1,055 research outputs found

    An empirical study on the factors influencing customers satisfaction among mobile phone users at the University of Benghazi in Libya

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    The company needs an achievement for business continuously in order to sure the satisfaction of customer every day. This is targeting refer to the group whether individual or organizations. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect between customer relationship management (CRM) information systems, service quality, reliability and tangibles on customer satisfaction in the Libyan mobile telecommunication services and also this sector is highly competitive. In addition, the purpose of this research is to gain the knowledge customer relationship management information systems. This is an empirical study using mainly primary data collected through a well-structured questionnaire. This study carried out by covering 132 of customers who using a mobile phone. The results indicate that all of the four hypotheses tested are supported. There is a positive impact and significant relationship between the customer satisfaction and customer relationship management (CRM) information systems, service quality, reliability and tangibles. In conclusion, the present study has its own limitation since this research is only conducted in master program students at Benghazi University in Libya. Therefore the finding of the study is unable to be generalizing for the whole population of hand phone users in Libya as the sample size is considered small

    Intentional Ethylene Glycol Poisoning Increase after Media Coverage of Antifreeze Murders

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    Background: The media can have a profound impact on human behavior. A sensational murder by ethylene glycol (EG) poisoning occurred in our state. The regional media provided extensive coverage of the murder. We undertook this investigation to evaluate our incidence of EG poisoning during the timeframe of before the first report linking a death to ethylene glycol to shortly after the first murder trial.Methods: Descriptive statistics and linear regression were used to describe and analyze the number of EG cases over time. A search of the leading regional newspaper’s archives established the media coverage timeline.Result: Between 2000 and 2004, our poison center (PC) handled a steady volume of unintentional exposures to EG [range: 105–123 per year, standard deviation (SD)=7.22]. EG exposures thought to be suicidal in intent increased from 12 cases in 2000 to 121 cases in 2004. In the 19 months prior to the first media report of this story, our PC handled a mean of 1 EG case with suicidal intent per month [range: 0–2, SD=.69]. In the month after the first media report, our PC handled 5 EG cases with suicidal intent. When media coverage was most intense (2004), our PC received a mean of 10 EG suicidal-intent calls per month [range: 5–17, SD=3.55]. Although uncommon, reports of malicious EG poisonings also increased during this same period from 2 in 2000 to 14 in 2004.Conclusion: Media coverage of stories involving poisonings may result in copycat events, applicable to both self-poisonings and concern for malicious poisonings. Poison centers should be aware of this phenomenon, pay attention to local media and plan accordingly if a poisoning event receives significant media coverage. The media should be more sensitive to the content of their coverage and avoid providing “how to” poisoning information. [West J Emerg Med. 2011;12(3):296-299.

    Wafer-level packaged RF-MEMS switches fabricated in a CMOS fab

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    Reports on wafer-level packaged RF-MEMS switches fabricated in a commercial CMOS fab. Switch fabrication is based on a metal surface micromachining process. A novel wafer-level packaging scheme is developed, whereby the switches are housed in on-chip sealed cavities using benzocyclobutene (BCB) as the bonding and sealing material. Measurements show that the influence of the wafer-level package on the RF performance can be made very small.\ud \u

    The CXCL10/CXCR3 Axis and Cardiac Inflammation: Implications for Immunotherapy to Treat Infectious and Noninfectious Diseases of the Heart.

