scholarly journals Health technology assessment–based approach to flow cytometric immunophenotyping of acute leukemias: a literature classification

2020 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-256
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Gaipa ◽  
Eugenio Erba ◽  
Marco Danova ◽  
Giuliano Mazzini ◽  
Adriano Venditti ◽  
...  

Objective: Acute leukemia (AL) is a broad, heterogeneous group of malignant diseases. The diagnostic workup of AL is based on several clinical and laboratory findings, including flow cytometric immunophenotyping. However, the role of this assay in the diagnosis of AL has not been systematically investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and utility of flow cytometric immunophenotyping in the identification, characterization, and staging of AL. Methods: We performed a systematic selection and classification of the literature since 1980, focused on flow cytometric immunophenotyping of AL. We applied a 6-variables model to cover both the technical capabilities and the clinical value of flow cytometric immunophenotyping in the diagnosis of AL. Results: Using 3 key words (acute leukemia, immunophenotyping, flow cytometry), we screened the literature from January 1985 to April 2015 in PubMed and Embase databases and found 1010 articles. A total of 363 were selected and submitted to the expert panel, which selected a final data set of 248 articles to be analyzed. Of these, 160 were focused on clinical and biological issues, 55 were technical articles, and 31 were reviews. These 248 articles were then analyzed according to the 6-variables model and definitively classified. Conclusions: We assessed the literature on flow cytometric immunophenotyping of AL over 3 decades as the first step toward an evidence-based analysis of the impact of this technology on the clinical management of patients with AL.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Quoc Hoi ◽  
Hương Lan Trần

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the credit composition and income inequality reduction in Vietnam. In particular, the authors focus on the distinction between policy and commercial credits and investigate whether these two types of credit had adverse effects on income inequality. The authors also examine whether the impact of policy credit on income inequality is conditioned by the educational level and institutional quality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the primary data set, which contains a panel of 60 provinces collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2002 to 2016. The authors employ the generalized method of moments to solve the endogenous problem.FindingsThe authors show that while commercial credit increases income inequality, policy credit contributes to reducing income inequality in Vietnam. In addition, we provide evidence that the institutional quality and educational level condition the impact of policy credit on income inequality. Based on the findings, the paper implies that it was not the size of the private credit but its composition that mattered in reducing income inequality, due to the asymmetric effects of different types of credit.Originality/valueThis is the first study that examines the links between the two components of credit and income inequality as well as constraints of the links. The authors argue that analyzing the separate effects of commercial and policy credits is more important for explaining the role of credit in income inequality than the size of total credit.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-431
Author(s):  
Benlu Hai ◽  
Qingzhu Gao ◽  
Ximing Yin ◽  
Jin Chen

Purpose Significant increase or decrease in research and development (R&D) expenditure may have an immense impact on market value. Based on the punctuated equilibrium theory, this paper aims to empirically analyze the impact of R&D volatilities on market value and the moderating effect of executive overconfidence. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the panel data set that covers 902 Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share manufacturing listed firms and multiple regression method to test the theoretical hypotheses. Findings The results show that both positive and negative R&D volatilities have a robust and significant positive impact on the market value. Further analysis shows that the executive overconfidence positively moderates the relationship between R&D volatilities and market value. Research limitations/implications In a rapidly changing and highly competitive environment, firms should recognize that the balance of innovation strategies will help to bring higher market value. Furthermore, firms could improve corporate governance to make the best of managerial characteristics, such as overconfidence, on the innovation decision-making process. Originality/value By pushing the static perspective to a dynamic perspective and empirically documenting the role of executive overconfidence, this study contributes to the literature on the relationship between R&D expenditure and market value, generating theoretical and practical insights for firms to improve innovation governance and innovation strategies to achieve better business performance.


Info ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong Eun Cho ◽  
Dong-Hee Shin

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of news frames associated with traditional media and with Twitter discourse on social issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using semantic network analysis, it identifies the role of new alternative channels as well as discussing ways of understanding and consuming news content in the changing media environment. Additionally, it focuses on the dominant Twitter communicators who rank high in betweenness centrality. Findings – The results confirmed that traditional news media tend to superficially describe main events and media strikes without comment. They tended to consciously or unconsciously favor media corporations by engendering anxiety and conflict or by restraining reports on the rationales of the strike. Twitter discourse, on the contrary, positively represents the striker's arguments and frequently reveals support of the strike. Research limitations/implications – The data set of this study was specialized, not generalized. However, the findings extend literature relating to the role of journalism and alternative channel. For example, this study indicated that the change of media environment has reinforced partiality of news, including both traditional and alternative channels. Practical implications – The findings imply that the advent of new media does not purely represent a laymen's voice and rather tends to strengthen the partiality of media, including both traditional and new media, beyond selective exposure on content of the receiver. Originality/value – By clarifying the influence of alternative channels, this study suggests the counterpart of traditional journalism in the near future.


