Impact Of Specific Factors Research Articles

A Study on the Impact of Quality and HCI Factors of a Deep Learning-Based Makeup Recommendation System on Acceptance Intention: Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Users’ Perceived Trust and Immersion

This study analyzed the impact of system quality and HCI factors on user acceptance intention, mediated by perceived trust and immersion, in the context of a deep learning-based makeup recommendation system. The results indicate that system quality and HCI factors significantly influence user acceptance intention through perceived trust and immersion. This underscores the importance of system quality and HCI factors for the successful application of makeup recommendation systems. In particular, factors such as diversity, accuracy, anthropomorphism, and realism enhance user trust and immersion, leading to higher acceptance intention. However, it was found that certain factors, such as personalization, do not significantly influence acceptance intention through immersion. This suggests that the impact of specific factors should be considered in the design of recommendation systems. The study is limited by its focus on a specific age group and gender in the survey, which may restrict the generalization of the results. Additionally, there is a lack of research on users with different cultural backgrounds, necessitating an understanding of the global market applicability. Future research should extend to users with diverse demographic characteristics to derive universal design principles for makeup recommendation systems. Furthermore, the impact of factors such as personalization on user experience should be explored in depth to enhance user-centered, customized beauty services. This research provides a theoretical and practical foundation for the effective design and implementation of makeup recommendation systems and is expected to contribute to the digital transformation of the beauty industry.

Leukemia circulation kinetics revealed through blood exchange method

Leukemias and their bone marrow microenvironments undergo dynamic changes over the course of disease. However, little is known about the circulation kinetics of leukemia cells, nor the impact of specific factors on the clearance of circulating leukemia cells (CLCs) from the blood. To gain a basic understanding of CLC dynamics over the course of disease progression and therapeutic response, we apply a blood exchange method to mouse models of acute leukemia. We find that CLCs circulate in the blood for 1–2 orders of magnitude longer than solid tumor circulating tumor cells. We further observe that: (i) leukemia presence in the marrow can limit the clearance of CLCs in a model of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and (ii) CLCs in a model of relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can clear faster than their untreated counterparts. Our approach can also directly quantify the impact of microenvironmental factors on CLC clearance properties. For example, data from two leukemia models suggest that E-selectin, a vascular adhesion molecule, alters CLC clearance. Our research highlights that clearance rates of CLCs can vary in response to tumor and treatment status and provides a strategy for identifying basic processes and factors that govern the kinetics of circulating cells.

Towards urban energy sustainability and resiliency through smart agriculture and effective renewable resource allocation

Urban energy sustainability and resiliency are paramount in addressing the challenges of modern urbanization. This paper introduces a novel framework that seamlessly integrates smart agriculture practices with an effective renewable resource allocation strategy to optimize energy utilization in urban and suburban areas. The optimization models employ a Multifactorial Evolutionary Algorithm, providing a dynamic and adaptive approach to fine-tune system parameters. The results, presented through numeric tables and colorful figures, showcase optimized agricultural production levels, renewable resource utilization, and the impact of specific factors and parameters on algorithmic performance. Notably, the study reveals the intricate balance achieved through the integration of smart agriculture and renewable energy, offering actionable insights for sustainable urban development. The visualizations not only enhance result comprehension but also serve as powerful tools for effective communication. This research contributes to the evolving discourse on urban energy sustainability, providing a systematic approach for future investigations at the intersection of agriculture, renewable energy, and optimization algorithms.

Unraveling the Enigma: Understanding Adverse Drug Reactions and its Impact in Medical Care

Adverse drug reactions, also known as medication-related adverse events, are harmful occurrences caused on by medication. ADRs may increase the pressure on the healthcare system and have a significant negative impact on patients' quality of life. With the increasing complexity of medications used to treat a wide range of diseases in an aging society, adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality on a global scale and will remain a major public health concern. ADRs are largely determined by a variety of factors, some of which are social, pharmacological, or patient-related. For example, age plays a significant role in the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs); patients in the highest age groups are more susceptible to these reactions than those in lower age groups. The impact of specific factors on adverse drug reaction (ADR) occurrence, the pharmacovigilance process, and reporting were covered in this study. Medical literature has extensive documentation of these factors' impacted on adverse drug reactions. During medical evaluation, medical professionals can select the most effective medication regimen by taking these factors into account.