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    Accumulating evidence reveals involvement of T lymphocytes and adaptive immunity in the chronic inflammation associated with infectious and noninfectious diseases of the heart, including coronary artery disease, Kawasaki disease, myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathies, Chagas, hypertensive left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, and nonischemic heart failure. Chemokine CXCL10 is elevated in cardiovascular diseases, along with increased cardiac infiltration of proinflammatory Th1 and cytotoxic T cells. CXCL10 is a chemoattractant for these T cells and polarizing factor for the proinflammatory phenotype. Thus, targeting the CXCL10 receptor CXCR3 is a promising therapeutic approach to treating cardiac inflammation. Due to biased signaling CXCR3 also couples to anti-inflammatory signaling and immunosuppressive regulatory T cell formation when activated by CXCL11. Numbers and functionality of regulatory T cells are reduced in patients with cardiac inflammation, supporting the utility of biased agonists or biologicals to simultaneously block the pro-inflammatory and activate the anti-inflammatory actions of CXCR3. Other immunotherapy strategies to boost regulatory T cell actions include intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, adoptive transfer, immunoadsorption, and low-dose interleukin-2/interleukin-2 antibody complexes. Pharmacological approaches include sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 agonists and vitamin D supplementation. A combined strategy of switching CXCR3 signaling from pro- to anti-inflammatory and improving Treg functionality is predicted to synergistically lessen adverse cardiac remodeling

    Role of DiaA and SeqA homologues in the deep-sea adapted growth of photobacterium profundum SS9

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    The mechanism of high pressure-adapted growth in the deep-sea bacterium Photobacterium profundum SS9 is poorly understood. To gain further insights, two P. profundum SS9R mutants were investigated. FL23 (pbpra3229::m-Tn10) and FL28 (pbpra1039::m-Tn10) had been previously characterised as high pressuresensitive and pressure-enhanced, respectively. FL23 had a growth defect at atmospheric pressure but failed to show high pressure-adapted growth on solid agar. Pbpra3229 is 75 % identical to E. coli DiaA (stimulator of DNA replication and critical for the timely initiation of replication) and 45% identical to E. coli GmhA (essential for lipopolysaccharide core biosynthesis), which led to an investigation into whether either process was affected in FL23. However, the lipopolysaccharide of FL23 and its parent strain were identical, which suggests that Pbpra3229 is not a GmhA homologue. In contrast, the pbpra3229 and E. coli diaA genes were functionally interchangeable and both restored the timing of DNA replication in an E. coli diaA mutant. FL28 had growth and morphological defects at high pressure, but both phenotypes were exacerbated at atmospheric pressure. Pbpra1039 is 55% identical to E. coli SeqA, which is a negative regulator of DNA replication and also essential for timely initiation. Pbpra1039 was shown to be a functional homologue of E. coli SeqA, as pbpra1039 partially complemented the DNA replication defect of an E. coli seqA mutant. Combined, these findings provide evidence that Pbpra3229 is a DiaA homologue, whereas Pbpra1039 is a cold adapted SeqA homologue, and that both positive and negative regulation of initiation of DNA replication are essential for the ability of P. profundum SS9 to adapt to deep-sea conditions. A marine metagenomic library was also screened for clones that produced novel cell envelope polysaccharides and tools were developed to identify cell envelope polysaccharides in P. profundum SS9

    Detecting the subtle shape differences in hemodynamic responses at the group level

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    The nature of the hemodynamic response (HDR) is still not fully understood due to the multifaceted processes involved. Aside from the overall amplitude, the response may vary across cognitive states, tasks, brain regions, and subjects with respect to characteristics such as rise and fall speed, peak duration, undershoot shape, and overall duration. Here we demonstrate that the fixed-shape or adjusted-shape methods may fail to detect some shape subtleties. In contrast, the estimated-shape method (ESM) through multiple basis functions can provide the opportunity to identify some subtle shape differences and achieve higher statistical power at both individual and group levels. Previously, some dimension reduction approaches focused on the peak magnitude, or made inferences based on the area under the curve or interaction, which can lead to potential misidentifications. By adopting a generic framework of multivariate modeling (MVM), we showcase a hybrid approach that is validated by simulations and real data. Unlike the few analyses that were limited to main effect, two- or three-way interactions, we extend the approach to an inclusive platform that is more adaptable than the conventional GLM, achieving a practical equipoise among representation, false positive control, statistical power, and modeling flexibility

    Novel Stromal Biomarkers in Human Breast Cancer Tissues Provide Evidence for the More Malignant Phenotype of Estrogen Receptor-Negative Tumors

