This research employed a behavioral model to confirm and elucidate the critical influence of place attachment, destination involvement, and ambivalent emotion on responsible tourism behaviors. A ...total of 415 questionnaires were collected from tourists visiting Penghu Island in Taiwan. Following data analysis using structural equation modeling, the results suggested that place attachment, destination involvement, and ambivalent emotion critically impact responsible tourism behaviors, and that place attachment is negatively related to ambivalent emotion. In addition, ambivalent emotion was found to mediate the relationship between place attachment and responsible tourism behaviors. Finally, implications for the promotion of sustainable tourism development were thoughtfully provided based on these findings.
•Examining media exposure and attention predict COVID-19 preventive behaviors.•Media, risk communication, and crisis management theories were integrated.•COVID-19 fears and risks are affected more by ...media attention than by exposure.•Exposure and attention cause the joint affective and cognitive organism.•Restaurant operations would benefit from appropriate media strategies.
This study explores how the preventive behaviors of restaurant customers towards COVID-19 are shaped by exposure and attention to media coverage, thereby connecting the issues of community anxieties and business resilience during crises. Ways in which media exposure and attention predict COVID-19 preventive behaviors were examined, as these relate to emotional fear responses and cognitive risk perceptions. An online survey was administered in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic to test the proposed research framework. A total of 366 responses were collected using convenience sampling, and structural equation modeling was deployed to examine the hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that consumer fears and risk perceptions were positively influenced by media coverage of COVID-19. Moreover, fear positively affected individual risk perceptions, and risk perception positively influenced restaurant preventive behaviors. Risk perception was also identified as a mediator between a) media exposure and restaurant preventive behaviors and b) media attention and restaurant preventive behaviors.
Within the context of the airline industry, this study offers an integrated approach measuring the effects of internal brand communication, brand-centered training, transformational leadership, brand ...ideology, and internal brand communities on job satisfaction and work outcomes. It further explores the role of job satisfaction as a mediator between internal branding and work outcomes. Following an analysis of 485 responses, we find that leadership, ideology, and communities positively influence job satisfaction, which in turn affects intention-to-stay, team performance, and brand commitment. Job satisfaction is also found to mediate the relationships between internal branding (i.e., transformational leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities) and work outcomes. These findings highlight that appropriate branding strategies can enhance airline development through employee satisfaction.
•Fiver components of internal branding and three work outcomes were investigated.•Leadership, brand ideology, and internal brand communities influence job satisfaction.•Job satisfaction impacts intention-to-stay, team performance, and brand commitment.•Airline branding strategies enhance work outcomes through satisfied employees.
Growing evidence indicates that metal exposure is associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS); however, mixed results have been reported. The aim of this study was to clarify associations of exposure ...to essential and non-essential metals with body composition and risks of obesity and MetS. Anthropometry and blood biochemistry of metabolic parameters were obtained from 150 middle-aged Taiwanese adults. Plasma metals were assessed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and body compositions were measured by a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). The essential metals of copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and chromium (Cr) were positively correlated with the body fat mass but inversely correlated with the skeletal muscle mass (all
p
< 0.05). An adjusted logistic regression showed that Mn odds ratio (OR) = 1.624 (95% confidence interval 1.072, 2.462),
p
= 0.02 and, to a lesser extent, Cu OR = 1.501 (0.985, 2.292),
p
= 0.059 predicted abdominal obesity, while plasma Cu OR = 2.211 (1.146, 4.266),
p
= 0.02 and zinc (Zn) OR = 2.228 (1.048, 4.736)
p
= 0.04 predicted MetS. Significant correlations between dyslipidemia and lithium OR = 1.716 (1.080, 2.726), Cu OR = 2.210 (1.415, 3.454), Mn OR = 2.200 (1.320, 3.666), molybdenum OR = 1.853 (1.160, 2.958), and Zn OR = 1.993 (1.186, 3.349), and between boron OR = 2.583 (1.137, 5.868) and hyperglycemia were observed (all
p
< 0.05). Exposure to essential metals may affect the body composition and metabolic profiles, exacerbating the risk of MetS.
Tourism represents a principal sector of the economy of Taiwan. Consequently, the government is currently focusing on developing the country as a major tourist destination in Asia. Thus, the primary ...aims of this research were to explore factors related to tourists' motivations to visit Taiwan as well as the demographic segmentation of these foreign tourists. Using a convenience sample, 249 surveys were collected and analyzed. The results show that five push (enlightenment and reputation; unusual and affection; freedom; interpersonal communication and sharing; and family and friends relationship) and six pull factors (attitude and quality of service; cost, shopping, and tasting; diverse attraction; culture connections; sport facilities, wildlife and events; and accessibility) play important roles in the motivations of foreign tourists. Furthermore, foreign tourists can be clustered into five groups based on motivation (scenery/knowledge seekers, accessibility/expenditure seekers, relaxation/relation seekers, novelty/experience seekers, sport/service seekers) and five demographic groups (gender, age, marital status, nationality, and income). According to these results, suggestions are made as to how Taiwan could effectively develop tourism policies and marketing strategies to attract international tourists.
•Consumer Decision Model and the Regulatory Focus Theroy are the theoretical bases.•To examine consumer behavior in the social media context, taking restaurant search for example.•Fit between ...tangibilization cue messages and consumer regulatory focus increases purchase intentions.•Affective trust information performs better to facilitate consumer purchase behavior.
