Determinan peningkatan jumlah nasabah di PT. Bank Sumut Cabang Syariah Padangsidimpuan

Perkembangan jumlah nasabah yang ada di PT. Bank Sumut Cabang Syariah Padangsidimpuan selalu mengalami peningkatan pertumbuhan, akan tetapi peningkatan pertumbuhannya tidak begitu signifikan setiap tahunnya. Hal ini dapat diketahui pada tahun 2016 jumlah nasabahnya sebesar 18.319 orang, kemudian pada tahun 2017 mengalami kenaikan sebesar 12,5%, pada tahun 2018 juga mengalami kenaikan sebesar 11,9%, kemudian tahun berikutnya juga pada tahun 2019 mengalami kenaikan sebesar 9,7% dan pada tahun 2020 mengalami kenaikan sebesar 6,3%.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh pelayanan, promosi dan lokasi terhadap peningkatan jumlah nasabah yang ada di PT. Bank Sumut Cabang Syariah Padangsidimpuan. Teori-teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini berkaitan dengan pengertian nasabah, cara mengukur tingkat kepuasan nasabah, pengertian pelayanan, tujuan pelayanan, faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pelayanan, pengertian promosi, tujuan promosi, target promosi, sarana promosi, pengertian lokasi dan jenis-jenis kantor bank. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif. Sampel yang digunakan sebanyak 100 responden. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah kuesioner, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Analisis data yang digunakan adalah uji validitas, uji reliabilitas, uji normalitas, uji linearitas, uji parsial (uji t), uji simultan (uji f), uji koefisien determinasi (R2 ) serta analisis regresi linear berganda. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian yang dilakukan peneliti dengan menggunakan program SPSS versi 23 diperoleh bahwa variabel pelayanan tidak berpengaruh secara parsial terhadap peningkatan jumlah nasabah. Variabel promosi berpengaruh secara parsial terhadap peningkatan jumlah nasabah. Variabel lokasi berpengaruh secara parsial terhadap peningkatan jumlah nasabah. Sedangkan hasil uji f menunjukkan bahwa variabel pelayanan, promosi dan lokasi secara simultan memiliki pengaruh terhadap peningkatan jumlah nasabah yang ada di PT. Bank Sumut Cabang Syariah Padangsidimpuan

Ile587Val Polymorphism of the eIF2B5 Gene as Susceptibility Factor for Multiple Sclerosis

ABSTRAC

H2S biosynthesis and catabolism: new insights from molecular studies

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has profound biological effects within living organisms and is now increasingly being considered alongside other gaseous signalling molecules, such as nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Conventional use of pharmacological and molecular approaches has spawned a rapidly growing research field that has identified H2S as playing a functional role in cell-signalling and post-translational modifications. Recently, a number of laboratories have reported the use of siRNA methodologies and genetic mouse models to mimic the loss of function of genes involved in the biosynthesis and degradation of H2S within tissues. Studies utilising these systems are revealing new insights into the biology of H2S within the cardiovascular system, inflammatory disease, and in cell signalling. In light of this work, the current review will describe recent advances in H2S research made possible by the use of molecular approaches and genetic mouse models with perturbed capacities to generate or detoxify physiological levels of H2S gas within tissue

Scaling slowly rotating asteroids with stellar occultations

Context. As evidenced by recent survey results, the majority of asteroids are slow rotators (spin periods longer than 12 h), but lack spin and shape models because of selection bias. This bias is skewing our overall understanding of the spins, shapes, and sizes of asteroids, as well as of their other properties. Also, diameter determinations for large (>60 km) and medium-sized asteroids (between 30 and 60 km) often vary by over 30% for multiple reasons. Aims. Our long-term project is focused on a few tens of slow rotators with periods of up to 60 h. We aim to obtain their full light curves and reconstruct their spins and shapes. We also precisely scale the models, typically with an accuracy of a few percent. Methods. We used wide sets of dense light curves for spin and shape reconstructions via light-curve inversion. Precisely scaling them with thermal data was not possible here because of poor infrared datasets: large bodies tend to saturate in WISE mission detectors. Therefore, we recently also launched a special campaign among stellar occultation observers, both in order to scale these models and to verify the shape solutions, often allowing us to break the mirror pole ambiguity. Results. The presented scheme resulted in shape models for 16 slow rotators, most of them for the first time. Fitting them to chords from stellar occultation timings resolved previous inconsistencies in size determinations. For around half of the targets, this fitting also allowed us to identify a clearly preferred pole solution from the pair of two mirror pole solutions, thus removing the ambiguity inherent to light-curve inversion. We also address the influence of the uncertainty of the shape models on the derived diameters. Conclusions. Overall, our project has already provided reliable models for around 50 slow rotators. Such well-determined and scaled asteroid shapes will, for example, constitute a solid basis for precise density determinations when coupled with mass information. Spin and shape models in general continue to fill the gaps caused by various biases