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    Research efforts were focused on genetic alterations in epithelial cancer cells. Epithelial-stromal interactions play a crucial role in cancer initiation, progression, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis; however, the active role of stroma in human breast tumorigenesis in relation to estrogen receptor (ER) status of epithelial cells has not been explored. Using proteomics and biochemical approaches, we identified two stromal proteins in ER-positive and ER-negative human breast cancer tissues that may affect malignant transformation in breast cancer. Two putative biomarkers, T-cell receptor alpha (TCR-α) and zinc finger and BRCA1-interacting protein with a KRAB domain (ZBRK1), were detected in leukocytes of ER-positive and endothelial cells of ER-negative tissues, respectively. Our data suggest an immunosuppressive role of leukocytes in invasive breast tumors, propose a multifunctional nature of ZBRK1 in estrogen receptor regulation and angiogenesis, and demonstrate the aggressiveness of ER-negative human breast carcinomas. This research project may identify new stromal drug targets for the treatment of breast cancer patients

    Post-Operative Medium- and Long-Term Endocrine Outcomes in Patients with Non-Functioning Pituitary Adenomas—Machine Learning Analysis

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    Post-operative endocrine outcomes in patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) are variable. The aim of this study was to use machine learning (ML) models to better predict medium- and long-term post-operative hypopituitarism in patients with NFPAs. We included data from 383 patients who underwent surgery with or without radiotherapy for NFPAs, with a follow-up period between 6 months and 15 years. ML models, including k-nearest neighbour (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and decision tree models, showed a superior ability to predict panhypopituitarism compared with non-parametric statistical modelling (mean accuracy: 0.89; mean AUC-ROC: 0.79), with SVM achieving the highest performance (mean accuracy: 0.94; mean AUC-ROC: 0.88). Pre-operative endocrine function was the strongest feature for predicting panhypopituitarism within 1 year post-operatively, while endocrine outcomes at 1 year post-operatively supported strong predictions of panhypopituitarism at 5 and 10 years post-operatively. Other features found to contribute to panhypopituitarism prediction were age, volume of tumour, and the use of radiotherapy. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that ML models show potential in predicting post-operative panhypopituitarism in the medium and long term in patients with NFPM. Future work will include incorporating additional, more granular data, including imaging and operative video data, across multiple centres

    Characterization of surface proteins of Cronobacter muytjensii using monoclonal antibodies and MALDI-TOF Mass spectrometry

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Cronobacter </it>spp. is a newly emerging pathogen that causes meningitis in infants and other diseases in elderly and immunocompromised individuals. This study was undertaken to investigate surface antigenic determinants in <it>Cronobacter </it>spp. using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and MALDI-TOF Mass spectrometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Spleenocytes from mice that were immunized with heat-killed (20 min, 80°C) <it>Cronobacter </it>cells were fused with SP2 myeloma cells. Five desirable MAbs (A1, B5, 2C2, C5 and A4) were selected. MAbs A1, B5, 2C2 and C5 were of IgG2a isotype while A4 was an IgM. Specificity of the MAbs was determined by using immunoblotting with outer membrane protein preparations (OMPs) extracted from 12 <it>Cronobacter </it>and 6 non-<it>Cronobacter </it>bacteria. All MAbs recognized proteins with molecular weight ranging between 36 and 49 kDa except for one isolate (44) in which no OMPs were detected. In addition, MAbs recognized two bands (38-41 kDa) in four of the non-<it>Cronobacter </it>bacteria. Most of the proteins recognized by the MAbs were identified by MALDI-TOF peptide sequencing and appeared to be heterogeneous with the identities of some of them are still unknown. All MAbs recognized the same epitope as determined by an additive Index ELISA with their epitopes appeared to be conformational rather than sequential. Further, none of the MAbs recognized purified LPS from <it>Cronobacter </it>spp. Specificity of the MAbs toward OMPs was further confirmed by transmission electron microscopy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Results obtained in this study highlight the immunological cross-reactivity among <it>Cronobacter </it>OMPs and their <it>Enterobacteriaceae </it>counterparts. Nevertheless, the identity of the identified proteins appeared to be different as inferred from the MALDI-TOF sequencing and identification.</p
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