The impact of foreign trading information on emerging futures markets: a study of Taiwan's unique data set

Using a unique dataset from the Taiwan Futures Exchange, this paper investigates whether trading imbalances by foreign investors affect emerging Taiwan futures market in terms of returns and volatility. First, this evidence demonstrates a positive relation between contemporaneous futures returns and net purchases by foreign investors when other market factor effects are controlled. Second, this failure to detect price reversals is inconsistent with the price pressure hypothesis. Third, foreign investors do not exhibit positive feedback trading patterns. Fourth, a bi-directional Granger-causality relationship exists between futures volatility and foreign trading flows. As found for other stock or foreign exchange markets, our empirical results demonstrate that foreign trading flows do have impacts on the return and volatility of developing futures market, suggesting that trading by foreign investors may enhance the information flow of the local futures market.Foreign trading

Exploring the commercial value of social networks: enhancing consumers’ brand experience through Facebook pages

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors which impact upon the consumers’ willingness to utilise company Facebook pages and e-word-of mouth by proposing and testing a conceptual framework which is inspired by theories in marketing and information systems fields. The authors believe that only by applying both theories will provide a more complete understanding of the relationship between brand experience and Facebook. The research model attempts to illustrate the factors according to customers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and their impact on brand experience, brand Facebook page loyalty and e-word-of-mouth (E-WOM). Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopted an online survey method for data collection. The subjects the authors used were Facebook users. The data were collected in Taiwan over spring 2011. The authors then used the structural equation model to analyse the data collected. Findings – The findings suggest that users are influenced by the technical characterises of a brand Facebook page, such as ease of use and usefulness, which might be combated by attempting to reduce customer effort when accessing Facebook pages. The authors conclude that customer effort influenced brand experience and consequently loyalty to brand Facebook pages and E-WOM. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study relate to the investigation of consumer perspectives in a specific geographical context and time frame. Originality/value – The study’s contributions are both theoretical and practical, as it offers new insights into brand experience attitudes in an online environment and useful insights to companies willing to market themselves on Facebook. Keywords Marketing, Facebook, Virtual community, Extrinsic motivations, Intrinsic motivations Paper type Research pape

Regulation of axon repulsion by MAX-1 SUMOylation and AP-3.

During neural development, growing axons express specific surface receptors in response to various environmental guidance cues. These axon guidance receptors are regulated through intracellular trafficking and degradation to enable navigating axons to reach their targets. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the UNC-5 receptor is necessary for dorsal migration of developing motor axons. We previously found that MAX-1 is required for UNC-5-mediated axon repulsion, but its mechanism of action remained unclear. Here, we demonstrate that UNC-5-mediated axon repulsion in C. elegans motor axons requires both max-1 SUMOylation and the AP-3 complex β subunit gene, apb-3 Genetic interaction studies show that max-1 is SUMOylated by gei-17/PIAS1 and acts upstream of apb-3 Biochemical analysis suggests that constitutive interaction of MAX-1 and UNC-5 receptor is weakened by MAX-1 SUMOylation and by the presence of APB-3, a competitive interactor with UNC-5. Overexpression of APB-3 reroutes the trafficking of UNC-5 receptor into the lysosome for protein degradation. In vivo fluorescence recovery after photobleaching experiments shows that MAX-1 SUMOylation and APB-3 are required for proper trafficking of UNC-5 receptor in the axon. Our results demonstrate that SUMOylation of MAX-1 plays an important role in regulating AP-3-mediated trafficking and degradation of UNC-5 receptors during axon guidance

POSTURAL STABILITY PERFORMANCE BETWEEN SEDENTARY AND ACTIVE SUBJECTS WITH THE BIODEX STABILITY SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION: Postural stability (PS) has been defined as the ability to maintain an upright posture within the base of support (Lee and Lin, 2007) and is considered to be an important indicator of musculoskeletal health and physical performance. This study examined the PS performance between sedentary and active subjects using the Biodex Balance System (BBS) with well intraclass correlation coefficient (Hinman, 2000)