Potential Role of miRNAs as Theranostic Biomarkers of Epilepsy

Epilepsy includes a group of disorders of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate epileptic seizures. Although familial epilepsy has a genetic component and heritability, the etiology of the majority of non-familial epilepsies has no known associated genetic mutations. In epilepsy, recent epigenetic profiles have highlighted a possible role of microRNAs in its pathophysiology. In particular, molecular profiling identifies a significant number of microRNAs (miRNAs) altered in epileptic hippocampus of both animal models and human tissues. In this review, analyzing molecular profiles of different animal models of epilepsy, we identified a group of 20 miRNAs commonly altered in different epilepsy-animal models. As emerging evidences highlighted the poor overlap between signatures of animal model tissues and human samples, we focused our analysis on miRNAs, circulating in human biofluids, with a principal role in epilepsy hallmarks, and we identified a group of 8 diagnostic circulating miRNAs. We discussed the functional role of these 8 miRNAs in the epilepsy hallmarks. A few of them have also been proposed as therapeutic molecules for epilepsy treatment, revealing a great potential for miRNAs as theranostic molecules in epilepsy. Keywords: microRNA, miRNA, epilepsy, biomarker, diagnosis, theranostic molecule

Exosomal miRNAs as Potential Diagnostic Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disease, is linked to a variety of internal and external factors present from the early stages of the disease. There are several risk factors related to the pathogenesis of AD, among these exosomes and microRNAs (miRNAs) are of particular importance. Exosomes are nanocarriers released from many different cell types, including neuronal cells. Through the transfer of bioactive molecules, they play an important role both in the maintenance of physiological and in pathological conditions. Exosomes could be carriers of potential biomarkers useful for the assessment of disease progression and for therapeutic applications. miRNAs are small noncoding endogenous RNA sequences active in the regulation of protein expression, and alteration of miRNA expression can result in a dysregulation of key genes and pathways that contribute to disease development. Indeed, the involvement of exosomal miRNAs has been highlighted in various neurodegenerative diseases, and this opens the possibility that dysregulated exosomal miRNA profiles may influence AD disease. The advances in exosome-related biomarker detection in AD are summarized. Finally, in this review, we highlight the use of exosomal miRNAs as essential biomarkers in preclinical and clinical studies in Alzheimer’s disease, also taking a look at their potential clinical value

Non-Coding RNAs: New Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of focal epilepsy; it is considered a network disorder associated with structural changes. Incomplete knowledge of the pathological changes in TLE complicates a therapeutic approach; indeed, 30 to 50% of patients with TLE are refractory to drug treatment. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), acting as epigenetic factors, participate in the regulation of the pathophysiological processes of epilepsy and are dysregulated during epileptogenesis. Abnormal expression of ncRNA is observed in patients with epilepsy and in animal models of epilepsy. Furthermore, ncRNAs could also be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of treatment response in epilepsy. In summary, ncRNAs can represent important mechanisms and targets for the modulation of brain excitability and can provide information on pathomechanisms, biomarkers and novel therapies for epilepsy. In this review, we summarize the latest research advances concerning mainly molecular mechanisms, regulated by ncRNA, such as synaptic plasticity, inflammation and apoptosis, already associated with the pathogenesis of TLE. Moreover, we discuss the role of ncRNAs, such as microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs, in the pathophysiology of epilepsy, highlighting their use as potential biomarkers for future therapeutic approaches

