Empirical tests of status consumption : evidence from women's cosmetics

Nearly all applied work in consumer demand assumes the absence of status consumption. The validity of this assumption has not been supported through empirical inquiry which confirms the unimportance of status motivations in consumer behavior. However, it is feasible to conduct tests which differentiate between status-motivated behavior and consumer purchasing in which no status motivations are present. This paper provides such a test, which is based on the fact that social visibility is ordinarily necessary for a good to serve as a status symbol. We investigate brand buying among four cosmetics products, and find, as hypothesized, that more "status" is purchased with the more socially visible products. Specifically, we find that visible goods have a lower price-quality correlation and a pattern of brand buying favoring higher-priced brands. We also investigate differing degrees of status-consumption by income, education, race, and urban/suburban dwelling. Our results provide strong support for the existence of status-consumption and are not consistent with theories in which no status-consumption is occurring.gender differences;status;consumption

Stimulation by a low-molecular-weight angiogenic factor of capillary endothelial cells in culture.

A low-mol.-wt compound isolated from rat Walker 256 carcinoma and found to induce neovascularization in vivo was tested on cultures of cow brain-derived endothelial cells (CBEC) growing on plastic and collagen substrates. This factor had a mitogenic effect on CBEC cultured on native collagen gels and for this reason has been called "endothelial-cell-stimulating angiogenesis factor" (ESAF). CBEC growing on plastic culture dishes or denatured collagen films were not stimulated by ESAF. The mitogenic effect of ESAF was equally apparent when added to cells already attached to the native collagen substrate or when the collagen substrate was pre-incubated with ESAF before plating the cells. A floating collagen gel pre-incubated with ESAF in cultures of CBEC growing on plastic dishes did not stimulate cell growth. Our data indicate that the substrate influences cell behaviour and that CBEC only respond to ESAF when growing on a native collagen substrate

Extracellular vesicles: structure, function, and potential clinical uses in renal diseases

Interest in the role of extracellular vesicles in various diseases including cancer has been increasing. Extracellular vesicles include microvesicles, exosomes, apoptotic bodies, and argosomes, and are classified by size, content, synthesis, and function. Currently, the best characterized are exosomes and microvesicles. Exosomes are small vesicles (40- 100 nm) involved in intercellular communication regardless of the distance between them. They are found in various biological fluids such as plasma, serum, and breast milk, and are formed from multivesicular bodies through the inward budding of the endosome membrane. Microvesicles are 100-1000 nm vesicles released from the cell by the outward budding of the plasma membrane. the therapeutic potential of extracellular vesicles is very broad, with applications including a route of drug delivery and as biomarkers for diagnosis. Extracellular vesicles extracted from stem cells may be used for treatment of many diseases including kidney diseases. This review highlights mechanisms of synthesis and function, and the potential uses of wellcharacterized extracellular vesicles, mainly exosomes, with a special focus on renal functions and diseases.Univ Fed Paulista, Dept Med, Div Nefrol, Escola Paulista Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Cruzeiro Sul, Programa Posgrad Ciencias Saude Ciencias Biol & S, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Paulista, Dept Med, Div Nefrol, Escola Paulista Med, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Relationship between vascularity, age and survival in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Lung tumours in the elderly show reduced growth potential; impaired angiogenesis may contribute to this phenomenon. Recent studies have suggested that the angiogenic potential of a tumour may be inferred by the vascularity measured in histological sections. The purpose of this study has been to determine whether vascularity is related to age, survival or other clinical parameters in resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A group of 88 consecutive patients with a follow-up period of at least 5 years was selected. The group exhibited a wide age range (37-78 years) and similar survival characteristics to those of the general NSCLC population. Tumour sections were stained with a pan-endothelial antibody (vWF) and vascularity was quantitated, without knowledge of the clinical details, by three methods: highest microvascular density; average microvascular density; and average microvascular volume. The results were analysed by non-parametric statistical tests. A correlation was found between all three methods of quantitation. Vascularity was not associated with age, sex, tumour type, stage, volume, size (TNM-T) nodal status (TNM-N) or survival. However, survival time was generally longer for patients with higher vascularity, reaching borderline significance (P = 0.06) for the average microvascular density values. Higher tumour volume (P = 0.02) and stage (P = 0.05) were associated with lower survival times. Using multivariate survival analysis, tumour volume was the only factor related to survival. We conclude that vascularity is not associated with age and has no significant prognostic value in NSCLC

Superconducting crossed correlations in ferromagnets: implications for thermodynamics and quantum transport

It is demonstrated that non local Cooper pairs can propagate in ferromagnetic electrodes having an opposite spin orientation. In the presence of such crossed correlations, the superconducting gap is found to depend explicitly on the relative orientation of the ferromagnetic electrodes. Non local Cooper pairs can in principle be probed with dc-transport. With two ferromagnetic electrodes, we propose a ``quantum switch'' that can be used to detect correlated pairs of electrons. With three or more ferromagnetic electrodes, the Cooper pair-like state is a linear superposition of Cooper pairs which could be detected in dc-transport. The effect also induces an enhancement of the ferromagnetic proximity effect on the basis of crossed superconducting correlations propagating along domain walls.Comment: 4 pages, RevTe

Good practice in mental health care for socially marginalised groups in Europe: a qualitative study of expert views in 14 countries

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Adolescência e anticoncepção: 1. Estudo de conhecimento e uso em puérperas internadas por parto ou aborto

A study of the knowledge and utilization of contraceptive methods by adolescent is presented. An analysis was carried out based on data collected from interviews with and recorded case histories of 78 puerperal adolescents (childbirth or abortion), assisted by an obstetric service in the county of Cotia, SP, Brazil, between May 1 and July 31, 1986. Of all the adolescents studied, 61.5% had some knowledge of contraceptive methods; the findings showed that such knowledge was influenced by factors such as: age, school background, parity and marital status. The main sources of information on contraception were: friends, relatives and partners, in this order; those least sought for in this regard were health professionals. Only one in each ten adolescents made use of some contraceptive measure, the most prevalent methods being the contraceptive pill, the Ogino-Knauss method, condoms and coitus interruptus. In al of the cases of the utilization of these methods the same had been "recommended" by persons belonging to the adolescents' social group, and had been acquired in shops, without any health control.São analisados o conhecimento e a utilização de métodos anticoncepcionais por adolescentes. Foram levantados os dados a partir de prontuários médicos e de entrevistas relativos a 78 adolescentes puérperas (parto ou aborto), atendidas em um serviço de obstetrícia do Município de Cotia, SP (Brasil), no período de 1/5/86 a 31/7/86. Do total de adolescentes estudadas, 61,5% tinham algum tipo de conhecimento sobre métodos anticoncepcionais, conhecimento este influenciado por fatores tais como idade, escolaridade, paridade e estado marital. As fontes de informação mais procuradas foram os amigos, os parentes e os parceiros, nesta ordem; as menos procuradas foram os profissionais de saúde. Somente uma em cada dez adolescentes usava algum tipo de anticoncepcional, sendo os mais prevalentes a pílula, o método Ogino-Knauss, preservativos e o coito interrompido. Em 100% dos casos de utilização destes métodos houve indicação por parte de pessoas do grupo social das adolescentes, sendo os anticoncepcionais adquiridos no comércio, sem nenhum controle de saúde