The impact of national and international travel on spatio-temporal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Belgium in 2021

BackgroundThe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly spread over the world and caused tremendous impacts on global health. Understanding the mechanism responsible for the spread of this pathogen and the impact of specific factors, such as human mobility, will help authorities to tailor interventions for future SARS-CoV-2 waves or newly emerging airborne infections. In this study, we aim to analyze the spatio-temporal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Belgium at municipality level between January and December 2021 and explore the effect of different levels of human travel on disease incidence through the use of counterfactual scenarios.MethodsWe applied the endemic-epidemic modelling framework, in which the disease incidence decomposes into endemic, autoregressive and neighbourhood components. The spatial dependencies among areas are adjusted based on actual connectivity through mobile network data. We also took into account other important factors such as international mobility, vaccination coverage, population size and the stringency of restriction measures.ResultsThe results demonstrate the aggravating effect of international travel on the incidence, and simulated counterfactual scenarios further stress the alleviating impact of a reduction in national and international travel on epidemic growth. It is also clear that local transmission contributed the most during 2021, and municipalities with a larger population tended to attract a higher number of cases from neighboring areas.ConclusionsAlthough transmission between municipalities was observed, local transmission was dominant. We highlight the positive association between the mobility data and the infection spread over time. Our study provides insight to assist health authorities in decision-making, particularly when the disease is airborne and therefore likely influenced by human movement.

Factors of Economic Growth in 2011–2021 and Their Reflection in Macroeconomic Models

The article examines factors of economic growth in Russia over more than a decade (2011–2021). The focus is on evaluating new factors, including specific ones, which have influenced the development dynamics of the period under review. Models of cyclic dynamics and macroeconomic factor models are used as research tools.The authors consider possibilities for estimating potential GDP using two approaches: through the selection and elimination of short-term cyclic fluctuations and based on the construction of factor models. The paper discusses the matter of substantiating potential GDP, taking into account changes in the ratio of factors that form it, including the external economic factor. It is noted that for a more detailed analysis of specific factors, there has to be a transition to monthly and quarterly data treatment, which is done using the example of cyclic dynamics models and factor models. The nature of the impact of specific factors by specified periods, including the post-crisis period of 2011–2014, the 2014 to 2017 period, when Western countries imposed sanctions, as well as the impact in 2020–2021 of the factor associated with the coronavirus pandemic, are revealed. To be specific, for the latest period of development of the domestic economy, the paper demonstrates how three waves of COVID-19 correlate with the three waves of its impact on economy. Meanwhile, despite the increase of the coronavirus waves up to the fourth wave, their direct and conjugated impact decreased exponentially. At the same time, the impact was differentiated by industry sectors. A number of industry sectors during this period gained a significant impetus to accelerate development, which will affect the subsequent change in the structure of production.Strengthening the role of new specific factors now enhances the relevance and need to apply and develop these methods, including the active use and development of import matrices as part of the input-output tables. In this regard, the authors consider some directions in development of methods for addressing new factors at the present stage.

FEATURES OF EMERGING MORBIDITY PATTERN FOR VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL WITH ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS OF THE UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT.

