Apples, Oranges, and Erasers FRIEDMAN, ELIZABETH M.S.; SAVARY, JENNIFER; DHAR, RAVI
The Journal of consumer research,
12/2018, Volume:
45, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
When deciding whether to buy an item, consumers sometimes think about other ways they could spend their money. Past research has explored how increasing the salience of outside options (i.e., ...alternatives not immediately available in the choice set) influences purchase decisions, but whether the type of alternative considered systematically affects buying behavior remains an open question. Ten studies find that relative to considering alternatives that are similar to the target, considering dissimilar alternatives leads to a greater decrease in purchase intent for the target. When consumers consider a dissimilar alternative, a competing nonfocal goal is activated, which decreases the perceived importance of the focal goal served by the target option. Consistent with this proposed mechanism, the relative importance of the focal goal versus the nonfocal goal mediates the effect of alternative type on purchase intent, and the effect attenuates when the focal goal is shielded from activation of competing goals. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.
Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC) a key enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis is often overexpressed in cancers and contributes to polyamine-induced cell proliferation. We noted ubiquitous expression of ODC1 ...in our published endometrial cancer gene array data and confirmed this in the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) with highest expression in non-endometrioid, high grade, and copy number high cancers, which have the worst clinical outcomes. ODC1 expression was associated with worse overall survival and increased recurrence in three endometrial cancer gene expression datasets. Importantly, we confirmed these findings using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in a validation cohort of 60 endometrial cancers and found that endometrial cancers with elevated ODC1 had significantly shorter recurrence-free intervals (KM log-rank p = 0.0312, Wald test p = 5.59e-05). Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) a specific inhibitor of ODC significantly reduced cell proliferation, cell viability, and colony formation in cell line models derived from undifferentiated, endometrioid, serous, carcinosarcoma (mixed mesodermal tumor; MMT) and clear cell endometrial cancers. DFMO also significantly reduced human endometrial cancer ACI-98 tumor burden in mice compared to controls (p = 0.0023). ODC-regulated polyamines (putrescine Put and/or spermidine Spd) known activators of cell proliferation were strongly decreased in response to DFMO, in both tumor tissue (Put (p = 0.0006), Spd (p<0.0001)) and blood plasma (Put (p<0.0001), Spd (p = 0.0049)) of treated mice. Our study indicates that some endometrial cancers appear particularly sensitive to DFMO and that the polyamine pathway in endometrial cancers in general and specifically those most likely to suffer adverse clinical outcomes could be targeted for effective treatment, chemoprevention or chemoprevention of recurrence.
Students in environmental studies, sciences, and sustainability need some degree of health literacy to pursue their own interests because health issues have played a disproportionate role in shaping ...environmental history, regulation, and interventions. Those entering careers in practice, advocacy, and deep study of environmental issues need further depth to have the capacity to evaluate the plausibility and context of health claims, to advocate responsibly, and to address health disparities. How much education is required for a minimum foundation and in which areas of content? A workshop held at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences focused on minimum health content required for undergraduate and master’s-level graduate students to deal with issues involving health. The goal was a set of recommendations or guidelines for cognitive frameworks and fund of knowledge related to human health that may be considered fundamental in education of these students. Four sets of findings were formulated, addressing four key dimensions: (1) Participants agreed that the health content of current curricula in environmental studies, sciences, and sustainability is sparse. (2) The purpose of introducing health into education in these fields is to reflect the influence or significance of health problems on or arising from environmental justice, regulation and ecosystem management, or sustainability practice, respectively, and to provide the student with a context for understanding health issues. (3) A high-level working knowledge of the essentials of toxicology, epidemiology, risk science, planetary health, and related fields was prioritized, but mastery was deemed unnecessary for education at this level. (4) Teaching human and animal health is facilitated by analogy or reference to instruction already incorporated in the curriculum. For example, toxicology can be taught by analogy to ecotoxicology, because the same principles apply, and basic concepts of epidemiology build on population studies. Integrative case studies were suggested as a teaching tool, and the One Health (human and veterinary health) paradigm was recommended as a natural bridge.
Physicians are increasingly approached by individuals seeking integrative approaches to health care and well-being. Many integrative modalities include a physical activity component. Patients seek ...guidance from primary and specialty care providers on the safe and effective incorporation of these modalities into their lifestyle. Physicians and other health professionals receive very limited training in the clinical applications of exercise science. This paper reports on a curriculum designed to teach health professionals key exercise constructs for application to clinical practice for prevention and management of lifestyle-related disease, and incorporating the curriculum into a preventive medicine residency training program. The course was developed in 2012–2013, data collected in 2013–2015, and analysis was done in 2015. Six modules were developed as part of a 24-hour course. Each module included didactic, laboratory, and case examples. The modules included energetics, exercise and cardiorespiratory health, bone health, obesity and sarcopenia, balance and fall prevention, and behavior change and the use of technologies. The delivery was found feasible for all three components, delivered in 2–4-hour segments. The incorporation into the residency curriculum was feasible, efficacious, well received, and easily incorporated into the existing curriculum. This comprehensive curriculum has the potential to close the gap in medical school, residency, graduate, nursing, and integrative curricula on this important topic. Current practitioners would benefit in primary care and geriatric settings. This curriculum would also be useful for cross-disciplinary researchers, including public health, health behaviors, and integrative medicine practitioners.
