Customer Satisfaction in Post COVID-19: A Case Study of Chinese Restaurants in Ratchada Phitset District

Purpose: The research paper is to identify the determinant factors influencing customer satisfaction in the case of Ratchada Phiset district, Bangkok, Thailand Chinese restaurants by examining some attributes, including word of mouth, perceived quality, and expectation. Research design, data and methodology: 150 samples for investigation with employed convenience sample techniques and used an online questionnaire to collect the data. After collecting data, both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to explain significant aspects. Results: The major findings are as follows: 1) Word of mouth has a significant influence on perceived quality. 2) Word of mouth has a significant influence on expectations. 3) Perceived quality and expectations have a significant influence on customer satisfaction. Conclusions: The research findings have met the research objectives. Chinese restaurants can improve customer satisfaction by creating special dishes, implementing personalized services, establishing customer databases, and implementing restaurant membership systems

Interaction of RNA-binding protein HuR and miR-466i regulates GM-CSF expression.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) produced by T helper 17 (Th17) cells plays an essential role in autoimmune diseases. Transcriptional regulation of Th17 cell differentiation has been extensively studied, but post-transcriptional regulation of Th17 cell differentiation has remained less well characterized. The RNA-binding protein HuR functions to promote the stability of target mRNAs via binding the AU-rich elements of the 3\u27 untranslated region (3\u27UTR) of numerous pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-4, IL-13, IL-17 and TNF-α. However, whether HuR regulates GM-CSF expression in Th17 cells has not been fully investigated. Here we showed that HuR conditional knockout (KO) Th17 cells have decreased GM-CSF mRNA in comparison with wild-type (WT) Th17 cells, and that HuR binds directly to GM-CSF mRNA 3\u27UTR. Interestingly, HuR deficiency increased the levels of certain microRNA expression in Th17 cells; for example, miR-466i functioned to mediate GM-CSF and IL-17 mRNA decay, which was confirmed by in vitro luciferase assay. Furthermore, we found that HuR promoted Mxi1 expression to inhibit certain miRNA expression. Taken together, these findings indicate that interaction of HuR and miR-466i orchestrates GM-CSF expression in Th17 cells

Experimental Ocular Toxoplasmosis in Genetically Susceptible and Resistant Mice

Genetic factors determining the pathogenesis and course of ocular toxoplasmosis are poorly understood. In this study, we explored the development of experimental ocular pathogenesis in genetically dissimilar mice infected with either the RH strain, the PLK strain, or the immunodominant surface antigen 1 (SAG1 [P30])-deficient mutant of the RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii. At 11 days postinfection, ocular infection of C57BL/6 mice with all of the strains of parasites resulted in severe inflammatory lesions and high numbers of parasites in eye tissue; less severe ocular lesions at earlier histopathology and prolonged survival were observed in this mouse strain infected with either the major surface antigen 1-deficient SAG1−/− strain or the less virulent PLK strain compared with RH infection. In contrast, both BALB/c and CBA/J mice had less severe lesions and low numbers of parasites in their eye tissue, and infection developed into the chronic stage in these mice. There were significantly higher serum levels of gamma interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha in C57BL/6 mice than in BALB/c and CBA/J mice following ocular infection. These observations confirm earlier reports on systemic immunity to these parasites that the route of Toxoplasma infection markedly influences survival of mice. Our data indicate that genetic factors of the host as well as the parasite strain are critical in determining susceptibility to experimental ocular toxoplasmosis in murine models

Mast Cells Modulate Acute Toxoplasmosis in Murine Models

The role of mast cells (MCs) in Toxoplasma gondii infection is poorly known. Kunming outbred mice were infected intraperitoneally with RH strain T. gondii, either treated with compound 48/80 (C48/80, MC activator) or disodium cromoglycate (DSCG, MC inhibitor). Compared with infected controls, infected mice treated with C48/80 exhibited significantly increased inflammation in the liver (P \u3c 0.01), spleen (P \u3c 0.05), and mesentery (P \u3c 0.05) tissues, higher parasite burden in the peritoneal lavage fluids (P \u3c 0.01), and increased levels of mRNA transcripts of T. gondii tachyzoite surface antigen 1 (SAG1) gene in the spleen and liver tissues (P \u3c 0.01), accompanied with significantly increased Th1 cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-12p40, and TNF-α) (P \u3c 0.01) and decreased IL-10 (P \u3c 0.01) mRNA expressions in the liver, and increased IFN-γ (P \u3c 0.01) and IL-12p40 (P \u3c 0.01) but decreased TNF-α (P \u3c 0.01) and IL-4 (P \u3c 0.01) in the spleens of infected mice treated with C48/80 at day 9-10 p.i. Whereas mice treated with DSCG had significantly decreased tissue lesions (P \u3c 0.01), lower parasite burden in the peritoneal lavage fluids (P \u3c 0.01) and decreased SAG1 expressions in the spleen and liver tissues (P \u3c 0.01), accompanied with significantly increased IFN-γ (P \u3c 0.01) and IL-12p40 (P \u3c 0.05) in the liver, and decreased IFN-γ (P \u3c 0.05) and TNF-α (P \u3c 0.01) in the spleens; IL-4 and IL-10 expressions in both the spleen and liver were significantly increased (P \u3c 0.01) in the infected mice treated with DSCG. These findings suggest that mediators associated with the MC activation may play an important role in modulating acute inflammatory pathogenesis and parasite clearance during T. gondii infection in this strain of mice. Thus, MC activation/inhibition mechanisms are potential novel targets for the prevention and control of T. gondii infection

