Analysis of Indoor Environmental Quality Influence toward Occupants’ Work Performance in Kompleks Eureka, USM

Indoor environment much more important for people health and comfort than the outdoor environment for most people who spend most of their living times in industrialized countries lives in an artificial indoor environment. Along these lines, this research is to upgrade indoor environmental quality conditions for comfort and work performance of occupants in Kompleks Eureka, USM while conserving energy of the building. Detailed field investigations of the indoor environment in large office buildings in many parts of the world have documented that the indoor environmental quality is typically rather mediocre, with many people dissatisfied and many suffering from sick-building syndrome symptoms. Recent studies have shown an important impact of the indoor thermal environment on occupants work performance. Also studies on occupants medical leave show a very high loss of work time and working performance, which have important economical consequences for companies. The paper will mainly dealing with the indoor environmental qualities, such as thermal comfort level, air quality, lighting, and acoustic quality. The studies before showing that comfortable room temperatures, increased air ventilation above normal recommendation, comfortable acoustic surrounding will increases the work performance of occupants in Kompleks Eureka, USM

Review of Material Supply Chain Management during Pre-construction Phases in Malaysia

Construction materials play significant role in construction industry which therefore requires fully attention when creating project plan. Materials form a large part in total cost of construction project. The absence of materials when needed is one of the main causes of loss of productivity in a worksite.Current materials management practices in the construction industry are performed on fragmented basis with many problems faced when managing material supply chain, especially during pre-construction phases. These problems are the main root that causing performance-related problems such as delay in material ordering and receiving, low productivity, cost and time overrun, conflict and disputes. Thus, this paper reviews and discusses the activities and problems faced in material supply chain management during pre-construction phases. It also reasons out on the potential of SCM to be the way forward for improving problems of construction industry (i.e. material supply chain management).A series of in-depth literature review was conducted towards digging the relevant points towards achieving the aims of this paper.In the end, it was clear that material supply chain practices at pre-construction phases are still at below optimum level and that SCM literatures strongly support of it being the potential saviour

Sex Steroids Induce Membrane Stress Responses and Virulence Properties in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Estrogen, a major female sex steroid hormone, has been shown to promote the selection of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the airways of patients with chronic respiratory diseases, including cystic fibrosis. This results in long-term persistence, poorer clinical outcomes, and limited therapeutic options. In this study, we demonstrate that at physiological concentrations, sex steroids, including testosterone and estriol, induce membrane stress responses in P. aeruginosa This is characterized by increased virulence and consequent inflammation and release of proinflammatory outer membrane vesicles promoting in vivo persistence of the bacteria. The steroid-induced P. aeruginosa response correlates with the molecular polarity of the hormones and membrane fluidic properties of the bacteria. This novel mechanism of interaction between sex steroids and P. aeruginosa explicates the reported increased disease severity observed in females with cystic fibrosis and provides evidence for the therapeutic potential of the modulation of sex steroids to achieve better clinical outcomes in patients with hormone-responsive strains.IMPORTANCE Molecular mechanisms by which sex steroids interact with P. aeruginosa to modulate its virulence have yet to be reported. Our work provides the first characterization of a steroid-induced membrane stress mechanism promoting P. aeruginosa virulence, which includes the release of proinflammatory outer membrane vesicles, resulting in inflammation, host tissue damage, and reduced bacterial clearance. We further demonstrate that at nanomolar (physiological) concentrations, male and female sex steroids promote virulence in clinical strains of P. aeruginosa based on their dynamic membrane fluidic properties. This work provides, for the first-time, mechanistic insight to better understand and predict the P. aeruginosa related response to sex steroids and explain the interindividual patient variability observed in respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis that are complicated by gender differences and chronic P. aeruginosa infection

Sex steroids induce membrane stress responses and virulence properties in pseudomonas aeruginosa

