Preparing for the Pacific Century: Fostering Technology Transfer in Southeast Asia

This article discusses a number of considerations that are central to structuring a successful technology transfer or investment in Southeast Asia. Most of the discussion examines these considerations from the perspective of an MNC that is a potential technology transferor, investor, or vendor in the region. However, this article should also be of interest to those responsible for formulating government policies to encourage technology transfer, since it is important to do so with the MNC\u27s perspective in mind. Clearly, for a technology transfer to be successful over the long term, a balance must be achieved between the goals of the Southeast Asian nation in attracting foreign investment and technology, and the need of the MNC to profit from and protect its investment and technology

Preparing for the Pacific Century: Fostering Technology Transfer in Southeast Asia

This article discusses a number of considerations that are central to structuring a successful technology transfer or investment in Southeast Asia. Most of the discussion examines these considerations from the perspective of an MNC that is a potential technology transferor, investor, or vendor in the region. However, this article should also be of interest to those responsible for formulating government policies to encourage technology transfer, since it is important to do so with the MNC\u27s perspective in mind. Clearly, for a technology transfer to be successful over the long term, a balance must be achieved between the goals of the Southeast Asian nation in attracting foreign investment and technology, and the need of the MNC to profit from and protect its investment and technology

Assessment of wound healing: validity, reliability and sensitivity of available instruments

Objectives: If wound assessment instruments are to be used in the periodic assessment of wound healing, they must prove to be valid, reliable and sensitive measures of wound healing. Thus, this systematic literature review aims to examine available wound healing instruments in terms of these parameters. Method: Only instruments able to measure changes in wound healing were included in this review and not those used to predict healing, classify wounds, or measure wound characteristics per se. All wound types were suitable for inclusion. Results: A total of 20 articles were found, evaluating the validity of 10 instruments used to monitor wound healing. No instrument satisfied all criteria required for instrument validation. Instruments used to assess pressure ulcers, notably the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) and Pressure Sore Status Tool (PSST), had been validated to the greatest extent, whilst those describing healing in leg ulcers and general or surgical wounds tended to lack comprehensive and quality evaluation. Conclusion: This review identified substantial gaps in the literature with regard to validation of existing wound healing instruments. Future studies are needed to comprehensively validate these instruments

Prepared for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health Radiation Studies Branch

1.2 Materials and Equipment............................................... 1-

DSTYK Promotes Metastasis and Chemoresistance via EMT in Colorectal Cancer

Objective: Tumor metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy are two critical factors that contribute to the high death rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Metastasis is facilitated by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of tumor cells, which has emerged not only as a fundamental process during metastasis, but is also a key process leading to chemoresistance of cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanisms of EMT in CRC cell remain unknown. Here, we aim to assess the role of dual serine/threonine and tyrosine protein kinase (DSTYK) in CRC metastasis and chemoresistance. Methods: To study the role of DSTYK in TGF-β-induced EMT, we employed techniques including Crispr/Cas9 knockout (KO) to generate DSTYK KO cell lines, RT-PCR to detect the mRNA expression, immunofluorescence analyses, and western blots to detect protein levels of DSTYK in the following 4 cell lines: control LS411N-TβRII and LS411N-TβRII/DSTYK KO, control LS513 and LS513/DSTYK KO cells, treated with/without TGF-β. The effects of DSTYK on apoptosis were investigated by MTT assays, flow cytometry assays, and TUNEL assays. The expression of DSTYK in CRC patients and its correlation with EMT markers were determined by bioinformatics analysis. For in vivo analysis, both xenograft and orthotopic tumor mouse models were employed to investigate the function of DSTYK in chemoresistance and metastasis of tumors. Results: In this study, we demonstrate that the novel kinase DSTYK promotes both TGF-β-induced EMT and the subsequent chemoresistance in CRC cells. DSTYK KO significantly attenuates TGF-β–induced EMT and chemoresistance in CRC cells. According to the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, the expression of DSTYK is not only positively correlated to the expression of TGF-β, but proportional to the death rate of CRC patients as well. Evidently, the expression of DSTYK in the metastatic colorectal cancer samples from patients was significantly higher than that of primary colorectal cancer samples. Further, we demonstrate in mouse models that chemotherapeutic drug treatment suppresses the growth of DSTYK KO tumors more effectively than control tumors. Conclusion: Our findings identify DSTYK as a novel protein kinase in regulating TGF-β–mediated EMT and chemoresistance in CRC cells, which defines DSTYK as a potential therapeutic target for CRC therapy

The role of dietary fatty acids in predicting myocardial structure in fat-fed rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p><it>Background</it></p> <p>Obesity increases the risk for development of cardiomyopathy in the absence of hypertension, diabetes or myocardial ischemia. Not all obese individuals, however, progress to heart failure. Indeed, obesity may provide protection from cardiovascular mortality in some populations. The fatty acid milieu, modulated by diet, may modify obesity-induced myocardial structure and function, lending partial explanation for the array of cardiomyopathic phenotypy in obese individuals.</p> <p><it>Methods</it></p> <p>Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed 1 of the following 4 diets for 32 weeks: control (CON); 50% saturated fat (SAT); 40% saturated fat + 10% linoleic acid (SAT+LA); 40% saturated fat + 10% α-linolenic acid (SAT+ALA). Serum leptin, insulin, glucose, free fatty acids and triglycerides were quantitated. <it>In vivo </it>cardiovascular outcomes included blood pressure, heart rate and echocardiographic measurements of structure and function. The rats were sacrificed and myocardium was processed for fatty acid analysis (TLC-GC), and evaluation of potential modifiers of myocardial structure including collagen (Masson's trichrome, hydroxyproline quantitation), lipid (Oil Red O, triglyceride quantitation) and myocyte cross sectional area.</p> <p><it>Results</it></p> <p>Rats fed SAT+LA and SAT+ALA diets had greater cranial LV wall thickness compared to rats fed CON and SAT diets, in the absence of hypertension or apparent insulin resistance. Treatment was not associated with changes in myocardial function. Myocardial collagen and triglycerides were similar among treatment groups; however, rats fed the high-fat diets, regardless of composition, demonstrated increased myocyte cross sectional area.</p> <p><it>Conclusions</it></p> <p>Under conditions of high-fat feeding, replacement of 10% saturated fat with either LA or ALA is associated with thickening of the cranial LV wall, but without concomitant functional changes. Increased myocyte size appears to be a more likely contributor to early LV thickening in response to high-fat feeding. These findings suggest that myocyte hypertrophy may be an early change leading to gross LV hypertrophy in the hearts of "healthy" obese rats, in the absence of hypertension, diabetes and myocardial ischemia.</p

Investigating the effects of planting date and Aphis gossypii management on reducing the final incidence of cotton leafroll dwarf virus

This is the first study to research management strategies for cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) in the southeastern U.S. The efficacy of aphid vector management to reduce final CLRDV incidence was investigated concurrent with efforts to monitor aphid population dynamics and timing of CLRDV spread. Adjusting the planting date and insecticide applications did not reduce the final incidence of CLRDV, which was confirmed in 60–100% of plants per plot using RT-PCR. Aphid population density was reduced, but not eliminated with foliar insecticide applications. Aphis gossypii was the only species observed on cotton and was the dominant species collected in pan traps. Three distinct periods of virus spread were detected with sentinel plants including early, mid-and late-season. Most virus spread occurred during large aphid dispersal events