Search results for: small cell carcinoma of stomach

Authors: K. Matušínská, Z. Bednarčík, M. Klepek

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This paper examines international marketing in business practice of Czech exporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with regard to the strategic perspectives. Research was focused on Czech exporting SMEs from Moravian-Silesia region and their behaviour on international markets. For purpose of collecting data, a questionnaire was given to 262 SMEs involved in international business. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, mean, percentage, and chi-square test. Data were analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. The research analysis disclosed that there is certain space for improvement in strategic marketing especially in marketing research, perception of cultural and social differences, product adaptation and usage of marketing communication tools.

Keywords: international marketing, marketing mix, marketing research, small and medium-sized enterprises, strategic marketing

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Authors: Neha Bhadauria, Indu Gaur, Shilpi Shilpi, Susmita Goswami, Prabir K. Paul

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The aerial surface of plants colonized by Human Enteric Pathogens ()has been implicated in outbreaks of enteric diseases in humans. Practice of organic farming primarily using animal dung as manure and sewage water for irrigation are the most significant source of enteric pathogens on the surface of leaves, fruits and vegetables. The present work aims to have an insight into the molecular mechanism of interaction of Human Enteric Pathogens or their metabolites with cell wall receptors in plants. Tomato plants grown under aseptic conditions at 12 hours L/D photoperiod, 25±1°C and 75% RH were inoculated individually with S. fonticola and K. pneumonia. The leaves from treated plants were sampled after 24 and 48 hours of incubation. The cell wall and cytoplasmic proteins were extracted and isocratically separated on 1D SDS-PAGE. The sampled leaves were also subjected to formaldehyde treatment prior to isolation of cytoplasmic proteins to study protein-protein interactions induced by Human Enteric Pathogens. Protein bands extracted from the gel were subjected to MALDI-TOF-TOF MS analysis. The foremost interaction of Human Enteric Pathogens on the plant surface was found to be cell wall bound receptors which possibly set ups a wave a critical protein-protein interaction in cytoplasm. The study revealed the expression and suppression of specific cytoplasmic and cell wall-bound proteins, some of them being important components of signaling pathways. The results also demonstrated HEP induced rearrangement of signaling pathways which possibly are crucial for adaptation of these pathogens to plant surface. At the end of the study, it can be concluded that controlling the over-expression or suppression of these specific proteins rearrange the signaling pathway thus reduces the outbreaks of food-borne illness.

Keywords: cytoplasmic protein, cell wall-bound protein, Human Enteric Pathogen (HEP), protein-protein interaction

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Authors: Seyedeh Mozhgan Seyed-Talebi, Weng-Kent Chan, Hsin-Yi Tiffany Chen

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Lead-free perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technology employing non-toxic tin halide perovskite absorbers is pivotal for advancing perovskite solar cell (PSC) commercialization. Despite challenges posed by perovskite sensitivity to oxygen and humidity, our study utilizes DFT calculations using VASP and NanoDCAL software and SCAPS-1D simulations to elucidate the charge transport mechanism at the interface of CsSnI₃-FASnI₃ heterojunction. Results reveal how inherent electric fields facilitate efficient carrier transport, reducing recombination losses. We predict optimized power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and highlight the potential of CsSnI3-FASnI3 heterojunctions for cost-effective and efficient charge transport layer-free (CTLF) photovoltaic devices. Our study provides insights into the future direction of recognizing more efficient, nontoxic heterojunction perovskite devices.

Keywords: charge transport layer free, CsSnI₃-FASnI₃ heterojunction, lead-free perovskite solar cell, tin halide perovskite., Charge transport layer free

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Authors: Iin Mayasari

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This study aims at exploring the influence of aspects of entrepreneurial marketing on a firm’s performance. Entrepreneurs are not only supported by resources control to obtain sustainable competitive advantage, but it should also be supported by intangible resources. Entrepreneurial marketing provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to proactively find better ways to create value for desired customers, to create innovation, and to build customer equity. Entrepreneurial marketing has the medium between entrepreneurship and marketing, and serves as an umbrella for many of the emergent perspectives on marketing. It has eight underlying dimensions. They are proactiveness, calculated risk-taking, innovativeness, an opportunity focus, entrepreneurial orientation, resource leveraging, customer intensity, and value creating. The research method of the study was a qualitative study by having an interview with 8 small companies in Kudus Region, the Central Java, Indonesia. The interviewees were the owner and the manager of the company that had the scope work of small business enterprise in wood crafting industry. The interview was related to the implementation of the elements of the entrepreneurial marketing. The result showed that the small business enterprises had implemented the elements of entrepreneurial marketing in supporting their daily activities. The understanding based on the theoretical implementation was well executed by the owner and managers. The problems in managing small business enterprises were related to the full support by the government and the branding management. Furthermore, the innovation process should be improved especially the use of internet to promote the product, to expand the market and to increase the firm’s performance.

