Performance Evaluation of UK Acquiring Companies in the Pre and Post-Acquisitions Periods

This paper has two objectives: first, it examines the financial performance of twenty UK based acquiring companies over the period of five years (2009-2013) using financial ratios of Liquidity, Profitability and Solvency in order to empirically determine whether there is any significant financial performance changes in the operation of the underlying companies as a result of acquisitions. Both average ratio and paired t-test analysis have been conducted. The analysis concludes that none of the ratios proved statistical significance which shows that the underlying acquisitions did not influence changes in the financial performance of the acquiring companies. The paper also examines whether shareholders make short-term gain while opting for acquisitions by analyzing stocks return over 58 days window period i.e. 29 days prior to acquisition announcement and 29 days after acquisition announcement by applying CAPM model and AAR and CAAR analysis. The analysis concludes that none of the results show statistical significance which further asserts that UK shareholders do not make gain in the short-term as a result of the acquisition activities they have undertaken

Enhancing the Expression and Purification of IL-29: A study of autoinduction and one-step Purification Methods

Background: Cytokines have long been viewed as a sign of hope due to their immunomodulatory and therapeutic characteristics. Developing simple, economical and readily scaled technologies to simplify their manufacturing is a critical challenge.Method: In this study we have used a customized medium to automatically induce the expression of the IL-29 in E. coli expression system from the T7 promoter, allowing for higher yields as compared to the traditional technique of IPTG induction. Similarly, one-step purification method is employed to make the fermentation process cost-effective, along with enhancing its efficiency.Results: From 1 L batches of IPTG-induced and autoinduced media, the harvested biomass was 11.8 g and 13.4 g, respectively and their corresponding IBs were 3.8 g and 4.8 g. Total protein purified from 1 L batch was 132  mg, at a concentration of 13 mg/mL, with an indicated high purity of 97%. IL-29 significantly decrease the metabolic activity of HepG2 cells. Specifically, 50% of the cells died at a concentration of 0.156 μg/mL, while 80% of the cells died at a concentration of 5 μg/mL.Conclusion: This study presents an economical solution for producing and purifying IL-29 in E. coli, resulting in higher yields of biomass and IBs than expensive traditional method. The purified protein was highly pure and had immunomodulatory effects on HepG2 cells. These findings have important implications for developing simplified and scalable technologies for cytokine production with therapeutic potential.Keywords: Escherichia coli; Cytokines; Interleukins; Interferons; Protein purification    

A Global Collaborative Effort to Enhance Design in a Mechanical Engineering Curriculum in Saudi Arabia

In 2008, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Saudi Arabia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) partnered together to develop project-based curricular material to be tested out in a new undergraduate course offering in KFUPM’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. This paper details some of the unique challenges to collaborating across countries and time zones, and the approaches the KFUPM-MIT team used to address these. These approaches have so far included the establishment of a shared vision for the project and the use of an array of technologies to facilitate distance communication. The paper concludes with a description of lessons learned that might be useful for future programs that plan to engage in international collaboration on design education.Jāmiʻat al-Malik Fahd lil-Batrūl wa-al-Maʻādi

In silico analysis to reveal underlying trans differentiation mechanism of Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Osteocytes

Background: Bone is a mineralized dynamic tissue, helps to protect and support the body. Osteoarthritis damages the cartilage and is responsible for the degeneration of the bone. Many cell-based therapies are available to repair the damage however, the non-availability of autologous cells and slows healing during regeneration of the damaged bone present major constraints. Hence, there is a need to search for a convenient and easily available cell source that can not only be used to repair the bone but can also enhance its regenerative potential. β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone, and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate can differentiate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteocytes. So far, the interaction of these compounds with osteocytes-specific proteins has not been studied. In this study, in silico analysis was performed to investigate the interaction of proteins with osteocytes specific compounds at the amino acids level.Methods: 3D structures of Dexamethasone and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate (ascorbic acid) were drawn using Molecular Operating Environment (MOE). Then absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) analysis was achieved using an online tool of “Swiss Package”. By Ramachandran plot, the predicted model of ALPL, MMP13, Osteonectin, and RunX2 proteins were evaluated. Then docking of these proteins with Dexamethasone and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate was performed.Results: L-ascorbic-2-phosphate and Dexamethasone docked within the binding pockets of ALPL, RunX2, MMP13, and Osteonectin proteins, expressed in the bone cells. These compounds also showed good drug-likeness and pharmacokinetics properties.Conclusion: It is concluded that β-glycerophosphate, dexamethasone, and L-ascorbic-2-phosphate are novel substrates for osteogenic differentiation. These compounds could increase the healing and regenerative potential of bone cells by enhancing the expression of osteocytes specific proteins.Keywords: Bone; Osteoarthritis; β-glycerophosphate; Dexamethasone; L-ascorbic-2-phosphate; Docking; Differentiation; Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs); Osteonectin

Daphne mucronata enhances cell proliferation and protects human adipose stem cells against monosodium iodoacetate induced oxidative stress in vitro

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being used to treat many diseases as they exhibit great regenerative potential. However, MSC’s transplantation sometimes does not yield the maximum regenerative outcome as they are unable to survive in inflammatory conditions. Several approaches including preconditioning are used to improve the survival rate of mesenchymal stem cells. One such recently reported approach is preconditioning MSCs with plant extracts. The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of Daphne mucronata extract on stressed human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADMSCs). Isolated hADMSCs were preconditioned with different concentrations of Daphne muconata extract and the protective, proliferative, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect was assessed through various assays and expression analysis of inflammatory markers regulated through NF-κB pathway. Results suggest that preconditioning hADMSCs with Daphne mucronata increased the cell viability, proliferative and protective potential of hADMSCs with a concomitant reduction in LDH, ROS and elevation in SOD activity. Moreover, both the ELISA and gene expression analysis demonstrated down regulations of inflammatory markers (IL1-β, TNF-α, p65, p50, MMP13) in Daphne mucronata preconditioned hADMSCs as compared to stress. This is the first study to report the use of MIA induced oxidative stress against hADMSC’s and effect of Daphne mucronata on stressed hADMSCs. Results of these studies provided evidence that Daphne mucronata protects the hADMSCs during stress conditions by down regulating the inflammatory markers and hence increase the viability and proliferative potential of hADMSCs that is crucial for transplantation purposes

Spectroscopic and Molecular Methods to Differentiate Gender in Immature Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) is a well-known nutritious and economically important fruit tree found in arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Being diploid, it has extremely high divergence in gender, where sex differentiation in immature date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) has remained an enigma in recent years. Herein, new robust infrared (near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) and Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance (FTIR/ATR)) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy methods coupled with extensive chemometric analysis were used to identify the sex differentiation in immature date palm leaves. NIRS/FTIR reflectance and 1H-NMR profiling suggested that the signals of monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) and/or disaccharides (maltose and sucrose) play key roles in sex differentiation. The three kinds of spectroscopic data were clearly differentiated among known and unknown male and female leaves via principal component and partial least square discriminant analyses. Furthermore, sex-specific genes and molecular markers obtained from the lower halves of LG12 chromosomes showed enhanced transcript accumulation of mPdIRDP52, mPdIRDP50, and PDK101 in females compared with in males. The phylogeny showed that the mPdIRD033, mPdIRD031, and mPdCIR032 markers formed distinctive clades with more than 70% similarity in gender differentiation. The three robust analyses provide an alternative tool to differentiate sex in date palm trees, which offers a solution to the long-standing challenge of dioecism and could enhance in situ tree propagation programs