Cardholders' Attitude And Bank Credit Card Usage In Malaysia: An Exploratory Study

The study is aimed at validating attributes that influence the differences in attitudes among active and inactive cardholders. By focusing on relevant attributes that have been identified, it is believed that credit card issuing banks can position themselves effectively via their marketing strategies to activate their existing cardholders' usage rate as well as to attract new active cardholders. Thirteen important attributes were used to measure credit cardholders' attitude. These attributes include acceptance level, credit limit, interest-free repayment period, annual fee, application approval period, ancillary functions, handling of cardholders' complaints, issuing bank image, gift/bonus to new applicants, card design, leaflet to describe the card,and advertising by the issuing bank. Acceptance level, credit limit, interest free repayment period, ancillary functions, handling of cardholders' complaints, bank image, and bank advertising were found to be the most important attributes that influenced cardholders' attitudes in distinguishing active from inactive cardholders. Based on the results of the study, several suggestions are forwarded to credit card issuing banks as a step to stimulate credit cardholders' usage level. Among these are to work closer with various retailers to promote the credit card payment mode, to provide adequate credit limit to cardholders, to extend interest free repayment period from 20 days to 30 days, to implement strategic alliances with firms involved in travelling, entertainment, insurance, and telecommunications and, to advertise more so as to create a brand name for the issuing bank

A Prospective Multi-center Trial of Escherichia coli Extract for the Prophylactic Treatment of Patients with Chronically Recurrent Cystitis

We have assessed the efficacy and safety of Escherichia coli extract (ECE; UroVaxom (R)) which contains active immunostimulating fractions, in the prophylactic treatment of chronically recurrent cystitis. Forty-two patients with more than 2 episodes of cystitis in the proceeding 6 months were treated for 3 months with one capsule daily of ECE and observed for a further 6 months. The primary efficacy criterion was the number of episodes of recurrent cystitis during the 6 months after treatment compared to those during the 6 months before treatment. At the end of the 9-month trial, 34 patients (all women) were eligible for statistical analysis. Their mean age was 56.4 yr (range, 34-75 yr), and they had experienced recurrent urinary tract infections for 7.2 +/- 5.2 yr. The number of recurrences was significantly lower during the 6-month follow-up period than during the 6 months preceding the trial (0.35 vs. 4.26, P<0.001). During the follow-up, 28 (82.4%) patients had no recurrences and 4 (11.8%) had 1 each. In patients who relapsed, ECE alleviated cystitis symptoms, including painful voiding, frequency and urgency. There were no serious adverse events related to the study drug. Our study demonstrates the efficacy and safety of ECE in the prophylactic treatment of chronically recurrent cystitis.Ha US, 2008, INT J ANTIMICROB AG, V31, pS63, DOI 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2007.07.018LEE SJ, 2008, KOREAN J UROL, V48, P428Krieger JN, 2002, J UROLOGY, V168, P2351, DOI 10.1097/01.ju.0000037620.30988.b2Barnett BJ, 1997, AM J MED SCI, V314, P245Nicolle LE, 1997, INFECT DIS CLIN N AM, V11, P647Baier W, 1997, ARZNEIMITTEL-FORSCH, V47, P980Lettgen B, 1996, CURR THER RES CLIN E, V57, P464AVORN J, 1994, JAMA-J AM MED ASSOC, V271, P751MAGASI P, 1994, EUR UROL, V26, P137SCHULMAN CC, 1993, J UROLOGY, V150, P917JACOBY GA, 1991, NEW ENGL J MED, V324, P601NAUCK M, 1991, INT J EXP CLIN CHEMO, V4, P1SOTOLONGO JR, 1990, J UROLOGY, V143, P979VANPHAM T, 1990, J BIOL RESP MODIF, V9, P231TAMMEN H, 1990, BRIT J UROL, V65, P6HANSSON S, 1989, BRIT MED J, V298, P856HANSSON S, 1989, BRIT MED J, V298, P853WYBRAN J, 1989, IMMUNOPHARM IMMUNOT, V11, P17BOSCH A, 1988, IMMUNOPHARM IMMUNOT, V10, P333TAMMEN H, 1988, UROLOGE, V28, P294BOTTEX C, 1988, INT J IMMUNOTHER, V4, P203FREY C, 1986, UROL INT, V41, P444HAUSER WE, 1982, AM J MED, V72, P711