A Canine Distemper Virus Retrospective Study Conducted from 2011 to 2019 in Central Italy (Latium and Tuscany Regions)

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly lethal contagious viral pathogen mainly found in domestic and wild canids and mustelids. Although, in Italy, circulating strains of Europe 1, Europe wildlife and Arctic type are reported, data relating to Latium and Tuscany regions are limited. In view of this, through passive surveillance, we investigated the presence of CDV and which strains were circulating in these Regions. From March 2017 to October 2019, a group of 122 subjects were tested for CDV using a PCR protocol described in the literature, with 12 detected positive; analyses were carried out on a set of target samples (brain and lung, conjunctival, nasal and rectal swabs, urine or swab from bladder and intracardiac clot) that was defined for the detection of CDV in both live and dead animals. The rectal swab, easily collected also from live animals, represented the most suitable sample for CDV diagnosis, with 9 positive of the 11 (81.82%) tested. In addition, brain and lung of 15 subjects out of 181 susceptible animals collected between 2011 and 2018, during post mortem investigations in routine diagnostic activity, were CDV positive. Molecular analyses of all positive samples, using a 287 bp fragment located within the conserved N terminus of the morbillivirus nucleoprotein gene, detected the circulation of strain CDV599/2016 (KX545421.1) belonging to the “Europe wildlife” lineage, and of strain CDV12254/2015 (KX024709.1), belonging to the Arctic-lineage, thus confirming the co-circulation of the two lineages, as already noted in previous studies

DEPDC5 mutations are not a frequent cause of familial temporal lobe epilepsy

SummaryMutations in the DEPDC5 (DEP domain–containing protein 5) gene are a major cause of familial focal epilepsy with variable foci (FFEVF) and are predicted to account for 12–37% of families with inherited focal epilepsies. To assess the clinical impact of DEPDC5 mutations in familial temporal lobe epilepsy, we screened a collection of Italian families with either autosomal dominant lateral temporal epilepsy (ADLTE) or familial mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (FMTLE). The probands of 28 families classified as ADLTE and 17 families as FMTLE were screened for DEPDC5 mutations by whole exome or targeted massive parallel sequencing. Putative mutations were validated by Sanger sequencing. We identified a DEPDC5 nonsense mutation (c.918C>G; p.Tyr306*) in a family with two affected members, clinically classified as FMTLE. The proband had temporal lobe seizures with prominent psychic symptoms (déjà vu, derealization, and forced thoughts); her mother had temporal lobe seizures, mainly featuring visceral epigastric auras and anxiety. In total, we found a single DEPDC5 mutation in one of (2.2%) 45 families with genetic temporal lobe epilepsy, a proportion much lower than that reported in other inherited focal epilepsies

Circulating microRNAs as Potential Novel Diagnostic Biomarkers to Predict Drug Resistance in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Pilot Study

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that have emerged as new potential epigenetic biomarkers. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of six circulating miRNA previously described in the literature as biomarkers for the diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and/or as predictive biomarkers to antiepileptic drug response. We measured the differences in serum miRNA levels by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays in a cohort of 27 patients (14 women and 13 men; mean ± SD age: 43.65 ± 17.07) with TLE compared to 20 healthy controls (HC) matched for sex, age and ethnicity (11 women and 9 men; mean ± SD age: 47.5 ± 9.1). Additionally, patients were classified according to whether they had drug-responsive (n = 17) or drug-resistant (n = 10) TLE. We have investigated any correlations between miRNAs and several electroclinical parameters. Three miRNAs (miR-142, miR-146a, miR-223) were significantly upregulated in patients (expressed as average expression ± SD). In detail, miR-142 expression was 0.40 ± 0.29 vs. 0.16 ± 0.10 in TLE patients compared to HC (t-test, p t-test, p t-test, p < 0.001). Moreover, results obtained from a logistic regression model showed the good performance of miR-142 and miR-223 in distinguishing drug-sensitive vs. drug-resistant TLE. The results of this pilot study give evidence that miRNAs are suitable targets in TLE and offer the rationale for further confirmation studies in larger epilepsy cohorts