This study uses the consumer decision model to establish a research framework to identify consumer purchase behaviors in the social media context. To this end, taking restaurant search as the study case, Experiment 1 aims to explore the effects of operation-based tangibilization cues (OBTCs) and marketing-based tangibilization cues (MBTCs) from mobile communities and their fit with consumers’ regulatory focus on purchase behavior. The results indicate that when the tangibilization cue messages fit with people’s regulatory focus, such messages enhance purchase intentions. Experiment 2 further investigates the moderating effect of different types of perceived trust (cognitive and affective trust) on the link between promotion/prevention regulatory fit and purchase intention. The results suggest that affective trust information is more effective than cognitive trust information in facilitating consumer purchase behavior under both the promotion and prevention regulatory fit conditions. Based on these findings, theoretical and managerial implications are provided.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of an iron deficiency; however, a synergistic relationship between iron and lipid homeostasis was also observed. The aim of this study was to investigate ...the effects of pharmacological doses of iron supplementation on omega 3 (n-3) and omega 6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed a normal diet or a 50% high-fat diet (HFD) without or with pharmacological doses of ferric citrate (0.25, 1, or 2 g ferric iron per kg diet) for 12 weeks, and erythrocyte profiles of n-3 and n-6 PUFAs were quantitated. Ferric citrate supplementation showed dose-related effects on liver inflammation, liver iron accumulation, and increasing circulating levels of iron, erythrocyte degradation biomarkers LVV-hemorphin-7, malondialdehyde (MDA), and insulin. Obese rats supplemented with 2 g ferric iron per kg diet also had decreased levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and total n-3 PUFAs compared to rats fed a normal diet or HFD alone. A western blotting analysis revealed that iron-mediated downregulation of n-3 PUFA-converting enzymes (Δ5 and Δ6 desaturases) only occurred at high dosages (≥1 g ferric iron per kg diet). A Spearman correlation analysis showed that total liver iron and serum LVV-hemorphin-7 and MDA were negatively correlated with n-3 PUFAs and their converting enzymes (Δ5 and Δ6 desaturases) (all
< 0.05). In conclusion, obese rats that received high-dose ferric citrate supplementation (>1 g of ferric iron per kg diet) exhibited decreased n-3 PUFA levels
downregulation of expressions of Δ5 and Δ6 desaturase enzymes.
Mutations in the PB1 subunit of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of influenza A virus can affect replication fidelity. Before the influenza A/H1N1 pandemic in 2009, most human influenza A/H1N1 ...viruses contained the avian-associated residue, serine, at position 216 in PB1. However, near the onset of the 2009 pandemic, human viruses began to acquire the mammalian-associated residue, glycine, at PB1-216, and PB1-216G became predominant in human viruses thereafter.
Using entropy-based analysis algorithm, we have previously identified several host-specific amino-acid signatures that separated avian and swine viruses from human influenza viruses. The presence of these host-specific signatures in human influenza A/H1N1 viruses suggested that these mutations were the result of adaptive genetic evolution that enabled these influenza viruses to circumvent host barriers, which resulted in cross-species transmission. We investigated the biological impact of this natural avian-to-mammalian signature substitution at PB1-216 in human influenza A/H1N1 viruses.
We found that PB1-216G viruses had greater mutation potential, and were more sensitive to ribavirin than PB1-216S viruses. In oseltamivir-treated HEK293 cells, PB1-216G viruses generated mutations in viral neuraminidase at a higher rate than PB1-216S viruses. By contrast, PB1-216S viruses were more virulent in mice than PB1-216G viruses. These results suggest that the PB1-S216G substitution enhances viral epidemiological fitness by increasing the frequency of adaptive mutations in human influenza A/H1N1 viruses.
Our results thus suggest that the increased adaptability and epidemiological fitness of naturally arising human PB1-216G viruses, which have a canonical low-fidelity replicase, were the biological mechanisms underlying the replacement of PB1-216S viruses with a high-fidelity replicase following the emergence of pdmH1N1. We think that continued surveillance of such naturally occurring PB1-216 variants among others is warranted to assess the potential impact of changes in RdRp fidelity on the adaptability and epidemiological fitness of human A/H1N1 influenza viruses.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of robot-assisted simple prostatectomy (RASP) after prostatic arterial embolization (PAE) in large benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
This retrospective ...study included 11 cases of PAE and subsequent RASP, performed on 11 patients with BPH from March 2018 to September 2020. Clinical information on the patients was collected before surgery and 3 months after surgery. For the quantification of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), International Prostate Symptom Scores (IPSSs), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, urinary peak flow rate (Qmax), voided volume (Vvol), and postvoid residual volume (PVR) were measured.
PAE and the subsequent RASP were successfully performed in all 11 patients. The mean total prostate volume was 129.7 ± 65.1 mL, and the transitional zone volume was 71.7 ± 5.9 mL. The mean resected prostate volume was 60.8 ± 26.1 mL. The mean hemoglobin level of the patients prior to PAE was 14.2 ± 2.3 g/dL, and one day after RASP, the hemoglobin level was 12.4 ± 1.9 g/dL. The outcome indicated that there was a considerable decline in IPSS and PVR after RASP was performed compared to before PAE (21.6 ± 9.4 vs. 10.6 ± 8.0 and 159.4 ± 145.8 mL vs. 43.9 ± 45.9 mL). Qmax and Vvol significantly improved after RASP was performed (7.6 ± 5.2 mL/s vs. 26.1 ± 12.6 mL/s; 114.2 ± 92.5 mL vs. 192.4 ± 91.8 mL, respectively).
This research demonstrated that RASP could be performed safely and effectively after PAE in patients with large BPH.
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