Comparative study on the perspective towards the benefits and hindrances of implementing building information modelling (BIM)

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is considered one of the most effective technologies to improve the productivity of the building process. BIM has proven its advantages throughout the building project life cycle. However, the lack of awareness towards BIM is due to the persistent practice of obsolete technology in construction. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore the industrial practitioners' perspectives on the benefits and hindrances of BIM implementation in order to understand their level of awareness. A questionnaire survey was distributed to 120 consultant companies in Kuala Lumpur where 52 responded. The data were analysed using frequency analysis and test for correlation was performed. Results revealed that respondents have a positive awareness of the benefits and hindrances towards the implementation of BIM. Both BIM and non-BIM users achieve a significant agreement on the benefits of BIM to control delay, cost, and improves management. On the other hand, all participants criticised that High Cost Allocation, Time Consuming, Lack of Information are hindering the implementation of BIM. In addition, there was a weak relationship between the BIM as a tool in company and the predictor variables which are level of understanding, time saving, cost saving, better management, cost allocation, time consumption and lack of awareness. The correlation coefficient values obtained were 0.419, 0.403, 0.376, 0.446, 0.324, 0.407 and 0.274 respectively. The outcomes indicate that construction industry experience constraint on implementing BIM mainly due to the BIM enforcement by the government industry. Thus, this paper is significant in contributing knowledge of awareness between BIM and non-BIM users on benefits and hindrances of BIM implementation. It also acts as a benchmark for the government to address the relevant issues provide a channel to drive the industry towards BIM level 2

Financial development and economic growth in an oil-rich economy: The case of Saudi Arabia

© 2014 Elsevier B.V.We investigate the effect of financial development on economic growth in the context of Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich economy. In doing so, we distinguish between the effects of financial development on the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds test technique, we find that financial development has a positive impact on the growth of the non-oil sector. In contrast, its impact on the oil-sector growth and total GDP growth is either negative or insignificant. This suggests that the relationship between financial development and growth may be fundamentally different in resource-dominated economies

Evidence-based decision support for pediatric rheumatology reduces diagnostic errors.

BACKGROUND: The number of trained specialists world-wide is insufficient to serve all children with pediatric rheumatologic disorders, even in the countries with robust medical resources. We evaluated the potential of diagnostic decision support software (DDSS) to alleviate this shortage by assessing the ability of such software to improve the diagnostic accuracy of non-specialists. METHODS: Using vignettes of actual clinical cases, clinician testers generated a differential diagnosis before and after using diagnostic decision support software. The evaluation used the SimulConsult® DDSS tool, based on Bayesian pattern matching with temporal onset of each finding in each disease. The tool covered 5405 diseases (averaging 22 findings per disease). Rheumatology content in the database was developed using both primary references and textbooks. The frequency, timing, age of onset and age of disappearance of findings, as well as their incidence, treatability, and heritability were taken into account in order to guide diagnostic decision making. These capabilities allowed key information such as pertinent negatives and evolution over time to be used in the computations. Efficacy was measured by comparing whether the correct condition was included in the differential diagnosis generated by clinicians before using the software ( unaided ), versus after use of the DDSS ( aided ). RESULTS: The 26 clinicians demonstrated a significant reduction in diagnostic errors following introduction of the software, from 28% errors while unaided to 15% using decision support (p \u3c 0.0001). Improvement was greatest for emergency medicine physicians (p = 0.013) and clinicians in practice for less than 10 years (p = 0.012). This error reduction occurred despite the fact that testers employed an open book approach to generate their initial lists of potential diagnoses, spending an average of 8.6 min using printed and electronic sources of medical information before using the diagnostic software. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that decision support can reduce diagnostic errors and improve use of relevant information by generalists. Such assistance could potentially help relieve the shortage of experts in pediatric rheumatology and similarly underserved specialties by improving generalists\u27 ability to evaluate and diagnose patients presenting with musculoskeletal complaints. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02205086