2000 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 1051-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil R. Bavikatty ◽  
Charles W. Ross ◽  
William G. Finn ◽  
Bertram Schnitzer ◽  
Timothy P. Singleton

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 410-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong Shin An ◽  
Teresa M. Cooney

This study examined the association between generativity and psychological well-being for a subsample of 1882 mid- to late-life parents using the MIDUS data set. Guided by Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, we tested a structural model of psychological well-being that also included direct and indirect effects (via generativity) of remembered pre-adult relationships with parents and current parental experiences with offspring on well-being. Respondents who recalled positive, trusting relationships with parents in childhood reported more positive parental experiences with their adult offspring and better psychological well-being. Current parental experiences had both indirect and direct effects on well-being too, but generativity had the strongest direct effects. Thus, it appears that the achievement of generativity plays a substantial role in well-being in mid- and late life. Findings also reveal that the impact of generativity on well-being is stronger for females than males. Implications for intervention with older adults, such as promoting volunteer work, are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 1947-1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Yanagizawa-Drott

Abstract This article investigates the role of mass media in times of conflict and state-sponsored mass violence against civilians. We use a unique village-level data set from the Rwandan genocide to estimate the impact of a popular radio station that encouraged violence against the Tutsi minority population. The results show that the broadcasts had a significant effect on participation in killings by both militia groups and ordinary civilians. An estimated 51,000 perpetrators, or approximately 10% of the overall violence, can be attributed to the station. The broadcasts increased militia violence not only directly by influencing behavior in villages with radio reception but also indirectly by increasing participation in neighboring villages. In fact, spillovers are estimated to have caused more militia violence than the direct effects. Thus, the article provides evidence that mass media can affect participation in violence directly due to exposure and indirectly due to social interactions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Guse ◽  
Bruno Merz ◽  
Luzie Wietzke ◽  
Sophie Ullrich ◽  
Alberto Viglione ◽  
...  

Abstract. The severity of floods is shaped not only by event and catchment specific characteristics but also depends on river network configuration. At the confluence of relevant tributaries to the main river, flood event characteristics may change depending on magnitude and temporal matching of flood waves. This superposition of flood waves may potentially increase flood severity. However, this aspect is up to now not analysed for a large data set. To fill this gap, the role of flood wave superposition in determining flood severity is investigated. A novel methodological approach to analyse flood wave superposition is presented and applied to mean daily discharge data of 37 triple points from the four large river basins in Germany and Austria (Elbe, Danube, Rhine and Weser). A triple point consists of the three gauges at the tributary as well as upstream and downstream of the confluence to the main river. At the triple points, differences and similarities in flood characteristics are jointly analysed in terms of temporal matching and magnitudes of flood peaks. At many analysed confluences, the tributary peaks arrive consistently earlier than the main river peaks, but mostly high variability in the time lag is detected. No large differences in temporal matching are detected for floods of different magnitudes. In the majority of the cases, the largest floods at the downstream gauge occur not because of a perfect temporal matching of tributary and main river. In terms of spatial variability, the impact of flood wave superposition is site-specific. Characteristic patterns of flood wave superposition are detected for the flood peaks in the Danube, where peak discharge largely increases due to inflow from the alpine tributaries. Overall, we conclude that the superposition of flood waves is not the driving factor of flood peak severity in Germany, but a few confluences bear potential of strong flood magnifications in the case of temporal shift in flood waves.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aruoriwo Marian Chijoke-Mgbame ◽  
Chijoke Oscar Mgbame ◽  
Simisola Akintoye ◽  
Paschal Ohalehi