Keywords: entrepreneurial marketing, innovativeness, risk taking, opportunity focus

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Authors: Younus Mohammad, Anita B. Fallah, Ben J. Boyd, Shakila B. Rizwan

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N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) are endogenous lipids, which have neuromodulatory properties. NAEs have shown neuroprotective properties in various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ischemic stroke. However, NAEs are eliminated rapidly in vivo by enzymatic hydrolysis. We propose to encapsulate NAEs in liquid crystalline nanoparticles (cubosomes) to increase their biological half-life and explore their therapeutic potential. Recently, we have reported the co-formulation and nanostructural characterization of cubosomes containing the NAE, oleoylethanolamide and a synthetic cubosome forming lipid phytantriol. Here, we report on the formulation of cubosomes with the NAE, linoleoylethanolamide (LEA) as the core cubosome forming lipid. LEA-cubosomes were formulated in the presence of three different steric stabilisers: two brain targeting ligands, Tween 80 and Pluronic P188 and a control, Pluronic F127. Size, morphology and internal structure of formulations were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (Cryo–TEM) and small angle X–ray scattering (SAXS), respectively. Chemical stability of LEA in formulations was investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cytotoxicity of formulations towards human cerebral microvascular endothelial cell line (hCMEC/D3) was also investigated using an MTT (3-[4, 5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. All cubosome formulations had mean particle size of less than 250 nm and were uniformly distributed with polydispersity indices less than 0.2. Cubosomes produced had a bicontinuous cubic internal structure with an Im3m space group but different lattice parameters, indicating the different modes of interaction between the stabilisers and LEA. LEA in formulations was found to be chemically stable. At concentrations of up to 20 µg/mL LEA in the presence of all the stabilisers, greater than 80% cell viability was observed.

Keywords: blood-brain barrier, cubosomes, linoleoyl ethanolamide, N-acylethanolamines (NAEs)

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Authors: Aderemi, Moses Aderibigbe

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The supply chain of a manufacturing company can be classified into three categories, namely: 1) supplier chain, these are a network of suppliers of raw materials, machinery, and other requirements for daily operations for the company; 2) internal chain, which are departmental or functional relationships within the organization like production, finance, marketing, logistic and quality control departments all interacting together to achieve the goals and objective of the company; and 3) customer chain; these are networks used for products distribution to the final consumer which includes the product distributors and retailers in the marketplace as may be applicable. In a developing country like Nigeria, where government infrastructures are poor or, in some cases, none in existence, the survival of a small-scale manufacturing company often depends on how effectively its supply chain is managed. In Nigeria, suppliers of machinery and raw materials to most manufacturing companies are from low-cost but high-tech countries like China or India. The problem with the supply chain from these countries apart from the language barrier between these countries and Nigeria, is also that of product quality and after-sales support services. The internal chain also requires funding to employ an experienced and trained workforce to deliver the company’s goals and objectives effectively and efficiently, which is always a challenge for small-scale manufacturers, including product marketing. In Nigeria, the management of the supply chain by small-scale manufacturers is further complicated by unfavourable government policies. This empirical research is a review and analysis of the supply chain management of a small-scale manufacturing company located in Lagos, Nigeria. The company's performance for the past five years has been on the decline and company management thinks there is a need for a review of its supply chain management for business survival. The company’s supply chain is analyzed and compared with best global practices in this research, and recommendations are made to the company management. The research outcome justifies the company’s need for a strategic change in its supply chain management for business sustainability and provides a learning point to small-scale manufacturing companies from developing countries in Africa

Keywords: management, small scale, supply chain, companies, leaders

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Authors: Mohammad Kazem Mohammadi

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The use of anticancer agents forms an important part of the treatment of cancer of various types. Uranyl Complexes with DPHMP ligand have been used for the prevention and treatment of cancers. U(IV) metal complexes prepared by reaction of uranyl salt UO2 (NO3)2.6H2O with DPHMP in dry acetonitrile. Characterization of the ligand and its complexes was made by microanalyses, FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and UV–Visible spectroscopy. These new complex showed excellent antitumor activity against two kinds of cancer cells that that are HT29:Haman colon adenocarcinoma cell line and T47D:human breast adenocarcinoma cell line.

Keywords: uranyl complexes, DPHMP ligand, antitumor activity, HT29, T47D

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Authors: Bui Phuong Linh, Yuki Sakakibara, Ryuto Tanaka, Elizabeth H. Pigney, Taishi Hashiguchi

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NASH is an increasingly prevalent chronic liver disease that can progress to hepatocellular carcinoma and now is attracting interest worldwide. The STAM™ model is a clinically-correlated murine NASH model which shows the same pathological progression as NASH patients and has been widely used for pharmacological and basic research. The multiple parallel hits hypothesis suggests abnormalities in adipocytokines, intestinal microflora, and endotoxins are intertwined and could contribute to the development of NASH. In fact, NASH patients often exhibit gut dysbiosis and dysfunction in adipose tissue and metabolism. However, the analysis of the STAM™ model has only focused on the liver. To clarify whether the STAM™ model can also mimic multiple pathways of NASH progression, we analyzed the organ crosstalk interactions between the liver and the gut and the phenotype of adipose tissue in the STAM™ model. NASH was induced in male mice by a single subcutaneous injection of 200 µg streptozotocin 2 days after birth and feeding with high-fat diet after 4 weeks of age. The mice were sacrificed at NASH stage. Colon samples were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80˚C for tight junction-related protein analysis. Adipose tissue was prepared into paraffin blocks for HE staining. Blood adiponectin was analyzed to confirm changes in the adipocytokine profile. Tight junction-related proteins in the intestine showed that expression of ZO-1 decreased with the progression of the disease. Increased expression of endotoxin in the blood and decreased expression of Adiponectin were also observed. HE staining revealed hypertrophy of adipocytes. Decreased expression of ZO-1 in the intestine of STAM™ mice suggests the occurrence of leaky gut, and abnormalities in adipocytokine secretion were also observed. Together with the liver, phenotypes in these organs are highly similar to human NASH patients and might be involved in the pathogenesis of NASH.