Human papillomavirus and survival of patients with oropharyngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinomas caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) are associated with favorable survival, but the independent prognostic significance of tumor HPV status remains unknown. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the association between tumor HPV status and survival among patients with stage III or IV oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma who were enrolled in a randomized trial comparing accelerated-fractionation radiotherapy (with acceleration by means of concomitant boost radiotherapy) with standard-fractionation radiotherapy, each combined with cisplatin therapy, in patients with squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Proportional-hazards models were used to compare the risk of death among patients with HPV-positive cancer and those with HPV-negative cancer. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 4.8 years. The 3-year rate of overall survival was similar in the group receiving accelerated-fractionation radiotherapy and the group receiving standard-fractionation radiotherapy (70.3% vs. 64.3%; P=0.18; hazard ratio for death with accelerated-fractionation radiotherapy, 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 1.13), as were the rates of high-grade acute and late toxic events. A total of 63.8% of patients with oropharyngeal cancer (206 of 323) had HPV-positive tumors; these patients had better 3-year rates of overall survival (82.4%, vs. 57.1% among patients with HPV-negative tumors; P\u3c0.001 by the log-rank test) and, after adjustment for age, race, tumor and nodal stage, tobacco exposure, and treatment assignment, had a 58% reduction in the risk of death (hazard ratio, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.66). The risk of death significantly increased with each additional pack-year of tobacco smoking. Using recursive-partitioning analysis, we classified our patients as having a low, intermediate, or high risk of death on the basis of four factors: HPV status, pack-years of tobacco smoking, tumor stage, and nodal stage. CONCLUSIONS: Tumor HPV status is a strong and independent prognostic factor for survival among patients with oropharyngeal cancer. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00047008.

Role of endonucleases XPF and XPG in nucleotide excision repair of platinated DNA and cisplatin/oxaliplatin cytotoxicity

Resistance of tumor cells to platinum anticancer agents poses a major problem in cancer chemotherapy. One of the mechanisms associated with platinum-based drug resistance is the enhanced capacity of the cell to carry out nucleotide excision repair (NER) on platinum-damaged DNA. Endonucleases XPF and XPG are critical components of NER, responsible for excising the damaged DNA strand to remove the DNA lesion. Here, we investigated possible consequences of down-regulation of XPF and XPG gene expression in osteosarcoma cancer cells (U2OS) and the impact on cellular transcription and DNA repair. We further evaluated the sensitivity of such cells toward the platinum anticancer drugs cisplatin and oxaliplatin.National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Grant Number CA034992.)National University of Singapore.German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD

Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche.

Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1-WDR25, MKRN3-MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin-specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signalling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition

Anterograde trafficking of KCa3.1 in polarized epithelia is Rab1- And Rab8-Dependent and recycling endosome-independent

The intermediate conductance, Ca2+-activated K+ channel (KCa3.1) targets to the basolateral (BL) membrane in polarized epithelia where it plays a key role in transepithelial ion transport. However, there are no studies defining the anterograde and retrograde trafficking of KCa3.1 in polarized epithelia. Herein, we utilize Biotin Ligase Acceptor Peptide (BLAP)-tagged KCa3.1 to address these trafficking steps in polarized epithelia, using MDCK, Caco-2 and FRT cells. We demonstrate that KCa3.1 is exclusively targeted to the BL membrane in these cells when grown on filter supports. Following endocytosis, KCa3.1 degradation is prevented by inhibition of lysosomal/proteosomal pathways. Further, the ubiquitylation of KCa3.1 is increased following endocytosis from the BL membrane and PR-619, a deubiquitylase inhibitor, prevents degradation, indicating KCa3.1 is targeted for degradation by ubiquitylation. We demonstrate that KCa3.1 is targeted to the BL membrane in polarized LLC-PK1 cells which lack the m1B subunit of the AP-1 complex, indicating BL targeting of KCa3.1 is independent of μ1B. As Rabs 1, 2, 6 and 8 play roles in ER/Golgi exit and trafficking of proteins to the BL membrane, we evaluated the role of these Rabs in the trafficking of KCa3.1. In the presence of dominant negative Rab1 or Rab8, KCa3.1 cell surface expression was significantly reduced, whereas Rabs 2 and 6 had no effect. We also co-immunoprecipitated KCa3.1 with both Rab1 and Rab8. These results suggest these Rabs are necessary for the anterograde trafficking of KCa3.1. Finally, we determined whether KCa3.1 traffics directly to the BL membrane or through recycling endosomes in MDCK cells. For these studies, we used either recycling endosome ablation or dominant negative RME-1 constructs and determined that KCa3.1 is trafficked directly to the BL membrane rather than via recycling endosomes. These results are the first to describe the anterograde and retrograde trafficking of KCa3.1 in polarized epithelia cells. © 2014 Bertuccio et al

