Study on the Conceptual Model of E-Government standards Adoption Based on Institutional Theory

The purpose of this study is to investigate the forces that promote national e-government standards adoption and diffusion by government agencies. By using institutional theory as a theoretical basis, a conceptual model is set up and the hypotheses are proposed. Three forces of improving national e-government standards adoption are discussed. They are coercive forces, mimetic forces and normative forces. The survey questionnaire has been developed which will be used to test the theoretical model. All the data will be expectedly collected by the end of May, 2013 and then the structural equation model will be analyzed with PLS. From a theoretical perspective, the research model may be informative for researchers investigating the adoption of other technological standards. From the practical perspective, the research results may give some advice to government officials to promote the diffusion national e-government standards

Pomolic acid inhibits proliferation of human lung carcinoma cells via induction of apoptosis and suppression of cell migration and invasion

Purpose: To investigate the anti-proliferative effect of pomolic acid on lung cancer cells (A549), and theunderlying mechanism.Methods: The viability of pomolic acid-treated A549 cells was determined by MTT and colony formation assays. Cell colony formation was monitored with acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining. Protein expressions of Bax and Bcl-2 were assayed by western blotting.Results: Pomolic acid suppressed the growth of A549 cells, with an half-maximal inhibitory concentration of (IC50) of 10 μM (p < 0.05). However, the IC50 of pomolic acid for normal BEAS-2B cells was 80 μM. Pomolic acid also decreased colony formation of A549 cells. At 20 μM, the percentage of A549 colonies decreased to 14 % of control. The dose-dependent cytotoxicity of pomolic acid against A549 cells was mediated via induction of apoptosis and oxidative stress. Pomolic acid treatment enhanced the expression of Bax and decreased the expression of Bcl-2 in A549 cells. Moreover, pomolic acid inhibited the migration and invasion in A549 cells in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05).Conclusion: These results indicate the potent anticancer effect of pomolic acid against human lung cancer cells. Thus, pomolic acid has promising potential as a lead molecule for the development of chemotherapy

Patient safety education for undergraduate medical students: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To reduce harm caused by health care is a global priority. Medical students should be able to recognize unsafe conditions, systematically report errors and near misses, investigate and improve such systems with a thorough understanding of human fallibility, and disclose errors to patients. Incorporating the knowledge of how to do this into the medical student curriculum is an urgent necessity. This paper aims to systematically review the literature about patient safety education for undergraduate medical students in terms of its content, teaching strategies, faculty availability and resources provided so as to identify evidence on how to promote patient safety in the curriculum for medical schools. This paper includes a perspective from the faculty of a medical school, a major hospital and an Evidence Based Medicine Centre in Sichuan Province, China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We searched MEDLINE, ERIC, Academic Source Premier(ASP), EMBASE and three Chinese Databases (Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, CBM; China National Knowledge Infrastructure, CNKI; Wangfang Data) from 1980 to Dec. 2009. The pre-specified form of inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed for literature screening. The quality of included studies was assessed using Darcy Reed and Gemma Flores-Mateo criteria. Two reviewers selected the studies, undertook quality assessment, and data extraction independently. Differing opinions were resolved by consensus or with help from the third person.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This was a descriptive study of a total of seven studies that met the selection criteria. There were no relevant Chinese studies to be included. Only one study included patient safety education in the medical curriculum and the remaining studies integrated patient safety into clinical rotations or medical clerkships. Seven studies were of a pre and post study design, of which there was only one controlled study. There was considerable variation in relation to contents, teaching strategies, faculty knowledge and background in patient safety, other resources and outcome evaluation in these reports. The outcomes from including patient safety in the curriculum as measured by medical students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes varied between the studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There are only a few relevant published studies on the inclusion of patient safety education into the undergraduate curriculum in medical schools either as a selective course, a lecture program, or by being integrated into the existing curriculum even in developed countries with advanced health and education systems. The integration of patient safety education into the existing curriculum in medical schools internationally, provides significant challenges.</p

Infection with blast fungus ( Magnaporthe orzyae) leads to increased expression of an arabinogalactan-protein epitope in both susceptible and resistant rice cultivars

Blast fungus (Magnaporthe orzyae) is the most serious pathogen of rice. As such, the objective of the current study was to investigate the infection process using a selected panel of anti-plant extracellular matrix antibodies, in infected leaves from three rice cultivars that display varying degrees of resistance to the pathogen; at selected time points post inoculation. An arabinogalactan-protein (AGP) epitope, recognized by the antibody JIM13, was shown to be temporally and spatially regulated during the infection, in all three cultivars. Prior to inoculation, expression of the epitope was confined to the epidermis, sclerenchyma, phloem, xylem and bundle sheath. As the infection progressed, the intensity of labeling increased in all the aforementioned cell types and spread to the mesophyll. Immunogold transmission electron microscopy, revealed this epitope to be most abundant at the plasma membrane. These data suggest that this epitope is borne on a plasma-membrane-associated AGP, which may act as a pattern recognition receptor (PRR), involved in the basal immune response to infection with blast fungus, in both resistant and susceptible rice cultivars. As such, this study represents the first report of a membrane – associated arabinogalactan-protein in rice, which once cloned, could be of utility in future breeding programs/genetic modification to improve the basal immune response to blast fungus and other pathogens, in this globally important food crop

Loss of NLRP3 reduces oxidative stress and polarizes intratumor macrophages to attenuate immune attack on endometrial cancer