Keywords: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrosis, organ crosstalk, leaky gut

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Authors: Zahra Heydari

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Introduction: One of the major clinical issues is acute renal failure, which is caused by ischemia-reperfusion of the kidney and is associated with high mortality. Despite advances in this area, important issues such as tissue necrosis, cell apoptosis, and so on in damaged tissue are suggestive for more researches and study on this subject. Objective: Evaluation of the potential utility of Ezetimibe in reducing injuries and cell death induced by kidney ischemia/ reperfusion through inducing expression changes of different cellular pathways in adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Materials and methods: Forty rats weighing 180-200g were divided into 4 groups. For this purpose, the first right kidneys of the rats were removed during surgery. After 20 days, the left renal artery was closed with a soft clamp and reperfusion was performed. After 24 hours, blood samples were collected and sent to the laboratory with kidneys to measure bax and bcl-2 by Western blotting and histopathological tests. Results: Quantitative damage reviews of Kidney tissue indicates damage Acute and severe tubular lesions were observed in the ischemia group. Also, the amount of injury was significantly reduced in the treatment group. There was also a significant difference between the ischemia and sham groups. In general, the results show that a single dose of 1.2 mg/kg of ezetimibe can reduce the bax/ bcl-2 ratio compared to the ischemia group. In general, the results showed Ezetimibe is effective in reducing cell damage and death due to ischemia/ reperfusion after renal ischemia through changes in the expression of various cellular pathways in rats.

Keywords: acute renal failure, renal ischemia-reperfusion injury, ezetimibe, apoptosis

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Authors: Vincent Murray

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The chromatin structure at the transcription start sites (TSSs) of genes is very important in the control of gene expression. In order for gene expression to occur, the chromatin structure at the TSS has to be altered so that the transcriptional machinery can be assembled and RNA transcripts can be produced. In particular, the nucleosome structure and positioning around the TSS has to be changed. Bleomycin is utilized as an anti-tumor agent to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and testicular cancer. Bleomycin produces DNA damage in human cells and DNA strand breaks, especially double-strand breaks, are thought to be responsible for the cancer chemotherapeutic activity of bleomycin. Bleomycin is a large glycopeptide with molecular weight of approximately 1500 Daltons and hence its DNA strand cleavage activity can be utilized as a probe of chromatin structure. In this project, Illumina next-generation DNA sequencing technology was used to determine the position of DNA double-strand breaks at the TSSs of genes in intact cells. In this genome-wide study, it was found that bleomycin cleavage preferentially occurred at the TSSs of actively transcribed human genes in comparison with non-transcribed genes. There was a correlation between the level of enhanced bleomycin cleavage at TSSs and the degree of transcriptional activity. In addition, bleomycin was able to determine the position of nucleosomes at the TSSs of human genes. Bleomycin analogues were also utilized as probes of chromatin structure at the TSSs of human genes. In a similar manner to bleomycin, the bleomycin analogues 6′-deoxy-BLM Z and zorbamycin preferentially cleaved at the TSSs of human genes. Interestingly this degree of enhanced TSS cleavage inversely correlated with the cytotoxicity (IC50 values) of BLM analogues. This indicated that the degree of cleavage by bleomycin analogues at the TSSs of human genes was very important in the cytotoxicity of bleomycin and analogues. It also provided a deeper insight into the mechanism of action of this cancer chemotherapeutic agent since actively transcribed genes were preferentially targeted.

Keywords: anti-cancer activity, chromatin structure, cytotoxicity, gene expression, next-generation DNA sequencing

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Authors: M. Miriam Hernández-Arroyo, Ivonne Caro-Gonzales, Miguel Ángel Plascencia-Espinosa, Sergio R. Trejo-Estrada

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A large biodiversity of Lactobacillus strains has been detected in traditional foods and beverages from Mexico. A selected strain of Lactobacillus sp - PODI-20, used for the obtained from an artisanal fermented beverage was cultivated in different carbon sources in a complex medium, in order to define which carbon sourced induced more effectively the isomerization of arabinose by cell fractions obtained by fermentation. Four different carbon sources were tested in a medium containing peptone and yeast extract and mineral salts. Glucose, galactose, arabinose, and lactose were tested individually at three different concentrations: 3.5, 6, and 10% w/v. The biomass yield ranged from 1.72 to 17.6 g/L. The cell pellet was processed by mechanical homogenization. Both fractions, the cellular debris, and the lysis supernatant were tested for their ability to isomerize arabinose into ribulose. The highest yield of isomer was 12 % of isomerization in the supernatant fractions; whereas up to 9.3% was obtained by the use of cell debris. The isomerization of arabinose has great significance in the production of lactic acid by fermentation of complex carbohydrate hydrolysates.

