Consumers’ perceptions of naturalness are important for the acceptance of foods and food technologies. Thus, several studies have examined the significance of naturalness among consumers. ...Nonetheless, the aspects that are considered essential in perceiving a food item as natural may vary across consumers and different stakeholder groups.
This systematic review identified 72 studies conducted in 32 countries involving 85,348 consumers. We aimed to answer the following questions: 1) How has the perceived importance of naturalness for consumers been defined and measured? 2) To what extent is perceived naturalness important to consumers? 3) Are there individual differences regarding the importance given to food naturalness that can be explained by consumers' characteristics? 4) Do consumers’ attitudes toward food naturalness influence their intentions and behavior?
The review clearly shows that for the majority of consumers, food naturalness is crucial. This finding could be observed across countries and in the different years when the studies were conducted. Therefore, neglecting the aspect of naturalness in the food industry may be very costly in the end. Our review also reveals differences across studies in how naturalness has been defined and measured. Based on a content analysis of the measurement scales, the items used to measure the importance of naturalness can be classified into three categories: 1) the way the food has been grown (food origin), 2) how the food has been produced (what technology and ingredients have been used), and 3) the properties of the final product.
•Food naturalness is very important for consumers.•Studies differ in how naturalness has been defined and measured.•Naturalness can be classified in terms of food origin, production, and final product.•Consumers' food intake is significantly influenced by food naturalness importance.
This study investigates the negative influence of consumer's perceptions of online retailer's deceptive practices (perceived deception) on consumer's relational variables (satisfaction and loyalty ...intentions to the online retailer). Also, the moderating role of product type (goods versus services), consumer's attitude toward the Internet, and consumer's demographics in the deception-relational outcomes link is considered. Data from 398 online consumers revealed that satisfaction totally mediated the influence of deception on loyalty. Furthermore, the deception-satisfaction link was moderated by all the hypothesized variables. Interestingly, a direct effect of deception on loyalty was found among more educated consumers, consumers who had a more positive attitude toward the Internet and consumers who had purchased a physical product. Implications for theory and management are discussed.
Personal selling is thought to be a very effective marketing vehicle. The notion of adaptive selling suggests that it should work better than any other means of communication because salespeople are ...able to develop a unique message for each customer. This research proposes a model of key antecedents and consequences of adaptive selling. In particular, we distinguish, measure, and model the attitudinal and behavioral aspects of adaptive selling, something that is encouraged but not thoroughly examined in the literature. Hypotheses are tested using data from 210 salesperson-customer dyads. The results indicate that a salesperson’s perception of the firm’s customer orientation has an effect on adaptive selling behavior through the salesperson’s adaptive selling confidence, role ambiguity, intrinsic motivation and customer-qualification skills. Adaptive selling behavior increases salesperson’s outcome performance, customers’ evaluations of satisfaction with the product and with the salesperson, which enhance customers’ anticipation of future interactions with the salesperson. The implications for management and theory are discussed.
While e-commerce has witnessed extensive growth in recent years, so has consumers' concerns regarding ethical issues surrounding online shopping. The vast majority of earlier research on this area is ...conceptual in nature, and limited in scope by focusing on consumers' privacy issues. This study develops a reliable and valid scale to measure consumers' perceptions regarding the ethics of online retailers (CPEOR). Findings indicate that the four factors of the scale - security, privacy, non-deception and fulfillment/reliability - are strongly predictive of online consumers' satisfaction and trust. The results offer important implications for e-retailers and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of e-ethics from the consumers' perspective.
Wnt/β‐catenin signaling has recently been suggested to be involved in bone biology. The precise role of this cascade in osteoblast differentiation was examined. We show that a Wnt autocrine loop ...mediates the induction of alkaline phosphatase and mineralization by BMP‐2 in pre‐osteoblastic cells.
Introduction: Loss of function of LRP5 leads to osteoporosis (OPPG syndrome), and a specific point mutation in this same receptor results in high bone mass (HBM). Because LRP5 acts as a coreceptor for Wnt proteins, these findings suggest a crucial role for Wnt signaling in bone biology.
