Do consumers acculturated to global consumer culture buy more impulsively? The moderating role of attitudes towards, and beliefs about advertising

This research advances knowledge that can foster understanding of how global consumer culture (GCC) and its elements relate to impulsive buying and sheds light on how advertising attitudes and beliefs interact with this main relationship. Specifically, this study examines the moderating effects of attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising on the relations between consumers’ level of acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC) and impulsive buying. Consumers who are the most acculturated to GCC, and who have positive attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising buy the most impulsively. AGCC is related to increased impulsive buying even when attitudes towards and beliefs about advertising are negative. The paper contributes to the development of theoretical explanation of these understudied relations by employing acculturation theory and congruity theory. Social and practical implications are discussed

Maternal and infant renal safety following tenofovir disoproxil fumarate exposure during pregnancy in a randomized control trial

Background Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in combination with other antiretroviral (ARV) drugs has been in clinical use for HIV treatment since its approval in 2001. Although the effectiveness of TDF in preventing perinatal HIV infection is well established, information about renal safety during pregnancy is still limited. Trial design The IMPAACT PROMISE study was an open-label, strategy trial that randomized pregnant women to one of three arms: TDF based antiretroviral therapy (ART), zidovudine (ZDV) based ART, and ZDV alone (standard of care at start of enrollment). The P1084s substudy was a nested, comparative study of renal outcomes in women and their infants. Methods PROMISE participants (n = 3543) were assessed for renal dysfunction using calculated creatinine clearance (CrCl) at study entry (> 14 weeks gestation), delivery, and postpartum weeks 6, 26, and 74. Of these women, 479 were enrolled in the P1084s substudy that also assessed maternal calcium and phosphate as well as infant calculated CrCl, calcium, and phosphate at birth. Results Among the 1338 women who could be randomized to TDF, less than 1% had a baseline calculated CrCl below 80 mL/min. The mean (standard deviation) maternal calculated CrCl at delivery in the TDF-ART arm [147.0 mL/min (51.4)] was lower than the ZDV-ART [155.0 mL/min (43.3); primary comparison] and the ZDV Alone [158.5 mL/min (45.0)] arms; the mean differences (95% confidence interval) were − 8.0 mL/min (− 14.5, − 1.5) and − 11.5 mL/min (− 18.0, − 4.9), respectively. The TDF-ART arm had lower mean maternal phosphate at delivery compared with the ZDV-ART [− 0.14 mg/dL (− 0.28, − 0.01)] and the ZDV Alone [− 0.17 mg/dL (− 0.31, − 0.02)] arms, and a greater percentage of maternal hypophosphatemia at delivery (4.23%) compared with the ZDV-ART (1.38%) and the ZDV Alone (1.46%) arms. Maternal calcium was similar between arms. In infants, mean calculated CrCl, calcium, and phosphate at birth were similar between arms (all CIs included 0). Conclusions Although mean maternal calculated CrCl at Delivery was lower in the TDF-ART arm, the difference between arms is unlikely to be clinically significant. During pregnancy, the TDF-ART regimen had no observed safety concerns for maternal or infant renal function. Trial Registration: NCT01061151 on 10/02/2010 for PROMISE (1077BF). NCT01066858 on 10/02/2010 for P1084s

The Properties of the Circumgalactic Medium in Red and Blue Galaxies: Results from the COS-GASS+COS-Halos Surveys

We use the combined data from the COS-GASS and COS-Halos surveys to characterize the Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) surrounding typical low-redshift galaxies in the mass range $\rm~M_*\sim~10^{9.5-11.5}~M_{\odot}$, and over a range of impact parameters extending to just beyond the halo virial radius ($\rm~R_{vir}$). We find the radial scale length of the distributions of the equivalent widths of the Lyman~$\alpha$ and Si III absorbers to be 0.9 and 0.4 $\rm~R_{vir}$, respectively. The radial distribution of equivalent widths is relatively uniform for the blue galaxies, but highly patchy (low covering fraction) for the red galaxies. We also find that the Lyman~$\alpha$ and Si III equivalent widths show significant positive correlations with the specific star-formation rate (sSFR) of the galaxy. We find a surprising lack of correlations between the halo mass (virial velocity) and either the velocity dispersions or velocity offsets of the Lyman~$\alpha$ lines. The ratio of the velocity offset to the velocity dispersion for the Lyman~$\alpha$ absorbers has a mean value of $\sim$ 4, suggesting that a given the line-of-sight is intersecting a dynamically coherent structure in the CGM rather than a sea of orbiting clouds. The kinematic properties of the CGM are similar in the blue and red galaxies, although we find that a significantly larger fraction of the blue galaxies have large Lyman~$\alpha$ velocity offsets (>200 km s$^{-1}$). We show that - if the CGM clouds represent future fuel for star-formation - our new results could imply a large drop in the specific star-formation rate across the galaxy mass-range we probe.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap

Long-term outcomes for HIV-infected infants less than 6 months of age at initiation of lopinavir/ritonavir combination antiretroviral therapy

Interior, one of the four massive piers supporting the roof in the corner with glass curtain wall behind, detail of base; The cathedral was designed by local architects John Michael Lee, Paul A. Ryan and Angus McSweeney, collaborating with internationally known architects Pier Luigi Nervi and Pietro Belluschi (at the time, the Dean of the School of Architecture at MIT.) Its saddle roof is composed of eight segments of hyperbolic paraboloids, in such a fashion that the bottom horizontal cross section of the roof is a square (the building is 255 ft. square) and the top cross section is a cross. In the interior, piers support the 19-story roof at each corner of the floor plan, each constructed to withstand ten million pounds of pressure. With a circumference of 24 feet at their narrowest points, the piers are embedded 90 feet down into the bedrock. Source: ArchDaily; http://www.archdaily.com/ (accessed 9/3/2015

Early initiation of lopinavir/ritonavir in infants less than 6 weeks of age: pharmacokinetics and 24-week safety and efficacy

BACKGROUND: With increasing recognition of the benefits of early antiretroviral therapy initiation in perinatally HIV-infected infants, data are needed regarding the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and efficacy of recommended first-line protease inhibitors such as lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r). METHODS: A prospective, phase I/II, open-label, dose-finding trial evaluated LPV/r at a dose of 300/75 mg/m twice daily plus 2 nucleoside analogs in HIV-1-infected infants \u3e or =14 days to /r therapy, and doses were modified to maintain LPV predose concentrations \u3e1 microg/mL and area under the curve (AUC) /mL. RESULTS: Ten infants enrolled [median age 5.7 (range, 3.6-5.9) weeks] with median HIV-1 RNA of 6.0 (range, 4.7-7.2) log10 copies/mL; all completed 24 weeks of follow-up. Nine completed the intensive PK evaluation at a median LPV dose of 267 (range, 246-305) mg/m q12 hours; median measures were AUC = 36.6 (range, 27.9-62.6) microg hr/mL; predose concentration = 2.2 (range, 0.99-4.9) microg/mL; maximum concentration = 4.76 (range, 2.84-7.28) microg/mL and apparent clearance (L/h/m) = 6.75 (range, 2.79-12.83). Adverse events were limited to transient grade 3 neutropenia in 3 subjects. By week 24, 2 of 10 subjects had experienced a protocol-defined virologic failure. CONCLUSIONS: Although the LPV AUC in this population was significantly lower than that observed in infants ages 6 weeks to 6 months, LPV/r-based antiretroviral therapy in doses of 300/75 mg/m BID was well tolerated and resulted in virologic control in 8 of 10 infants by 24 weeks. Additional investigation is needed to understand the long-term implications of the lower LPV exposure in this age group