Here we provide insights into conditions behind developing morbidity pattern in various categories of military personnel (a call-up for military service in military units and compounds, as well as cadets in military educational organizations of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) with acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract, having the greatest military-epidemiological importance for almost all military contingents.After investigating literary data, two groups of conditions for emerging disease patterns of acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract have been identified: external (related to the impact of specific factors of military service on military personnel) and internal (related to the peculiarities of individual susceptibility to infections). Based on the results of the retrospective epidemiological analysis on incidence of acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract, the peculiarities of the course of the epidemic process for infectious diseases among military personnel performing military service on conscription in military units and compounds, as well as in the Military Medical Academy named after S.M.Kirov for in the years 2011-2017 are shown. It is shown that the intra-annual dynamics of morbidity (according to the average monthly indicators) was uneven and formed two clearly shaped seasonal rises, significantly exceeding the upper limit of the year-round morbidity. At the same time, differences in the organization of educational and performance activities of different categories of military personnel have been identified, which have different effects on shaping morbidity. According to the 2011-2017 results of retrospective epidemiological analysis of personalized morbidity for cadets of the Military Medical Academy named after S.M.Kirov and comparative attendance analysis on revealed cases, the presence and relatively stable portion of military personnel who were more likely to have acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract during entire 6-year training period is shown.Based on the results of the analysis of the calculated average annual incidence of diseases with acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract, it was established that the distribution of cadets within the examined faculties of the S.M.Kirov Military Medical Academy was uneven in accordance with the four selected groups on the average annual disease incidence. There were highlighted cadets often sick and rarely acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract. The results of the combined socio-psychological study in groups of frequent and rare sick cadets are presented, showing individual signs and behavioural features, according to which individual soldiers can be classified as contingents of increased susceptibility risk to acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract for organizing personalized sanitary and anti-epidemic (preventive) measures.

Study on Deliverability Evaluation of Staged Fractured Horizontal Wells in Tight Oil Reservoirs

At present, the existing deliverability evaluation models mainly consider the impact of specific factors on production, and the description of the complex fracture network structure primarily remains at the stage of an ideal dual-pore medium with uniform distribution. However, this cannot reflect the actual fracture network structure and fluid flow law of fractured horizontal wells. Thus, in this paper, a non-uniform fracture network structure is proposed considering the influence of the threshold pressure gradient and stress sensitivity characteristics on the production performance of horizontal wells. The stress sensitivity and the fractal theory are combined to characterize the permeability of the complex fracture network, and a three-zone compound unsteady deliverability model for staged fractured horizontal wells in tight oil reservoirs is successfully developed. Laplace transformation, perturbation theory, and numerical inversion are applied to obtain the semi-analytical solution of the proposed deliverability model. The reliability and accuracy of the analytical solution are verified by the classical tri-linear flow model and an oil field example. The effects of related influential parameters on the production of horizontal wells are analyzed. The deliverability evaluation method proposed in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for formulating rational development technology policies for tight oil reservoirs.

Modelowe badania mikrobiomu świń według koncepcji wspólnego zdrowia „One Health” ludzi i zwierząt

Streszczenie Mikrobiom człowieka pod względem liczebności bakterii przewyższa liczbę komórek ludzkiego organizmu. Określany jest jako dodatkowy, „zapomniany narząd” i odgrywa podstawową rolę w utrzymaniu wysokiego statusu zdrowotnego, co jest uwarunkowane zachowaniem pożądanych proporcji i naturalnych relacji między bakteriami a komórkami organizmu gospodarza. Nowe metody diagnostyczne umożliwiają profilowanie nie tylko mikrobiomu człowieka, ale i zwierząt gospodarskich. Coraz szersze zastosowanie w badaniach mikrobiomu ma innowacyjna metoda analityczna, jaką jest sekwencjonowanie nowej generacji NGS (next generation sequencig). Wiele bakterii określa się jako „niehodowalne” lub „niemożliwe do wyhodowania”, metagenomika odegrała istotną rolę w poznaniu tych bakterii, a także przyczyniła się do opracowania nowych pożywek, umożliwiających ich hodowlę. Głównym zastosowaniem NGS w mikrobiologii jest zastąpienie konwencjonalnej charakterystyki patogenów, opartej o ocenę morfologii, właściwości barwienia i cech metabolicznych, ich opisem związanym z genomem. Istnieje kilka platform, tj. „narzędzi diagnostycznych” wykorzystujących zróżnicowane technologie sekwencjonowania DNA m.in. Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM), Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) oraz Illumina MiSeq. Badania mikrobiomu trzody chlewnej z wykorzystaniem nowoczesnych technologii sekwencjonowania wydają się więc szczególnie istotne w związku ze zbliżającymi się nieuchronnie zmianami w postępowaniu profilaktycznym i terapeutycznym u zwierząt. Analizy tego typu umożliwiają wnikliwą ocenę wpływu określonych czynników na populacje drobnoustrojów jelitowych oraz poznanie, jak „kształtować” skład mikrobiomu w celu poprawy jakości chowu i utrzymania prawidłowego statusu zdrowotnego świń, wpisując się w koncepcję wspólnego zdrowia ludzi i zwierząt.

