Case Study of Altruistic Behavior and Relational Network with Business Value on Local Travel Agency

The present study based on a local travel agency in Tainan, investigation how does the altruistic behavior affected the relational network and created the business value. The case company’s CEO had voluntary participated in charity societies more than 20 years. The present study first showed how the case company’s CEO to build an emotional relational network through altruistic behavior. Second, how does the emotional relational network form mixed relational network based on the key features demonstrated by altruistic behavior. Finally, also showed how the mixed relational network is transfer into an instrumental relational network. The results showed that the altruistic behavior can help local travel agency develop and increase their business value via relational network. The key factors to maximize the business value are the professional knowledge and altruistic behavior

Unusual case of spontaneous uterine rupture in a single gestational primipara

AbstractSpontaneous rupture of the primiparous uterus is a rare but catastrophic obstetrical emergency. It is usually associated with prior uterine surgery, trauma, or placental abnormality. To remind physicians to include this condition in their differential diagnosis of acute abdominal pain in pregnant patients, we describe an interesting case of spontaneous uterine rupture that clinically mimicked bowel perforation. A 27-year-old single primiparous pregnant woman presented with sudden onset of severe abdominal pain and peritoneal signs, with absence of vaginal bleeding at 26 weeks’ gestation. The usual risk factors for uterine rupture, such as advanced maternal age, scarred uterus due to mode of previous delivery, or unusual pregnancy, were not present in our patient. Based on clinical examination, abdominal sonography and magnetic resonance imaging, uterine rupture was suspected and eventually confirmed at exploratory laparotomy. No uterine pathological abnormality was noted on the microscopic examination The preterm newborn expired after surgery. Since surgical intervention is the only definitive treatment, emergency physicians should be aware of this rare complication. Emergency physicians should be aware of spontaneous uterine rupture in pregnant patients, even in the absence of risk factors

A new analysis tool for individual-level allele frequency for genomic studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Allele frequency is one of the most important population indices and has been broadly applied to genetic/genomic studies. Estimation of allele frequency using genotypes is convenient but may lose data information and be sensitive to genotyping errors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study utilizes a unified intensity-measuring approach to estimating individual-level allele frequencies for 1,104 and 1,270 samples genotyped with the single-nucleotide-polymorphism arrays of the Affymetrix Human Mapping 100K and 500K Sets, respectively. Allele frequencies of all samples are estimated and adjusted by coefficients of preferential amplification/hybridization (CPA), and large ethnicity-specific and cross-ethnicity databases of CPA and allele frequency are established. The results show that using the CPA significantly improves the accuracy of allele frequency estimates; moreover, this paramount factor is insensitive to the time of data acquisition, effect of laboratory site, type of gene chip, and phenotypic status. Based on accurate allele frequency estimates, analytic methods based on individual-level allele frequencies are developed and successfully applied to discover genomic patterns of allele frequencies, detect chromosomal abnormalities, classify sample groups, identify outlier samples, and estimate the purity of tumor samples. The methods are packaged into a new analysis tool, ALOHA (<b>A</b>llele-frequency/<b>L</b>oss-<b>o</b>f-<b>h</b>eterozygosity/<b>A</b>llele-imbalance).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first time that these important genetic/genomic applications have been simultaneously conducted by the analyses of individual-level allele frequencies estimated by a unified intensity-measuring approach. We expect that additional practical applications for allele frequency analysis will be found. The developed databases and tools provide useful resources for human genome analysis via high-throughput single-nucleotide-polymorphism arrays. The ALOHA software was written in R and R GUI and can be downloaded at <url>http://www.stat.sinica.edu.tw/hsinchou/genetics/aloha/ALOHA.htm</url>.</p

THE INTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT

A number of countries have launched projects with a particular emphasis on using information technologies (IT) to provide electronic information and services to citizens and businesses. Through various IT, tremendous amount of electronic records in government agencies are created. These records and archives are the basis of knowledge management. Electronic records management (ERM) is a fast growing field throughout the last decades. Theoretical foundations for ERM have remained obscure from the research community. To map the intellectual structure of ERM research, this study identifies the high-impact articles as well as the correlations among these scholar publications. In this study, co-citation, co-word, association rule and cluster analysis techniques are used to investigate the intellectual pillars of the ERM literature. This study exposes researchers to a new way of profiling knowledge networks and their relationships the area of ERM, thereby helping academia and practitioners better understand contemporary studies. The results of the mapping can help identify the research direction of ERM research, provide a valuable tool for researchers to access ERM literature, and acts as an exemplary model for future researches