Keywords: isomerase, tagatose, aguamiel, isomerization

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Authors: Chonlada Choovanichchanon

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This research paper was aimed to investigate a relationship between the customer service marketing mix and the level of customers’ satisfaction from purchasing goods and service from small business around campus, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand. Based on the survey of 200 customers who frequently purchased goods and service around campus, the level of satisfaction for each factor of marketing mix was reached. An accidental random sampling was applied by using questionnaire in collecting the data. The findings revealed that the means values can help to rank these variables from high to low mean as follows: 1) forms and system of service, 2) physical environment of service center, 3) service from staff and employee, 4) product quality and service, 5) market channel and distribution, 6) market price, and 7) market promotion and distribution.

Keywords: service marketing mix, satisfaction, small business, survey

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Authors: Chen Yao, Wang Ke

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Small towns are the most basic administrative institutions in our country, which are connected with cities and rural areas. Small towns play an important role in promoting local urban and rural economic development, providing the main public services and maintaining social stability in social governance. With the vigorous development of small towns and the transformation of industrial structure, the changes of social structure, spatial structure, and lifestyle are lagging behind, causing that the spatial form and landscape style do not belong to both cities and rural areas, and seriously affecting the quality of people’s life space and environment. The rural economy in Zhejiang Province has started, the society and the population are also developing in relative stability. In September 2016, Zhejiang Province set out the 'Technical Guidelines for Comprehensive Environmental Remediation of Small Towns in Zhejiang Province,' so as to comprehensively implement the small town comprehensive environmental remediation with the main content of strengthening the plan and design leading, regulating environmental sanitation, urban order and town appearance. In November 2016, Huzhou City started the comprehensive environmental improvement of small towns, strived to use three years to significantly improve the 115 small towns, as well as to create a number of high quality, distinctive and beautiful towns with features of 'clean and livable, rational layout, industrial development, poetry and painting style'. This paper takes Meixi Town, Zhangwu Town and Sanchuan Village in Huzhou City as the empirical cases, analyzes the small town public space by applying the relative theory of actor-network and space syntax. This paper also analyzes the spatial composition in actor and social structure elements, as well as explores the relationship of actor’s spatial practice and public open space by combining with actor-network theory. This paper introduces the relevant theories and methods of spatial syntax, carries out research analysis and design planning analysis of small town spaces from the perspective of quantitative analysis. And then, this paper proposes the effective updating strategy for the existing problems in public space. Through the planning and design in the building level, the dissonant factors produced by various spatial combination of factors and between landscape design and urban texture during small town development will be solved, inhabitant quality of life will be promoted, and town development vitality will be increased.

Keywords: small towns, urbanization, public space, updating

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Authors: Bhuwan C. Joshi, Atish Prakash, Ajudhia N. Kalia

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Ethnopharmacological relevance: The plant Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae) is used in various diseases including hepatic ailments. Traditionally, the leaves and roots of the plant are used in jaundice. Objective: The aim of the present work was to evaluate hepatoprotective potential of potent antioxidant from Urtica dioica L. against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in-vitro and in-vivo model. Materials and methods: Antioxidant activity of hydro alcoholic extract and its fractions petroleum ether fraction (PEF), ethyl acetate fraction (EAF), n-butanol fraction (NBF) and aqueous fraction (AF) were determined by DPPH radicals scavenging assay. Fractions were subjected to in-vitro cell line study. Further, the most potent fraction (EAF) was subjected to in-vivo study. The in-vivo hepatoprotective active fraction was chromatographed on silica column to isolate the bioactive constituent(s). Structure elucidation was done by using various spectrophotometric techniques like UV, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS spectroscopy. Results and conclusion: The ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) of Urtica. dioica L. possessed the potent antioxidant activity viz. DPPH (IC50 78.99 ± 0.17 µg/ml). The in-vitro cell line study showed EAF prevented the cell damage. The EAF significantly attenuated the increased liver enzymes activities in serum and tissue. Column chromatography of most potent antioxidant fraction (EAF) leads to the isolation of 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy cinnamic acid which is responsible for its hepatoprotective potential. Hence, the present study suggests that EAF has significant antioxidant and hepatoprotective potential on CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in-vitro and in-vivo.

Keywords: Urtica dioica L., antioxidant, HepG2 cell line, hepatoprotective

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Authors: N. L. S. Ahmad, Y. L. Thong, P. Nambiar

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An in vitro study was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of small field of view (FOV) cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in determining endodontic working length. The objectives were to determine the accuracy of CBCT in measuring the estimated preoperative working lengths (EPWL), endodontic working lengths (EWL) and file lengths. Access cavities were prepared in 27 molars. For each root canal, the baseline electronic working length was determined using an EAL (Raypex 5). The teeth were then divided into overextended, non-modified and underextended groups and the lengths were adjusted accordingly. Imaging and measurements were made using the respective software of the RVG (Kodak RVG 6100) and CBCT units (Kodak 9000 3D). Root apices were then shaved and the apical constrictions viewed under magnification to measure the control working lengths. The paired t-test showed a statistically significant difference between CBCT EPWL and control length but the difference was too small to be clinically significant. From the Bland Altman analysis, the CBCT method had the widest range of 95% limits of agreement, reflecting its greater potential of error. In measuring file lengths, RVG had a bigger window of 95% limits of agreement compared to CBCT. Conclusions: (1) The clinically insignificant underestimation of the preoperative working length using small FOV CBCT showed that it is acceptable for use in the estimation of preoperative working length. (2) Small FOV CBCT may be used in working length determination but it is not as accurate as the currently practiced method of using the EAL. (3) It is also more accurate than RVG in measuring file lengths.