Use of routine and cohort data globally in exploring dementia care pathways and inequalities: A systematic review

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this systematic review was to evaluate studies which employed routine and cohort data sets to understand inequalities in dementia care pathways.MethodsWe identified 27 research papers using routine data sets to investigate inequalities in dementia care pathways through electronic and grey literature searches. Papers were independently assessed by two reviewers for inclusion based on defined criteria. Included papers were quality rated using the National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross‐Sectional Studies. Data was extracted based on stage(s) in dementia care pathway and socio‐economic factors investigated.ResultsInequalities were noted across dementia care pathways. Socio‐economic and protected characteristics were shown to impact the likelihood of people with dementia moving into institutional nursing care, the quality and consistency of their treatment, need for emergency and urgent healthcare, the rate of illness progression and their long‐term survival. Research was often disparate ignoring the multiple parts of the dementia care pathway, or the impact of specific factors across multiple stages.ConclusionsOur study highlights issues in dementia care pathways based on socio‐economic or protected characteristics. Equitable service provision, more culturally appropriate services, improved health literacy and increased provision for both early diagnosis and care at home can help narrow the gap in dementia care inequalities. There is greater need for research investigating dementia care pathways as something greater than the sum of its parts; exploring the influence of socio‐economic factors from a person's entrance into the system and throughout.

Patient-appraised beneficial moments during inpatient psychiatric treatment

BackgroundPsychiatric inpatients receive a multidisciplinary treatment approach, covering psychiatry, nursing, occupational therapy, and psychology. Research findings reveal that the effectiveness of any treatment is associated with three types of factors: specific (e.g., treatment techniques), common (e.g., clinician-patient relationship, patients’ expectations) and extra-therapeutic. However, there is little published research on the factors and events which inpatients themselves consider to be beneficial (‘beneficial moments’).MethodsInpatients (N = 107) of a psychiatric clinic completed a questionnaire to elicit their appraisal of beneficial moments. A qualitative content analysis was applied. The coding procedure was conducted independently by two authors.ResultsSelf-appraised beneficial moments were found in five areas: therapy-specific components (number of quotations, N = 204), positive relationships (N = 140), clinical setting and environment (N = 52), inpatients’ new insights (N = 36), and factors unrelated to either therapy or the clinic (N = 30). In total, 44% of the quotations were related to specific factors, 49% to common factors, and 7% to extra-therapeutic factors.ConclusionsInpatients judge both specific and common factors as crucial for the therapeutic benefit they gain during their stay at the clinic. Our results differ from meta-analytical findings, where the impact of specific factors on symptom improvement has shown to be much smaller (i.e., 17%) than appraised by patients in our study (i.e., 44%). Our study underlines the importance of a patient-centred care approach as well as shared decision making and patient-clinician communication. For clinical practice, knowledge of inpatients’ perspectives on beneficial moments is crucial in order to reinforce precisely these therapeutic components.

Regulating ENaC's gate.

