Nocardia brain abscess - case report and literature review

Background and purposeNocardia species is an aerobic soil-saprophyte bacterium, responsible for rare opportunistic infections, mainly reported in immunocompromised patients. Nocardia brain abscess accounts for 1 to 2% of cerebral abscess. Abscesses are mainly located in the brain stem. Prognosis is poor.Methods The authors report one biloculated cerebral abscess case located in the left cerebellar and occipital lobes. We describe clinical, radiological and bacteriological findings and management; we also a review literature on Nocardia cerebral abscess.Case report A 56 year old man who was immunosuppressed, presented with headache and cerebellar syndrome. Head Computerised Tomography showed an irregularly enhancing cystic lesion in the left cerebellar and occipital lobes. He underwent posterior fossa cranitomy and chemotherapy that included high doses of Sulfamethoxazole-Trimethoprim and cefotaxime as microbateriologic examination revealed norcardia asteroids. He was eventually discharged home.Conclusion Nocardiasis is a rare cause of cerebral abcess in Morocco. Effective management includes early surgery and treatment with appropriate antibiotics

Bioprocessing in Microgravity: Applications of Continuous Flow Electrophoresis to Rat Anterior Pituitary Particles

In this report we describe the results of a continuous flow electrophoresis (CFE) experiment done on STS-65 in which we tested the idea that intracellular growth hormone (GH) particles contained in a cell lysate prepared from cultured rat anterior pituitary cells in microgravity might have different electrophoretic mobilities from those in a synchronous ground control cell lysate. Collectively, the results suggested that CFE processing in microgravity was better than on earth; more samples could be processed at a time (6 x) and more variant forms of GH molecules could be resolved as well. We had also hoped to carry out a pituitary cell CFE experiment, but failure of the hardware required that the actual cell electrophoresis trials be done on earth shortly after Shuttle landing. Data from these experiments showed that space-flown cells possessed a higher electrophoretic mobility than ground control cells, thereby offering evidence for the idea that exposure of cultured cells to microgravity can change their net surface charge-density especially when the cells are fed. Collectively, the results from this pituitary cell experiment document the advantage of using coupled cell culture and CFE techniques in the microgravity environment

Target company cross-border effects in acquisitions into the UK

We analyse the abnormal returns to target shareholders in crossborder and domestic acquisitions of UK companies. The crossborder effect during the bid month is small (0.84%), although crossborder targets gain significantly more than domestic targets during the months surrounding the bid. We find no evidence for the level of abnormal returns in crossborder acquisitions to be associated with market access or exchange rate effects, and only limited support for an international diversification effect. However, the crossborder effect appears to be associated with significant payment effects, and there is no significant residual crossborder effect once various bid characteristics are controlled for

Why Social Enterprises Are Asking to Be Multi-stakeholder and Deliberative: An Explanation around the Costs of Exclusion.

The study of multi-stakeholdership (and multi-stakeholder social enterprises in particular) is only at the start. Entrepreneurial choices which have emerged spontaneously, as well as the first legal frameworks approved in this direction, lack an adequate theoretical support. The debate itself is underdeveloped, as the existing understanding of organisations and their aims resist an inclusive, public interest view of enterprise. Our contribution aims at enriching the thin theoretical reflections on multi-stakeholdership, in a context where they are already established, i.e. that of social and personal services. The aim is to provide an economic justification on why the governance structure and decision-making praxis of the firm needs to account for multiple stakeholders. In particular with our analysis we want: a) to consider production and the role of firms in the context of the “public interest” which may or may not coincide with the non-profit objective; b) to ground the explanation of firm governance and processes upon the nature of production and the interconnections between demand and supply side; c) to explain that the costs associated with multi-stakeholder governance and deliberation in decision-making can increase internal efficiency and be “productive” since they lower internal costs and utilise resources that otherwise would go astray. The key insight of this work is that, differently from major interpretations, property costs should be compared with a more comprehensive range of costs, such as the social costs that emerge when the supply of social and personal services is insufficient or when the identification of aims and means is not shared amongst stakeholders. Our model highlights that when social costs derived from exclusion are high, even an enterprise with costly decisional processes, such as the multistakeholder, can be the most efficient solution amongst other possible alternatives

Bioactive growth hormone in older men and women: Its relationship to immune markers and healthspan

