PIEZO1 activation may serve as an early tissue biomarker for the prediction of irradiation-induced salivary gland dysfunction.

Irradiation (IR)-induced xerostomia is the most common side effect of radiation therapy in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Xerostomia diagnosis is mainly based on the patient's medical history and symptoms. Currently, no direct biomarkers are available for the early prediction of IR-induced xerostomia. Here, we identified PIEZO1 as a novel predictive tissue biomarker for xerostomia. Our data demonstrate that PIEZO1 is significantly upregulated at the gene and protein levels during IR-induced salivary gland (SG) hypofunction. Notably, PIEZO1 upregulation coincided with that of inflammatory (F4/80) and fibrotic markers (fibronectin and collagen fibers accumulation). These findings suggest that PIEZO1 upregulation in SG tissue may serve as a novel predictive marker for IR-induced xerostomia.

P2P lending platforms in Malaysia: What do we know?

Background - With the recent evolution of Financial Technology (FinTech), 11 peers to peer (P2P) lending platforms have been regulated by the Securities Commission in Malaysia since 2016. P2P lending platforms offer new investment opportunities to individual investors to earn higher rates on return than what traditional lenders usually provide. However, individual investors may face higher potential risks of default from their borrowers. Therefore, individual investors need to understand the potential exposure to such P2P lending platforms to make an effective investment decision. This study aims to explore the potential risk exposures that individual investors may experience at Malaysia's licensed P2P lending platforms.   Methods - Based on data collected manually from nine P2P lending platforms over five months, relationships between interest rates and various risk classifying factors such as credit rating, industry, business stage, loan purpose, and loan duration are examined.    Results- This study shows that loans with a similar credit rating and with or without similar loan purpose; and a business stage may offer investors significantly different interest rates. In addition, loans with shorter durations may provide investors with higher interest rates than those with longer durations. Finally, loans issued by companies from the same industry appeared to be charged with similar interest. These findings are valuable to investors to prepare themselves before making their investments at the P2P lending platforms.   Conclusion- With first hand-collected data, this study provides an original insight into Malaysia's current P2P lending platforms. Findings obtained for relationships between interest rates and risk classifying factors such as credit rating, industry, business stage, loan purpose and loan duration are valuable to investors of Malaysian P2P lending platforms.

P2P Lending platforms in Malaysia: the awareness among Malaysian adults.

Background: Since 2016, the Securities Commission (SC) in Malaysia has given licenses to only eleven P2P lending platforms. Such lending platforms are expected to disrupt the lending services of traditional lenders in the coming years. However, being still in their infant stages, it is essential to know the extent to which such platforms are made known to potential investors out there. This study aims to examine the awareness level of the eleven P2P lending platforms among Malaysian adults. The study also explores if past investment experience and financial knowledge would influence such awareness from Malaysian adults. Methods: A sample of 335 Malaysian individuals was used for this study. An online questionnaire was designed with three main parts: demographic, financial literacy, and P2P lending awareness. Using IBM SPSS Statistics 26, frequency, descriptive, normality, Pearson coefficients and multiple regression analyses were carried out.  Results: Although seven out of ten respondents have good knowledge in three areas of finance: compounding rate, inflation and diversification, only 14.33% had a good and excellent awareness level of P2P lending. Thus, one would expect lesser awareness about P2P lending among Malaysian adults whose financial literacy is poor or zero. Test results from multiple regression analysis suggest that past lending experiences positively affect the awareness of P2P lending in Malaysia, but not the financial literacy. Conclusions: The awareness about P2P lending among Malaysian adults is too low, despite their high level of education and financial literacy. No investing experience and not knowing any existing P2P lending in the country may be the reason for this low awareness. Therefore, for P2P lending to thrive in Malaysia, the eleven P2P lending platforms need to be promoted aggressively in various social media outlets.

Isolation of New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1-producing Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 strain carrying ctxA, st and hly genes in southern Vietnam.

Vibrio cholerae non-O1, non-O139 (VC_NAG) organisms are universally present in the aquatic environment and regarded as non-pathogenic bacteria. However, considering that they do occasionally induce gastroenteritis, a study of their virulence and antibiotic resistance genes is important. The presence of enteropathogenic genes, including ctxA, VC_NAG-specific heat-stable toxin gene (st), hemolysin (hly), and zona occludens toxin (zot) was determined by PCR in 100 VC_NAG strains isolated in southern Vietnam in 2010-2013 from 94 environmental and six human origins. These 100 VC_NAG strains were also tested phenotypically and genotypically for the presence of the New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase (NDM-1). Of the 100 VC_NAG strains tested, six were positive for ctxA; five from the environment and one of human origin. The st gene was detected in 17 isolates, 15 and two of which were of environmental and human origins, respectively. Gene hly was detected in 19 VC_NAG strains examined, two of which were isolated from humans and 17 from environments. The zot gene was not detected in any of the strains tested. Three VC_NAG strains of environmental origin were confirmed to produce NDM-1 and the blaNDM-1 gene was detected in those strains by PCR. Of note, one of the three NDM-1-producing VC_NAG strains was confirmed to carry ctxA, st and hly genes concurrently. This is the first report of isolation of NDM-1-producing VC_NAG strains in Vietnam.