A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EXPECTED AND ACTUAL SERVICE QUALITY PERCEIVED BY THE STUDENTS AT BOARDING HOUSES OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER SISTERS IN PATHEIN DIOCESE, MYANMAR

This study attempted to determine and compare the service quality of the St. Francis Xavier Sisters’ boarding houses as perceived by the students before they joined the boarding houses and while they were staying there. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the students’ expected perception on service quality before they stay in Sisters’ Boarding Houses of Pathein Dioceses, Myanmar. (2) to determine the students’ actual perception on service quality while they stay in Sisters’ Boarding Houses of Pathein Dioceses, Myanmar. (3) to compare the students’ expected and actual perception towards service quality in Sisters’ Boarding Houses in Pathein Diocese, Myanmar. This study was conducted in ten boarding houses of St. Francis Xavier Sisters in Pathein Diocese, Myanmar. There were 225 boarding students from grade 8 to 11 got involved in this study. The researcher adopted the questionnaire based on Bashir et al. (2012) which aimed to signify the Service quality of five dimensions; namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy at St. Francis Xavier Sisters’ boarding houses. The study found that the total and individual service quality of St. Francis Xavier Sisters’ boarding houses before they stayed and as they stayed there were high. And there was a significant difference between the expected and actual perception towards service management in Sisters’ Boarding Schools of Pathein Diocese, Myanmar. The researcher discussed on the findings and recommended to initiate a culture of continuous improvement for the boarding houses which must be allied to regular monitoring and evaluation

HBV core promoter mutations and AKT upregulate S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 to promote postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma progression

Mutations in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) core promoter (CP) have been shown to be associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The CP region overlaps HBV X gene, which activates AKT to regulate hepatocyte survival. However, the cooperation between these two cascades in HCC progression remains poorly understood. Here, we assayed virological factors and AKT expression in liver tissues from 56 HCC patients with better prognoses (BHCC, ≥5-year survival) and 58 with poor prognoses (PHCC, <5-year survival) after partial liver resection. Results showed double mutation A1762T/G1764A (TA) combined with other mutation(s) (TACO) in HBV genome and phosphorylated AKT (pAKT) were more common in PHCC than BHCC. TACO and pAKT levels correlated with proliferation and microvascularization but inversely correlated with apoptosis in HCC samples. These were more pronounced when TACO and pAKT co-expressed. Levels of p21 and p27 were decreased in TACO or pAKT overexpressing HCC due to SKP2 upregulation. Levels of E2F1 and both mRNA and protein of SKP2 were increased in TACO expressing HCC. Levels of 4EBP1/2 decreased and SKP2 mRNA level remained constant in pAKT-overexpressing HCC. Therefore, TACO and AKT are two independent predictors of postoperative survival in HCC. Their co-target, SKP2 may be a diagnostic or therapeutic marker

Organ-on-a-chip for studying immune cell adhesion to liver sinusoidal endothelial cells:the potential for testing immunotherapies and cell therapy trafficking

Immunotherapy has changed the landscape of treatment options for patients with hepatocellular cancer. Checkpoint inhibitors are now standard of care for patients with advanced tumours, yet the majority remain resistant to this therapy and urgent approaches are needed to boost the efficacy of these agents. Targeting the liver endothelial cells, as the orchestrators of immune cell recruitment, within the tumour microenvironment of this highly vascular cancer could potentially boost immune cell infiltration. We demonstrate the successful culture of primary human liver endothelial cells in organ-on-a-chip technology followed by perfusion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We confirm, with confocal and multiphoton imaging, the capture and adhesion of immune cells in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines in this model. This multicellular platform sets the foundation for testing the efficacy of new therapies in promoting leukocyte infiltration across liver endothelium as well as a model for testing cell therapy, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell, capture and migration across human liver endothelium