A randomized controlled trial of metformin on left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with coronary artery disease without diabetes:the MET-REMODEL trial

Aim We tested the hypothesis that metformin may regress left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients who have coronary artery disease (CAD), with insulin resistance (IR) and/or pre-diabetes. Methods and results We randomly assigned 68 patients (mean age 65 ± 8 years) without diabetes who have CAD with IR and/or pre-diabetes to receive either metformin XL (2000 mg daily dose) or placebo for 12 months. Primary endpoint was change in left ventricular mass indexed to height1.7 (LVMI), assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. In the modified intention-to-treat analysis (n = 63), metformin treatment significantly reduced LVMI compared with placebo group (absolute mean difference −1.37 (95% confidence interval: −2.63 to −0.12, P = 0.033). Metformin also significantly reduced other secondary study endpoints such as: LVM (P = 0.032), body weight (P = 0.001), subcutaneous adipose tissue (P = 0.024), office systolic blood pressure (BP, P = 0.022) and concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, a biomarker for oxidative stress (P = 0.04). The glycated haemoglobin A1C concentration and fasting IR index did not differ between study groups at the end of the study. Conclusion Metformin treatment significantly reduced LVMI, LVM, office systolic BP, body weight, and oxidative stress. Although LVH is a good surrogate marker of cardiovascular (CV) outcome, conclusive evidence for the cardio-protective role of metformin is required from large CV outcomes trials

Predicting mental imagery based BCI performance from personality, cognitive profile and neurophysiological patterns

Mental-Imagery based Brain-Computer Interfaces (MI-BCIs) allow their users to send commands to a computer using their brain-activity alone (typically measured by ElectroEncephaloGraphy— EEG), which is processed while they perform specific mental tasks. While very promising, MI-BCIs remain barely used outside laboratories because of the difficulty encountered by users to control them. Indeed, although some users obtain good control performances after training, a substantial proportion remains unable to reliably control an MI-BCI. This huge variability in user-performance led the community to look for predictors of MI-BCI control ability. However, these predictors were only explored for motor-imagery based BCIs, and mostly for a single training session per subject. In this study, 18 participants were instructed to learn to control an EEG-based MI-BCI by performing 3 MI-tasks, 2 of which were non-motor tasks, across 6 training sessions, on 6 different days. Relationships between the participants’ BCI control performances and their personality, cognitive profile and neurophysiological markers were explored. While no relevant relationships with neurophysiological markers were found, strong correlations between MI-BCI performances and mental-rotation scores (reflecting spatial abilities) were revealed. Also, a predictive model of MI-BCI performance based on psychometric questionnaire scores was proposed. A leave-one-subject-out cross validation process revealed the stability and reliability of this model: it enabled to predict participants’ performance with a mean error of less than 3 points. This study determined how users’ profiles impact their MI-BCI control ability and thus clears the way for designing novel MI-BCI training protocols, adapted to the profile of each user

Block-Level MU-MISO Interference Exploitation Precoding: Optimal Structure and Explicit Duality

This paper investigates block-level interference exploitation (IE) precoding for multi-user multiple-input single-output (MU-MISO) downlink systems. To overcome the need for symbol-level IE precoding to frequently update the precoding matrix, we propose to jointly optimize all the precoders or transmit signals within a transmission block. The resultant precoders only need to be updated once per block, and while not necessarily constant over all the symbol slots, we refer to the technique as block-level slot-variant IE precoding. Through a careful examination of the optimal structure and the explicit duality inherent in block-level power minimization (PM) and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) balancing (SB) problems, we discover that the joint optimization can be decomposed into subproblems with smaller variable sizes. As a step further, we propose block-level slot-invariant IE precoding by adding a structural constraint on the slot-variant IE precoding to maintain a constant precoder throughout the block. A novel linear precoder for IE is further presented, and we prove that the proposed slot-variant and slot-invariant IE precoding share an identical solution when the number of symbol slots does not exceed the number of users. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed precoders achieve a significant complexity reduction compared against benchmark schemes, without sacrificing performance