Competitive Advantages Through it Innovation Adoption by Smes

Purpose—This paper seeks to explain the impact of IT innovation on competitive advantage; the barriers and the benefits companies gain from adopting and using these innovations and propose a model with which it is possible to measure determinants of IT innovation adoption among SMEs.Design/methodology/approach—This paper presents conceptual consideration on the role of SMEs in the Malaysian economy and the effect of government policy in encouraging companies to adopt IT innovation. The proposed research framework will be empirically validated using survey data. This study is an ongoing research, in the existing stage a theoretical argument is developed and methodology is in the process of being tested through regression analysis.Findings—Conclusions are drawn on the status of Malaysian SMEs to adopt IT innovation. We added attitude and self-efficacy to the Innovation Diffusion Theory to suit it to the individual situation. Therefore a novel approach is needed in order to study and understand it.Research limitations/implications—The paper represents work in progress.Practical implications – This paper present the theoretical framework for further study of IT innovation adoption among Malaysia SMEs.Originality/Value—The Information Technology concept is considered a powerful competitive weapon in the modern economy. This study used Innovation Diffusion Theory as the base theory, and added attitude and self efficacy as determinants to measure the individual’s perception toward innovation adoption. Individual self-efficacy and attitude toward innovation adoption shape beliefs and perceptions toward innovation, leading them to adopt or reject an innovation. Adding these factors to Innovation Diffusion Theory will narrow the breadth of the theory and possibilities to frame a single study which allows examination of the individual and technological dimension toward technology adoption.Keywords: IT innovation adoption, competitive advantage, Innovation Diffusion Theory, SMEs, Malaysia.Research type: conceptual paper

Dietary Supplementation with Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Reduces Opioid-Seeking Behaviors and Alters the Gut Microbiome.

Opioids are highly addictive substances with a relapse rate of over 90%. While preclinical models of chronic opioid exposure exist for studying opioid dependence, none recapitulate the relapses observed in human opioid addiction. The mechanisms associated with opioid dependence, the accompanying withdrawal symptoms, and the relapses that are often observed months or years after opioid dependence are poorly understood. Therefore, we developed a novel model of chronic opioid exposure whereby the level of administration is self-directed with periods of behavior acquisition, maintenance, and then extinction alternating with reinstatement. This profile arguably mirrors that seen in humans, with initial opioid use followed by alternating periods of abstinence and relapse. Recent evidence suggests that dietary interventions that reduce inflammation, including omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs), may reduce substance misuse liability. Using the self-directed intake model, we characterize the observed profile of opioid use and demonstrate that an n-3-PUFA-enriched diet ameliorates oxycodone-seeking behaviors in the absence of drug availability and reduces anxiety. Guided by the major role gut microbiota have on brain function, neuropathology, and anxiety, we profile the microbiome composition and the effects of chronic opioid exposure and n-3 PUFA supplementation. We demonstrate that the withdrawal of opioids led to a significant depletion in specific microbiota genera, whereas n-3 PUFA supplementation increased microbial richness, phylogenetic diversity, and evenness. Lastly, we examined the activation state of microglia in the striatum and found that n-3 PUFA supplementation reduced the basal activation state of microglia. These preclinical data suggest that a diet enriched in n-3 PUFAs could be used as a treatment to alleviate anxiety induced opioid-seeking behavior and relapse in human opioid addiction