IsaB Inhibits Autophagic Flux to Promote Host Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a major nosocomial pathogen that is widespread in both health-care facilities and in the community at large, as a result of direct host-to-host transmission. Several virulence factors are associated with pathogen transmission to naive hosts. Immunodominant surface antigen B (IsaB) is a virulence factor that helps Staphylococcus aureus to evade the host defense system. However, the mechanism of IsaB on host transmissibility remains unclear. We found that IsaB expression was elevated in transmissible MRSA. Wild-type isaB strains inhibited autophagic flux to promote bacterial survival and elicit inflammation in THP-1 cells and mouse skin. MRSA isolates with increased IsaB expression showed decreased autophagic flux, and the MRSA isolate with the lowest IsaB expression showed increased autophagic flux. In addition, recombinant IsaB rescued the virulence of the isaB deletion strain and increased the group A streptococcus (GAS) virulence in vivo. Together, these results reveal that IsaB diminishes autophagic flux, thereby allowing MRSA to evade host degradation. These findings suggest that IsaB is a suitable target for preventing or treating MRSA infection

Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas

BackgroundRadiosurgery has been established as an important alternative to microsurgery. We report our experience with radiosurgery for tumor control and the complications of unilateral vestibular schwannomas.MethodsWe reviewed our early experience regarding clinical presentation, management and outcomes in 45 patients with acoustic schwannomas who underwent gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery. The median follow-up period was 25 months (range, 6-48 months). Thirteen patients had undergone 1 or more previous resections before radiosurgery; 32 underwent radiosurgery as the first procedure. Median tumor volume was 4.5 mL (range, 0.5-30.0), and median radiotherapy dose was 11.5 Gy (range, 10.5-14.0 Gy).ResultsTumor control was achieved in 43 patients (95.6%). Loss of central contrast enhancement was a characteristic change and was noted in 29 patients (64.4%). Reduction in tumor size was shown in 15 patients (33.3%). Thirteen patients (28.9%) had good or serviceable hearing preoperatively, and in all of these, the preoperative status was retained immediately after radiosurgery. At follow-up, however, 10 patients (76.9%) had preserved hearing and 3 (23.1%) had reduced hearing on the treated side. Hearing in 1 patient that was not serviceable preoperatively later improved to a serviceable level. No patients had delayed facial palsy or lower cranial nerve dysfunction, but one had delayed trigeminal sensory loss.ConclusionRadiosurgery achieved a high tumor control rate and a relatively low post-radiosurgical complication rate for acoustic neuromas

Development of an orally administered nanoparticle vaccine to combat clostridioides difficile infections

Clostridioides difficile is a gram+, spore forming, toxin producing anaerobe that is found throughout the environment. C. difficile is the leading agent of hospital acquired infections. Symptoms of C. difficile infection can range from diarrhea to pseudomembranous colitis and if left untreated can lead to death. C. difficile is currently only treated with 3 antibiotics Metronidazole, Vancomycin, and Fidaxomicin. All these antibiotics are non-specific to C. difficile and have the side effect of killing the normal microbiome of the gut. This microbiome helps to keep the body resistant to C. difficile infections, and its destruction can lead to relapses of disease. Ongoing work in our lab is looking at preventing C. difficile infections using a nanoparticle based oral vaccine. In a mouse model of C. difficile infections, we previously demonstrated that intraperitoneal injection of a vaccine composed of the receptor-binding domain of C. difficile toxin B (TcdB) with chitosan and poly-g-glutamic acid were effective in inducing antigen-specific IgA and IgG antibodies. Continuing this research, we later demonstrated that rTcdB encapsulated in a polypeptide-based polymer and delivered orally produces a long lasting and robust antibody response. These robust antibody responses to the C. difficile toxin were enough to prevent disease within a mouse model, however, it was not able to reduce bacteria burden leaving the potential for asymptomatic spread and relapses of disease. In my project, I wish to continue this research in two ways. First, by continuing the optimization of the nanoparticle delivery system. To do this we propose using a nanoparticle polymer that specifically targets M-cells lining the intestine and be pH activated. We hypothesize that this will improve antigen immunogenicity and provide better protection against C. difficile infections. Second, evaluate several C. difficile surface proteins immunogenicity in a mouse model. We hypothesize that a two-target approach may decrease the bacterial load and lead to complete protection against C. difficile infections