Over the last few years, online gambling has become a more common leisure time activity. However, for a small minority, the activity can become problematic. Consequently, the gambling industry has ...started to acknowledge their role in player protection and harm minimization and some gambling companies have introduced responsible gambling tools as a way of helping players stay in control. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of mentor (a responsible gambling tool that provides personalized feedback to players) among 1,015 online gamblers at a European online gambling site, and compared their behavior with matched controls (n = 15,216) on the basis of age, gender, playing duration, and theoretical loss (i.e., the amount of money wagered multiplied by the payout percentage of a specific game played). The results showed that online gamblers receiving personalized feedback spent significantly less time and money gambling compared to controls that did not receive personalized feedback. The results suggest that responsible gambling tools providing personalized feedback may help the clientele of gambling companies gamble more responsibly, and may be of help those who gamble excessively to stay within their personal time and money spending limits.
The presence of ≥3 oligoclonal bands (OCB) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) without corresponding bands in serum represents a definite pathological pattern, whereas the clinical significance of 1-2 ...CSF bands (borderline pattern) is poorly investigated.
We screened 1986 consecutive CSF and serum samples which were collected over a four-year time period and had results of isoelectric focusing (IEF) available. Of patients with borderline OCB we reviewed individual medical charts for assessment of clinical diagnoses. Where feasible, IEF was replicated and results of follow-up samples were obtained. IEF was performed using polyacrylamide gel followed by immunoblotting and IgG-specific antibody staining. Additionally, we performed a systematic literature review of the diagnostic specificity of OCB using different cut-offs for CSF-restricted bands.
Out of 253 patients with borderline OCB, 21.7% had an inflammatory neurological disease (IND) of the central nervous system, comprising 4% multiple sclerosis patients, and 14.2% had a peripheral IND, whereas the remaining 64.1% of patients showed non-inflammatory diseases. Frequency of one or two CSF bands without corresponding serum bands did not differ between the disease groups. In a subgroup of 100 patients IEF was repeated. Of those, 73% were OCB negative, while no sample was positive. In 26 patients IEF results were available of a follow-up sample collected after a median of 27 months. Of those, 4 (15.4%) turned positive. Systematic literature review revealed a diagnostic specificity of OCB of 97% and 92% using a cut-off ≥3 and ≥2 CSF bands in patients with mainly non-inflammatory neurological diseases.
The clinical significance of one or two CSF-restricted bands is moderate and, hence, indicates a possible but not reliable proof of intrathecal B-cell activity. Sample re-testing, introduction of an additional diagnostic category, e.g. "possible intrathecal IgG synthesis", and follow-up lumbar puncture might be possible options to address this scenario.
Drawing on a database of 149 university spin-offs, we investigated the impact of network capability (NC), defined as a firm's ability to develop and utilize inter-organizational relationships, and ...entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on organizational performance. Not only do the results suggest that a spin-off's performance is positively influenced by its NC, but the findings also indicate that a spin-off's EO fosters competitive advantages. Although no direct relationship is apparent between EO and sales growth, sales per employee, or profit attainment, moderated hierarchical regression analyses reveal that NC strengthens the relationship between EO and spin-off performance. In sum, our research shows that a spin-off's organizational propensities and processes that enhance innovation, constructive risk taking, and proactiveness in dealing with competitors per se do not enhance growth and secure long-term survival. However, we found that NC moderates the relationship between EO and organizational performance.