Keywords: accuracy, CBCT, endodontics, measurement

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Authors: Nima Samie, Batoul Sadat Haerian, Sekaran Muniandy, M. S. Kanthimathi

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Colon and breast cancers are categorized as the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide. Recently, the broad clinical application of metal complex compounds has led to the discovery of potential therapeutic drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic action of a selected nickel complex compound (NCC) against human colon and breast cancer cells. In this context, we determined the potency of the compound in the induction of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and cytoskeleton rearrangement. HT-29, WiDr, CCD-18Co, MCF-7 and Hs 190.T cell lines were used to determine the IC50 of the compound using the MTT assay. Analysis of apoptosis was carried out using immunofluorescence, acridine orange/ propidium iodide double staining, Annexin-V-FITC assay, evaluation of the translocation of NF-kB, oxygen radical antioxidant capacity, quenching of reactive oxygen species content , measurement of LDH release, caspase-3/-7, -8 and -9 assays and western blotting. The cell cycle arrest was examined using flowcytometry and gene expression was assessed using qPCR array. Results showed that our nickel complex compound displayed a potent suppressive effect on HT-29, WiDr, MCF-7 and Hs 190.T after 24 h of treatment with IC50 value of 2.02±0.54, 2.13±0.65, 3.76±015 and 3.14±0.45 µM respectively. This cytotoxic effect on normal cells was insignificant. Dipping in the mitochondrial membrane potential and increased release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria indicated induction of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway by the nickel complex compound. Activation of this pathway was further evidenced by significant activation of caspase 9 and 3/7.The nickel complex compound (NCC) was also shown activate the extrinsic pathways of apoptosis by activation of caspase-8 which is linked to the suppression of NF-kB translocation to the nucleus. Cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase and up-regulation of glutathione reductase, based on excessive ROS production were also observed. The results of this study suggest that the nickel complex compound is a potent anti-cancer agent inducing both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways as well as cell cycle arrest in colon and breast cancer cells.

Keywords: nickel complex, apoptosis, cytoskeletal rearrangement, colon cancer, breast cancer

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Authors: Hediyeh Talebi, Shokoofeh Ghiam, Changiz Eslahchi

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Traditionally, Alzheimer’s disease research has focused on genes with significant fold changes, potentially neglecting subtle but biologically important alterations. Our study introduces an integrative approach that highlights genes crucial to underlying biological processes, regardless of their fold change magnitude. Alzheimer's Single-cell RNA-seq data related to the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). After quality control, normalization, scaling, batch effect correction, and clustering, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified with adjusted p-values less than 0.05. These DEGs were categorized based on cell-type, resulting in four datasets, each corresponding to a distinct cell type. To distinguish between cells from healthy individuals and those with Alzheimer's, an adversarial autoencoder with a classifier was employed. This allowed for the separation of healthy and diseased samples. To identify the most influential genes in this classification, the weight matrices in the network, which includes the encoder and classifier components, were multiplied, and focused on the top 20 genes. The analysis revealed that while some of these genes exhibit a high fold change, others do not. These genes, which may be overlooked by previous methods due to their low fold change, were shown to be significant in our study. The findings highlight the critical role of genes with subtle alterations in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, a facet frequently overlooked by conventional methods. These genes demonstrate remarkable discriminatory power, underscoring the need to integrate biological relevance with statistical measures in gene prioritization. This integrative approach enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease and provides a promising direction for identifying potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: alzheimer's disease, single-cell RNA-seq, neural networks, blood biomarkers

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Authors: Hsi Wei

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Does the language we speak affect the way we think? This question has been discussed for a long time from different aspects. In this article, the issue is examined with an experiment on how speakers of different languages tend to do different sequencing when it comes to the size of general objects. An essential difference between the usage of English and Mandarin is the way we sequence the size of places or objects. In English, when describing the location of something we may say, for example, ‘The pen is inside the trashcan next to the tree at the park.’ In Mandarin, however, we would say, ‘The pen is at the park next to the tree inside the trashcan.’ It’s clear that generally English use the sequence of small to big while Mandarin the opposite. Therefore, the experiment was conducted to test if the difference of the languages affects the speakers’ ability to do the different sequencing. There were two groups of subjects; one consisted of English native speakers, another of Mandarin native speakers. Within the experiment, three nouns were showed as a group to the subjects as their native languages. Before they saw the nouns, they would first get an instruction of ‘big to small’, ‘small to big’, or ‘repeat’. Therefore, the subjects had to sequence the following group of nouns as the instruction they get or simply repeat the nouns. After completing every sequencing and repetition in their minds, they pushed a button as reaction. The repetition design was to gather the mere reading time of the person. As the result of the experiment showed, English native speakers reacted more quickly to the sequencing of ‘small to big’; on the other hand, Mandarin native speakers reacted more quickly to the sequence ‘big to small’. To conclude, this study may be of importance as a support for linguistic relativism that the language we speak do shape the way we think.

