5 research outputs found
The relationship between individual values and ethical judgements of Guanxi practices amongst Hong Kong managers
âGuanxiâ has been regarded as an integral part of Chinese culture and a source of corruption in daily life, especially in the workplace and business ethos. This paper used 160 Hong Kong managers working in an international bank to examine the relationship between individual values, as measured by the Chinese Value Survey (CCC, 1987) and their ethical judgements on incidents underpinned by the guanxi principals in the workplace. The results found that they scored, on average, lower on value dimensions relating to the more conventional and conservative aspects of Confucianism. In addition, among the different dimensions of Chinese values, only the more traditional conservative value dimensions were found to have some association with judgements that were influenced by guanxi principles
Applying the CiPA approach to evaluate cardiac proarrhythmia risk of some antimalarials used offâlabel in the first wave of COVIDâ19
We applied a set of in silico and in vitro assays, compliant with the CiPA (Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay) paradigm, to assess the risk of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquineâmediated QT prolongation and Torsades de Pointes (TdP), alone and combined with erythromycin and azithromycin, drugs repurposed during the first wave of COVIDâ19. Each drug or drug combination was tested in patch clamp assays on 7 cardiac ion channels, in in silico models of human ventricular electrophysiology (Virtual AssayÂź) using control (healthy) or highârisk cell populations, and in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)âderived cardiomyocytes. In each assay, concentrationâresponse curves encompassing and exceeding therapeutic free plasma levels were generated. Both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine showed blocking activity against some potassium, sodium and calcium currents. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine inhibited IKr (IC50: 1”M and 3â7”M, respectively) and IK1 currents (IC50: 5 and 44”M, respectively). When combining hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin, no synergistic effects were observed. The two macrolides had no or very weak effects on the ion currents (IC50>300â1000”M). Using Virtual AssayÂź, both antimalarials affected several TdP indicators, chloroquine being more potent than hydroxychloroquine. Effects were more pronounced in the highârisk cell population. In hiPSCâderived cardiomyocytes, all drugs showed earlyâafterâdepolarizations, except azithromycin. Combining chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine with a macrolide did not aggravate their effects. In conclusion, our integrated nonclinical CiPA dataset confirmed that, at therapeutic plasma concentrations relevant for malaria or offâlabel use in COVIDâ19, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine use is associated with a proarrhythmia risk, which is higher in populations carrying predisposing factors but not worsened with macrolide combination
Regional differences in business ethics in the Peopleâs Republic of China: A multi-dimensional approach to the effects of modernisation
Business ethics, China, Modernisation, Moral judgements, Regional differences,