Responsible gambling tools (e.g., limit-setting tools, pop-up messages, and personalized feedback) have become increasingly popular as a way of facilitating players to gamble in a more responsible ...manner. However, relatively few studies have evaluated whether such tools actually work. The present study examined whether the use of three types of information (i.e., personalized feedback, normative feedback, and/or a recommendation) could enable players to gamble more responsibly as assessed using three measures of gambling behavior, i.e., theoretical loss (TL), amount of money wagered, and gross gaming revenue (GGR) (i.e., net win/loss). By manipulating the three forms of information, data from six different groups of players were analyzed. The participant sample drawn from the population were those that had played at least one game for money on the
online platform (
) during April 2015. A total of 17,452 players were randomly selected from 69,631 players that fulfilled the selection criteria. Of these, 5,528 players participated in the experiment. Gambling activity among the control group (who received no personalized feedback, normative feedback or no recommendation) was also compared with the other five groups that received information of some kind (personalized feedback, normative feedback and/or a recommendation). Compared to the control group, all groups that received some kind of messaging significantly reduced their gambling behavior as assessed by TL, amount of money wagered, and GGR. The results support the hypothesis that personalized behavioral feedback can enable behavioral change in gambling but that normative feedback does not appear change behavior significantly more than personalized feedback.
Over the last few years, there have been an increasing number of gaming operators that have incorporated on-screen pop-up messages while gamblers play on slot machines and/or online as one of a range ...of tools to help encourage responsible gambling. Coupled with this, there has also been an increase in empirical research into whether such pop-up messages are effective, particularly in laboratory settings. However, very few studies have been conducted on the utility of pop-up messages in real-world gambling settings. The present study investigated the effects of normative and self-appraisal feedback in a slot machine pop-up message compared to a simple (non-enhanced) pop-up message. The study was conducted in a real-world gambling environment by comparing the behavioral tracking data of two representative random samples of 800,000 gambling sessions (i.e., 1.6 million sessions in total) across two conditions (i.e., simple pop-up message versus an enhanced pop-up message). The results indicated that the additional normative and self-appraisal content doubled the number of gamblers who stopped playing after they received the enhanced pop-up message (1.39%) compared to the simple pop-up message (0.67%). The data suggest that pop-up messages influence only a small number of gamblers to cease long playing sessions and that enhanced messages are slightly more effective in helping gamblers to stop playing in-session.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) oligoclonal bands (OCB) occur in chronic or post-acute phase of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. To determine whether CSF OCB in patients with ...neuroborreliosis (NB) are specific for borrelia burgdorferi senso lato. We performed isoelectric focusing followed by immunoblotting in CSF of 10 NB patients and 11 controls (7 patients with multiple sclerosis, 2 patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease, 1 patient with dementia and 1 patient with monoclonal gammopathy). Immunoblotting was performed using an uncoated as well as a borrelia antigen pre-coated nitrocellulose membrane (NCM). OCB were counted by visual inspection and photometric analysis. OCB were compared between uncoated und pre-coated NCM both in the NB and control group. For validation purposes inter-assay precision was determined by calculating the coefficient of variation (CV) Borrelia-specific OCB were found in the CSF of 9 NB patients and in none of the control subjects resulting in a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 100%. Number of NB specific OCB were 11±7 bands by photometric analyses compared to 9±5 bands by visual inspection. Validation experiments revealed an inconsistent inter-assay precision between visual and photometric analyses (NB uncoated: visual 28% versus photometric 14%, control subject uncoated: visual 16% versus photometric 24%). In CSF samples with positive OCB, Borrelia-specific bands were detected in almost all NB patients and in none of the control subjects. Inconsistent inter-assay precision may be explained by a poor comparability of visual and photometric approach.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) has a highly heterogenic course making prediction of long term outcome very difficult.
The objective was to evaluate current and identify additional clinical factors that are ...linked to long term outcome of relapsing-remitting MS assessed by disability status 10 years after disease onset.
This observational study included 793 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. Clinical factors hypothesized to influence long term outcome measured by EDSS scores 10 years after disease onset were analysed by Kaplan-Meier-estimates. Multinomial logistic regression models regarding mild (EDSS ≤2.5), moderate (EDSS 3.0-5.5) or severe (EDSS ≥6.0) disability were calculated to correct for confounders.