Materials and Methods: We have investigated the involvement of the Wnt/LRP5 cascade in osteoblast function by using the pluripotent mesenchymal cell lines C3H10T1/2, C2C12, and ST2 and the osteoblast cell line MC3T3‐E1. Transfection experiments were carried out with a number of elements of the Wnt/LRP5 pathway. Measuring osteoblast and adipocyte differentiation markers addressed the effect of this cascade on osteoblast differentiation.
Results: In mesenchymal cells, only Wnt's capable of stabilizing β‐catenin induced the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Wnt3a‐mediated ALP induction was inhibited by overexpression of either Xdd1, dickkopf 1 (dkk1), or LRP5ΔC, indicating that canonical β‐catenin signaling is responsible for this activity. The use of Noggin, a bone morphogenic protein (BMP) inhibitor, or cyclopamine, a Hedgehog inhibitor, revealed that the induction of ALP by Wnt is independent of these morphogenetic proteins and does not require de novo protein synthesis. In contrast, blocking Wnt/LRP5 signaling or protein synthesis inhibited the ability of both BMP‐2 and Shh to induce ALP in mesenchymal cells. Moreover, BMP‐2 enhanced Wnt1 and Wnt3a expression in our cells. In MC3T3‐E1 cells, where endogenous ALP levels are maximal, antagonizing the Wnt/LRP5 pathway led to a decrease of ALP activity. In addition, overexpression of dkk1 reduced extracellular matrix mineralization in a BMP‐2‐dependent assay.
Conclusions: Our data strongly suggest that the capacity of BMP‐2 and Shh to induce ALP relies on Wnt expression and the Wnt/LRP5 signaling cascade. Moreover the effects of BMP‐2 on extracellular matrix mineralization by osteoblasts are mediated, at least in part, by the induction of a Wnt autocrine/paracrine loop. These results may help to explain the phenotype of OPPG patients and HBM.
Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the development and characterization of patient-derived tumor xenograft (PDX) models for cancer research. PDX models mostly retain the principal ...histologic and genetic characteristics of their donor tumor and remain stable across passages. These models have been shown to be predictive of clinical outcomes and are being used for preclinical drug evaluation, biomarker identification, biologic studies, and personalized medicine strategies. This article summarizes the current state of the art in this field, including methodologic issues, available collections, practical applications, challenges and shortcomings, and future directions, and introduces a European consortium of PDX models.
PDX models are increasingly used in translational cancer research. These models are useful for drug screening, biomarker development, and the preclinical evaluation of personalized medicine strategies. This review provides a timely overview of the key characteristics of PDX models and a detailed discussion of future directions in the field.
This research examined several antecedents (consumers’ brand identification and skepticism) and consequences (brand reputation, purchase intentions and trust of the review site) of perceived ...credibility of exaggerated positive online consumer reviews. Results from a sample of 1,201 consumers showed that these reviews can be perceived as authentic (for consumers with strong connections with the brand) but many consumers will be more skeptical. Consumers’ perceptions of the reviews’ credibility affected their thoughts about the brand’s reputation, their purchase intentions, and their perceptions about whether the review site itself is trustworthy. This research also evidenced that these relationships are especially challenging to navigate for search versus experience products. Finally, mediation paths demonstrated the processes of how consumer characteristics and their beliefs about the credibility of the online reviews affect the brand reputation, purchase intentions, and trust toward the review site. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Hotspot mutations in the spliceosome gene SF3B1 are reported in ∼20% of uveal melanomas. SF3B1 is involved in 3'-splice site (3'ss) recognition during RNA splicing; however, the molecular mechanisms ...of its mutation have remained unclear. Here we show, using RNA-Seq analyses of uveal melanoma, that the SF3B1(R625/K666) mutation results in deregulated splicing at a subset of junctions, mostly by the use of alternative 3'ss. Modelling the differential junctions in SF3B1(WT) and SF3B1(R625/K666) cell lines demonstrates that the deregulated splice pattern strictly depends on SF3B1 status and on the 3'ss-sequence context. SF3B1(WT) knockdown or overexpression do not reproduce the SF3B1(R625/K666) splice pattern, qualifying SF3B1(R625/K666) as change-of-function mutants. Mutagenesis of predicted branchpoints reveals that the SF3B1(R625/K666)-promoted splice pattern is a direct result of alternative branchpoint usage. Altogether, this study provides a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying splicing alterations induced by mutant SF3B1 in cancer, and reveals a role for alternative branchpoints in disease.
Anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) is a rare tumour, but its incidence is increasing. Standard chemoradiotherapy fails to cure 20% of patients and no targeted therapy is currently approved for ...recurrent ASCC. The PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway is frequently altered in this poorly characterised carcinoma. IGF2 was identified here as a key factor in ASCC oncogenesis, as IGF2 was shown to play a crucial role in the PI3K pathway with frequent (~60%) and mutually exclusive genomic alterations in IGF2, IGF1R, PTEN and PIK3CA genes. We also demonstrated that IGF2 expression is mainly due to cancer‐associated fibroblasts and that IGF2 secreted by cancer‐associated fibroblasts from ASCC samples promotes proliferation of a human ASCC cell line via IGF2 paracrine signalling. Altogether, these results highlight the key role of the IGF2/PI3K axis, and the major role of cancer‐associated fibroblasts in tumour growth via IGF2 secretion, suggesting a major role of IGF2/IGF1R inhibitors in ASCC therapies.
What's new?
Anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) is a rare tumour, but its incidence is rising. The etiological role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and the importance of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway are now well established. Nonetheless, ASCC remains a poorly characterised carcinoma. Here, the authors show a key role of IGF2 and cancer‐associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in ASCC, pointing to the potential use of IGF2/IGF1R inhibitors to improve treatment of this cancer. Thus, abnormalities in the IGF2/PI3K pathway displayed by ASCC are both frequent and mutually exclusive; and IGF2 secreted by CAFs promotes direct tumour growth.
Wnt/β‐catenin signaling has been proven to play a central role in bone biology. Unexpectedly, the Wnt antagonist Dkk2 is required for terminal osteoblast differentiation and mineralized matrix ...formation. We show that Dkk1, unlike Dkk2, negatively regulates osteoblast differentiation and bone formation.
Introduction: The Wnt co‐receptor LRP5 is a critical regulator of bone mass. Dickkopf (Dkk) proteins act as natural Wnt antagonists by bridging LRP5/6 and Kremen, inducing the internalization of the complex. Wnt antagonists are thus expected to negatively regulation bone formation. However, Dkk2 deficiency results in increased bone, questioning the precise role of Dkks in bone metabolism.
Materials and Methods: In this study, we investigated specifically the role of Dkk1 in bone in vitro and in vivo. Using rat primary calvaria cells, we studied the effect of retroviral expression of Dkk1 on osteoblast differentiation. In addition, the effect of Dkk1 osteoblast was studied in MC3T3‐E1 cells by means of recombinant protein. Finally, to address the role of Dkk1 in vivo, we analyzed the bone phenotype of Dkk1+/− animals.
Results: Retroviral expression of Dkk1 in rat primary calvaria cells resulted in a complete inhibition of osteoblast differentiation and formation of mineralized nodules, with a marked decrease in the expression of alkaline phosphatase. Dkk1 expression also increased adipocyte differentiation in these cell cultures. Recombinant murine Dkk1 (rmDkk1) inhibited spontaneous and induced osteoblast differentiation of MC3T3‐E1 cells. To determine the role of Dkk1 in vivo and overcome the embryonic lethality of homozygous deletion, we studied the bone phenotype in heterozygous Dkk1‐deficient mice. Structural, dynamic, and cellular analysis of bone remodeling in Dkk1+/− mice showed an increase in all bone formation parameters, with no change in bone resorption, leading to a marked increase in bone mass. Importantly, the number of osteoblasts, mineral apposition, and bone formation rate were all increased several fold.
Conclusions: We conclude that Dkk1 protein is a potent negative regulator of osteoblasts in vitro and in vivo. Given that a heterozygous decrease in Dkk1 expression is sufficient to induce a significant increase in bone mass, antagonizing Dkk1 should result in a potent anabolic effect.
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