Developing the islamic financial services sector in Italy: An institutional theory perspective

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2016. The Islamic Financial Services (IFS) sector has experienced wider consumer acceptance and rapid growth since its commercial launch in the 1970s. This growth has primarily been in countries in Asia such as Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Middle East region. Although non-Muslim majority countries like Hong Kong and Singapore have taken positive strides in developing the sector, European countries have lagged behind their Asian counterparts (Daily Times, 2013). Europe is host to a large Muslim population, but the lack of developed Islamic financial institutions means that the potential of IFS product offerings is yet to be fully realized in the region (Volk and Pudelko, 2010)

Heart rate variability in critical care medicine: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Heart rate variability (HRV) has been used to assess cardiac autonomic activity in critically ill patients, driven by translational and biomarker research agendas. Several clinical and technical factors can interfere with the measurement and/or interpretation of HRV. We systematically evaluated how HRV parameters are acquired/processed in critical care medicine. METHODS: PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (1996-2016) were searched for cohort or case-control clinical studies of adult (>18 years) critically ill patients using heart variability analysis. Duplicate independent review and data abstraction. Study quality was assessed using two independent approaches: Newcastle-Ottowa scale and Downs and Black instrument. Conduct of studies was assessed in three categories: (1) study design and objectives, (2) procedures for measurement, processing and reporting of HRV, and (3) reporting of relevant confounding factors. RESULTS: Our search identified 31/271 eligible studies that enrolled 2090 critically ill patients. A minority of studies (15; 48%) reported both frequency and time domain HRV data, with non-normally distributed, wide ranges of values that were indistinguishable from other (non-critically ill) disease states. Significant heterogeneity in HRV measurement protocols was observed between studies; lack of adjustment for various confounders known to affect cardiac autonomic regulation was common. Comparator groups were often omitted (n = 12; 39%). This precluded meaningful meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Marked differences in methodology prevent meaningful comparisons of HRV parameters between studies. A standardised set of consensus criteria relevant to critical care medicine are required to exploit advances in translational autonomic physiology.GLA is supported by a British Journal of Anaesthesia and Royal College of Anaesthetists Basic Science fellowship, British Oxygen Company grant from the Royal College of Anaesthetists and British Heart Foundation programme grant (RG/14/4/3073

Performance of Multiplex Cytokine Assays in Serum and Saliva among Community-Dwelling Postmenopausal Women

Multiplexing arrays increase the throughput and decrease sample requirements for studies employing multiple biomarkers. The goal of this project was to examine the performance of Multiplex arrays for measuring multiple protein biomarkers in saliva and serum. Specimens from the OsteoPerio ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study were used. Participants required the presence of at least 6 teeth and were excluded based on active cancer and certain bone issues but were not selected on any specific condition. Quality control (QC) samples were created from pooled serum and saliva. Twenty protein markers were measured on five multiplexing array panels. Sample pretreatment conditions were optimized for each panel. Recovery, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) and imprecision were determined for each analyte. Statistical adjustment at the plate level was used to reduce imprecision estimates and increase the number of usable observations. Sample pre-treatment improved recovery estimates for many analytes. The LLOQ for each analyte agreed with manufacturer specifications except for MMP-1 and MMP-2 which were significantly higher than reported. Following batch adjustment, 17 of 20 biomarkers in serum and 9 of 20 biomarkers in saliva demonstrated acceptable precision, defined as <20% coefficient of variation (<25% at LLOQ). The percentage of cohort samples having levels within the reportable range for each analyte varied from 10% to 100%. The ratio of levels in saliva to serum varied from 1:100 to 28:1. Correlations between saliva and serum were of moderate positive magnitude and significant for CRP, MMP-2, insulin, adiponectin, GM-CSF and IL-5. Multiplex arrays exhibit high levels of analytical imprecision, particularly at the batch level. Careful sample pre-treatment can enhance recovery and reduce imprecision. Following statistical adjustments to reduce batch effects, we identified biomarkers that are of acceptable quality in serum and to a lesser degree in saliva using Multiplex arrays

Descriptive statistics of all study participant serum samples tested for “10-plex” Panel (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10, IL-2, IL-5, IL-8, GM-CSF) and “4-plex” Panel (TNF-α and MCP-1).

<p>Total N Tested; number of participant samples sent for testing, Total N pass QC; number of participant samples after removal of failed QC batches,</p><p>% above/below; percent of samples to pass QC but fall above or below the quantifiable range of the assay based on <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0059498#pone-0059498-t003" target="_blank">table 3</a>.</p><p>1– TNF-α assayed as part of the 10-Plex.</p><p>2– TNF-α assayed with MCP-1.</p