Keywords: language, linguistic relativism, size, sequencing

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Authors: Mohamed Moussaoui, Mouna Baassi, Soukayna Baammi, Hatim Soufi, Mohammed Salah, Rachid Daoud, Achraf EL Allali, Mohammed Elalaoui Belghiti, Said Belaaouad

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The present study aims to investigate the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) of a series of Thiazole derivatives reported as anticancer agents (hepatocellular carcinoma), using principally the electronic descriptors calculated by the density functional theory (DFT) method and by applying the multiple linear regression method. The developed model showed good statistical parameters (R²= 0.725, R²ₐ𝒹ⱼ= 0.653, MSE = 0.060, R²ₜₑₛₜ= 0.827, Q²𝒸ᵥ = 0.536). The energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (EHOMO) orbital, electronic energy (TE), shape coefficient (I), number of rotatable bonds (NROT), and index of refraction (n) were revealed to be the main descriptors influencing the anti-cancer activity. Additional Thiazole derivatives were then designed and their activities and pharmacokinetic properties were predicted using the validated QSAR model. These designed molecules underwent evaluation through molecular docking (MD) and molecular dynamic (MD) simulations, with binding affinity calculated using the MMPBSA script according to a 100 ns simulation trajectory. This process aimed to study both their affinity and stability towards Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 2 (CDK2), a target protein for cancer disease treatment. The research concluded by identifying four CDK2 inhibitors - A1, A3, A5, and A6 - displaying satisfactory pharmacokinetic properties. MDs results indicated that the designed compound A5 remained stable in the active center of the CDK2 protein, suggesting its potential as an effective inhibitor for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. The findings of this study could contribute significantly to the development of effective CDK2 inhibitors.

Keywords: QSAR, ADMET, Thiazole, anticancer, molecular docking, molecular dynamic simulations, MMPBSA calculation

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Authors: Isam M. Arafa, Mazin Y. Shatnawi, Yaser A. Yousef, Batool Zaid Al-Momani

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The present work describes the preparation, characterization, and luminescence of a series of fluorenone (FL) based luminophores grafted onto modified cellulose microfibers. The FL is condensed onto cellulose aldehyde using three diamine spacers (H₂N-NH₂, H₂N(CH₂)₂NH₂ and H₂N(CH₂)₃NH₂) to afford Cell=Spacer=FL. The obtained products were characterized by spectroscopic (FT-IR, UV–Vis), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and microscopic (Optical, SEM) techniques. The UV-Vis spectra of the FL=N(CH₂)ₓNH₂ (x = 0, 2, 3) moieties show that they are transparent in the 375- 800 nm region while they exhibit intense absorption band below 350 nm attributed to n-π* and π-π* transitions. The solid-state photoluminescence (PLs-s) of the cold-pressed pellets of the FL=N(CH₂)ₓNH₂ and Cell=Spacer=FL placed in a quartz cuvette show strong emission in the 500-550 nm region upon irradiation with Xe lamp light (λex = 320 nm). The PLs-s green emission of the grafted Cell=Spacer=FL was evaluated relative to that of the FL-based precursor. These grafted conjugated products have the potential to be used as analyte sensors for typical nitroaromatics/aromatic amines and be further extended to immunoassay studies for aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine and histidine.

Keywords: luminescence, cellulose, fluorenone, grafting, solid state

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Authors: Kolja Them, Johannes Salamon, Harald Ittrich, Michael Kaul, Tobias Knopp

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Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are nanoscale magnets which can be biologically functionalized for biomedical applications. Stem cell therapies to repair damaged tissue, magnetic fluid hyperthermia for cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery based on SPIONs are prominent examples where the visualization of a preferably low concentrated SPION distribution is essential. In 2005 a new method for tomographic SPION imaging has been introduced. The method named magnetic particle imaging (MPI) takes advantage of the nanoparticles magnetization change caused by an oscillating, external magnetic field and allows to directly image the time-dependent nanoparticle distribution. The SPION magnetization can be changed by the electron spin dynamics as well as by a mechanical rotation of the nanoparticle. In this work different calibration methods in MPI are investigated for image reconstruction of magnetically labeled stem cells. It is shown that a calibration using rotationally immobilized SPIONs provides a higher quality of stem cell images with fewer artifacts than a calibration using mobile SPIONs. The enhancement of the image quality and the reduction of artifacts enables the localization and identification of a smaller number of magnetically labeled stem cells. This is important for future medical applications where low concentrations of functionalized SPIONs interacting with biological matter have to be localized.