Galectin-3 and Galectin-9 May Differently Regulate the Expressions of Microglial M1/M2 Markers and T Helper 1/Th2 Cytokines in the Brains of Genetically Susceptible C57BL/6 and Resistant BALB/c Mice Following Peroral Infection With Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE), an opportunistic infection, is a severe health problem in immunocompromised patients. Previous studies have revealed that C57BL/6 mice are susceptible and BALB/c mice are resistant to TE. To investigate the mechanisms involved in the immunopathogenesis of TE in susceptible C57BL/6 and resistant BALB/c mice, both strains of mice were perorally infected with the Prugniuad (Pru) strain of Toxoplasma gondii. Our results showed that compared with BALB/c mice, C57BL/6 mice infected with T. gondii Pru strain had more severe brain histopathological damage, and higher mRNA expression levels of tachyzoite-specific surface antigen 1, bradyzoite-specific antigen 1, interferon gamma (IFNγ), interleukin (IL)-10, arginase1 (Arg1) (M2 marker), galectin (Gal)-3, Gal-9, T. gondii microneme protein 1 (TgMIC1), TgMIC4, and TgMIC6 during the course of infection by using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Further analysis displayed that BALB/c mice showed higher numbers of microglial cells and higher levels of IL-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) (M1 marker), and chitinase-3-like protein 3 (Ym1) (M2 marker) in the early infective stage [at day 14 or 35 post infection (p.i.)] compared with C57BL/6 mice, whereas C57BL/6 mice showed higher numbers of microglial cells and higher levels of IL-10, iNOS (M1 marker), and Ym1 (M2 marker) at days 35, 50, or 70 p.i. compared with BALB/c mice. Correlation analysis showed that significant positive correlations existed between Gal-3 and IL-4/IL-10/iNOS/Ym1 and between Gal-9 and IL-4/Ym1 in C57BL/6 mice; between Gal-3 and IFNγ/Arg1 and between Gal-9 and IFNγ/Arg1 in BALB/c mice. Together, our data demonstrated that different Gal-3 and Gal-9 expressions as well as different positive correlations were found between Gal-3 and T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2/M1/M2 cytokines or between Gal-9 and Th1/Th2/M2 cytokines in the brains of T. gondii Pru strain-infected C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice

Paramagnetic behaviour of silver nanoparticles generated by decomposition of silver oxalate

Silver oxalate Ag2C2O4, was already proposed for soldering applications, due to the formation when it is decomposed by a heat treatment, of highly sinterable silver nanoparticles. When slowly decomposed at low temperature (125 °C), the oxalate leads however to silver nanoparticles isolated from each other. As soon as these nanoparticles are formed, the magnetic susceptibility at room temperature increases from -3.14 10-7 emu.Oe-1.g-1 (silver oxalate) up to -1.92 10-7 emu.Oe-1.g-1 (metallic silver). At the end of the oxalate decomposition, the conventional diamagnetic behaviour of bulk silver, is observed from room temperature to 80 K. A diamagnetic-paramagnetic transition is however revealed below 80 K leading at 2 K, to silver nanoparticles with a positive magnetic susceptibility. This original behaviour, compared to the one of bulk silver, can be ascribed to the nanometric size of the metallic particles

Prospect for VLBI Network Extension: the First Results of an Ad-hoc S2 Array Experiments

The Canadian S2 system gives a chance for Russian and some other radio telescopes in the world to be involved into international VLBI programs. Brief descriptions of previous S2 experiments and future possibilities are presented

Gray Matter Alterations in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Social Anxiety Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) all bear the core symptom of anxiety and are separately classified in the new DSM-5 system. The aim of the present study is to obtain evidence for neuroanatomical difference for these disorders. We applied voxel-based morphometry (VBM) with Diffeomorphic Anatomic Registration Through Exponentiated Lie (DARTEL) to compare grey matter volume (GMV) in Magnetic Resonance (MR) images obtained for thirty patients with PTSD, twenty nine patients with OCD, twenty patients with SAD and thirty healthy controls. GMV across all four groups differed in left hypothalamus and left inferior parietal lobule and post hoc analyses revealed that this difference is primarily due to reduced GMV in the PTSD group relative to the other groups. Further analysis revealed that the PTSD group also showed reduced GMV in frontal lobe, temporal lobe and cerebellum compared to the OCD group, and reduced GMV in frontal lobes bilaterally compared to SAD group. A significant negative correlation with anxiety symptoms is observed for GMV in left hypothalamus in three disorder groups. We have thus found evidence for brain structure differences that in future could provide biomarkers to potentially support classification of these disorders using MRI

Core-Shell Pd@Au Nanoplates as Theranostic Agents for In-Vivo Photoacoustic Imaging, CT Imaging, and Photothermal Therapy

通讯作者地址: Liu, GMinistry of Science and Technology of China 2011CB932403 2014CB932004 National Natural Science Foundation of China 21420102001 21131005 8142202