• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• 제61권5호
• /
• pp.156-159
• /
• 2018

Purpose: Sepsis is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis is a major problem because of the lack of specific clinical signs. Therefore, a reliable diagnostic marker is needed to guide the use of antimicrobial agents. The objective of our study was to assess the value of proadrenomedullin (pro-ADM) in establishing the diagnosis and evaluating the prognosis of neonatal sepsis. Methods: This study enrolled 60 newborn infants with sepsis proven with positive blood cultures and 30 healthy neonates. Complete blood count, C-reactive protein levels, and pro-ADM levels were obtained from all neonates. Results: The pro-ADM levels were significantly higher ($14.39{\pm}0.75nmol/L$) in the sepsis group than in the control group ($3.12{\pm}0.23nmol/L$). The optimal cutoff value for pro-ADM was 4.3 nmol/L, with a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 86.7%. The pro-ADM levels were also higher in nonsurvivors (P=0.001). Conclusion: Pro-ADM can be used as a reliable biomarker for neonatal sepsis. High pro-ADM levels were associated with mortality and could be an early indicator of disease outcome.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• 제36권5호
• /
• pp.309-314
• /
• 2006

The multicellular layers(MCL) of human cancer cells is a three dimensional(3D) in vitro model for human solid tumors which has been used primarily for the assessment of avascular penetration of anti-cancer drugs. For anti-cancer drugs with penetration problem, MCL represents a good experimental model that can provide clinically relevant data. Calcein-AM is a fluorescent dye that demonstrates the cellular vitality in a graded manner in cancer cell culture system. In the present study, we evaluated the use of calcein-AM for determination of anti-proliferative activity of anti-cancer agents in MCL model of DLD-1 human colorectal cancer cells. Optical sectioning of confocal imaging was compromised with photonic attenuation and penetration barrier in the deep layers of MCL. By contrast, fluorescent measurement on the cryo-sections provided a feasible alternative. Cold pre-incubation did not enhance the calcein-AM distribution to a significant degree in MCL of DLD-1 cells. However, the simultaneous determination of drug penetration and cellular vitality appeared to be possible in drug treated MCL. In conclusion, these data suggest that calcein-AM can be used for the simultaneous determination of drug-induced anti-proliferative effect and drug penetration in MCL model.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제8권5호
• /
• pp.761-768
• /
• 2021

The Islamic capital market in Indonesia is currently developing rapidly marked by the massive growth of sharia stock investors. It is followed by the development of an online sharia trading platform by stock brokerage companies so that investors can transact online sharia shares. From the number of existing stock investors, however, there are still very few Islamic stock investors who repurchase shares after the previous purchase. This really attracted the attention of researchers to investigate the repurchase intention of sharia share in the Indonesia stock market. 415 samples who are Islamic stock investors in the Indonesia stock market have filled out distributed questionnaires. Then, the data was processed using SEM Amos. The results of this study found that perceived enjoyment, perceived ease to use, and expectation have a positive and significant effect on investor satisfaction. Then, perceived enjoyment and expectation have a positive and significant effect on repurchase intention, while perceived ease to use has a negative and insignificant effect on repurchase intention, but has a positive effect through the mediating variable investor satisfaction. Investor satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on repurchase intention, and investor satisfaction is a good mediator for the exogenous variables in this study.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• 제8권4호
• /
• pp.11-19
• /
• 2021

This study aims to analyze the causality relationship between sectoral stock markets (agricultural, financial, industrial, and mining sectors) and economic growth in the short and long term as well as to analyze whether it has similar types or not. The data used is quarterly time-series data (first quarter 2009 to fourth 2019). To determine the causality relationship, this study conducts a variable and multivariate causality test. The results of the varying granger causality test show that there is only a one-way relationship, where the economic growth of the agriculture sector affects its shares. A one-way relationship also occurs in stocks of the industrial sector, which has an influence on economic growth. The multivariate causality test shows that the economic growth of the agricultural sector has a two-way causality relationship, and it also exists between the industrial sector and the financial sector stock markets. The two-way causality relationship between the stock market and sectoral economic growth is a convergence towards long-term equilibrium. The findings of this study suggest that the government through the Financial Services Authority and the Indonesia Stock Exchange have to maintain stability in the stock market as a supporter of the national economy.

• 한국미생물·생명공학회지
• /
• 제50권1호
• /
• pp.71-80
• /
• 2022

Lipases (triacylglycerol acylhydrolases [EC 3.1.1.3]) are water-soluble enzymes. They catalyze the hydrolysis of fats and oils. A cold-active lipase from marine Bacillus cereus HSS, isolated from the Mediterranean Sea, Alexandria, Egypt, was purified and characterized. The total purification depending on lipase activity was 438.9 fold purification recording 632 U/mg protein. The molecular weight of the purified lipase was estimated to be 65 kDa using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The optimum substrate concentration, enzyme concentration, pH, and temperature were 1.5 mM, 100 µl, pH 6 and 10℃, respectively. The lipase was tolerant to NaCl concentrations ranging from 1.5 to 4.5%. The lipase was affected by the tested metal ions, and its activity was inhibited by 16% in the presence of 0.05 M SDS. The application of the cold-active lipase for the removal of an oil stain from a white cotton cloth showed that it is a promising biological agent for the treatment of oily wastes and other related applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the purification and characterization of a lipase from marine B. cereus HSS isolated from the Mediterranean Sea.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• 제28권3호
• /
• pp.225-237
• /
• 2022

Settlement evaluation is important for shallow tunnels in big cities to estimate the settlement that occurs due to the excavation of twin tunnels. The majority of earlier research on analytical solutions, on the other hand, concentrated on calculating the settlement for a single tunnel. This research introduces a procedure to evaluate the settlement induced by the excavation of twin tunnels (two parallel tunnels). In this study, a series of numerical analysis were performed to validate the analytical solution results. Two geological conditions were considered to derive the settlement depending on each case. The analytical and numerical methods were compared, which involved considering many sections and conducting a parametric study; the results have good agreement. Moreover, a comparison of the 3D flat model and 2D (FEM) with the analytical solution shows that in the fill soil, the maximum settlement values were obtained by the analytical solution. In contrast, the values obtained by the analytical solution in the rock is more conservative than those in the fill. Finally, this method was shown to be appropriate for twin tunnels dug side by side by utilizing finite element analysis 3D and 2D (PLAXIS 3D and PLAXIS 2D) to verify the analytical equations. Eventually, it will be possible to use this approach to predict settlement troughs over twin tunnels.

• Architectural research
• /
• 제24권4호
• /
• pp.93-103
• /
• 2022

In contemporary housing design, this cultural value has been ignored. Contemporary design has adapted quickly to global trends and houses have gradually lost their cultural identity (GhaffarianHoseini & Dahlan, 2012; Lim, 2001). Nevertheless, traditional housing culture persists in people's behavior and thoughts. Therefore, there is currently a pressing need to rebuild cultural identity in housing for cultural sustainability. This study aimed to analyze the traditional culture which was maintained, then transformed and disappeared in housing design through the quantitative survey and explore the cultural identity of Malaysian housing as a result. A quantitative survey was distributed to mothers of 129 married households living in a metropolitan area of Kuala Lumpur in August 2019. As a result, it was found that hosting guest was important even though the designated space (serambi) was disappeared. The LD/K layout, separating kitchen from living and dining area was philosophical and practical culture, still strong among older generation, but weakened among younger generation. To accommodate the traditional habit of diverse household work, wet kitchen, utility space for washing machine & drying, and outdoor space were needed to design carefully. When applied to future housing design, the findings will contribute to enhancing quality of life by strengthening residents' sense of place and social cohesion and by providing a culturally inherent design that eases the effects of globalization.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
• /
• 제18권1호
• /
• pp.115-129
• /
• 2022

Adopting Internet of Things (IoT)-based technologies in smart homes helps users analyze home appliances electricity consumption for better overall cost monitoring. The IoT application like smart home system (SHS) could suffer from large missing values gaps due to several factors such as security attacks, sensor faults, or connection errors. In this paper, a novel framework has been proposed to predict large gaps of missing values from the SHS home appliances electricity consumption time-series datasets. The framework follows a series of steps to detect, predict and reconstruct the input time-series datasets of missing values. A hybrid convolutional neural network-long short term memory (CNN-LSTM) neural network used to forecast large missing values gaps. A comparative experiment has been conducted to evaluate the performance of hybrid CNN-LSTM with its single variant CNN and LSTM in forecasting missing values. The experimental results indicate a performance superiority of the CNN-LSTM model over the single CNN and LSTM neural networks.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• 제11권4호
• /
• pp.233-239
• /
• 2005

The aerial parts of Gomphocarpus sinaicus Boiss. yielded four flavonoids that were identified as isorhamnetin 3-O-rhamnoglucoside (1), luteolin-7-O-glucoside-3-O-rhamnoside (2), rutin (3) and rutin-7-O-rhamnoside (4). All of the isolated flavonoids were identified by spectroscopic methods (UV, FAB-MS, $^1H-NMR\;&\;^{13}C-NMR$) and in comparison with the literature data. The isolated flavonoids 1, 2 and 4 are reported here for the first time from Gomphocarpus sinaicus Boiss. Three sets of experiments were carried out using the defatted alcoholic extract of Gomphocarpus sinaicus Boiss: the $1^{st}$ experiment indicated that the $LD_{50}$ was 49.82 mg/100 g b.wt. of intraperitoneally (i.p.) injected mice. The toxic signs were recorded within the first 24 hr post-injection. The $2^{nd}$ experiment revealed that the extract of the plant exhibited significant anti-inflammatory effects in normal rats. The $3^{rd}$ experiment was found that the tested doses of the extract in diabetic rats induced a significant decrease in serum glucose, AST, ALT, triglycerides, cholesterol and LDL, while HDL caused a significant increase.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제19권4호
• /
• pp.939-952
• /
• 2015

In this paper, brake pad performance of two organic matrix composites namely, Sample 1 (contains no brass filler) and Sample 2 (contains 1.5% brass filler), is studied based on tribological and squeal noise behavior. In the first stage, a pin-on-disc tribometer is used to evaluate the frictional behavior of the two pads. On the following stage, these pads are tested on squeal noise occurrence using a drag-type brake dynamometer. From the two type of tests, the results show that; (i) brass fillers play a dual role; firstly as reinforcing element of the brake pad providing primary contact sites, and secondly as solid lubricant by contributing to the formation of a layer of granular material providing velocity accommodation between the pad and the disc; (ii) brass fillers contribute to friction force stabilization and smooth sliding behavior; (iii) the presence of small weight quantity of brass filler strongly contributes to squeal occurrences; (iv) there is close correlation between pin-on-disc tribometer and brake dynamometer tests in terms of tribological aspect.