Objective
To describe a protocol for transperineal sector biopsies (TPSB) of the prostate and present the clinical experience of this technique in a UK population.
Patients and Methods
A ...retrospective review of a single‐centre experience of TPSB approach was undertaken that preferentially, but not exclusively, targeted the peripheral zone of the prostate with 24–38 cores using a ‘sector plan’. Procedures were carried out under general anaesthetic in most patients.
Between January 2007 and August 2011, 634 consecutive patients underwent TPSB for the following indications: prior negative transrectal biopsy (TRB; 174 men); primary biopsy in men at risk of sepsis (153); further evaluation after low‐risk disease diagnosed based on a 12‐core TRB (307).
Results
Prostate cancer was found in 36% of men after a negative TRB; 17% of these had disease solely in anterior sectors. As a primary diagnostic strategy, prostate cancer was diagnosed in 54% of men (median PSA level was 7.4 ng/mL).
Of men with Gleason 3+3 disease on TRB, 29% were upgraded and went on to have radical treatment.
Postoperative urinary retention occurred in 11 (1.7%) men, two secondary to clots. Per‐urethral bleeding requiring hospital stay occurred in two men. There were no cases of urosepsis.
Conclusions
TPSB of the prostate has a role in defining disease previously missed or under‐diagnosed by TRB. The procedure has low morbidity.
Early life exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) in air is associated with infant respiratory disease and childhood asthma, but limited epidemiological data exist concerning the impacts of ...ultrafine particles (UFPs) on the etiology of childhood respiratory disease. Specifically, the role of UFPs in amplifying Th2- and/or Th17-driven inflammation (asthma promotion) or suppressing effector T cells (increased susceptibility to respiratory infection) remains unclear. Using a mouse model of in utero UFP exposure, we determined early immunological responses to house dust mite (HDM) allergen in offspring challenged from 0 to 4 wk of age. Two mice strains were exposed throughout gestation: C57BL/6 (sensitive to oxidative stress) and BALB/C (sensitive to allergen exposure). Offspring exposed to UFPs in utero exhibited reduced inflammatory response to HDM. Compared with filtered air (FA)-exposed/HDM-challenged mice, UFP-exposed offspring had lower white blood cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and less pronounced peribronchiolar inflammation in both strains, albeit more apparent in C57BL/6 mice. In the C57BL/6 strain, offspring exposed in utero to FA and challenged with HDM exhibited a robust response in inflammatory cytokines IL-13 and Il-17. In contrast, this response was lost in offspring exposed in utero to UFPs. Circulating IL-10 was significantly up-regulated in C57BL/6 offspring exposed to UFPs, suggesting increased regulatory T cell expression and suppressed Th2/Th17 response. Our results reveal that in utero UFP exposure at a level close to the WHO recommended PM guideline suppresses an early immune response to HDM allergen, likely predisposing neonates to respiratory infection and altering long-term pulmonary health.
This study attempts to identify the salient factors affecting tourist food consumption. By reviewing available studies in the hospitality and tourism literature and synthesising insights from food ...consumption and sociological research, five socio-cultural and psychological factors influencing tourist food consumption are identified: cultural/religious influences, socio-demographic factors, food-related personality traits, exposure effect/past experience, and motivational factors. The findings further suggest that the motivational factors can be categorised into five main dimensions: symbolic, obligatory, contrast, extension, and pleasure. Given the lack of research in examining tourist food consumption systematically, the multidisciplinary approach adopted in this study allows a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon which forms the basis for further research and conceptual elaboration.
Gastronomic image (GI) has increasingly been recognized as a valuable and inimitable source of competitive advantage by many destinations. However, little is known as to what attributes constitute ...GI, especially from tourists’ perspective. This study attempts to explore the salient attributes and dimensions of GI through the repertory grid method and generalized Procrustes analysis. Based on 50 repertory grid interviews with international tourists visiting Taiwan, a total of 46 GI attributes were identified. These attributes were classified into seven categories, namely, attractiveness, flavor profile, familiarity, cooking method and ingredients, distinctiveness, convenience and price, and health and safety. The findings provide useful insights for practice and serve as the basis for future research in the field of GI.
•This study explores the salient attributes and dimensions of gastronomic image through the repertory grid method.•Seven gastronomic image dimensions were identified.•International tourists considered Taiwanese foods as distinctive, familiar, attractive, and unique.•Gastronomic image may be perceived based on the “common-unique” dimension.
Foodstagramming, the capturing and sharing of food, has become an indispensable part of our digital culture. This study explores the motivations underlying foodstagramming through a photo elicitation ...approach. A total of 32 participants were interviewed and 690 photos were collected. Fifteen motivations for foodstagramming were identified. The motivations were conceptually distinguished into three main spheres: self-sphere (intrinsically-oriented), social-sphere (extrinsically-oriented), and restaurant-sphere (stimulus/context-oriented), and further categorized under three key dimensions: affective motives, expressive motives, and functional motives. The findings reveal the heterogeneity in the motivations underlying foodstagramming and provide empirical evidence for new dimensions in understanding this important social phenomenon.
