559 research outputs found

    Analysis on the Performance of Technology Companies with Z-score Model

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    Local technology sector plays a significant role in information and communication technology (ICT) based innovations and applications which enhance organizational performance as well as national economic growth and labor productivity. In this paper, financial performance of the listed Malaysia companies in technology sector is analyzed and evaluated. Altman’s Z-score model is proposed due to its robustness in determining companies’ financial distress level using five financial ratios as variables. The computed Z-score values classify the financial status of the companies into distress, grey and safe zones. This study investigates the financial data of 23 listed technology-based companies in the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia over the period of 2013 to 2017. The findings reveal that the percentage of safe zone companies increase throughout the five years whereas distress zone companies decline. It is concluded that financial ratio for market value of equity to total liabilities is the dominant factor that directly influences the level of financial distress among these technology-based companies in Malaysia. These research outcomes provide an insight to investors or policy makers to develop future planning in order to avoid financial failure in local technology sector

    Morphological and molecular evidence for functional organization along the rostrocaudal axis of the adult zebrafish intestine

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    Background The zebrafish intestine is a simple tapered tube that is folded into three sections. However, whether the intestine is functionally similar along its length remains unknown. Thus, a systematic structural and functional characterization of the zebrafish intestine is desirable for future studies of the digestive tract and the intestinal biology and development. Results To characterize the structure and function of the adult zebrafish intestine, we divided the intestine into seven roughly equal-length segments, S1-S7, and systematically examined the morphology of the mucosal lining, histology of the epithelium, and molecular signatures from transcriptome analysis. Prominent morphological features are circumferentially-oriented villar ridges in segments S1-S6 and the absence of crypts. Molecular characterization of the transcriptome from each segment shows that segments S1-S5 are very similar while S6 and S7 unique. Gene ontology analyses reveal that S1-S5 express genes whose functions involve metabolism of carbohydrates, transport of lipids and energy generation, while the last two segments display relatively limited function. Based on comparative Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, the first five segments share strong similarity with human and mouse small intestine while S6 shows similarity with human cecum and rectum, and S7 with human rectum. The intestinal tract does not display the anatomical, morphological, and molecular signatures of a stomach and thus we conclude that this organ is absent from the zebrafish digestive system. Conclusions Our genome-wide gene expression data indicate that, despite the lack of crypts, the rostral, mid, and caudal portions of the zebrafish intestine have distinct functions analogous to the mammalian small and large intestine, respectively. Organization of ridge structures represents a unique feature of zebrafish intestine, though they produce similar cross sections to mammalian intestines. Evolutionary lack of stomach, crypts, Paneth cells and submucosal glands has shaped the zebrafish intestine into a simpler but unique organ in vertebrate intestinal biology.Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and TechnologySingapore. Biomedical Research CouncilNational University of Singapor

    Mercury-induced hepatotoxicity in zebrafish: in vivo mechanistic insights from transcriptome analysis, phenotype anchoring and targeted gene expression validation

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mercury is a prominent environmental contaminant that causes detrimental effects to human health. Although the liver has been known to be a main target organ, there is limited information on <it>in vivo </it>molecular mechanism of mercury-induced toxicity in the liver. By using transcriptome analysis, phenotypic anchoring and validation of targeted gene expression in zebrafish, mercury-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated and a number of perturbed cellular processes were identified and compared with those captured in the <it>in vitro </it>human cell line studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Hepato-transcriptome analysis of mercury-exposed zebrafish revealed that the earliest deregulated genes were associated with electron transport chain, mitochondrial fatty acid beta-oxidation, nuclear receptor signaling and apoptotic pathway, followed by complement system and proteasome pathway, and thereafter DNA damage, hypoxia, Wnt signaling, fatty acid synthesis, gluconeogenesis, cell cycle and motility. Comparative meta-analysis of microarray data between zebrafish liver and human HepG2 cells exposed to mercury identified some common toxicological effects of mercury-induced hepatotoxicity in both models. Histological analyses of liver from mercury-exposed fish revealed morphological changes of liver parenchyma, decreased nucleated cell count, increased lipid vesicles, glycogen and apoptotic bodies, thus providing phenotypic evidence for anchoring of the transcriptome analysis. Validation of targeted gene expression confirmed deregulated gene-pathways from enrichment analysis. Some of these genes responding to low concentrations of mercury may serve as toxicogenomic-based markers for detection and health risk assessment of environmental mercury contaminations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mercury-induced hepatotoxicity was triggered by oxidative stresses, intrinsic apoptotic pathway, deregulation of nuclear receptor and kinase activities including Gsk3 that deregulates Wnt signaling pathway, gluconeogenesis, and adipogenesis, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption and metabolic disorders. This study provides important mechanistic insights into mercury-induced liver toxicity in a whole-animal physiology context, which will help in understanding the syndromes caused by mercury poisoning. The molecular conservation of mercury-induced hepatotoxicity between zebrafish and human cell line reveals the feasibility of using zebrafish to model molecular toxicity in human for toxicant risk assessments.</p

    Громадянське виховання підлітків у контексті педагогічної спадщини А. Б. Рєзніка

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    У статті висвітлено основні положення педагогічної спадщини видатного педагога Кіровоградщини А. Б. Рєзніка в царині громадянського виховання. Доведено, що теоретичні положення, педагогічні висновки, методичні поради, які він розробив, набувають особливої актуальності у наш час і їх застосування у виховній практиці, сприятиме вибору активної життєвої позиції та свідомому формуванню громадянського світогляду молоді

    Transcriptome Analysis of Zebrafish Embryogenesis Using Microarrays

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    Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a well-recognized model for the study of vertebrate developmental genetics, yet at the same time little is known about the transcriptional events that underlie zebrafish embryogenesis. Here we have employed microarray analysis to study the temporal activity of developmentally regulated genes during zebrafish embryogenesis. Transcriptome analysis at 12 different embryonic time points covering five different developmental stages (maternal, blastula, gastrula, segmentation, and pharyngula) revealed a highly dynamic transcriptional profile. Hierarchical clustering, stage-specific clustering, and algorithms to detect onset and peak of gene expression revealed clearly demarcated transcript clusters with maximum gene activity at distinct developmental stages as well as co-regulated expression of gene groups involved in dedicated functions such as organogenesis. Our study also revealed a previously unidentified cohort of genes that are transcribed prior to the mid-blastula transition, a time point earlier than when the zygotic genome was traditionally thought to become active. Here we provide, for the first time to our knowledge, a comprehensive list of developmentally regulated zebrafish genes and their expression profiles during embryogenesis, including novel information on the temporal expression of several thousand previously uncharacterized genes. The expression data generated from this study are accessible to all interested scientists from our institute resource database (http://giscompute.gis.a-star.edu.sg/~govind/zebrafish/data_download.html)
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