Secondary progression was the strongest predictor of severe disability (Hazard ratio HR 503.8, 95% confidence interval CI 160.0-1580.1); p<0.001). Complete remission of neurological symptoms at onset reduced the risk of moderate disability (HR 0.42; CI 0.23-0.77; p = 0.005), while depression (HR 3.59; CI 1.14-11.24; p = 0.028) and cognitive dysfunction (HR 4.64; CI 1.11-19.50; p = 0.036) 10 years after disease onset were associated with severe disability. Oligoclonal bands and pregnancy were not correlated with disability.
We were able to identify clinically apparent chronic depression and cognitive dysfunction to be associated with adverse long term outcome in MS and to confirm that pregnancy has no negative impact. Additionally, we emphasize the positive predictive value of complete remission of initial symptoms.
Electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) is an important secondary resource for the zinc industry. The most common process for its recycling is the pyro-metallurgical treatment in the Waelz process. However, ...this process focuses on the recycling of the zinc, whereas the recovery of other metals from the EAFD—such as iron and other alloying elements—is neglected. An up-to-date version of reprocessing can involve multi-metal recycling by means of a metal bath containing carbon. The use of a liquid iron alloy requires a higher processing temperature, which enables the reduction and melting of iron oxides as well as other compounds occurring in the dust. Furthermore, the Zn yield is higher and the reduction kinetics are faster than in the Waelz process. This paper is only focused on the zinc reduction in such a metal bath. In order to determine the influence of the carbon content in the molten metal on the reduction rate, experiments were carried out on the reduction behavior of zinc oxide using a synthetic slag. This slag, with a basicity B2 = 1, was applied to an iron bath with varying carbon contents. (0.85%, 2.16%, 2.89%, and 4.15%) The decrease in the zinc oxide concentration was monitored, along with the reaction rates calculated from these data. It was found that the reaction rate increases with rising carbon content in the melt.
3D WebGIS systems have been mentioned in the literature almost since the beginning of the graphical web era in the late 1990s. The potential use of 3D WebGIS is linked to a wide range of scientific ...and application domains, such as planning, controlling, tracking or simulation in crisis management, military mission planning, urban information systems, energy facilities or cultural heritage management, just to name a few. Nevertheless, many applications or research prototypes entitled as 3D WebGIS or similar are mainly about 3D visualization of GIS data or the visualization of analysis results, rather than about performing the 3D analysis itself online. This research paper aims to step forward into the direction of web-based 3D geospatial analysis. It describes how to overcome speed and memory restrictions in web-based data management by adapting optimization strategies, developed earlier for web-based 3D visualization. These are applied in a holistic way in the context of a fully 3D line-of-sight computation over several layers with split (tiled) and unsplit (static) data sources. Different optimization approaches are combined and evaluated to enable an efficient client side analysis and a real 3D WebGIS functionality using new web technologies such as HTML5 and WebGL.
Background
Reports on typical routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) findings are outdated owing to novel reference limits (RL) and revised diagnostic criteria of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Objective
To ...assess routine CSF parameters in MS patients and the frequency of pathologic findings by applying novel RL.
Methods
CSF white blood cells (WBC), CSF total protein (CSF-TP), CSF/serum albumin quotient (Q
alb
), intrathecal synthesis of immunoglobulins (Ig) A, M and G, oligoclonal IgG bands (OCB) were determined in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and MS.
Results
Of 541 patients 54% showed CSF pleocytosis with a WBC count up to 40/μl. CSF cytology revealed lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils in 99%, 41% and 9% of patients. CSF-TP and Q
alb
were increased in 19% and 7% applying age-corrected RL as opposed to 34% and 26% with conventional RL. Quantitative intrathecal IgG, IgA and IgM synthesis were present in 65%, 14% and 21%; OCB in 95% of patients. WBC were higher in relapsing than progressive MS and predicted, together with monocytes, the conversion from CIS to clinically definite MS. Intrathecal IgG fraction was highest in secondary progressive MS.
Conclusions
CSF profile in MS varies across disease courses. Blood-CSF-barrier dysfunction and intrathecal IgA/IgM synthesis are less frequent when the novel RL are applied.
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