Keywords: biomedical imaging, iron oxide nanoparticles, magnetic particle imaging, stem cell imaging

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Authors: Monika Verma, Renuka Sharma, B. R. Gulati, Namita Singh

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In combination therapy, two chemotherapeutic agents work together in a collaborative action. It has appeared as one of the promising approaches to improve anti-cancer treatment efficacy. In the present investigation, piperine (P-NPS), paclitaxel (PTX NPS), and a combination of both, piperine-paclitaxel nanoparticle (Pip-PTX NPS), were made by the nanoprecipitation method and later characterized by PSA, DSC, SEM, TEM, and FTIR. All nanoparticles exhibited a monodispersed size distribution with a size of below 200 nm, zeta potential ranges from (-30-40mV) and a narrow polydispersity index (>0.3) of the drugs. The average encapsulation efficiency was found to be between 80 and 90%. In vitro release of drugs for nanoparticles was done spectrophotometrically. FTIR and DSC results confirmed the presence of the drug. The Pip-PTX NPS significantly inhibit cell proliferation as compared to the native drugs nanoparticles in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. In addition, Pip-PTX NPS suppresses cells in colony formation and soft gel agar assay. Scratch migration and Transwell chamber invasion assays revealed that combined nanoparticles reduce the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. Morphological studies showed that Pip-PTX NPS penetrates the cells and induces apoptosis, which was further confirmed by DNA fragmentation, SEM, and western blot analysis. Taken together, Pip-PTX NPS inhibits cell proliferation, anchorage dependent and anchorage independent cell growth, reduces migration and invasion, and induces apoptosis in cells. These findings support that combination therapy using Pip-PTX NPS represents a potential approach and could be helpful in the future for breast cancer therapy.

Keywords: piperine, paclitaxel, breast cancer, apoptosis

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Authors: Gaurav Prabhudesai, Shaurya Kaushal, Pulkit Dubey, B. D. Pant

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The current race of miniaturization of circuits, systems, modules and networks has resulted in portable and mobile wireless systems having tremendous capabilities with small volume and weight. The power drivers or the power pack, electrically driving these modules have also reduced in proportion. Normally, the power packs in these mobile or fixed systems are batteries, rechargeable or non-rechargeable, which need regular replacement or recharging. Another approach to power these modules is to utilize the ambient energy available for electrical driving to make the system self-sustained. The current paper presents an overview of the different MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) based techniques used for the harvesting of vibration energy to electrically drive a WSN (wireless sensor network) or a mobile module. This kind of system would have enormous applications, the most significant one, may be in cell phones.

Keywords: energy harvesting, WSN, MEMS, piezoelectrics

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Authors: Hanan Begali, Shahi Dost, Annett Ziegler, Markus Cornberg, Maria-Esther Vidal, Anke R. M. Kraft

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Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can be treated with nucleot(s)ide analog (NA), for example, which inhibits HBV replication. However, they have hardly any influence on the functional cure of HBV, which is defined by hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss. NA needs to be taken life-long, which is not available for all patients worldwide. Additionally, NA-treated patients are still at risk of developing cirrhosis, liver failure, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although each patient has the same components of the immune system, immune responses vary between patients. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the immune response against HBV in different patients is necessary to understand the parameters leading to HBV cure and to use this knowledge to optimize HBV therapies. This requires seamless integration of an enormous amount of diverse and fine-grained data from viral markers, e.g., hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The data integration system relies on the assumption that profiling human immune systems requires the analysis of various variables (e.g., demographic data, treatments, pre-existing conditions, immune cell response, or HLA-typing) rather than only one. However, the values of these variables are collected independently. They are presented in a myriad of formats, e.g., excel files, textual descriptions, lab book notes, and images of flow cytometry dot plots. Additionally, patients can be identified differently in these analyses. This heterogeneity complicates the integration of variables, as data management techniques are needed to create a unified view in which individual formats and identifiers are transparent when profiling the human immune systems. The proposed study (HBsRE) aims at integrating heterogeneous data sets of 87 chronically HBV-infected patients, e.g., clinical data, immune cell response, and HLA-typing, with knowledge encoded in biomedical ontologies and open-source databases into a knowledge-driven framework. This new technique enables us to harmonize and standardize heterogeneous datasets in the defined modeling of the data integration system, which will be evaluated in the knowledge graph (KG). KGs are data structures that represent the knowledge and data as factual statements using a graph data model. Finally, the analytic data model will be applied on top of KG in order to develop a deeper understanding of the immune profiles among various patients and to evaluate factors playing a role in a holistic profile of patients with HBsAg level loss. Additionally, our objective is to utilize this unified approach to stratify patients for new effective treatments. This study is developed in the context of the project “Transforming big data into knowledge: for deep immune profiling in vaccination, infectious diseases, and transplantation (ImProVIT)”, which is a multidisciplinary team composed of computer scientists, infection biologists, and immunologists.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis B infection, immune response, knowledge graphs, ontology

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Authors: Mintesinot Teshome Mengsha

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Reinforced concrete structural walls are provided in structures to decrease horizontal displacements under seismic loads. The cyclic lateral load resistance capacity of a structural wall is controlled by two parameters, the strength and the ductility; it is better to have the shear strength somewhat greater than the compression to prevent shear failure, which is brittle, sudden and of serious consequence. Due to architectural and functional reasons, small openings are provided in this important structural part. The main objective of this study is to investigate the finite element of RC structural walls with small openings subjected to cyclic load using the finite element approach. The experimental results in terms of load capacity, failure mode, crack pattern, flexural strength, shear strength, and deformation capacity.