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) on firm performance and the moderating role of corporate governance on the CSRD–firm performance relationship of listed companies in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a panel data set comprising 841 firm-year observations for the period covering 2007-2016. Fixed effect regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between CSRD and firm performance, and the moderating role of corporate governance in the CSRD–firm performance relationship. Findings The results of the study show that there are positive performance implications for firms that engage in CSRD. Although this study finds no effect of board size on the CSRD–firm performance relationship, it provides a strong evidence of a positive effect of board independence on the CSR–firm performance relationship. Practical implications The study contributes to the understanding of CSRD–firm performance relationship by providing evidence of the moderating role of corporate governance. It is, therefore, recommended that a stronger regulation be put in place for CSR engagement and the disclosure of same in Nigeria as well as robust measures for the enforcement of corporate governance mechanisms because there are economic benefits to be derived. Originality/value The findings contribute to the literature by providing up-to-date and original insights on the CSRD–firm performance relationship within a developing country context. It also uses an uncommon method of measuring CSRD, taking into account the institutional biases that may arise from other methods used in studies on developed countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Xiaowen Liang ◽  
Jinsui Yu ◽  
Jianyi Liao ◽  
Zhiyi Chen

Objective. The incidence of superficial organ diseases has increased rapidly in recent years. New methods such as computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) are widely used to improve diagnostic efficiency. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are one of the most popular methods, and further improvements of CNNs should be considered. This paper aims to develop a multiorgan CAD system based on CNNs for classifying both thyroid and breast nodules and investigate the impact of this system on the diagnostic efficiency of different preprocessing approaches. Methods. The training and validation sets comprised randomly selected thyroid and breast nodule images. The data were subgrouped into 4 models according to the different preprocessing methods (depending on segmentation and the classification method). A prospective data set was selected to verify the clinical value of the CNN model by comparison with ultrasound guidelines. Diagnostic efficiency was assessed based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results. Among the 4 models, the CNN model using segmented images for classification achieved the best result. For the validation set, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), accuracy, and area under the curve (AUC) of our CNN model were 84.9%, 69.0%, 62.5%, 88.2%, 75.0%, and 0.769, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the CNN model and the ultrasound guidelines. The combination of the two methods achieved superior diagnostic efficiency compared with their use individually. Conclusions. The study demonstrates the probability, feasibility, and clinical value of CAD in the ultrasound diagnosis of multiple organs. The use of segmented images and classification by the nature of the disease are the main factors responsible for the improvement of the CNN model. Moreover, the combination of the CNN model and ultrasound guidelines results in better diagnostic performance, which will contribute to the improved diagnostic efficiency of CAD systems.


Blood ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (11) ◽  
pp. 3893-3899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong-Cheol Kim ◽  
Jee-Sook Hahn ◽  
Yoo-Hong Min ◽  
Nae-Choon Yoo ◽  
Yun-Woong Ko ◽  
...  

Abstract Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) is an important intermediate in signal transduction pathways that are initiated by many types of cell surface receptors. It is thought to play a pivotal role in integrating and transmitting transmembrane signals required for growth and differentiation. Constitutive activation of ERK in fibroblasts elicits oncogenic transformation, and recently, constitutive activation of ERK has been observed in some human malignancies, including acute leukemia. However, mechanisms underlying constitutive activation of ERK have not been well characterized. In this study, we examined the activation of ERK in 79 human acute leukemia samples and attempted to find factors contributing to constitutive ERK activation. First, we showed that ERK and MEK were constitutively activated in acute leukemias by in vitro kinase assay and immunoblot analysis. However, in only one half of the studied samples, the pattern of ERK activation was similar to that of MEK activation. Next, by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunoblot analysis, we showed hyperexpression of ERK in a majority of acute leukemias. In 17 of 26 cases (65.4%) analyzed by immunoblot, the pattern of ERK expression was similar to that of ERK activation. The fact of constitutive activation of ERK in acute leukemias suggested to us the possibility of an abnormal downregulation mechanism of ERK. Therefore, we examined PAC1, a specific ERK phosphatase predominantly expressed in hematopoietic tissue and known to be upregulated at the transcription level in response to ERK activation. Interestingly, in our study, PAC1 gene expression in acute leukemias showing constitutive ERK activation was significantly lower than that in unstimulated, normal bone marrow (BM) samples showing minimal or no ERK activation (P = .002). Also, a significant correlation was observed between PAC1 downregulation and phosphorylation of ERK in acute leukemias (P= .002). Finally, by further analysis of 26 cases, we showed that a complementary role of MEK activation, ERK hyperexpression, and PAC1 downregulation could contribute to determining the constitutive activation of ERK in acute leukemia. Our results suggest that ERK is constitutively activated in a majority of acute leukemias, and in addition to the activation of MEK, the hyperexpression of ERK and downregulation of PAC1 also contribute to constitutive ERK activation in acute leukemias.


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