On Online Engagement: Does the Leadership Style Matter?

The news industry is facing tremendous changes. Integrating digital technologies into news practices has become the key to survival. Social media engagement editors are one of such innovations to respond to the challenge. Engagement editors are required to facilitate the functions of marketing, editing, content production, and data analysis. They thus play the role of boundary-spanner within and beyond the organizational boundaries. However, there are few studies to explore issues associated with the management of social media engagement editors. This research examines whether and how the leadership style (i.e., transformational and passive leadership style) influences engagement editors’ job performance. We collected 122 valid responses, and used the SmartPLS 3 and SPSS 19.0 to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that performance of engagement editors is influenced by the leadership style; moreover, job autonomy mediates the positive effect of transformational leadership on engagement editors’ job performance. Implications for the management of social media engagement editors are discussed

Dematel digraph: A decision making tool for project practitioners and researchers during covid-19 pandemic

DEMATEL DIGRAPH is a new invention that generates directed graph (Digraph) based on DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) algorithm. Helps students and project practitioners in solving complex decision problems, identifying critical risks and analyzing causeeffect chain components of a complex system

Kimura’s disease: A clinicopathological study of 23 cases

IntroductionKimura’s disease (KD) is an uncommon lymphoproliferative fibroinflammatory disorder. Patients present with head and neck subcutaneous nodules with or without lymphadenopathy. Peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels are typical. This study was designed to delineate the clinicopathological features, pattern of care, and disease course of 23 Taiwanese patients with KD.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 23 consecutive cases (16 male and 7 female; age at diagnosis: 12–77 years) of KD diagnosed at our institution from 2015 to 2020.ResultsThe median time from presentation to diagnosis was 1 month. Twenty-one patients presented with unilateral or bilateral head and neck masses. The remaining two presented with right flank and right arm lesions, respectively. Peripheral blood eosinophilia was observed in nine, and elevated IgE levels were observed in four. All were diagnosed using either excisional or core-needle biopsy. Seven patients underwent fine needle aspiration without a diagnostic yield. Salivary gland and lymph node involvement was observed in three and seven patients, respectively. Most lesions showed tissue eosinophilia (100%) and florid follicular hyperplasia (78.26%). Three cases had histological KD-IgG4-RD overlap and three had comorbid IgG4-RD were recognized. Thirteen patients underwent surgical resection, one received adjuvant therapy, and two received prednisolone monotherapy.ConclusionKD should be considered in patients with subcutaneous masses, eosinophilia, and elevated IgE levels. Biopsy remains the gold standard of diagnosis. Increased recruitment of IgG4+ plasma cells is a common feature. Consideration of IgG4-RD in all KD patients may be prudent

Critical Risk Factors in Construction Projects: A Dematel-Based Model

Construction projects are defenceless to more risks compared to the other industries due to their nature and complexities. These risks can lead to performance reductions, increased costs, scheduling delays, and even project failure. It is noted that the success of the project depends on identifying the most common risk factors and mitigate them effectively. Numerous studies have discussed the significance of investigating the critical risks in the construction projects but the complex causal relationships among the risk factors and their relative significance with respect to each other remain unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical risk factors and investigate the interrelationship among the risk factors in the construction projects. Detailed literature review has been conducted and ten risk factors were identified. Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is employed in the study to prioritize the risks and then analyse the causal relationship among the factors. Based on the interview data from thirteen experts, the results show design risks are the critical risk factors. The findings in this study can provide structural visualization of complex causal relationships among risk factors and also allow construction experts to prioritize the resource allocation to achieve project objectives. Keywords: Construction Industry; Critical Risks; Decision Making Trial & Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)

The Change of Immunoactivity of Dendritic Cells Induced by Mouse 4-1BBL Recombinant Adenovirus

*These authors contributed equally to this work. ∙The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to construct a recombinant adenovirus vector carrying mouse 4-1BBL and observe its effects in dendritic cells. Materials and Methods: Mouse 4-1BBL cDNA was taken from the plasmid pcDNA3-m4-1BBL and subcloned into adenovirus shuttle plasmid pAdTrack-CMV, and then transformed into competent BJ5183 with plasmid pAdEasy-1. After recombination in E. coli, Ad-4-1BBL was packaged and amplified in HEK 293 cells. The expression of 4-1BBL in Ad-4-1BBL-transfected mouse prostate cancer cell line RM-1 was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. After the co-culture of dendritic cells (DCs) with Ad-4-1BBLtransfected RM-1 cells, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-12 production were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and co-stimulatary moleculs (CD80 and CD86) on DCs were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: The levels of IL-6 (3,960 pg/mL) and IL-12 (249 pg/mL) production in Ad-m4-1BBL-pulsed DCs were more than those in none-pulsed DCs. The differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The expression of co-stimulatary molecules (CD80 and CD86) was up-regulated in Ad-m4-1BBL-pulsed DCs. Conclusion: The results indicated the recombinant mouse 4-1BBL can effectively activate DCs