Both short-term and chronic exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) are known to cause a host of adverse health outcomes, including premature death. Exposure to PM2.5 in the United ...States is inequitable due to public policies rooted in structural racism, which have situated polluting industries intentionally in communities of color. Understanding variable exposure to PM2.5 is critical to understanding the disproportionate burden of chronic disease in US populations made vulnerable due to racism and poverty. This paper will review sources, health impacts and health inequities associated with PM2.5, and will frame PM2.5 as both a social and structural determinant of health. Based upon this framing, we will propose interventions that acknowledge individual counseling alone will be inadequate to protect our patients; community and policy level efforts to address structural determinants of health are needed.
The results of 2490 intensified CCD observations of double stars, made with the 26 inch refractor of the U.S. Naval Observatory, are presented. Each observation of a system represents a combination ...of over 2000 short-exposure images. These observations are averaged into 1462 mean relative positions and range in separation from 0".56 to 71".80, with a mean separation of 14".81. This is the 18th in this series of papers and covers the period 2011 January 3 through 2011 December 18. Also presented are four pairs which are resolved for the first time, thirteen other pairs which appear to be lost, and linear elements for four additional pairs.
3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors have significantly improved outcomes in coronary artery disease. They have anti-inflammatory and cholesterol-lowering effects. Statins alter ...the production of T(H)1 cytokines and thus promote a T(H)2 response. This immune alteration would promote allergic diseases such as asthma.
To ascertain whether statin use adversely affects the clinical course of asthma.
We retrospectively reviewed 759 medical records of consecutive patients with asthma to identify patients with extrinsic asthma who had at least 4 physician visits over 1 year. We compared patients who started receiving statins after their initial asthma evaluation with patients who never received statins. Baseline characteristics; change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second from baseline at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months; and a need for increases in medication and acute asthma visits were compared between the statin and control groups.
We identified 24 patients who started statin therapy and 26 control patients. There was a statistically significant 3% to 5% median worsening of forced expiratory volume in 1 second at all time points for the statin group compared with the controls. At 6 months, more patients in the statin group needed increased maintenance medication (16 67% vs 7 27%; P = .005), used albuterol more frequently (18 75% vs 3 12%; P < .001), had more nocturnal awakenings (8 33% vs 0 0%; P < .001), and were seen more frequently at office visits for acute asthma (9 38% vs 1 4%; P = .003).
This preliminary study demonstrated that patients with asthma who received statins had a worse clinical course than controls. Given the prevalence of both statin use and asthma, further research is needed.
Paget’s disease of bone is a rare diagnosis in patients under 40 years of age. We report a case diagnosed in a 35-year-old patient with suspected symptomatic presentation at the age of 30 years ...during pregnancy. This report details the course of the patient’s evaluation toward diagnosis and includes previously suspected etiologies, significant radiologic features and conclusive histologic findings. This case is relevant to the existing literature because it demonstrates that Paget’s disease of bone should be included in the differential diagnosis of younger patients outside the traditional disease demographic who present with diagnostic radiologic findings and elevated serum alkaline phosphatase.
This convergent parallel mixed methods study explored barriers to teaching disability and accessibility awareness in the early elementary classroom and assessed the impact of an instructional video ...on educators’ current perceptions and future teaching practices. Through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews on Zoom and a pretest, intervention, posttest on Qualtrics, the researcher answered the following research questions.1. How frequently do participants currently teach disability and accessibility awareness topics in their classrooms?2. What do participants view as the current barriers to teaching these topics in their classrooms?a. What is an effective means to reduce or remove the barriers?3. Does viewing The Playground Project instructional video significantly impact participants’ willingness, confidence, and views of difficulty regarding integrating disability and accessibility awareness into their teaching?In the study, the researcher utilized both the constructivist paradigm and the transformative framework, which dovetail to support problem-solving through close attention to participant voice (Creswell, 2013). The transformative framework furthers the notion that research can support marginalized groups (Creswell, 2013).In the study, Critical Disability Theory, or CDT, was entwined with the transformative framework, as CDT challenges “the social norms that define particular attributes as impairments, as well as the social conditions that concentrate stigmatized attributes in particular populations” (Minich, 2016, as cited in Schalk, 2017, p. 1).
Asthma morbidity is unequally distributed across populations throughout the United States, and reasons remain unclear. To assess how historical structural racism correlates with current day asthma ...disparities, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 10,736 pediatric patients, ages 3–19 years, with two or more asthma encounters between October 2017–October 2019. Patient addresses were matched with historic Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps – which provide a measure of historic structural racism. Residential proximity to pollution sources served as an additional exposure measure. Healthcare utilization and asthma severity were studied against age, race, SES, geographic proximity to pollution, and HOLC grades. Patients living in historically divested neighborhoods and BIPOC patients were likely to require more acute care for asthma, even when adjusting for present day SES and residential proximity to pollution sources. This supports the assertion that historic structural racism influences present-day health.
•Historic structural racism impacts present day child respiratory health.•Identifying historical contributions to inequity yields opportunity for discussion.•Assessing neighborhood level health yields opportunity for focused interventions.
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