GWAS meta-analysis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy implicates multiple hepatic genes and regulatory elements

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disorder affecting 0.5–2% of pregnancies. The majority of cases present in the third trimester with pruritus, elevated serum bile acids and abnormal serum liver tests. ICP is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including spontaneous preterm birth and stillbirth. Whilst rare mutations affecting hepatobiliary transporters contribute to the aetiology of ICP, the role of common genetic variation in ICP has not been systematically characterised to date. Here, we perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses for ICP across three studies including 1138 cases and 153,642 controls. Eleven loci achieve genome-wide significance and have been further investigated and fine-mapped using functional genomics approaches. Our results pinpoint common sequence variation in liver-enriched genes and liver-specific cis-regulatory elements as contributing mechanisms to ICP susceptibility

Social media marketing influence on Boutique Hotel customers’ purchase intention in Malaysia

As of January 2020, global social media users have exceeded 3.8 billion, accounting for 49% of the world’s total population. Internet and social media have become an indispensable part of people’s daily lives worldwide. However, most previous research only focuses on social media marketing in other businesses, and there is less research about the development of boutique hotel social media marketing. This study investigates the relationship between different social media marketing practices and customers’ purchase intention in Malaysia’s boutique hotels. The article also explores how to properly conduct social media marketing to increase the customer purchase intention of boutique hotels and promote the boutique hotels’ development in Malaysia. The non-probability random sampling technique 309 response was collected from Malaysian social media users using an online survey. Findings of the research found out that factors including marketing activities and eWOM significantly impact customer purchase intention of the boutique hotels in Malaysia through the mediating variable perceived usefulness and the mediating variable perceived trust. The study offers implications for the development of social media marketing in boutique hotels.</jats:p

Emotional Intelligence and Psychopathology in Schizophrenia

Deficits in social cognition, emotion perception and thinking have been extensively documented in schizophrenia either during the course or even in prodromal phase and are associated with poor psychosocial functioning. The present study aimed to explore the associations among emotional intelligence and positive and negative syndromes in the patients with schizophrenia. A sample of 30 male patients with schizophrenia within age range of 18-45 years was taken. Patients were selected by purposive sampling on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria from the inpatient department of a psychiatry Institute. PANSS and MSREIS-R were administered on the patients to assess positive, negative symptoms and general symptoms and different components of emotional intelligence respectively. The results revealed that two components of emotional intelligence (a) ability to manage emotions in others (b) total score of MSREIS-R were significantly associated with negative and general symptoms.</jats:p

Comparative Analysis of 5 level, 7 level and 9 level Half-Bridge Modular Multilevel Converter

Abstract This paper uses the topology of Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) to demonstrate Direct Current (DC) / Alternating current (AC) conversion implementation. For drive applications, a theoretical background is presented. The 5-stage MMC switching system is explained. The simulation was performed using cascaded interconnection of half-bridge submodules for single legs of three phase 5 level, 7 level and 9 level modular multilevel inverters. This paper is intended to examine Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) for different voltage stages.</jats:p

Fracture Toughness of Concrete by using Recycle Aggregates in Addition with S2 Glass Fiber

The scarcity in conventional material to prepare concrete and a demand of reuse of demolished or abandoned waste of concrete structure gives a reason to study the ways of using more amount of recycled aggregates. Various studies reviewed the use of recycled aggregates but to a maximum limit of 50% whereas use glass fibers gave a better response to mechanical and chemical properties of concrete 1. For concrete the occurrence of cracks and pores is uncertain and it is important to investigate whether they are intact or not. The durability of the fracture tests depends on the ductile nature of concrete structures under load. It was found that there is a need to assess the strength of the concrete at fracture of the critical point. The present study aims at finding out how far the ductility of concrete with recycle aggregates can be improved by the addition of S2 glass fibers in terms of fracture toughness by varying the fiber content. The research work consist of replacement of recycle aggregates with five different mixes of concrete as 40, 60, 70, 80 &amp; 100% and in each five mixes the addition of S2 glass fiber with 0.25%-1% by its weight with an increment of 0.25% is done. 3 point bending test on notched beams were conducted for determination of critical stress intensity. The tests were performed as per the guidelines of International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM) 5.The research paper gives idea about optimum percentage of recycle aggregates and S2 glass fiber that can be used in concrete structures casting taking in account the study of fracture toughness.</jats:p