IntroductionThe interaction between endometrial cancer (EMC) cells and intratumoral macrophages plays a significant role in the development of the disease. PYD domains-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome formation triggers caspase-1/IL-1β signaling pathways and produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) in macrophages. However, the role of NLRP3-regulated ROS production in macrophage polarization and the subsequent growth and metastasis of EMC remains unknown.MethodsWe conducted bioinformatic analysis to compare NLRP3 levels in intratumoral macrophages from EMC and normal endometrium. In vitro experiments involved knocking out NLRP3 in macrophages to shift the polarization from an anti-inflammatory M1-like phenotype to a proinflammatory M2-like phenotype and reduce ROS production. The impact of NLRP3 depletion on the growth, invasion, and metastasis of co-cultured EMC cells was assessed. We also evaluated the effect of NLRP3 depletion in macrophages on the growth and metastasis of implanted EMC cells in mice.ResultsOur bioinformatic analysis showed significantly lower NLRP3 levels in intratumoral macrophages from EMC than those from normal endometrium. Knocking out NLRP3 in macrophages shifted their polarization to a proinflammatory M2-like phenotype and significantly reduced ROS production. NLRP3 depletion in M2-polarized macrophages increased the growth, invasion, and metastasis of co-cultured EMC cells. NLRP3 depletion in M1-polarized macrophages reduced phagocytic potential, which resulted in weakened immune defense against EMC. Additionally, NLRP3 depletion in macrophages significantly increased the growth and metastasis of implanted EMC cells in mice, likely due to compromised phagocytosis by macrophages and a reduction in cytotoxic CD8+ T cells.DiscussionOur results suggest that NLRP3 plays a significant role in regulating macrophage polarization, oxidative stress, and immune response against EMC. NLRP3 depletion alters the polarization of intratumoral macrophages, leading to weakened immune defense against EMC cells. The reduction in ROS production by the loss of NLRP3 may have implications for the development of novel treatment strategies for EMC

Candiduria in hospitalized patients: an investigation with the Sysmex UF-1000i urine analyzer

Background Candiduria is common in hospitalized patients. Its management is limited because of inadequate understanding. Previous epidemiological studies based on culture assay have been limited to small study populations. Therefore, data collected by automated systems from a large target population are necessary for more comprehensive understanding of candiduria in hospitalized patients. Methods To determine the performance of the Sysmex UF-1000i in detecting candiduria, a cross-sectional study was designed and conducted. A total of 203 yeast-like cell (YLC)-positive and 127 negative samples were randomly chosen and subjected to microbiologic analysis. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate the ability of YLC counts as measured by the Sysmex UF1000i to predict candiduria. Urinalysis data from 31,648 hospitalized patients were retrospectively investigated, and statistical analysis was applied to the data collected. Results Using a cutoff value of 84.6 YLCs/µL, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the yeast like cell (YLC) counts to predict candiduria were 61.7%, 84.1%, 88.6% and 66.3%, respectively. C. glabrata (33.6%) and C. tropicalis (31.4%) were more prevalent than C. albicans (24.3%) in the present study. Of the investigated hospitalized patients, 509 (1.61%) were considered candiduria-positive. Age, gender and basic condition were associated with candiduria in hospitalized patients. In the ICU setting, urinary catheterization appeared to be the only independent risk factor contributing to candiduria according to our investigation. Although antibiotic therapy has been reported to be a very important risk factor, we could not confirm its significance in ICU candiduria patients because of excessive antibiotic usage in our hospital. Conclusions The YLC measured by Sysmex UF-1000i is a practical and convenient tool for clinical candiduria screening prior to microbiologic culture. Candiduria is common in hospitalized patients, and its incidence varies according to age, gender and the wards where it is isolated. Candiduria had no direct connection with mortality but might be considered a marker of seriously ill patients who need particular attention in the clinic

Characteristics and outcomes of heart failure with recovered left ventricular ejection fraction

Aims There is an emerging interest in elucidating the natural history and prognosis for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) in whom left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) subsequently improves. The characteristics and outcomes were compared between heart failure with recovered ejection fraction (HFrecEF) and persistent HFrEF. Methods and results This is a retrospective study of adults who underwent at least two echocardiograms 3 months apart between 1 November 2015 and 31 October 2019 with an initial diagnosis of HFrEF. The subjects were divided into HFrecEF group (second LVEF > 40%, ≥10% absolute improvement in LVEF) and persistent HFrEF group (20% subgroups. The primary outcomes were all-cause mortality and rehospitalization. A total of 1160 HFrEF patients were included [70.2% male, mean (standard deviation) age: 62 ± 13 years]. On the second echocardiogram, 284 patients (24.5%) showed HFrecEF and 876 patients (75.5%) showed persistent HFrEF. All-cause mortality was identified in 23 (8.10%) HFrecEF and 165 (18.84%) persistent HFrEF, whilst 76 (26.76%) and 426 (48.63%) showed rehospitalizations, respectively. Survival analysis showed that the persistent HFrEF subgroup experienced a significantly higher mortality at 12 and 24 months and a higher hospitalization at 12, 24, 48, and more than 48 months following discharge. Multivariate Cox regression showed that persistent HFrEF had a higher risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR) 2.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.49–3.56, P = 0.000] and rehospitalization (HR 1.85, 95% CI 1.45–2.36, P = 0.000) than the HFrecEF group. Subgroup analysis showed that the LVEF ≥ 20% improvement subgroup had lower rates of adverse outcomes compared with those with less improvement of 10–20%. Conclusions Heart failure with recovered ejection fraction is a distinct HF phenotype with better clinical outcomes compared with those with persistent HFrEF. HFrecEF patients have a relatively better short-term mortality at 24 months but not thereafter