Differential Gene Expression in Response to Papayaringspot virus Infection in Cucumis metuliferus UsingcDNA- Amplified Fragment Length PolymorphismAnalysis

A better understanding of virus resistance mechanisms can offer more effective strategies to control virus diseases. Papayaringspot virus (PRSV), Potyviridae, causes severe economical losses in papaya and cucurbit production worldwide. However,no resistance gene against PRSV has been identified to date. This study aimed to identify candidate PRSV resistance genesusing cDNA-AFLP analysis and offered an open architecture and transcriptomic method to study those transcriptsdifferentially expressed after virus inoculation. The whole genome expression profile of Cucumis metuliferus inoculated withPRSV was generated using cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) method. Transcript derivedfragments (TDFs) identified from the resistant line PI 292190 may represent genes involved in the mechanism of PRSVresistance. C. metuliferus susceptible Acc. 2459 and resistant PI 292190 lines were inoculated with PRSV and subsequentlytotal RNA was isolated for cDNA-AFLP analysis. More than 400 TDFs were expressed specifically in resistant line PI 292190. Atotal of 116 TDFs were cloned and their expression patterns and putative functions in the PRSV-resistance mechanism werefurther characterized. Subsequently, 28 out of 116 candidates which showed two-fold higher expression levels in resistant PI292190 than those in susceptible Acc. 2459 after virus inoculation were selected from the reverse northern blot andbioinformatic analysis. Furthermore, the time point expression profiles of these candidates by northern blot analysissuggested that they might play roles in resistance against PRSV and could potentially provide valuable information forcontrolling PRSV disease in the future

Estimating quality weights for EQ-5D (EuroQol-5 dimensions) health states with the time trade-off method in Taiwan

Background/PurposeEQ-5D (EuroQol-5 dimensions) is a preference-based measure of health, which is widely used in cost–utility analyses. It has been suggested that each country should develop its own value set. We therefore sought to develop the quality weights of the EQ-5D health states with the time trade-off (TTO) method in Taiwan.MethodsA total of 745 respondents consisting of employees and volunteers in 17 different hospitals were recruited and interviewed. Each of them valued 13 of 73 EQ-5D health states using the TTO method. Based on the three exclusion criteria for valuation data, only 456 (61.21%) respondents were considered eligible for data analysis. The quality weights for all EQ-5D health states were modeled by generalized estimating equations (GEEs).ResultsOver half of the responses were given negative values, and the medical personnel seemed to have a significantly higher TTO value (+0.1) than others after controlling for other predictors. The N3 model (level 3 occurred within at least 1 dimension) yielded an acceptable fit for the observed OTT data [mean absolute error (MAE) = 0.056, R2 = 0.35]. The magnitude of mean absolute differences (MADs) between Taiwan data and those from the UK, Japan, and South Korea ranged from 0.146 to 0.592, but the rank correlation coefficients were all above 0.811.ConclusionThis study reaffirms the differences in health-related preference values across countries. The high proportion of negative values might indicate that we have also partially measured the intensity of fear in addition to the utility of different health states

Japanese encephalitis virus induces matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression via a ROS/c-Src/PDGFR/PI3K/Akt/MAPKs-dependent AP-1 pathway in rat brain astrocytes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection is a major cause of acute encephalopathy in children, which destroys central nervous system (CNS) cells, including astrocytes and neurons. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 has been shown to degrade components of the basal lamina, leading to disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and to contribute to neuroinflammatory responses in many neurological diseases. However, the detailed mechanisms of JEV-induced MMP-9 expression in rat brain astrocytes (RBA-1 cells) are largely unclear.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, the effect of JEV on expression of MMP-9 was determined by gelatin zymography, western blot analysis, RT-PCR, and promoter assay. The involvement of AP-1 (c-Jun and c-Fos), c-Src, PDGFR, PI3K/Akt, and MAPKs in these responses were investigated by using the selective pharmacological inhibitors and transfection with siRNAs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we demonstrate that JEV induces expression of pro-form MMP-9 via ROS/c-Src/PDGFR/PI3K/Akt/MAPKs-dependent, AP-1 activation in RBA-1 cells. JEV-induced MMP-9 expression and promoter activity were inhibited by pretreatment with inhibitors of AP-1 (tanshinone), c-Src (PP1), PDGFR (AG1296), and PI3K (LY294002), and by transfection with siRNAs of c-Jun, c-Fos, PDGFR, and Akt. Moreover, JEV-stimulated AP-1 activation was inhibited by pretreatment with the inhibitors of c-Src, PDGFR, PI3K, and MAPKs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>From these results, we conclude that JEV activates the ROS/c-Src/PDGFR/PI3K/Akt/MAPKs pathway, which in turn triggers AP-1 activation and ultimately induces MMP-9 expression in RBA-1 cells. These findings concerning JEV-induced MMP-9 expression in RBA-1 cells imply that JEV might play an important role in CNS inflammation and diseases.</p