Keywords: ABAQUS, finite element method, small openings, reinforced concrete structural walls

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Authors: Soma Chatterjee, I. Das

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In the present study, we have investigated the structural, electrical and magneto-transport properties of polycrystalline and nanocrystalline Gd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 compounds. The variation of transport properties is modified by tuning the grain size of the material. In the high-temperature semiconducting region, temperature-dependent resistivity data can be well explained by the non-adiabatic small polaron hopping (SPH) mechanism. In addition, the resistivity data for all compounds in the low-temperature paramagnetic region can also be well explained by the variable range hopping (VRH) model. The parameters obtained from SPH and VRH mechanisms are found to be reasonable. In the case of nanocrystalline compounds, there is an overlapping temperature range where both SPH and VRH models are valid simultaneously, and a new conduction mechanism - variable range hopping of small polaron s(VR-SPH) is satisfactorily valid for the whole temperature range of these compounds. However, for the polycrystalline compound, the overlapping temperature region between VRH and SPH models does not exist and the VR-SPH mechanism is not valid here. Thus, polarons play a leading role in selecting different conduction mechanisms in different temperature ranges.

Keywords: electrical resistivity, manganite, small polaron hopping, variable range hopping, variable range of small polaron hopping

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Authors: Zanjbeel Tabassum, Cahit Ali Bayraktar, Asfa Muhammad Din, Murat Durucu

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Six Sigma is a widely adapted quality improvement methodology applied throughout the world. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to identify Critical Success Factors (CSF) for successful implementation of Six Sigma in Pakistani Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). A survey methodology was used to collect the data from SMEs in Pakistan. The results of this exploratory empirical research reflect the importance of different CSFs of Six Sigma implementation in SMEs in Pakistan. On the basis of extracted factors, a framework has been proposed for successful Six Sigma implementation in Pakistani SMEs. This study will provide a base for Pakistani SMEs and future researchers working in Six Sigma implementation and help them to prepare a road map to eradicate the hurdles in Six Sigma implementation.

Keywords: critical success factors, small medium enterprises (SMEs), six sigma, Pakistan

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Authors: Denila Jinny Arulraj, Thillai Rajan Annamalai

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This paper aims to study the relationship between funding sources and firm performance of Indian private limited SMEs using cross-sectional data obtained from a nation-wide census. A unique feature of the study is that it analyses firms that use only one form of external funding. Employing Propensity Score Matching, we find that obtaining any form of external finance has a negative influence on equivalents of profit margin and return on assets and a negative influence on asset turnover of small firms. But, the impact of institutional sources of funding on small enterprises is found to be lesser than that of non-institutional sources of funding. External/institutional sources of funding have a less negative impact on the profit margin for medium enterprises and have no significant influence on other measures of performance. The contribution of this research is the discovery of institutional sources wielding a lesser influence on performance measures considered. It is also found that institutional sources can benefit small enterprises more than medium enterprises.

Keywords: external finance, institutional finance, non-institutional finance, performance, India, SME

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Authors: Abongile Zweni, Grate Moyo, Ricardo Peters, Bingwen Yan

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Budgets are one of the most important tools that organisations, big or small, need to use as management tools. When organisations, particularly Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), do not use budgets, they are bound to fail in their infancy stage. The aim of this study was to assess whether or not SMMEs in South Africa used budgets as an effective management tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the purposes of this study, data was collected using an online questionnaire (survey). This study used the quantitative research approach. The study used descriptive statistics to analyse the research question. The study found that most SMMEs did not use budgets during the COVID-19 pandemic; one of the reasons, amongst others, was that most of them had to close down during the lockdown, and some of them did not even qualify for government bailout or government grants.

Keywords: budget management, SMMEs, COVID-19, South Africa

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: K. V. Venugopalan

Abstract:

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable development. The major advantage of the sector is its employment potential at low capital cost. The labour intensity of the MSME sector is much higher than that of the large enterprises. The MSMEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most of the economies and are credited with generating the highest rates of employment growth and account for a major share of industrial production and exports. Kerala is a small state in India with the limited land area with high potential in educated human resources need micro, small and medium enterprises for development. Kerala has the highest Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) in India and the highest Human Development Index (HDI) at par with the developed countries SME play an important role in alleviating poverty and contribute significantly towards the growth of developing economies. Financial institutions can play a vital role for the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises in Kerala. The study entitled “Financial Institutions and its role in the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kerala “examine the progress of MSME in Kerala and India and also the role of financial institutions and the problems faced by entrepreneurs for getting advances with reference to ‘Kerala Financial Corporation’-an agency set up by the government for promoting small and medium enterprises in the state. This study is based on both secondary and primary data. Primary data for the study was collected from those entrepreneurs who availed advances from financial institutions. The secondary data include the investment made, goods and services provided, the employment generated and the number of units registered in MSME sector for the last 10 years in Kerala. The study concluded that financial institutions providing finance with simple procedures and charging smaller interest rates will increase the number of MSME's and also contribute gross state domestic product and reduce the unemployment problem and poverty in the economy.

Keywords: gross state domestic product, human development index, micro, small and medium enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 410