Superior verbal memory outcome after stereotactic laser amygdalohippocampotomy

Objective: To evaluate declarative memory outcomes in medically refractory epilepsy patients who underwent either a highly selective laser ablation of the amygdalohippocampal complex or a conventional open temporal lobe resection. Methods: Post-operative change scores were examined for verbal memory outcome in epilepsy patients who underwent stereotactic laser amygdalohippocampotomy (SLAH: n = 40) or open resection procedures (n = 40) using both reliable change index (RCI) scores and a 1-SD change metric. Results: Using RCI scores, patients undergoing open resection (12/40, 30.0%) were more likely to decline on verbal memory than those undergoing SLAH (2/40 [5.0%], p = 0.0064, Fisher's exact test). Patients with language dominant procedures were much more likely to experience a significant verbal memory decline following open resection (9/19 [47.4%]) compared to laser ablation (2/19 [10.5%], p = 0.0293, Fisher's exact test). 1 SD verbal memory decline frequently occurred in the open resection sample of language dominant temporal lobe patients with mesial temporal sclerosis (8/10 [80.0%]), although it rarely occurred in such patients after SLAH (2/14, 14.3%) (p = 0.0027, Fisher's exact test). Memory improvement occurred significantly more frequently following SLAH than after open resection. Interpretation: These findings suggest that while verbal memory function can decline after laser ablation of the amygdalohippocampal complex, it is better preserved when compared to open temporal lobe resection. Our findings also highlight that the dominant hippocampus is not uniquely responsible for verbal memory. While this is at odds with our simple and common heuristic of the hippocampus in memory, it supports the findings of non-human primate studies showing that memory depends on broader medial and lateral TL regions

Economic integration and security in the Middle East and North Africa: what prospects for a liberal peace?

Since the late 1980s governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have created commercial institutions in order to promote regional economic integration. The primary aim of this policy has been regarded as the promotion of economic welfare gains at the national level. A second, albeit less-emphasized goal, has been to promote regional peace through economic interdependence. This study examines the prospects for a liberal peace in the MENA by analyzing two stages of the commercial institutional peace. Firstly, the study considers whether commercial institutions have promoted intra-regional trade in the MENA. Secondly, it examines if economic interaction has had an impact on promoting peace within the region. Twenty states are considered here and the unit of analysis is the dyad-year over a 25-year period from 1990-2014. This study finds that commercial institutions in the MENA have only a limited positive correlation with trade volume and while there is a direct positive correlation between economic integration and peace in the region, this is quite limited. These findings suggest that the conclusions made by previous studies that demonstrate a direct positive correlation between commercial institutions (and economic integration more generally) and peace, may be less applicable to some regions such as MENA

Functional definition of seizure provides new insight into post-traumatic epileptogenesis

Experimental animals’ seizures are often defined arbitrarily based on duration, which may lead to misjudgement of the syndrome and failure to develop a cure. We employed a functional definition of seizures based on the clinical practice of observing epileptiform electrocorticography and simultaneous ictal behaviour, and examined post-traumatic epilepsy induced in rats by rostral parasagittal fluid percussion injury and epilepsy patients evaluated with invasive monitoring. We showed previously that rostral parasagittal fluid percussion injury induces different types of chronic recurrent spontaneous partial seizures that worsen in frequency and duration over the months post injury. However, a remarkable feature of rostral parasagittal fluid percussion injury is the occurrence, in the early months post injury, of brief (<2 s) focal, recurrent and spontaneous epileptiform electrocorticography events (EEEs) that are never observed in sham-injured animals and have electrographic appearance similar to the onset of obvious chronic recurrent spontaneous partial seizures. Simultaneous epidural-electrocorticography and scalp-electroencephalography recordings in the rat demonstrated that these short EEEs are undetectable by scalp electrocorticography. Behavioural analysis performed blinded to the electrocorticography revealed that (i) brief EEEs lasting 0.8–2 s occur simultaneously with behavioural arrest; and (ii) while behavioural arrest is part of the rat's behavioural repertoire, the probability of behavioural arrest is greatly elevated during EEEs. Moreover, spectral analysis showed that EEEs lasting 0.8–2 s occurring during periods of active behaviour with dominant theta activity are immediately followed by loss of such theta activity. We thus conclude that EEEs lasting 0.8–2 s are ictal in the rat. We demonstrate that the assessment of the time course of fluid percussion injury-induced epileptogenesis is dramatically biased by the definition of seizure employed, with common duration-based arbitrary definitions resulting in artificially prolonged latencies for epileptogenesis. Finally, we present four human examples of electrocorticography capturing short (<2 s), stereotyped, neocortically generated EEEs that occurred in the same ictal sites as obvious complex partial seizures, were electrographically similar to rat EEEs and were not noted during scalp electroencephalography. When occurring in the motor cortex, these short EEEs were accompanied by ictal behaviour detectable with simultaneous surface electromyography. These data demonstrate that short (<2 s) focal recurrent spontaneous EEEs are seizures in both rats and humans, that they are undetectable by scalp electroencephalography, and that they are typically associated with subtle and easily missed behavioural correlates. These findings define the earliest identifiable markers of progressive post-traumatic epilepsy in the rat, with implications for mechanistic and prophylactic studies, and should prompt a re-evaluation of the concept of post-traumatic silent period in both animals and humans