Measuring the likeliness among young adults to green their homes

It requires a team effort to reduce our overall impact on the planet earth. If each of us would do our parts, we could preserve the environment well and give our future generations a clean and comfortable place to live. Sustainability starts at home. Ways to green our homes have been suggested by people from all walks of life and are easily available as well. However, very little attention has been paid to the extent to which the people would take the initiative to green their homes. With the intention to explore the topic of home greening, this research aims to measure the likeliness among young adults to green their homes. Young adults are targeted because they are future leaders and their actions today will have an effect on the quality of the environment for the next fifty to one hundred years. The data needed are collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Eighty-eight young adults living in the Klang Valley of Malaysia have responded to the survey form but only eighty-five sets of it are analysable after detecting outliers. Mean ranking analysis is performed to rank the home greening efforts made by the respondents. The results show that the respondents have highest tendency to use energy-efficient appliances and water-saving devices, fixtures, and technologies for their homes to save the environment. On the contrary, the respondents have lowest tendency to find creative ways to recycle household goods at their homes to save the environment. In general, there is no significant difference in the home greening tendency levels of males and females

Metabolic syndrome and abdominal fat are associated with inflammation, but not with clinical outcomes, in peritoneal dialysis patients

BACKGROUND: In the general population, metabolic syndrome (MetS) is correlated with visceral fat and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, little is known about the significance of abdominal fat and its association with inflammation and medication use in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. We investigated the relationship of visceral fat area (VFA) with C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and medication use in PD patients and followed their clinical outcomes. METHODS: In a prospective study from February 2009 to February 2012, we assessed diabetes mellitus (DM) status, clinical and PD-associated characteristics, medication use, CRP levels, components of MetS, and VFA in 183 PD patients. These patients were categorized into 3 groups based on MetS and DM status: non-MetS (group 1, n = 73), MetS (group 2, n = 65), and DM (group 3, n = 45). VFA was evaluated by computed tomography (CT) and corrected for body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: Patients in group 1 had smaller VFAs than patients in groups 2 and 3 (3.2 ± 1.8, 4.6 ± 1.9, and 4.9 ± 2.0 cm(2)/[kg/m(2)], respectively, P < 0.05) and lower CRP levels (0.97 ± 2.31, 1.27 ± 2.57, and 1.11 ± 1.35 mg/dL, respectively, P < 0.05). VFA increased with the number of criteria met for MetS. After adjusting for age, body weight, and sex, CRP and albumin levels functioned as independent positive predictors of VFA; on other hand, the use of renin-angiotensin system blockers was inversely correlated with VFA in PD patients without DM. In the survival analysis, DM patients (group 3) had the poorest survival among the 3 groups, but no significant differences were found between groups 1 and 2. CONCLUSION: This study showed that VFA and MetS are associated with CRP levels but cannot predict survival in PD patients without DM. The complex relationship of nutritional parameters to VFA and MetS may explain these results. The type of antihypertensive medication used was also associated with the VFA. The mechanisms behind these findings warrant further investigation

Preliminary study of neuroimaging and psychophysiology in adults with ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder  (ADHD) affects in both children and adults leading to poor executive functioning and quality of life. However, very little study focuses on neuroimaging and psychophysiology in the adults with ADHD. This preliminary study aimed to report neuroimaging and psychophysiology outcomes in the adults with ADHD. Participants in this study consisted of three groups: unaffected fathers of offspring with ADHD, adults with ADHD, and matched controls, were enrolled. A psychological battery was used in order to assess the participants’ cool cognitive function. Levels of dopaminergic activity were assessed by using the single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) with [99mTc] TRODAT-1. In a pilot test for further study, the Iowa gambling test in a mock functional MRI was conducted. Molecular neuroimaging indicated the pivotal role of dopaminergicactivity altered a swellas functional brain imaging demonstrated difference between cool and hot executive functions. Using the Event-Related Potentials (ERP), the P300 amplitude of adults with ADHD was found to be lower than healthy group. In conclusions, Neuroimaging and psychophysiology outcome were effectively identified in adult with ADHD. Further study of neuroendocrinological factors might be related

Hypermethylation of the TGF-β target, ABCA1 is associated with poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients

Background The dysregulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling plays a crucial role in ovarian carcinogenesis and in maintaining cancer stem cell properties. Classified as a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family, ABCA1 was previously identified by methylated DNA immunoprecipitation microarray (mDIP-Chip) to be methylated in ovarian cancer cell lines, A2780 and CP70. By microarray, it was also found to be upregulated in immortalized ovarian surface epithelial (IOSE) cells following TGF-β treatment. Thus, we hypothesized that ABCA1 may be involved in ovarian cancer and its initiation. Results We first compared the expression level of ABCA1 in IOSE cells and a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines and found that ABCA1 was expressed in HeyC2, SKOV3, MCP3, and MCP2 ovarian cancer cell lines but downregulated in A2780 and CP70 ovarian cancer cell lines. The reduced expression of ABCA1 in A2780 and CP70 cells was associated with promoter hypermethylation, as demonstrated by bisulfite pyro-sequencing. We also found that knockdown of ABCA1 increased the cholesterol level and promoted cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Further analysis of ABCA1 methylation in 76 ovarian cancer patient samples demonstrated that patients with higher ABCA1 methylation are associated with high stage (P = 0.0131) and grade (P = 0.0137). Kaplan-Meier analysis also found that patients with higher levels of methylation of ABCA1 have shorter overall survival (P = 0.019). Furthermore, tissue microarray using 55 ovarian cancer patient samples revealed that patients with a lower level of ABCA1 expression are associated with shorter progress-free survival (P = 0.038). Conclusions ABCA1 may be a tumor suppressor and is hypermethylated in a subset of ovarian cancer patients. Hypermethylation of ABCA1 is associated with poor prognosis in these patients