Search

In recent years, microfluidic lab-on-paper devices have emerged as a rapid and low-cost alternative to traditional laboratory tests. Additionally, they were widely considered as a promising solution for point-of-care testing (POCT) at home or regions that lack medical infrastructure and resources. This review describes important advances in microfluidic lab-on-paper diagnostics for human health monitoring and disease diagnosis over the past five years. The review commenced by explaining the choice of paper, fabrication methods, and detection techniques to realize microfluidic lab-on-paper devices. Then, the sample pretreatment procedure used to improve the detection performance of lab-on-paper devices was introduced. Furthermore, an in-depth review of lab-on-paper devices for disease measurement based on an analysis of urine samples was presented. The review concludes with the potential challenges that the future development of commercial microfluidic lab-on-paper platforms for human disease detection would face.

In this study, we examined the role of autophagy in the initiation of lipid increases in renal epithelial HK2 cells. We found that trivalent chromium [Cr(III)] induced autophagy by activating sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 2 (SMPD2). SMPD2 increases levels of ceramide and other lipids. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy showed that signals of ceramide overlapped with LC3, suggesting that ceramide might play an important role in the formation of autophagosome. In conclusion, our data indicate that Cr(III) induces autophagy via structural aberration of organelle membrane, in particular by the increase of lipid compositions in addition to autophagy-associated proteins. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

The purpose of this study is to analyze how channel characteristics influence the channel attitudes of multi-channel research shoppers. In addition, the study also considers consumers' complex shopping behaviors that involve using one channel for search and another for purchase simultaneously. Survey data were collected from 191 consumers with recent (i.e., in the last 3 months) multi-channel experiences. Qualified respondents had either searched in physical retail stores and purchased on the Internet or searched on the Internet and subsequently purchased in physical retail stores. The research hypotheses were examined using multiple regression analysis. The results show that customer perceptions of channel characteristics drive channel choice attitudes. Importantly, we find the significance of channel characteristics varies between the Internet and the physical channel. The research findings deepen our understanding of shopping behaviors in the multi-channel context. Practitioners may use the findings to manage the characteristics of the complementary channels while also designing marketing programs to create positive consumer attitudes toward search and purchase.

Background: Neurofibroma consists of abundant extracellular matrix and many types of cells, including Schwann cells (SCs), mast cells (MCs), fibroblasts and endothelial cells. As SCs have been found to be the cell of origin for neurofibroma, how MCs may migrate into the tumor has not been fully clarified. Given that chemokine receptor CCR3 is found predominantly expressed by differentiated MCs, we postulated that CCR3 may play a role in the homing of MCs to neurofibroma. The goal of this study is to investigate the possible involvement of chemokine receptor CCR3 in the migration of MCs to the neurofibroma. Methods: Expressional and functional assays for CCR3 and its ligands were performed on MCs and SCs. Results: By real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we found one of the CCR3 ligand, CCL7 was highly expressed by murine SC cell line SW10, and also moderately expressed by MCs. In serial chemotaxis assays, MCs were found specifically responsive to CCL7 and also condition medium from SW10 cells, indicating SCs may attract MCs by CCR3-mediated cell migration. Conclusion: The interaction of CCR3 and CCL7 may play important roles for MC migration toward SC in the neurofibroma.

E-learning systems play an important role in providing just-in-time knowledge and learning in the 24/7 global marketplace. However, human factors are often overlooked in their design. In order to better understand how individual differences affect people's perceived ease of use of e-learning systems, this study investigates the mediating role of self-efficacy and computer anxiety between stable or situational individual differences and perceived ease of use. The results reveal that e-learning system self-efficacy, computer anxiety, personal innovativeness with IT, computer playfulness, and computer experience influence perceived ease of use. Moreover, both e-learning system self-efficacy and computer anxiety mediate the effect of computer experience on perceived ease of use, but only partially mediate the effects of personal innovativeness and computer playfulness on perceived ease of use. Finally, we show that people's stable factors related to the perception of ease of use are important determinants in using e-learning or knowledge management systems.

Marketing channels have become a key factor in competitive success. Businesses should know the potential strengths of major channels and integrate them to develop effective multi-channel business models. Internet and physical stores are the most popular channels. Therefore, this study explores the effects of channel characteristics on channel attitudes of multi-channel customers who have experiences with the two channels to find and purchase products and services. We used survey to collect data from a sample of 191 multi-channel customers. The findings suggest that businesses should concentrate their efforts on channel characteristics that influence customers' channel attitudes in order to increase cross-channel synergy. The results have implications for channel management and marketing strategy design.

While mobile technologies and applications are rapidly and widely utilized in electronic commerce, it is extremely important to better understand the evaluative criteria from the consumers' viewpoint in mobile-shopping site selection. This paper investigated the consumer-oriented criteria for mobile shopping site selection. A questionnaire was developed and tested to prove its reliability and validity. Initial analyses of mobile shopping characteristics important for the environment were explored. The final criteria list includes three factors: merchandise, enabling functions, and assurance.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for supporting inter- and intra-company business processes are reaching maturity in many organizations. However, ERP systems are complex and expensive, and the decision to install an ERP system necessitates a choice of mechanisms for determining whether the ERP is needed and, once implemented, whether it is successful. User satisfaction is one evaluation mechanism for determining system success. In this study, we concentrate on satisfaction results, examine factors related to satisfaction and compare satisfaction differences between firms implementing foreign and domestic ERP systems. A survey was conducted to identify user satisfaction patterns. A general observation was that several areas of low ERP satisfaction (mean value less than 0.5) exist among key users and end users. For key users, these are: system integrity, domain knowledge of the consultants, consultant's project management, training and system understanding, and, for end users, feelings of user involvement, system understanding and system integrity.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been recognised as excellent tools for integrating information, reducing operational costs and enhancing competitiveness. However, they are expensive and complex software with a well-documented high risk of failure when implemented badly. The selection of an ERP system is therefore critical. This paper identifies a set of evaluating variables within three categories: supplier, product functionality and technical capacity. These variables were based on an extensive literature review and interviews with industry experts. ELECTRE I, a multiple variables decision-making method, may then be applied for pair-wise comparison of alternatives to provide an efficient and effective method for selecting an optimum ERP system for a given situation.