Epithelial Na+ channels (ENaCs) are members of a family of cation channels that function as sensors of the extracellular environment. ENaCs are activated by specific proteases in the biosynthetic pathway and at the cell surface and remove embedded inhibitory tracts, which allows channels to transition to higher open-probability states. Resolved structures of ENaC and an acid-sensing ion channel revealed highly organized extracellular regions. Within the periphery of ENaC subunits are unique domains formed by antiparallel β-strands containing the inhibitory tracts and protease cleavage sites. ENaCs are inhibited by Na+ binding to specific extracellular site(s), which promotes channel transition to a lower open-probability state. Specific inositol phospholipids and channel modification by Cys-palmitoylation enhance channel open probability. How these regulatory factors interact in a concerted manner to influence channel open probability is an important question that has not been resolved. These various factors are reviewed, and the impact of specific factors on human disorders is discussed.

Impact of specific factors on the state of the tire pressure value.

The article presents the research on the impact of specific factors on the state of the pressure value in passenger car wheels in service. Data on how the vehicle was used was obtained based on a survey. The survey contained data on checking the condition of the vehicle tires and also measured the tire pressure. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the impact of specific factors on the state of the pressure value in passenger car wheels. The correlation analysis of the correctness of pressure in car tires and selected factors was carried out using the Kendall tau test. In addition, odds ratio (OR) analysis and the Hosmer and Lemeshow test were used to analyze the results. The work draws attention to the impact of improper tire pressure on tire durability and road safety as well as the functioning of other active safety systems. In addition, attention was drawn to drivers' awareness of the need to control the pressure in the wheels of the vehicle. Based on the analysis it was found that the age of the vehicle used and the driver's knowledge have the greatest impact on the correct tire pressure. Studies have shown that in over 60% of the vehicles analyzed, the tire pressure was normal.

Theory-choice, transient diversity and the efficiency of scientific inquiry

Recent studies of scientific interaction based on agent-based models (ABMs) suggest that a crucial factor conducive to efficient inquiry is what Zollman (2010) has dubbed ‘transient diversity’. It signifies a process in which a community engages in parallel exploration of rivaling theories lasting sufficiently long for the community to identify the best theory and to converge on it. But what exactly generates transient diversity? And is transient diversity a decisive factor when it comes to the efficiency of inquiry? In this paper we examine the impact of different conditions on the efficiency of inquiry, as well as the relation between diversity and efficiency. This includes certain diversity-generating mechanisms previously proposed in the literature (such as different social networks and cautious decision-making), as well as some factors that have so far been neglected (such as evaluations underlying theory-choice performed by scientists). This study is obtained via an argumentation-based ABM (Borg et al. 2017, 2018). Our results suggest that cautious decision-making does not always have a significant impact on the efficiency of inquiry while different evaluations underlying theory-choice and different social networks do. Moreover, we find a correlation between diversity and a successful performance of agents only under specific conditions, which indicates that transient diversity is sometimes not the primary factor responsible for efficiency. Altogether, when comparing our results to those obtained by structurally different ABMs based on Zollman’s work, the impact of specific factors on efficiency of inquiry, as well as the role of transient diversity in achieving efficiency, appear to be highly dependent on the underlying model.

Analysis of 10,462 8/8 HLA- Matched Unrelated Donor Transplants Could Not Identify a Donor Selection Score, As Younger Age Is the Only Significant Donor Characteristic Associated with Survival