•This study explores the motivations underlying foodstagramming through a photo elicitation approach.•The motivations were distinguished into three conceptually different spheres: self-sphere, social-sphere, and restaurant-sphere.•The motivations were further categorized into three psychological dimensions: affective, expressive, and functional motives.•The findings uncovered heterogeneity in the behavioral aspects of foodstagramming.
The rapidly growing volume of data being produced by next-generation sequencing initiatives is enabling more in-depth analyses of conservation than previously possible. Deep sequencing is uncovering ...disease loci and regions under selective constraint, despite the fact that intuitive biophysical reasons for such constraint are sometimes absent. Allostery may often provide the missing explanatory link. We use models of protein conformational change to identify allosteric residues by finding essential surface pockets and information-flow bottlenecks, and we develop a software tool that enables users to perform this analysis on their own proteins of interest. Though fundamentally 3D-structural in nature, our analysis is computationally fast, thereby allowing us to run it across the PDB and to evaluate general properties of predicted allosteric residues. We find that these tend to be conserved over diverse evolutionary time scales. Finally, we highlight examples of allosteric residues that help explain poorly understood disease-associated variants.
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•Allostery often provides a biophysical rationale for signatures of conservation•Models of protein conformational change are used to predict key allosteric residues•These predicted allosteric residues are conserved across species and amongst humans•A web tool makes this analysis publicly available to the scientific community
Allostery provides a rationale for many of the conservation patterns that are coming to light through next-generation sequencing initiatives. Clarke, Sethi et al. develop a framework to predict allosteric residues in an algorithmically rapid fashion, and deploy this framework as a web server.
Food preferences of Chinese tourists Chang, Richard C.Y.; Kivela, Jakša; Mak, Athena H.N.
Annals of tourism research,
10/2010, Letnik:
37, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Given the scarcity of research on tourist food preference, this study is a first attempt to generate in-depth understanding of Chinese tourists’ food preferences in a culturally different environment ...by employing on-site participant observations and focus group interviews. It provides a detailed analysis of the motivational factors underlying the Chinese participants’ food preferences when holidaying in Australia, and also proposes a typology that describes and contrasts the participants’ tourism dining attitudes, motivations and behaviors. Furthermore, this study elucidates the influence of Chinese food culture on the participants’ tourism dining behaviors and explores the disparities in dining behavioral patterns between the participants in terms of their dining motivations and the way they related tourism dining experiences to their daily experiences.
Purpose
Restaurants’ outdoor signage plays an irreplaceable role in attracting potential diners, as it conveys important functional and symbolic meanings of the businesses. The purpose of this study ...is to investigate the effect of typographic design elements of outdoor signage on consumers’ perceptions of authenticity. This study also tests the linkage between authenticity and willingness to dine, as well as the moderating effect of frequency of dining in ethnic restaurants on the relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a 2 (simplified vs traditional Chinese characters) × 2 (calligraphy vs computer font) × 2 (vertical vs horizontal text flow) between-subject design, the authors did two experiments with 786 Chinese diners. Restaurant authenticity and willingness to dine are dependent variables, and openness to ethnic cuisine is the control variable.
Findings
Display characters and text flow significantly affect restaurant authenticity. Furthermore, the results of this study demonstrate that display characters interact with typeface to influence restaurant authenticity. Consumers’ perceived authenticity significantly increases their willingness to dine. The frequency of dining in ethnic restaurants moderates the relationship between restaurant authenticity and willingness to dine.
Practical implications
Ethnic restaurateurs should pay attention to the outdoor signage design, as it affects potential consumers’ authenticity perceptions. Specifically, in Mainland China, traditional Chinese characters and vertical text direction increase potential consumers’ authenticity perceptions.
Originality/value
This study extends the semiotic theory and applies the cue–judgment–behavior model in the hospitality literature. This study also provides new understanding of authenticity by identifying the influence of typographic design on authenticity, which confirms the semiotic theory that certain semiotic cues affect consumers’ judgments.
Many destination marketers have utilized gastronomy as a source of new products and activities to attract tourists. Despite the substantial rise in the Chinese outbound market, very little is known ...about how Chinese tourists evaluate their travel dining experiences. By using narrative analysis, this study examines attributes that may affect Chinese tourists' evaluation of their travel dining experiences. On-site participant observation and focus group interviews were conducted, respectively, with Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong group tourists, while they were on holiday in Australia. A total of 15 attributes were identified, which were classified under the following six categories: tourists' own food culture, the contextual factor of the dining experience, variety and diversity of food, perception of the destination, service encounter, and tour guide's performance. The respective implications of the attributes on travel dining experience are also discussed.
This study explores the motivational dimensions underlying food consumption in tourism, and to examine the effects of two food-related personality traits, namely food neophobia and variety-seeking, ...on these motivational dimensions. A tourist food consumption motivational scale was developed and seven motivational dimensions were identified: novelty and variety, authentic experience and prestige, interpersonal and culture, price/value and assurance, health concern, familiarity and eating habit, and sensory and contextual pleasure. Both food neophobia and variety-seeking were found to have significant effects on various motivational dimensions. The implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.
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