© 2020 Vidaillac et al. Estrogen, a major female sex steroid hormone, has been shown to promote the selection of mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the airways of patients with chronic respiratory diseases, including cystic fibrosis. This results in long-term persistence, poorer clinical outcomes, and limited therapeutic options. In this study, we demonstrate that at physiological concentrations, sex steroids, including testosterone and estriol, induce membrane stress responses in P. aeruginosa. This is characterized by increased virulence and consequent inflammation and release of proinflammatory outer membrane vesicles promoting in vivo persistence of the bacteria. The steroid-induced P. aeruginosa response correlates with the molecular polarity of the hormones and membrane fluidic properties of the bacteria. This novel mechanism of interaction between sex steroids and P. aeruginosa explicates the reported increased disease severity observed in females with cystic fibrosis and provides evidence for the therapeutic potential of the modulation of sex steroids to achieve better clinical outcomes in patients with hormone-responsive strains. IMPORTANCE Molecular mechanisms by which sex steroids interact with P. aeruginosa to modulate its virulence have yet to be reported. Our work provides the first characterization of a steroid-induced membrane stress mechanism promoting P. aeruginosa virulence, which includes the release of proinflammatory outer membrane vesicles, resulting in inflammation, host tissue damage, and reduced bacterial clearance. We further demonstrate that at nanomolar (physiological) concentrations, male and female sex steroids promote virulence in clinical strains of P. aeruginosa based on their dynamic membrane fluidic properties. This work provides, for the first-time, mechanistic insight to better understand and predict the P. aeruginosa related response to sex steroids and explain the interindividual patient variability observed in respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis that are complicated by gender differences and chronic P. aeruginosa infection

Smoking Cessation Among Methadone-Maintained Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Nicotine use disorder is highly prevalent among methadone maintenance patients with its tobacco-related problems. However, the treatment modalities for nicotine use disorder remain limited. Objective: Our meta-analysis aims to examine the effectiveness of smoking cessation treatment in this group of patients. Methods: A total of 1358 participants were recruited from 9 eligible studies, published from the start of studies in this field till Feb 2016, identified from PubMed, OVID, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases. Two independent reviewers assessed the eligibility of each report based on predefined inclusion criteria. Pooled odd ratios or weighted mean difference was performed using random effects. Results: The treatments for smoking cessation among MMT patients are behavioral and pharmacological therapies. Smoking cessation was better achieved with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) especially with adjunctive behavioral therapy. The pooled odds ratio of smokers’ abstinence of smoking by the end of the treatment between NRT and placebo group was 6.32 (95% CI = 1.18 to 33.75, p = 0.03) and is statistically significant. Any additional behavior therapy among MMT patients who received the smoking cessation pharmacotherapy as the primary treatment was not better than those who only received standard care (Odds ratio was 2.53, 95% CI = 0.75 to 8.56, p = 0.14). Conclusions: Although NRT is proven to be effective in smoking cessation, more studies are warranted to prove the effects of other pharmacotherapy in smoking cessation

Neuroblastoma patient-derived cultures are enriched for a mesenchymal gene signature and reflect individual drug response

10.1111/cas.14610Cancer Science111103780-379

SARS-CoV-2 in migrant worker dormitories: Geospatial epidemiology supporting outbreak management

10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.148INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES103389-394completedcomplete

Characterisation of liver pathogenesis, human immune responses and drug testing in a humanised mouse model of HCV infection

Objective HCV infection affects millions of people worldwide, and many patients develop chronic infection leading to liver cancers. For decades, the lack of a small animal model that can recapitulate HCV infection, its immunopathogenesis and disease progression has impeded the development of an effective vaccine and therapeutics. We aim to provide a humanised mouse model for the understanding of HCV-specific human immune responses and HCV-associated disease pathologies. Design Recently, we have established human liver cells with a matched human immune system in NOD-scid Il2rg−/− (NSG) mice (HIL mice). These mice are infected with HCV by intravenous injection, and the pathologies are investigated. Results In this study, we demonstrate that HIL mouse is capable of supporting HCV infection and can present some of the clinical symptoms found in HCV-infected patients including hepatitis, robust virus-specific human immune cell and cytokine responses as well as liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Similar to results obtained from the analysis of patient samples, the human immune cells, particularly T cells and macrophages, play critical roles during the HCV-associated liver disease development in the HIL mice. Furthermore, our model is demonstrated to be able to reproduce the therapeutic effects of human interferon alpha 2a antiviral treatment. Conclusions The HIL mouse provides a model for the understanding of HCV-specific human immune responses and HCV-associated disease pathologies. It could also serve as a platform for antifibrosis and immune-modulatory drug testing.Singapore. Ministry of Education (Grant MOE2012-T2-1-152)Singapore. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (Joint Council Office Development Programme 1334k00082