▪Background. There is no hierarchical algorithm that weights the characteristics of individual donors against each other in a quantitative manner to facilitate donor selection when multiple potential equally HLA-matched unrelated donors (URD) are available. Donor factors, such as age, sex, CMV status, ABO type, and matching of secondary HLA loci (DQB1, DPB1), have been associated with recipient survival in URD hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) although the impact of specific factors has varied among studies. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a donor selection score that prioritizes donor characteristics associated with better survival in 8/8 HLA-matched URD transplantation.Methods. Two large CIBMTR patient datasets were studied: HCT from 1999-2011 (n=5952) and 2012-2014 (n=4510). Patients were adults (>18), transplanted for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Each dataset was randomly split for the analysis. Cohort 1 (c1): 2/3 (n=3969) for modeling/score development (training) and 1/3 (n=1983) for testing and similarly for cohort 2 (c2): 2/3 (n=3051) and 1/3 (n=1459). Thus, two independent models were built and tested, adjusting for significant patient characteristics associated with survival. Interactions between donor characteristics, and donor and recipient characteristics were tested. The following donor characteristics were considered for the donor score: HLA-DQB1 matching, HLA-DPB1 matching (using the T-cell epitope matching categorization), age, sex matching, parity, CMV matching, ABO matching and race matching.Results. In the final survival model (training set from 1999-2011, c1) we found significant negative associations with survival for three donor risk factors: non-permissive DPB1 matching (HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.01, 1.26; p-value=0.032), older donor age (as a linear effect, HR 1.07 per decade increase in age; 95% CI 1.02, 1.12, p-value=0.004), and CMV mismatching for CMV+ recipients (HR 1.14; 95% CI 1.02, 1.27; p-value=0.022). For CMV- recipients, a CMV+ donor was not significantly associated with an increase in mortality (HR=1.03; 95% CI 0.89-1.20; p-value=0.68), so this was not included in the score. ABO mismatching (any type: major, minor or bidirectional) was associated with mortality in initial modelling, but the effect was not present in more recent transplants (HR for ABO mismatch among patients transplanted since 2007: 1.04; 95% CI 0.91-1.19; p-value=0.638), so it was not included in the final model and donor score. Based on these results a donor risk score was constructed, however this score was not validated in the testing set (c1), nor were any of the individual component donor factors significantly associated with worse overall survival. In the second cohort (c2), only donor age was significantly associated with worse survival, and it validated in the independent test set from c2. Since donor age was significant in 3 of the 4 cohorts, we quantified the impact of donor age in the validation set of the most recent cohort, c2. We found that choosing a donor 2, 5, 10 or 20 years older was associated with a 1%, 2%, 3% or 7% decrease in 2 year OS, adjusted for patient characteristics.Conclusion. Despite data on over 10,000 URD transplants, we were unable to develop a valid donor selection score. The only donor characteristic associated with better survival was younger age, with 2-year survival being 3% better when a donor is 10 years younger. We did not test other endpoints; it is possible that separate scores could be generated to predict the risk of other outcomes (e.g. graft failure, graft-versus-host disease), however, unless the adverse donor characteristics are identical for these outcomes, centers will still have to prioritize the various donor characteristics to select from a pool of potential donors. This large data set shows that none of the other easily available donor clinical and genetic factors tested were reproducibly associated with survival and hence, flexibility in selecting URD based on these characteristics is justified. These data support a simplified URD selection process and have significant implications for URD registries. DisclosuresPorter:Incyte: Honoraria; Genentech/Roche: Employment, Other: Family member employment, stock ownship - family member; Servier: Honoraria, Other: Travel reimbursement; Novartis: Honoraria, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding; Immunovative Therapies: Other: Member DSMB. Lee:Amgen: Other: One-time advisory board member; Bristol-Myers-Squibb: Other: One-time advisory board member; Mallinckrodt: Honoraria; Kadmon: Other: One-time advisory board member.

Warunki sukcesu poprawek Parlamentu Europejskiego w zwykłej procedurze ustawodawczej

The purpose of the article is to identify the conditions that affect the success of the European Parliament’s amendments in the ordinary legislative procedure. In the first step, hypotheses were delineated predicting the impact of specific factors on the effectiveness of EP demands. Subsequently, they were verified using the logistic regression. The results revealed that the EP is more likely to be successful in this procedure if it takes seven actions. First, it bundles several legislative proposals in one package. Second, it persuades the European Commission to support its amendments. Third, it negotiates the legislative proposals in trilogues. Fourth, it is cohesive during negotiations. Fifth, it prolongs negotiations with the Council until the end of parliamentary term. Sixth, it designates a rapporteur from a country acting at the same time as the Council Presidency. Seventh, it negotiates with the Council when the Presidency legislative workload is high.