Sodium vanadate combined with l-ascorbic acid delays disease progression, enhances motor performance, and ameliorates muscle atrophy and weakness in mice with spinal muscular atrophy

BACKGROUND: Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a neurodegenerative disorder that causes infant mortality, has no effective treatment. Sodium vanadate has shown potential for the treatment of SMA; however, vanadate-induced toxicity in vivo remains an obstacle for its clinical application. We evaluated the therapeutic potential of sodium vanadate combined with a vanadium detoxification agent, L-ascorbic acid, in a SMA mouse model. METHODS: Sodium vanadate (200 μM), L-ascorbic acid (400 μM), or sodium vanadate combined with L-ascorbic acid (combined treatment) were applied to motor neuron-like NSC34 cells and fibroblasts derived from a healthy donor and a type II SMA patient to evaluate the cellular viability and the efficacy of each treatment in vitro. For the in vivo studies, sodium vanadate (20 mg/kg once daily) and L-ascorbic acid (40 mg/kg once daily) alone or in combination were orally administered daily on postnatal days 1 to 30. Motor performance, pathological studies, and the effects of each treatment (vehicle, L-ascorbic acid, sodium vanadate, and combined treatment) were assessed and compared on postnatal days (PNDs) 30 and 90. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to evaluate the survival rate, with P < 0.05 indicating significance. For other studies, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Student's t test for paired variables were used to measure significant differences (P < 0.05) between values. RESULTS: Combined treatment protected cells against vanadate-induced cell death with decreasing B cell lymphoma 2-associated X protein (Bax) levels. A month of combined treatment in mice with late-onset SMA beginning on postnatal day 1 delayed disease progression, improved motor performance in adulthood, enhanced survival motor neuron (SMN) levels and motor neuron numbers, reduced muscle atrophy, and decreased Bax levels in the spinal cord. Most importantly, combined treatment preserved hepatic and renal function and substantially decreased vanadium accumulation in these organs. CONCLUSIONS: Combined treatment beginning at birth and continuing for 1 month conferred protection against neuromuscular damage in mice with milder types of SMA. Further, these mice exhibited enhanced motor performance in adulthood. Therefore, combined treatment could present a feasible treatment option for patients with late-onset SMA

Comparative global immune-related gene profiling of somatic cells, human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives: implication for human lymphocyte proliferation.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced PSCs (iPSCs), represent potentially unlimited cell sources for clinical applications. Previous studies have suggested that hPSCs may benefit from immune privilege and limited immunogenicity, as reflected by the reduced expression of major histocompatibility complex class-related molecules. Here we investigated the global immune-related gene expression profiles of human ESCs, hiPSCs and somatic cells and identified candidate immune-related genes that may alter their immunogenicity. The expression levels of global immune-related genes were determined by comparing undifferentiated and differentiated stem cells and three types of human somatic cells: dermal papilla cells, ovarian granulosa cells and foreskin fibroblast cells. We identified the differentially expressed genes CD24, GATA3, PROM1, THBS2, LY96, IFIT3, CXCR4, IL1R1, FGFR3, IDO1 and KDR, which overlapped with selected immune-related gene lists. In further analyses, mammalian target of rapamycin complex (mTOR) signaling was investigated in the differentiated stem cells following treatment with rapamycin and lentiviral transduction with specific short-hairpin RNAs. We found that the inhibition of mTOR signal pathways significantly downregulated the immunogenicity of differentiated stem cells. We also tested the immune responses induced in differentiated stem cells by mixed lymphocyte reactions. We found that CD24- and GATA3-deficient differentiated stem cells including neural lineage cells had limited abilities to activate human lymphocytes. By analyzing the transcriptome signature of immune-related genes, we observed a tendency of the hPSCs to differentiate toward an immune cell phenotype. Taken together, these data identify candidate immune-related genes that might constitute valuable targets for clinical applications