From Mission to Action: Management Series for Microfinance Institutions

Quality Audit Tool for Managing Performance (QAT)This is a management tool for MFIs. It examines management processes and internal systems and assesses the status and effectiveness of each for achieving the MFI's stated social mission. Based on this assessment, it identifies areas, along with recommended actions, in which the MFI should focus its attention so as to better align internal processes and systems with social performance and make more effective and balanced decisions

Customizable tubular model for n-furcating blood vessels and its application to 3D reconstruction of the cerebrovascular system

Understanding the 3D cerebral vascular network is one of the pressing issues impacting the diagnostics of various systemic disorders and is helpful in clinical therapeutic strategies. Unfortunately, the existing software in the radiological workstation does not meet the expectations of radiologists who require a computerized system for detailed, quantitative analysis of the human cerebrovascular system in 3D and a standardized geometric description of its components. In this study, we show a method that uses 3D image data from magnetic resonance imaging with contrast to create a geometrical reconstruction of the vessels and a parametric description of the reconstructed segments of the vessels. First, the method isolates the vascular system using controlled morphological growing and performs skeleton extraction and optimization. Then, around the optimized skeleton branches, it creates tubular objects optimized for quality and accuracy of matching with the originally isolated vascular data. Finally, it optimizes the joints on n-furcating vessel segments. As a result, the algorithm gives a complete description of shape, position in space, position relative to other segments, and other anatomical structures of each cerebrovascular system segment. Our method is highly customizable and in principle allows reconstructing vascular structures from any 2D or 3D data. The algorithm solves shortcomings of currently available methods including failures to reconstruct the vessel mesh in the proximity of junctions and is free of mesh collisions in high curvature vessels. It also introduces a number of optimizations in the vessel skeletonization leading to a more smooth and more accurate model of the vessel network. We have tested the method on 20 datasets from the public magnetic resonance angiography image database and show that the method allows for repeatable and robust segmentation of the vessel network and allows to compute vascular lateralization indices. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]</p

Chromatin recruitment of activated AMPK drives fasting response genes co-controlled by GR and PPARα

Adaptation to fasting involves both Glucocorticoid Receptor (GRα) and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α (PPARα) activation. Given both receptors can physically interact we investigated the possibility of a genome-wide cross-talk between activated GR and PPARα, using ChIP- and RNA-seq in primary hepatocytes. Our data reveal extensive chromatin co-localization of both factors with cooperative induction of genes controlling lipid/glucose metabolism. Key GR/PPAR co-controlled genes switched from transcriptional antagonism to cooperativity when moving from short to prolonged hepatocyte fasting, a phenomenon coinciding with gene promoter recruitment of phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and blocked by its pharmacological inhibition. In vitro interaction studies support trimeric complex formation between GR, PPARα and phospho-AMPK. Long-term fasting in mice showed enhanced phosphorylation of liver AMPK and GRα Ser211. Phospho-AMPK chromatin recruitment at liver target genes, observed upon prolonged fasting in mice, is dampened by refeeding. Taken together, our results identify phospho-AMPK as a molecular switch able to cooperate with nuclear receptors at the chromatin level and reveal a novel adaptation mechanism to prolonged fasting

Depressive and anxiety disorders in the cardiological conditions: psychological interventions

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, despite diagnostic and pharmacological advances. These adverse effects lead to the search for new etiological factors and effective ways to prevent, treat and rehabilitate CVD. The impact of psychological factors on the development of CVD has gained scientific recognition. Mental and mood disorders, such as depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can contribute to CVD and significantly affect the quality of life and prognosis of a CVD patient, often contributing to premature death. Therefore, it is essential to study the socio-demographic and psychosocial factors that are most likely to support pro-health behaviour and identify effective psychotherapeutic interventions for CVD patients. These findings result in new interventions, such as meta-cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based training, which promote healthy behaviours and improve clinical conditions and prognosis in CVD patients

The Araucaria Project: A study of the classical Cepheid in the eclipsing binary system OGLE LMC562.05.9009 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We present a detailed study of the classical Cepheid in the double-lined, highly eccentric eclipsing binary system OGLE-LMC562.05.9009. The Cepheid is a fundamental mode pulsator with a period of 2.988 days. The orbital period of the system is 1550 days. Using spectroscopic data from three 4-8-m telescopes and photometry spanning 22 years, we were able to derive the dynamical masses and radii of both stars with exquisite accuracy. Both stars in the system are very similar in mass, radius and color, but the companion is a stable, non-pulsating star. The Cepheid is slightly more massive and bigger (M_1 = 3.70 +/- 0.03M_sun, R_1 = 28.6 +/- 0.2R_sun) than its companion (M_2 = 3.60 +/- 0.03M_sun, R_2 = 26.6 +/- 0.2R_sun). Within the observational uncertainties both stars have the same effective temperature of 6030 +/- 150K. Evolutionary tracks place both stars inside the classical Cepheid instability strip, but it is likely that future improved temperature estimates will move the stable giant companion just beyond the red edge of the instability strip. Within current observational and theoretical uncertainties, both stars fit on a 205 Myr isochrone arguing for their common age. From our model, we determine a value of the projection factor of p = 1.37 +/- 0.07 for the Cepheid in the OGLE-LMC562.05.9009 system. This is the second Cepheid for which we could measure its p-factor with high precision directly from the analysis of an eclipsing binary system, which represents an important contribution towards a better calibration of Baade-Wesselink methods of distance determination for Cepheids.Comment: Accepted to be published in Ap

Age-related changes in polycomb gene regulation disrupt lineage fidelity in intestinal stem cells

Tissue homeostasis requires long-term lineage fidelity of somatic stem cells. Whether and how age-related changes in somatic stem cells impact the faithful execution of lineage decisions remains largely unknown. Here, we address this question using genome-wide chromatin accessibility and transcriptome analysis as well as single-cell RNA-seq to explore stem-cell-intrinsic changes in the aging Drosophila intestine. These studies indicate that in stem cells of old flies, promoters of Polycomb (Pc) target genes become differentially accessible, resulting in the increased expression of enteroendocrine (EE) cell specification genes. Consistently, we find age-related changes in the composition of the EE progenitor cell population in aging intestines, as well as a significant increase in the proportion of EE-specified intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and progenitors in aging flies. We further confirm that Pc-mediated chromatin regulation is a critical determinant of EE cell specification in the Drosophila intestine. Pc is required to maintain expression of stem cell genes while ensuring repression of differentiation and specification genes. Our results identify Pc group proteins as central regulators of lineage identity in the intestinal epithelium and highlight the impact of age-related decline in chromatin regulation on tissue homeostasis