Quantification of Hepatitis C Virus Cell-to-Cell Spread Using a Stochastic Modeling Approach.

It has been proposed that viral cell-to-cell transmission plays a role in establishing and maintaining chronic infections. Thus, understanding the mechanisms and kinetics of cell-to-cell spread is fundamental to elucidating the dynamics of infection and may provide insight into factors that determine chronicity. Because hepatitis C virus (HCV) spreads from cell to cell and has a chronicity rate of up to 80% in exposed individuals, we examined the dynamics of HCV cell-to-cell spread in vitro and quantified the effect of inhibiting individual host factors. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we performed HCV spread assays and assessed the appropriateness of different stochastic models for describing HCV focus expansion. To evaluate the effect of blocking specific host cell factors on HCV cell-to-cell transmission, assays were performed in the presence of blocking antibodies and/or small-molecule inhibitors targeting different cellular HCV entry factors. In all experiments, HCV-positive cells were identified by immunohistochemical staining and the number of HCV-positive cells per focus was assessed to determine focus size. We found that HCV focus expansion can best be explained by mathematical models assuming focus size-dependent growth. Consistent with previous reports suggesting that some factors impact HCV cell-to-cell spread to different extents, modeling results estimate a hierarchy of efficacies for blocking HCV cell-to-cell spread when targeting different host factors (e.g., CLDN1 > NPC1L1 > TfR1). This approach can be adapted to describe focus expansion dynamics under a variety of experimental conditions as a means to quantify cell-to-cell transmission and assess the impact of cellular factors, viral factors, and antivirals. The ability of viruses to efficiently spread by direct cell-to-cell transmission is thought to play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of viral persistence. As such, elucidating the dynamics of cell-to-cell spread and quantifying the effect of blocking the factors involved has important implications for the design of potent antiviral strategies and controlling viral escape. Mathematical modeling has been widely used to understand HCV infection dynamics and treatment response; however, these models typically assume only cell-free virus infection mechanisms. Here, we used stochastic models describing focus expansion as a means to understand and quantify the dynamics of HCV cell-to-cell spread in vitro and determined the degree to which cell-to-cell spread is reduced when individual HCV entry factors are blocked. The results demonstrate the ability of this approach to recapitulate and quantify cell-to-cell transmission, as well as the impact of specific factors and potential antivirals.

Factors associated with mortality and functional status among neurocritical care adult patients: a prospective cohort study.

Neurocritical care patients are at risk for the development of poor clinical outcomes during intensive care unit (ICU) stay. However, few data regarding the impact of specific factors on mortality and poor functional status in this population are available.

INFLUENCE FACTORS SPECIFIC TO MILITARY SERVICE PERFORMANCE COMPONENT OF THE BODY MASS YOUTH

Identification of the possible impact of specific factors on the military service component composition of body weight in a population of healthy young men serving in the armed forces.

Equity financing constraints and corporate capital structure: a model

Purpose – The “supply-side effect” brought about by the imperfection of the capital market has increasingly been concerned. The purpose of this paper is to study how will the uncertainty of equity financing brought about by the equity financing regulations in emerging capital market affect company's capital structure decisions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper establishes a theoretical model and tries to introduce equity financing uncertainty into the company's capital structure decision-making. The paper uses mathematical derivation method to get some basic conclusions. Next, in order to characterize the quantitative impact of specific factor on capital structure, numerical solution methods are used. Findings – The model shows that firm's value would decrease with the uncertainty of equity financing, because of the relationship between firm's future cash and their financing policies. The numerical solution of the model suggests that the uncertainty of equity financing is one of the important factors affecting the choice of optimal capital structure, the greater the uncertainty is, the lower optimal capital structure is. Originality/value – The research of this paper has certain academic value for further understanding of the issues.