Guidelines for Disclosing Genetic Information to Family Members: from Development to Use

[À l'origine dans / Was originally part of : CRDP - Droit, biotechnologie et rapport au milieu

Oculopalatal tremor explained by a model of inferior olivary hypertrophy and cerebellar plasticity

The inferior olivary nuclei clearly play a role in creating oculopalatal tremor, but the exact mechanism is unknown. Oculopalatal tremor develops some time after a lesion in the brain that interrupts inhibition of the inferior olive by the deep cerebellar nuclei. Over time the inferior olive gradually becomes hypertrophic and its neurons enlarge developing abnormal soma-somatic gap junctions. However, results from several experimental studies have confounded the issue because they seem inconsistent with a role for the inferior olive in oculopalatal tremor, or because they ascribe the tremor to other brain areas. Here we look at 3D binocular eye movements in 15 oculopalatal tremor patients and compare their behaviour to the output of our recent mathematical model of oculopalatal tremor. This model has two mechanisms that interact to create oculopalatal tremor: an oscillator in the inferior olive and a modulator in the cerebellum. Here we show that this dual mechanism model can reproduce the basic features of oculopalatal tremor and plausibly refute the confounding experimental results. Oscillations in all patients and simulations were aperiodic, with a complicated frequency spectrum showing dominant components from 1 to 3 Hz. The model’s synchronized inferior olive output was too small to induce noticeable ocular oscillations, requiring amplification by the cerebellar cortex. Simulations show that reducing the influence of the cerebellar cortex on the oculomotor pathway reduces the amplitude of ocular tremor, makes it more periodic and pulse-like, but leaves its frequency unchanged. Reducing the coupling among cells in the inferior olive decreases the oscillation’s amplitude until they stop (at ∼20% of full coupling strength), but does not change their frequency. The dual-mechanism model accounts for many of the properties of oculopalatal tremor. Simulations suggest that drug therapies designed to reduce electrotonic coupling within the inferior olive or reduce the disinhibition of the cerebellar cortex on the deep cerebellar nuclei could treat oculopalatal tremor. We conclude that oculopalatal tremor oscillations originate in the hypertrophic inferior olive and are amplified by learning in the cerebellum

Multicenter evaluation of the clinical utility of laparoscopy-assisted ERCP in patients with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

Background and Aims The obesity epidemic has led to increased use of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). These patients have an increased incidence of pancreaticobiliary diseases yet standard ERCP is not possible due to surgically altered gastroduodenal anatomy. Laparoscopic-ERCP (LA-ERCP) has been proposed as an option but supporting data are derived from single center small case-series. Therefore, we conducted a large multicenter study to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and outcomes of LA-ERCP. Methods This is retrospective cohort study of adult patients with RYGB who underwent LA-ERCP in 34 centers. Data on demographics, indications, procedure success, and adverse events were collected. Procedure success was defined when all of the following were achieved: reaching the papilla, cannulating the desired duct and providing endoscopic therapy as clinically indicated. Results A total of 579 patients (median age 51, 84% women) were included. Indication for LA-ERCP was biliary in 89%, pancreatic in 8%, and both in 3%. Procedure success was achieved in 98%. Median total procedure time was 152 minutes (IQR 109-210) with median ERCP time 40 minutes (IQR 28-56). Median hospital stay was 2 days (IQR 1-3). Adverse events were 18% (laparoscopy-related 10%, ERCP-related 7%, both 1%) with the clear majority (92%) classified as mild/moderate whereas 8% were severe and 1 death occurred. Conclusion Our large multicenter study indicates that LA-ERCP in patients with RYGB is feasible with a high procedure success rate comparable with that of standard ERCP in patients with normal anatomy. ERCP-related adverse events rate is comparable with conventional ERCP, but the overall adverse event rate was higher due to the added laparoscopy-related events