248,183 research outputs found
Psychological and cultural insights into consumption of luxury western brands in India
No full textIndia has always had wealthy elites such as the maharajas, upper class and royalty that consume luxury products throughout its consumption history. The relatively recent economic rise of the middle class with an increase in disposable income is leading to consumption of luxury en mass. This qualitative study examines why consumers buy luxury, what they believe luxury is and how their perception of luxury impacts buying behaviour in the context of India. The present study explores luxury constructs drawn from the literature and provides some explanation for luxury consumption behaviour in India. The findings reveal that psychological and cultural factors in Indian society play a major part in shaping luxury consumption. While the findings suggest little support for homogenous luxury preference, Indian consumers share cultural characteristics of lavish consumption of luxury and display of wealth in social functions. Luxury reflects conspicuous consumption and status, and signals wealth for individuals, and conveys social identity and status in Indian society
The Role of Relationally Embedded Network Ties in Resource Acquisition of British Nonprofit Organizations
No full textAs nonprofit and charity organizations face increasing competition, there have been growing interests in how nonprofit organizations conduct commercial activities to raise funds as well as grow their business. However, there is lack of prior research about market-oriented and/or commercial activities in the context of nonprofit business. This study examines the process of how nonprofit organizations use relationally embedded network ties to acquire financial, human, and human capital resources to fulfill their social mission and achieve business growth. The study investigates commercial activity of three U.K.-based nonprofit organizations using the case study method. The findings contribute to insights into components of network ties for acquiring three different network resources of financial, human, and human capital. Nonprofit organizations leverage social mission to improve their ability to acquire network resources. The findings also suggest the charity and social mission of nonprofit business enhance trustworthiness in relationally embedded network ties for resource acquisition
Session 2: Mutational discordance: the big challenge in personalized treatments - any solutions?
No full textThe great challenge for oncologists treating patients who are developing or progressing with metastatic disease is to be able to offer a truly personalized and targeted therapy that can have an early and meaningful effect on the course of the disease. At present the known molecular markers are limited in their frequency and reliability in determining the use of newer chemotherapies. Professor Eng discusses the challenges faced in ensuring timely and effective treatments based on the molecular profile of the tumour and the potential role of real-time analysis of mutational changes in the tumour when progression occurs
Functional analysis of a novel ENG variant in a patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) identifies a new SP1 binding site
No full textObjectives: To investigate the role of a novel intronic ENG variant
found in a Patient with a PAH diagnosis followed by the identification
of typical HHT clinical signs. The pathogenic role of this variant was
demonstrated.
Methods: We analysed all coding exons of ENG, ACVRL1 and
BMPR2 by Sanger sequencing and mlPA. We expressed the ENG
variant in vitro and evaluated protein levels by western blotting. Then,
we confirmed the results by qRT-PCR on an RNA sample of the
Patient. We used in silico tools to evaluate the presence of putative
transcription factor binding-site, changed in the variant. EMSA
analyses were performed to validate the involvement of the transcription
factor Sp1.
Results: We identified the ENG novel variant c.1852 + 42 C[T in a
Patient with both PAH and HHT. No other disease-causing mutation was
found. We proved by western blotting and qRT-PCR that the variant
significantly reduced ENG expression. In silico analyses predicted that the
variant changes a putative binding-site for the transcription factor Sp1,
already demonstrated as involved in ENG expression. By EMSA, we
observed that nuclear extract proteins of human fibroblasts bind with
different affinity wild-type and mutated oligonucleotides.
Conclusion: We identified a novel Sp1 binding-site in ENG intron14.
We demonstrated the pathogenic role of ENG c.1852 + 42 C[T
mutation, which impairs this Sp1 binding-site reducing the transcription
level of the gene. These results stress the importance of
joining genetic findings to functional studies, in order to understand
the role of novel variants of uncertain significance in the disease
pathogenesis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Remote lab experiments models: A comparative study
No full textRemote Laboratory Experimentation (RLE) is a technique used in modern engineering laboratories to help academic researchers and students perform laboratory experiments remotely through the Internet. Many RLE implementations are available with different characteristics. In this work, some recent RLE implementations models are analyzed, the services provided by each model are discussed, and these models are compared and evaluated. © 2006 TEMPUS Publications.ABDULSALAM AO, 2003, P 2 INT C PRINC PRAC, P109; Candelas FA, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P363; Chen S.H., 1999, P 1999 IEEE HONG KON, VII, P756; COOPER M, ASCILITE 2002 C P; DELALAMO JA, 2003, LAB WEB, P49; ELHAJJ A, 2004, CIBITIC C MAY BEIR L; FJELDLY TA, 2003, LAB WEB, P1; Henry J, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P403; HUA J, 2003, P ASEE NEW ENGL REG; LELEVE A, 2003, ITHET 03 MARR MOROCC; McKee GT, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P356; NAGHEDOLFEIZI M, 2002, P 2002 ASEE ANN C EX; Pastor R, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P445; Pfleeger S.L., 2001, SOFTWARE ENG THEORY; RODRIGUEZ JA, 1999, INT C ACC LARG EXP P, P483; Serri A, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P420; Tan KK, 2003, INT J ENG EDUC, V19, P503; ZIMMER T, 2003, LAB WEB, P8919161
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Robust outlier detection in high-density surface electromyographic signals
No full textConf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2010;2010:4850-3. PubMed PMID: 2109664
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
<i>Pc-eng-1</i> and <i>Pc-xyl</i> are expressed in the pharyngeal gland cells throughout nematode development.
No full textSchematic representation of a plant-parasitic nematode (A) outlines the pharyngeal gland cells where the digoxigenin-labelled probes of Pc-eng-1 (B) and Pc-xyl (C) are localised. The median bulb is indicated for reference (arrow). No corresponding staining occurred when the negative control probes were used (D and E). Scale = 50 μm. Analysis by qRT-PCR confirmed that Pc-eng-1 and Pc-xyl are both expressed at egg, juvenile (juv), female and male life stages (F). Both genes showed significantly increased expression as the nematode developed. Expression was normalised to Elongation Factor and presented relative to expression in eggs. Values are means ± SEM (n = 3 pools of individuals) with different letters indicating significant differences between treatments P<0.05 (One-way ANOVA, SNK test).</p
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