An increasing number of online support groups (OSGs) have embraced the features of social networking. So far, little is known about how patients use and benefit from these features. By implementing ...the uses-and-gratifications framework, the author conducted an online survey with current users of OSGs to examine associations among motivation, use of specific features of OSG, and support outcomes. Findings suggest that OSG users make selective use of varied features depending on their needs, and that perceptions of receiving emotional and informational support are associated more with the use of some features than others. For example, those with strong motivation for social interaction use diverse features of OSG and make one-to-one connections with other users by friending. In contrast, those with strong motivation for information seeking limit their use primarily to discussion boards. Results also show that online social networking features, such as friending and sharing of personal stories on blogs, are helpful in satisfying the need for emotional support. The present study sheds light on online social networking features in the context of health-related OSGs and provides practical lessons on how to improve the capacity of OSGs to serve the needs of their users.
Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) and advanced differentiated thyroid cancers (DTCs) show fatal outcomes, unlike DTCs. Here, we demonstrate mutational landscape of 27 ATCs and 86 advanced DTCs by ...massively-parallel DNA sequencing, and transcriptome of 13 ATCs and 12 advanced DTCs were profiled by RNA sequencing. TERT, AKT1, PIK3CA, and EIF1AX were frequently co-mutated with driver genes (BRAF
and RAS) in advanced DTCs as well as ATC, but tumor suppressors (e.g., TP53 and CDKN2A) were predominantly altered in ATC. CDKN2A loss was significantly associated with poor disease-specific survival in patients with ATC or advanced DTCs, and up-regulation of CD274 (PD-L1) and PDCD1LG2 (PD-L2). Transcriptome analysis revealed a fourth molecular subtype of thyroid cancer (TC), ATC-like, which hardly reflects the molecular signatures in DTC. Furthermore, the activation of JAK-STAT signaling pathway could be a potential druggable target in RAS-positive ATC. Our findings provide insights for precision medicine in patients with advanced TCs.
Purpose - Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the effects of consumer values and past experiences on consumer purchase intention of organic personal care products, this study aims ...to consider further the moderating effect of perceived behavioral control on the attitude-intention relationship.Design methodology approach - An online survey was conducted with 207 online panel members, and multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationships among the variables.Findings - The results indicate that environmental consciousness and appearance consciousness positively influence attitude toward buying organic personal care products. The addition of past experiences as a predictor of purchase intention and perceived behavioral control as a moderator of the attitude-purchase intention relationship yielded an improvement on the TPB model.Practical implications - This study suggests that retailers can develop effective marketing strategies emphasizing ecological beauty, product safety, and affordable prices to increase consumers' intentions to buy organic personal care products.Originality value - This study provides valuable insight into US consumer behavior regarding organic personal care products by examining the factors that influence consumers' attitudes toward buying organic personal care products and consumers' purchase intentions for the products. Furthermore, this study extends an application of the TPB by examining the moderating influence of perceived behavioral control on the attitude-intention relationship.
Abstract
In extrusion‐based 3D printing, the use of synthetic polymeric hydrogels can facilitate fabrication of cellularized and implanted scaffolds with sufficient mechanical properties to maintain ...the structural integrity and physical stress within the in vivo conditions. However, synthetic hydrogels face challenges due to their poor properties of cellular adhesion, bioactivity, and biofunctionality. New compositions of hydrogel inks have been designed to address this limitation. A viscous poly(maleate‐propylene oxide)‐lipoate‐poly(ethylene oxide) (MPLE) hydrogel is recently developed that shows high‐resolution printability, drug‐controlled release, excellent mechanical properties with adhesiveness, and biocompatibility. In this study, the authors demonstrate that the incorporation of cell‐adhesive proteins like gelatin and albumin within the MPLE gel allows printing of biologically functional 3D scaffolds with rapid cell spreading (within 7 days) and high cell proliferation (twofold increase) as compared with MPLE gel only. Addition of proteins (10% w/v) supports the formation of interconnected cell clusters (≈1.6‐fold increase in cell areas after 7‐day) and spreading of cells in the printed scaffolds without additional growth factors. In in vivo studies, the protein‐loaded scaffolds showed excellent biocompatibility and increased angiogenesis without inflammatory response after 4‐week implantation in mice, thus demonstrating the promise to contribute to the printable tough hydrogel inks for tissue engineering.
In this study, we developed a deep learning model to identify patients with tongue cancer based on a validated dataset comprising oral endoscopic images. We retrospectively constructed a dataset of ...12,400 verified endoscopic images from five university hospitals in South Korea, collected between 2010 and 2020 with the participation of otolaryngologists. To calculate the probability of malignancy using various convolutional neural network (CNN) architectures, several deep learning models were developed. Of the 12,400 total images, 5576 images related to the tongue were extracted. The CNN models showed a mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.845 and a mean area under the precision-recall curve (AUPRC) of 0.892. The results indicate that the best model was DenseNet169 (AUROC 0.895 and AUPRC 0.918). The deep learning model, general physicians, and oncology specialists had sensitivities of 81.1%, 77.3%, and 91.7%; specificities of 86.8%, 75.0%, and 90.9%; and accuracies of 84.7%, 75.9%, and 91.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, fair agreement between the oncologist and the developed model was shown for cancer diagnosis (kappa value = 0.685). The deep learning model developed based on the verified endoscopic image dataset showed acceptable performance in tongue cancer diagnosis.
Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play an important role in liver fibrosis; however, owing to the heterogeneity and limited supply of primary HSCs, the development of in vitro liver fibrosis models has ...been impeded. In this study, we established and characterized a novel human HSC line (LSC‐1), and applied it to various types of three‐dimensional (3D) co‐culture systems with differentiated HepaRG cells. Furthermore, we compared LSC‐1 with a commercially available HSC line on conventional monolayer culture. LSC‐1 exhibited an overall upregulation of the expression of fibrogenic genes along with increased levels of matrix and adhesion proteins, suggesting a myofibroblast‐like or transdifferentiated state. However, activated states reverted to a quiescent‐like phenotype when cultured in different 3D culture formats with a relatively soft microenvironment. Additionally, LSC‐1 exerted an overall positive effect on co‐cultured differentiated HepaRG, which significantly increased hepatic functionality upon long‐term cultivation compared with that achieved with other HSC line. In 3D spheroid culture, LSC‐1 exhibited enhanced responsiveness to transforming growth factor beta 1 exposure that is caused by a different matrix‐related protein expression mechanism. Therefore, the LSC‐1 line developed in this study provides a reliable candidate model that can be used to address unmet needs, such as development of antifibrotic therapies.
Objective
We evaluated the efficacy and safety of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) with high risk features.
Materials and Methods
This retrospective study ...analyzed 187 patients treated for DTC from 1985 to 2019. DTC referred to nonanaplastic thyroid cancer originating from follicular cells. PORT was defined as the administration of external beam radiation to the thyroid and regional lymph nodes following surgery for initially diagnosed DTC. The patients were included in the analysis if they received PORT or exhibited any of the following features: (a) pT4 or pN1b according to the 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer, (b) poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC), or (c) unfavourable variants such as anaplastic foci and etc. After 1:1 propensity matching, a total of 108 patients were analyzed according to PORT receipt. The median follow‐up duration of the matched group was 10.4 years.
Results
After matching, most of the variables became balanced, but the PORT group still had more PDTC and DTC with anaplastic foci. Radioactive iodine (RAI) was less frequently administered in the PORT group. PORT yielded a significantly higher 5‐year locoregional recurrence free survival (LRFS) than the No PORT group (5‐year LRFS 86.1% vs. 72.7%, p = 0.022), but the 10‐year cancer specific survival (CSS) was similar between them (97.8% vs. 85.9%, p = 0.122). The multivariable analysis indicated that PORT was a favourable prognostic factor (Hazard ratio 0.3, 95% Confidence interval 0.1–0.8, p = 0.02) for LRFS, but not for CSS. Among 133 patients without PORT for initial disease, 39 of them received salvage surgery followed by salvage PORT. No severe toxicity after PORT was reported.
Conclusion
PORT reduced locoregional recurrence in DTC patients without severe toxicity. PORT can be an effective and safe treatment to improve locoregional control in DTC with high risk features. However, further study is warranted to identify those who can benefit from PORT.
This study introduces structural topic modelling (STM), a sophisticated unsupervised machine‐learning algorithm for text analysis, to compare Indonesian and Malaysian Muslim consumers' ...approach‐avoidance behaviours toward Korean beauty products using social media data. The STM results revealed 16 topics for each country, including new common themes belonging to K‐beauty culture and wannabe Korean skin. Intriguing differences were also observed between these countries. Korea‐related constructs, such as Korea's image and wannabe Korean skin, were approach factors for only Indonesians. Korean cosmetic brand‐specific topics were extracted for only Malaysians and were significantly associated with their behavioural responses. Unsuitable Korean beauty products and domestic product preferences were avoidance factors for Indonesians, but new product risks and conflicts between Muslim and Korean cultures for Malaysians. We demonstrate that STM is a helpful tool in cross‐national research for corroborating and extending the existing theoretical frameworks. The practical implications are also provided for global marketers.
Any ongoing relationship involves conflict. While facing conflict can be a serious matter for small firms with limited resources and capabilities, little is known about conflict management or the ...role of an ethical foundation, or business ethics, for small businesses. This study examines some influential factors regarding conflict management and the role of business ethics in satisfactory business relationship building in the context of small retailer-supplier relationships. The proposed model identifies (1) the relative importance of business ethics and role performance as antecedents and (2) two dimensions of satisfaction (social and economic) as consequences. The data, collected from small apparel retailers in the United States, clearly demonstrate the powerful role of business ethics. The positive perceptions of small retailers regarding supplier business ethics significantly reduces retailer-supplier conflict and increases retailer-supplier social satisfaction. Supplier role performance does not contribute to a reduction in retailer-supplier conflict as perceived by small retailers, but it does enhance the economic satisfaction of retailers, which further increases their social satisfaction. The functional benefits of conflict provide interesting insight. Providing several meaningful implications, this study demonstrates the unique aspects of conflict management within small retailer-supplier relationships.
Consumers’ responses to organic foods have been widely researched. However, despite increasing competition among retail chains selling organic foods, little is known about how consumers choose stores ...for organic food buying. This study fills this important research gap by examining the role of perceived fit between retailers and organic food in US consumers’ choice of retail store for organic food buying. We also investigate antecedents of fit perception and how age-driven differences (younger vs. older consumers) interplay with the role of fit. The data were collected from both younger and older consumers through web-based surveys employing a realistic context of organic food purchases at a retail chain, Walmart. Social desirability bias was incorporated. The results evidence significant moderating roles of retailer-organic food fit in two specific attitudes: attitude toward organic food and attitude toward a retail chain. Store quality is a significant antecedent of fit between retail chain and organic food, but price perceptions and consumer beliefs about corporate social responsibility-corporate ability are not. The moderating role of retail chain-organic food fit is different for younger vs. older consumers. This study provides insights into the significance of matching the image between retailers and organic products (i.e., fit). Also, the proposed model can be applicable to the contexts of fit between retailer and other specialty products. The findings provide insights into how to more effectively attract consumers for organic food purchases through matching brand/product image.
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