A 58-year-old man was hospitalized with dyspnea. His sputum tested positive for acid-fast bacilli, and PCR analysis revealed Mycobacterium tuberculosis. After the initiation of treatment with ...isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide, the patient developed severe thrombocytopenia. The thrombocytopenia persisted even after the discontinuation of all antituberculosis drugs, and hence, the patient was given blood transfusion. Later, it was found that the patient's platelet-associated IgG level was high, and bone marrow aspiration revealed the presence of megakaryocytes with lesser degree of platelet adhesion. Considering that the patient's thrombocytopenia was induced by an immunological mechanism, he was administered prednisolone; this resulted in the resolution of thrombocytopenia. The patient successfully completed the tuberculosis treatment. Clinicians should remember that antituberculosis drugs may induce autoimmune thrombocytopenia, and if they experience such a case, they should report it to share information, including the names of possible offending drugs.
Therapeutic efficacy and the treatment days for cure of imipenem/cilastatin sodium (IPM/CS) in treatmentof pulmonary infections were prospectively determined in comparison with those of β-lactams ...other thancarbapenems mainly ceftazidime (CAZ) or sulbactam/cefoperazone (SBT/CPZ). The overall response rate was 84.9% (62/73) in the IPM/CS group and 74.7% (56/75) in the β-lactam group, the difference not being significant. In the subjects having underlying respiratory diseases, the response rate was91.1% (41/45) and 73.9% (34/46) in the IPM/CS and β-lactam groups, respectively. In patients with infectionssecondary to chronic respiratory disease, the rate was 91.2% (31/34) in the former group and 66.7% (24/36) inthe latter group, respectively. The differences were significant for both stratified analyses.The treatment days for cure judged by the attending physician were 12.9±0.6 days in the IPM/CS group, and 14.5±0.7 days in the β-lactam group. The difference was not, however, significant. In patients with mild tomoderate infections, the treatment days for cure was 12.0±0.6 days (n=64) in the IPM/CS group and 14.3±0.7days (n=70) in the β-lactam group. In patients with underlying respiratory disease, the treatment days for curewere 11.8±0.7 days (n=45) and 14.7±0.9 days (n=46) in the IPM/CS and β-lactam groups, respectively. In patientswith infections secondary to chronic respiratory disease, the days were 11.1±0.7 days (n=34) and14.7±1.1 days (n=36), respectively. Thus, IPM/CS therapy significantly reduced the number of treatment daysuntil cure. There was, however, no significant difference between the two therapy groups in treatment of the patientswith severe infections, those without underlying respiratory disease, or those with pneumonia and/or lungabscess. The treatment days for cure were also assessed by the members of review committee taking into considerationof body temperature, leukocyte count, and C-reactive protein. As the result, it was 6.9±0.5 days in the IPM/CS and 10.3±0.7 days in the β-lactam groups, respectively, and the difference was significant. Time (days) untilcure was also compared between the two groups using survival time analysis, confirming a more rapid responsein the IPM/CS group. Although IPM/CS therapy was associated with a shorter response time as assessed by boththe attending physicians and the review committee, there were considerable differences between the results ofthese judgements. Thus, the duration of treatment with injectable antibiotics requires reevaluation in the future. No significant differences were observed between the groups with respect to parameters indicating side effectsand laboratory abnormalities. There were no severe symptoms or laboratory findings, and symptoms andchanges in laboratory values, if any resolved during the course of therapy or after the withdrawal of treatment. In conclusion, IPM/CS seems to be very useful as first-line therapy for respiratory tract infections and for shortening the duration of treatment.
Singlet fission (SF) is an intriguing process in which a singlet exciton produces two triplet excitons in molecular aggregates. Perylenediimide (PDI) derivatives are promising materials for SF-based ...photovoltaics, and the SF process in PDI aggregates is important to investigate for their applications. In this work, we studied the entire SF process occurring in the colloidal nanoparticles of a PDI derivative in solutions by using time-resolved fluorescence and transient absorption (TA) experiments. PE–PDI was found to form the colloidal nanoparticles of H- and J-aggregates in polar solvents. The TA signals of PE–PDI aggregates in solutions were selectively measured by wavelength-dependent excitation. The TA signals were analyzed by using a global fitting analysis, and all kinetic parameters involved in the entire SF process were determined. Our current investigation has confirmed that fast SF occurs on the surface of the colloidal nanoparticles of PDI aggregates via the charge transfer mediated mechanism, giving a high quantum yield of triplet excitons.
