Background: Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) can replenish the aged cells of the musculoskeletal system in adult life. Stem cell exhaustion and decrease in their regenerative potential have been suggested to be hallmarks of aging. Here, we investigated whether muscle-and bone-derived MSCs of patients with osteoarthritis and osteoporosis are affected by this exhaustion, compared to healthy donors. Methods: Patients with primary osteoarthritis, femoral neck fractures due to osteoporosis, and healthy donors (controls) were included. MSCs were isolated from the skeletal muscle and subchondral bone from each patient and compared using ex vivo and in vitro analyses, including immunophenotyping, colony-forming unit fibroblast assays, growth kinetics, cell senescence, multilineage potential, and MSC marker gene expression profiling. Results: Freshly isolated cells from muscle from patients with osteoarthritis showed a lower proportion of CD45/ CD19/CD14/CD34-negative cells compared to patients with osteoporosis and healthy donors. Freshly isolated muscle cells from patients with osteoarthritis and osteoporosis also showed higher clonogenicity compared to healthy donors. MSCs from both tissues of osteoarthritis patients showed significantly reduced osteogenesis and MSCs from the bone also reduced adipogenesis. Chondrogenic pellet diameter was reduced in bone-derived MSCs from both patient groups compared to healthy donors. A significant positive correlation was observed between adipogenesis and CD271 expression in muscle-derived MSCs. CD73 was significantly lower in bone-derived MSCs from osteoarthritis patients, compared to osteoporosis patients. Gene expression profiling showed significantly lower expression of MSC marker gene leptin receptor, LEPR, previously identified as the major source of the bone and adipocytes in the adult bone marrow, in bone-derived MSCs from patients with osteoarthritis in comparison with osteoporotic patients and healthy donors.
Measuring the performance of information security is an essential part of the information security management system within organisations. Studies in the past mainly focused on establishing qualitative measurement approaches. Since these can lead to ambiguous conclusions, quantitative metrics are being increasingly proposed as a useful alternative. Nevertheless, the literature on quantitative approaches remains scarce. Thus, studies on the evaluation of information security performance are challenging, especially since many approaches are not tested in organisational settings. The paper aims to validate the model used for evaluating the performance of information security management system through a multidimensional socio-technical approach, in a real-world settings among medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia. The results indicate that information security is strategically defined and compliant, however, measures are primarily implemented at technical and operational levels, while its strategic management remains underdeveloped. We found that the biggest issues are related to information resources and risk management, where information security measurement-related activities proved to be particularly problematic. Even though enterprises do possess certain information security capabilities and are aware of the importance of information security, their current practices make it difficult for them to keep up with the fast-paced technological and security trends.
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