Multicenter phase II study of sequential radioembolization-sorafenib therapy for inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma

10.1371/journal.pone.0090909PLoS ONE93-POLN

Comparison of Quantitative Cytomegalovirus Real-time PCR in Whole Blood and pp65 Antigenemia Assay: Clinical Utility of CMV Real-time PCR in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

Successful preemptive therapy for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in transplant patients depends on the availability of sensitive, specific, and timely diagnostic tests for CMV infection. Although the pp65 antigenemia assay has been widely used for this purpose, real-time quantification of CMV DNA has recently been recognized as an alternative diagnostic approach. However, the guidelines for antiviral therapy based on real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) have yet to be established. From November 2004 to March 2005, a total of 555 whole blood samples from 131 hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients were prospectively collected. RQ-PCR was conducted using an Artus® CMV LC PCR kit (QIAGEN). Both qualitative and quantitative correlations were drawn between the two methods. Exposure to the antiviral agent influenced the results of the two assays. Additionally, the discrepancy was observed at low levels of antigenemia and CMV DNA load. Via ROC curve analysis, the tentative cutoff value for preemptive therapy was determined to be approximately 2×104 copies/mL (sensitivity, 80.0%; specificity, 50.0%) in the high risk patients, and approximately 3×104 copies/mL (sensitivity, 90.0%; specificity, 70.0%) in the patients at low risk for CMV disease. Further study to validate the optimal cutoff value for the initiation of preemptive therapy is currently underway

Compound K, a Metabolite of Ginseng Saponin, Induces Mitochondria-Dependent and Caspase-Dependent Apoptosis via the Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species in Human Colon Cancer Cells

The objective of this study was to elucidate the cytotoxic mechanism of Compound K, with respect to the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the mitochondrial involved apoptosis, in HT-29 human colon cancer cells. Compound K exhibited a concentration of 50% growth inhibition (IC50) at 20 μg/mL and cytotoxicity in a time dependent manner. Compound K produced intracellular ROS in a time dependent fashion; however, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) pretreatment resulted in the inhibition of this effect and the recovery of cell viability. Compound K induced a mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway via the modulation of Bax and Bcl-2 expressions, resulting in the disruption of the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm). Loss of the Δψm was followed by cytochrome c release from the mitochondria, resulting in the activation of caspase-9, -3, and concomitant poly ADP-ribosyl polymerase (PARP) cleavage, which are the indicators of caspase-dependent apoptosis. The apoptotic effect of Compound K, exerted via the activation of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), was abrogated by specific MAPK inhibitors. This study demonstrated that Compound K-mediated generation of ROS led to apoptosis through the modulation of a mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway and MAPK pathway

Ischemic and Bleeding Events Associated with Thrombocytopenia and Thrombocytosis after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

The early and late ischemic and bleeding clinical outcomes according to baseline platelet count after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remain unclear. Overall, 10,667 patients from the Cardiovascular Risk and identification of potential high-risk population in AMI (COREA-AMI) I and II registries were classified according to the following universal criteria on baseline platelet counts: (1) moderate to severe thrombocytopenia (platelet \u3c 100 K/µL, n = 101), (2) mild thrombocytopenia (platelet = 100~149 K/µL, n = 631), (3) normal reference (platelet = 150~450 K/µL, n = 9832), and (4) thrombocytosis (platelet \u3e 450 K/µL, n = 103). The primary endpoint was the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). The secondary outcome was Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 2, 3, and 5 bleeding. After adjusting for confounders, the moderate to severe thrombocytopenia (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.49–2.78); p \u3c 0.001), mild thrombocytopenia (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.01–1.34; p = 0.045), and thrombocytosis groups (HR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.07–2.03; p = 0.019) showed higher 5-year MACE rates than the normal reference. In BARC 2, 3, and 5 bleeding outcomes, the bleedings rates were higher than the normal range in the moderate to severe thrombocytopenia (HR, 2.18; 95% CI, 1.36–3.49; p = 0.001) and mild thrombocytopenia (HR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.12–1.78; p = 0.004) groups. Patients with AMI had higher 5-year MACE rates after PCI if they had lower- or higher-than-normal platelet counts. Thrombocytopenia revealed higher early and late bleeding rates whereas thrombocytosis showed long-term bleeding trends, although these trends were not statistically significant

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe