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Purpose The research article looks at how well China is managing its tech skills resources in major industries. Design/methodology/approach The IBM Institute for Business Value in collaboration with Oxford Economics recently conducted a specific survey of more than 5,600 global business, government and education leaders on the topic of global workforce skills. More than 400 of the 5,600 executives surveyed were from China, representing 18 specific industries from across all major regions. The insights and opinions of these 400-plus Chinese executives inform this report about tech skills resources in China. Findings Seventy-one percent of corporate recruiters in China, say they cannot find applicants with sufficient practical experience, and 72 percent of the Chinese industry leaders surveyed report that gaps evidenced in the core skills of newly recruited employees is the single most significant business challenge they face. Research limitations/implications The interviews were performed in 2016 and the data analyzed in 2017 and 2018. Practical implications Seventy-one percent of Chinese executives believe that individuals should bear significant personal responsibility in developing and maintaining work skills. Originality/value This is a large sample of executives in major Chinese corporations and some representatives of Chinese educational institutions. Their insights about China’s talent gaps and what it is doing on many fronts to modernize its talent resources should be of interest to players in all competitive economies.

NK cell responses to HIV/SIV infection have been well studied in acute and chronic infected patients/monkeys, but little is known about NK cells during viral transmission, particularly in mucosal tissues. In this article, we report a systematic study of NK cell responses to high-dose vaginal exposure to SIVmac251 in the rhesus macaque female reproductive tract (FRT). Small numbers of NK cells were recruited into the FRT mucosa following vaginal inoculation. The influx of mucosal NK cells preceded local virus replication and peaked at 1 wk and, thus, was in an appropriate time frame to control an expanding population of infected cells at the portal of entry. However, NK cells were greatly outnumbered by recruited target cells that fuel local virus expansion and were spatially dissociated from SIV RNA+ cells at the major site of expansion of infected founder populations in the transition zone and adjoining endocervix. The number of NK cells in the FRT mucosa decreased rapidly in the second week, while the number of SIV RNA+ cells in the FRT reached its peak. Mucosal NK cells produced IFN-γ and MIP-1α/CCL3 but lacked several markers of activation and cytotoxicity, and this was correlated with inoculum-induced upregulation of the inhibitory ligand HLA-E and downregulation of the activating receptor CD122/IL-2Rβ. Examination of SIVΔnef-vaccinated monkeys suggested that recruitment of NK cells to the genital mucosa was not involved in vaccine-induced protection from vaginal challenge. In summary, our results suggest that NK cells play, at most, a limited role in defenses in the FRT against vaginal challenge.

A 25 year old man underwent electrophysiology study for recurrent symptomatic paroxysmal palpitations. There were no documented episodes of supraventricular tachycardia on surface ECG. Delta waves were absent on baseline ECG. A decapolar catheter was placed in the coronary sinus with the distal and proximal pair of electrodes configured as CS 1-2 and CS 9-10 respectively. Quadripolar catheters were positioned in the high right atrium, His-bundle region and right ventricular apex. During straight atrial pacing with a drive-cycle length of 340ms, the following arrhythmia was induced (Figure 1). The corresponding electrogram is shown in Figure 2. What is the mechanism?

Background Clinical studies have evaluated the safety and efficacy of adjunctive X-sizer (EndiCOR Inc, San Clemente, CA) in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, patient and lesion subsets were highly selected, and extrapolation of the results to daily practice is problematic. Methods X-sizer thrombectomy was performed in 200 procedures from August 2000 to July 2005. The indications for the procedures were primary PCI in 71%. Device failure was defined as the occurrence of 1 or more of the following conditions: ( a ) failure of the X-sizer to reach the target segment, ( b ) failure to achieve final thrombolysis in myocardial infarction 3 flow, ( c ) slow flow or no-reflow, ( d ) distal embolization, and ( e ) coronary perforation. Results Device failure occurred in 48 procedures, giving a device failure rate of 24%. Logistic regression analysis showed that ostial lesion was the only independent predictor of device failure (OR 4.89, 95% CI 1.23-19.51, P = .024). A total of 19 patients had developed 22 adverse events, giving a 30-day adverse event rate of 9.5%. Among these, there were 13 deaths, 4 strokes, 2 reinfarctions, 2 repeat PCIs, and 1 coronary artery bypass grafting. Logistic regression analysis showed that X-sizer device failure was independently associated with 30-day adverse events (OR 3.42, 95% CI 1.04-11.25, P = .043). Conclusions The incidence of device failure of X-sizer thrombectomy was 24%. Ostial lesion was an independent predictor of device failure. Notably, X-sizer device failure was independently associated with 30-day adverse event. These highlight the importance of case selection and the problem with its use in ostial lesions.