ZnCl] at room temperature. Our compound has been investigated by single-crystal XRD which declares that the complex crystallizes in the monoclinic crystallographic system with the P2/c as a space group. The molecular arrangement of the compound can be described by slightly distorted tetrahedral ZnCl anionic entities and 5-nitrobenzimidazolium as cations, linked together by different non-covalent interaction types (H-bonds, Cl…Cl, π…π and C–H…π). Hirshfeld’s surface study allows us to identify that the dominant contacts in the crystal building are H…Cl/Cl…H contacts (37.3%). FT-IR method was used to identify the different groups in (CHNO)[ZnCl]. Furthermore, impedance spectroscopy analysis in 393 ≤ T ≤ 438 K shows that the temperature dependence of DC conductivity follows Arrhenius’ law. The frequency–temperature dependence of AC conductivity for the studied sample shows one region (E = 2.75 eV). In order to determine modes of interactions of compound with double stranded DNA, molecular docking simulations were performed at molecular level

Measurements of the pp → ZZ production cross section and the Z → 4ℓ branching fraction, and constraints on anomalous triple gauge couplings at √s = 13 TeV

Four-lepton production in proton-proton collisions, pp -> (Z/gamma*)(Z/gamma*) -> 4l, where l = e or mu, is studied at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The ZZ production cross section, sigma(pp -> ZZ) = 17.2 +/- 0.5 (stat) +/- 0.7 (syst) +/- 0.4 (theo) +/- 0.4 (lumi) pb, measured using events with two opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs produced in the mass region 60 4l) = 4.83(-0.22)(+0.23) (stat)(-0.29)(+0.32) (syst) +/- 0.08 (theo) +/- 0.12(lumi) x 10(-6) for events with a four-lepton invariant mass in the range 80 4GeV for all opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pairs. The results agree with standard model predictions. The invariant mass distribution of the four-lepton system is used to set limits on anomalous ZZZ and ZZ. couplings at 95% confidence level: -0.0012 < f(4)(Z) < 0.0010, -0.0010 < f(5)(Z) < 0.0013, -0.0012 < f(4)(gamma) < 0.0013, -0.0012 < f(5)(gamma) < 0.0013

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis