A study on issues concerning the use of contingent workers in the hotel industry in Singapore

82 p.This project attempts to discuss some of the prevailing issues concerning the increasing use of contingent workers with regard to the service industry. Our main focus is on the Hotel industry due to the high use of contingent workers and their willingness to assist us in this aspect. Personal interviews were carried out with the heads of the Human Resource Departments of five hotels- Carlton Hotel, Mandarin Hotel, Marriott Hotel, Merchant Court Hotel and lastly, The Ritz-Carlton. We hope to be able to provide some useful insights at the end of this project, through analysing the responses collected from the interviews, together with the literature research done at the beginning of this project, on the costs and benefits in the use of contingent workers.BUSINES

How small and medium enterprises can raise finance.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are known as the building blocks of a successful economy. As these SMEs grow, so do the number of jobs available, distributable wealth and acountry's future economic stability. However studies have shown that many SMEs failed in the initial years of business. This study attempts to probe into the financing needs of SMEs in Singapore. A sample was drawn from the Economic Development Board's SMEs Register to respond to a structured questionnaire. Analysis was performed on the data gathered regarding how SMEs source finances for their operations and the channels through which these options are available. Interviews were also conducted with external financiers to gain more insights into findings of the survey. The study also attempts to probe into the reasons why SMEs applications for external financing were rejected. This study hopes to indicate the extent of difficulties faced by SMEs in Singapore.Master of Business Administration (Banking & Finance

An exploratory study of consumers' perceptions of supermarkets in Singapore : a store image study

138 p.The purpose of this empirical study is to identify the store image attributes that Singaporean shoppers consider most important when shopping in a supermarket. As such, the study measures consumers' perceptions of the store image of the local chain, NTUC FairPrice, versus that of Sogo Supermarket, a Japanese-owned store.BUSINES

Postnatal transplantion to boost chimerism following intrauterine haematopoietic cell transplantation (IUHCT) in a murine model of thalassemia

British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy AnnualConference and Joint UK RegenerativeMedicine Platform MeetingUnited Kingdo

Obesity and Its Association with Undiagnosed Diabetes Mellitus, High Blood Pressure and Hypercholesterolemia in the Malaysian Adult Population: A National Cross-Sectional Study Using NHMS Data

This study aimed to report the prevalence of obesity, classified using Asian cut-off, and its relationships with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and hypercholesteremia. We analyzed the nationally representative data from 14,025 Malaysian adults who participated in the NHMS 2015. The relationship between obesity and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and hypercholesteremia was determined using multivariable logistic regressions, and lifestyle risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics were adjusted. The undiagnosed high blood pressure group showed the highest proportionate of overweight/obese (80.0%, 95% CI: 78.1–81.8) and central obesity (61.8%, 95% CI: 59.3–64.2). Inverse association was observed between underweight with undiagnosed high blood pressure (aOR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.26–0.61) and hypercholesterolemia (aOR: 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59–0.95) groups. In contrast, positive relationships were shown between overweight/obese and risk of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (aOR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1.31–2.07), high blood pressure (aOR: 3.08, 95% CI: 2.60–3.63), and hypercholesterolemia (aOR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.22–1.53). Likewise, central obesity was positively associated with a risk of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (aOR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.17–1.67), high blood pressure (aOR: 2.83, 95% CI: 2.45–3.26), and hypercholesterolemia (aOR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.12–1.42). Our findings indicated the importance of periodical health examinations to assess the risk of non-communicable diseases among the general and abdominal obese Malaysian adults

Maternal microchimerism and cell-mediated immune-modulation enhance engraftment following semi-allogenic intrauterine transplantation

10.1096/fj.202002185RRFASEB JOURNAL35

Maternal dendritic cells influence fetal allograft response following murine in-utero hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract Background Intrauterine hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (IUT), potentially curative in congenital haematological disease, is often inhibited by deleterious immune responses to donor cells resulting in subtherapeutic donor cell chimerism (DCC). Microchimerism of maternal immune cells (MMc) trafficked into transplanted recipients across the placenta may directly influence donor-specific alloresponsiveness, limiting DCC. We hypothesized that dendritic cells (DC) among trafficked MMc influence the development of tolerogenic or immunogenic responses towards donor cells, and investigated if maternal DC-depletion reduced recipient alloresponsiveness and enhanced DCC. Methods Using transgenic CD11c.DTR (C57BL/6) female mice enabled transient maternal DC-depletion with a single dose of diphtheria toxin (DT). CD11c.DTR females and BALB/c males were cross-mated, producing hybrid pups. IUT was performed at E14 following maternal DT administration 24 h prior. Bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells were transplanted, obtained from semi-allogenic BALB/c (paternal-derived; pIUT), C57BL/6 (maternal-derived; mIUT), or fully allogenic (aIUT) C3H donor mice. Recipient F1 pups were analyzed for DCC, while maternal and IUT-recipient immune cell profile and reactivity were examined via mixed lymphocyte reactivity functional assays. T- and B-cell receptor repertoire diversity in maternal and recipient cells were examined following donor cell exposure. Results DCC was highest and MMc was lowest following pIUT. In contrast, aIUT recipients had the lowest DCC and the highest MMc. In groups that were not DC-depleted, maternal cells trafficked post-IUT displayed reduced TCR & BCR clonotype diversity, while clonotype diversity was restored when dams were DC-depleted. Additionally, recipients displayed increased expression of regulatory T-cells and immune-inhibitory proteins, with reduced proinflammatory cytokine and donor-specific antibody production. DC-depletion did not impact initial donor chimerism. Postnatal transplantation without immunosuppression of paternal donor cells did not increase DCC in pIUT recipients; however there were no donor-specific antibody production or immune cell changes. Conclusions Though maternal DC depletion did not improve DCC, we show for the first time that MMc influences donor-specific alloresponsiveness, possibly by expanding alloreactive clonotypes, and depleting maternal DC promotes and maintains acquired tolerance to donor cells independent of DCC, presenting a novel approach to enhancing donor cell tolerance following IUT. This may have value when planning repeat HSC transplantations to treat haemoglobinopathies

A comparison of intrauterine haemopoietic cell transplantation and lentiviral gene transfer for the correction of severe β-thalassaemia in a HbbTh3/+ murine model

Major haemoglobinopathies place tremendous strain on global resources. Intrauterine haemopoietic cell (IUHCT) and gene (IUGT) therapies can potentially reduce perinatal morbidities with greater efficacy than postnatal therapy alone. We performed both procedures in the thalassaemic HbbTh3/+ murine model. Intraperitoneal delivery of coisogenic cells at E13-14 produced dose-dependent chimerism. High-dose adult bone marrow (BM) cells maintained 0.2-3.1% chimerism over ~24 weeks and treated heterozygotes demonstrated higher chimerism than wild-type pups (1.6 vs. 0.7%). Fetal liver cells produced higher chimerism compared to adult BM when transplanted at the same doses, maintaining 1.8-2.4% chimerism over ~32 weeks. We boosted transplanted mice postnatally with adult BM cells following busulfan conditioning. Engraftment was maintained at >1% only in recipients which were chimeric prior to boosting. IUHCT-treated non-chimeras and non-IUHCT mice showed micro- or no chimerism. Additional fludarabine treatment produced higher chimerism than busulfan alone. Engraftment was more effective following higher starting chimerism prior to boosting and in heterozygotes. Chimeric heterozygotes expressed 2.2-15.1% donor cells with eventual decline at 24 weeks (vs. <1% in non-chimeras) and demonstrated improved haematological indices and smaller spleens compared to untreated heterozygotes. Intravenous delivery of GLOBE lentiviral-vector expressing HBB (human β-globin) resulted in vector concentration of 0.001-0.6 copies/cell. Most haematological indices were higher in treated than untreated heterozygotes including haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume, though still lower than in wild-types. Thus both direct IUGT and IUHCT strategies can be used to achieve haematological improvement but require further dose optimisation. IUHCT will be useful combined with postnatal transplantation to further enhance engraftment