ABSTRACT
Previous literature about the impacts of product newness on consumers’ acceptance of new products pointed out that consumers are more prone to purchase incrementally new products (INPs) than ...really new products (RNPs). This study investigated the moderating role of individual difference in personal need for structure (PNS) on consumers’ evaluation of INP versus RNP. The inverted‐U evaluation pattern of the schema congruity effect was predicted to be left‐skewed for high‐PNS consumers and right‐skewed for low‐PNS consumers as regards their evaluations of INP versus RNP. The results of Study 1 showed that low‐PNS consumers evaluated RNPs higher than INPs. High‐PNS consumers evaluated INPs higher than RNPs consistent with the prediction; however, the result was not significant. Relative to this issue, the moderating role of PNS on consumers’ evaluation of INP versus RNP may have been affected by consumers’ product category knowledge. The results of Study 2 verified the left‐ and right‐skewed inverted‐U hypotheses and showed that the moderating effect of PNS was evident only for novice consumers. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications from the results of the studies are discussed.
Seven new amino acid derivatives (1–4 and 6–8) were isolated from MeOH extracts of the marine ascidian Herdmania momus. Planar structures were established on the basis of NMR, IR, and MS ...spectroscopic analyses. Absolute configurations of these compounds were derived from specific rotation and CD analysis. The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ agonistic activities of the compounds were investigated due to the similarity of the structural motif to that of the antidiabetic drug rosiglitazone. Analogues with indoleglyoxyl moieties (5, 6, and 8) showed significant PPAR-γ activation in Ac2F rat liver cells.
On the basis of a marine fungal phthalide (paecilocin A) skeleton, we synthesized 20 analogs and evaluated them for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) binding and activation. ...Among these analogs, 6 and 7 had significant PPAR-γ binding activity, and 7 showed further PPAR-γ activation in rat liver Ac2F cells. In docking simulation, 7 formed H bonds with key PPAR-γ-binding domain amino acid residues, and the overall positioning was similar to rosiglitazone. This new phthalide derivative is considered an interesting new molecular class of PPAR-γ ligands.
On the basis of a marine fungal phthalide (paecilocin A) skeleton, we synthesized 20 analogs and evaluated them for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) binding and activation. Among these analogs, 6 and 7 had significant PPAR-γ binding activity, and 7 showed further PPAR-γ activation in rat liver Ac2F cells. In docking simulation, 7 formed H bonds with key amino acid residues of the PPAR-γ binding domain, and the overall positioning was similar to rosiglitazone. This new phthalide derivative is considered an interesting new molecular class of PPAR-γ ligands.
In a hierarchically structured market, marketers should make use of the market structure information for developing effective marketing strategies. The authors present a Lanchester-type advertising ...competition model for hierarchically structured and oligopolistic markets that incorporates the market structure information. The model enables us to estimate the degree of competitive effects between brands within each submarket as well as that between submarkets. The model helps marketers allocate marketing resources to brands in a product line competing with competitors' product lines. For an empirical illustration of the model, we used advertising and market share data of the automobile industry in Korea.
Really new products (RNPs) provide novel benefits yet many consumers are reluctant to accept these highly innovative new products. Previous literature has shown that mental simulation is an effective ...method for enhancing the evaluation of RNPs. However, Castano et al. (2008) and Zhao, Hoeffler, and Zauberman (2011) demonstrate conflicting results as to which type of mental simulation (i.e., process versus outcome) is more effective for the enhancement of RNP evaluation. The authors try to reconcile these results by incorporating a moderating variable which is personal need for structure (PNS). PNS is an individual difference variable that taps the differences in people's propensity to cognitively structure and simplify their environment (Neuberg and Newsom 1993). From the analysis of the previous two works, the authors point out that consumers' susceptibility to uncertainty may contribute to the different results, and suggest that this susceptibility is dependent on consumers' PNS. To test the hypotheses established, an experiment was conducted. Waterless washing machine was presented as a RNP and PNS was measured by using the 12-item PNS Scale (Thompson et al. 2001). The results of the study show that for high-PNS consumers, process simulation is more effective than outcome simulation for enhancing the evaluation of a RNP, whereas for low-PNS consumers, outcome simulation is more effective than process simulation. This research contributes to the mental simulation and new product literature by suggesting and verifying that PNS moderates the effects of process versus outcome simulations for enhancing the evaluation of RNPs. This research provides important managerial implications for marketing managers of RNPs, indicating that they should take account of the target consumers' PNS in planning marketing communications. Specifically, when targeting high-PNS consumers, marketing communications that encourage process simulation may be more effective than those that encourage outcome simulation. In contrast, when targeting low-PNS consumers, marketing communications that encourage outcome simulation may be more effective than those that encourage process simulation.