Objective: The consequences of age-related decline in the somatotropic axis of humans are complex and remain largely unresolved. We tested the hypothesis that hGH measurements of plasma by bioassay vs immunoassay from samples obtained from free-living, elderly individuals would reveal a dichotomy in GH activities that are correlated with the functional status of the donors, i.e. their healthspan. Design: Forty-one men and women of advanced age (men: N=16, age, 80.5±6.5years; height, 173.1±6.9cm; body mass, 81.8±13.0kg) and (women: N=25, age, 80.7±7.2years; height, 157.7±6.0cm; body mass, 68.8±17kg), were recruited for a cross-sectional study. Participants filled out PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services) scales, undertook physical performance tests and had fasted blood samples obtained at rest for measurement of hormonal and immunology biomarkers. Results: When measured by the well-established rat tibial line GH bioassay, one half of the plasma samples (n=20) contained bioassayable GH (bGH), but the other half (n=21) failed to mount increases in tibial plate width above saline injected controls. This difference did not correlate with the age, sex or physical functionality of the plasma donor. It also did not correlate with hGH concentrations measured by immunoassay. In those cases in which bGH was detected, various hierarchical regression models predicted that GHRH, c-peptide, VEGF, NPY, IL-4 and T-regulatory lymphocytes were associated with the difference and predicted bGH. Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that the actions of bGH at the cellular level may be modified by other factors and that this may explain the lack of correlations observed in this study

A perspective on multinational enterprise’s national identity dilemma

This conceptual paper identifies gaps and contributes to the literature on ‘identity’ dilemmas faced by multinational enterprises operating in a globalised world. Various characteristics and business strategies of multinational enterprises are delineated and analysed through the lens of social identity theory and international business concepts such as market and institutional logic. Our analysis, based on multiple cases, and derived from a variety of industries and countries, associates the identity dilemma to informed business strategy. Our findings suggest that while multinational enterprises face identity dilemmas that they sometimes use to their advantage, it also poses several challenges. Through our conceptualisation, we derive five distinct propositions to shape future research directions

Building professional discourse in emerging markets: Language, context and the challenge of sensemaking

Using ethnographic evidence from the former Soviet republics, this article examines a relatively new and mainly unobserved in the International Business (IB) literature phenomenon of communication disengagement that manifests itself in many emerging markets. We link it to the deficiencies of the local professional business discourse rooted in language limitations reflecting lack of experience with the market economy. This hampers cognitive coherence between foreign and local business entities, adding to the liability of foreignness as certain instances of professional experience fail to find adequate linguistic expression, and complicates cross-cultural adjustments causing multi-national companies (MNCs) financial losses. We contribute to the IB literature by examining cross-border semantic sensemaking through a retrospectively constructed observational study. We argue that a relative inadequacy of the national professional idiom is likely to remain a feature of business environment in post-communist economies for some time and therefore should be factored into business strategies of MNCs. Consequently, we recommend including discursive hazards in the risk evaluation of international projects

Modification of Experimental Protocols for a Space Shuttle Flight and Applications for the Analysis of Cytoskeletal Structures During Fertilization, Cell Division , and Development in Sea Urchin Embryos

To explore the role of microgravity on cytoskeletal organization and skeletal calcium deposition during fertilization, cell division, and early development, the sea urchin was chosen as a model developmental system. Methods were developed to employ light, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy on cultures being prepared for flight on the Space Shuttle. For analysis of microfilaments, microtubules, centrosomes, and calcium-requiring events, our standard laboratory protocols had to be modified substantially for experimentation on the Space Shuttle. All manipulations were carried out in a closed culture chamber containing 35 ml artificial sea water as a culture fluid. Unfertilized eggs stored for 24 hours in these chambers were fertilized with sperm diluted in sea water and fixed with concentrated fixatives for final fixation in formaldehyde, taxol, EGTA, and MgCl2(exp -6)H2O for 1 cell to 16 cell stages to preserve cytoskeletal structures for simultaneous analysis with light, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy, and 1.5 percent glutaraldehyde and 0.4 percent formaldehyde for blastula and plueus stages. The fixed samples wre maintained in chambers without degradation for up to two weeks after which the specimens were processed and analyzed with routine methods. Since complex manipulations are not possible in the closed chambers, the fertilization coat was removed from fixation using 0.5 percent freshly prepared sodium thioglycolate solution at pH 10.0 which provided reliable immunofluorescence staining for microtubules. Sperm/egg fusion, mitosis, cytokinesis, and calcium deposition during spicule formatin in early embryogenesis were found to be without artificial alterations when compared to cells fixed fresh and processed with conventional methods