Experimental Markets for Product Concepts

Market prices are well known to efficiently collect and aggregate diverse information regarding the value of commodities and assets. The role of markets has been particularly suitable to pricing financial securities. This article provides an alternative application of the pricing mechanism to marketing research - using pseudo-securities markets to measure preferences over new product concepts. Surveys, focus groups, concept tests and conjoint studies are methods traditionally used to measure individual and aggregate preferences. Unfortunately, these methods can be biased, costly and time-consuming to conduct. The present research is motivated by the desire to efficiently measure preferences and more accurately predict new product success, based on the efficiency and incentive-compatibility of security trading markets. The article describes a novel market research method, pro-vides insight into why the method should work, and compares the results of several trading experiments against other methodologies such as concept testing and conjoint analysis

EDN1 Lys198Asn is Associated with Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes

Purpose: We tested the hypothesis that genetic variants in vasoactive and angiogenic factors regulating the retina vasculature contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods: A case-control study was performed to study the genetic association between DR and polymorphic variants of EDN1 (Lys198Asn), LTA (IVS1–80C>A, IVS1–206G>C, IVS1–252>G), eNOS (Glu298Asp), and ITGA2 (BgI II) in a Chinese population with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A well defined population with type 2 diabetes, consisting of 127 controls and 216 DR patients, was recruited. Results: A higher frequency of the Asn/Asn genotype of EDN1 was found in individuals with at least 10 years of diabetes and no retinopathy (controls) compared with DR patients with any duration of diabetes (DR: 2.3%; control: 11.0%; p=0.0002). The Asn allele was also more frequent in controls than DR patients (DR: 16.4%; control: 29.5%; p=0.007). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the Asn/Asn genotype was the factor most significantly associated with reduced risk of DR (odds ratio=0.19; 95% CI: 0.07-0.53; p=0.002) and with late onset of diabetes (Asn/Asn: 59 years; Lys/Lys + Lys/Asn: 53 years; p=0.02). Moreover, the Lys/Lys genotype was more common among patients with nonproliferative (75.7%) than proliferative DR (56.9%; p=0.008). The distributions of Lys198Asn alleles in hypertension did not differ from normotensive subjects. No associations between DR and polymorphisms of LTA, eNOS, or ITGA2 were detected, and there were no detectable gene-gene or gene-environmental interactions among the polymorphisms.Conclusions The Asn/Asn genotype of EDN1 was associated with a reduced risk of DR and with delayed onset of type 2 diabetes

Calpain 2 and PTP1B function in a novel pathway with Src to regulate invadopodia dynamics and breast cancer cell invasion

Invasive cancer cells form dynamic adhesive structures associated with matrix degradation called invadopodia. Calpain 2 is a calcium-dependent intracellular protease that regulates adhesion turnover and disassembly through the targeting of specific substrates such as talin. Here, we describe a novel function for calpain 2 in the formation of invadopodia and in the invasive abilities of breast cancer cells through the modulation of endogenous c-Src activity. Calpain-deficient breast cancer cells show impaired invadopodia formation that is rescued by expression of a truncated fragment of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) corresponding to the calpain proteolytic fragment, which indicates that calpain modulates invadopodia through PTP1B. Moreover, PTP1B activity is required for efficient invadopodia formation and breast cancer invasion, which suggests that PTP1B may modulate breast cancer progression through its effects on invadopodia. Collectively, our experiments implicate a novel signaling pathway involving calpain 2, PTP1B, and Src in the regulation of invadopodia and breast cancer invasion

A new spin-anisotropic harmonic honeycomb iridate

The physics of Mott insulators underlies diverse phenomena ranging from high temperature superconductivity to exotic magnetism. Although both the electron spin and the structure of the local orbitals play a key role in this physics, in most systems these are connected only indirectly --- via the Pauli exclusion principle and the Coulomb interaction. Iridium-based oxides (iridates) open a further dimension to this problem by introducing strong spin-orbit interactions, such that the Mott physics has a strong orbital character. In the layered honeycomb iridates this is thought to generate highly spin-anisotropic interactions, coupling the spin orientation to a given spatial direction of exchange and leading to strongly frustrated magnetism. The potential for new physics emerging from such interactions has driven much scientific excitement, most recently in the search for a new quantum spin liquid, first discussed by Kitaev \cite{kitaev_anyons_2006}. Here we report a new iridate structure that has the same local connectivity as the layered honeycomb, but in a three-dimensional framework. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility exhibits a striking reordering of the magnetic anisotropy, giving evidence for highly spin-anisotropic exchange interactions. Furthermore, the basic structural units of this material suggest the possibility of a new family of structures, the `harmonic honeycomb' iridates. This compound thus provides a unique and exciting glimpse into the physics of a new class of strongly spin-orbit coupled Mott insulators.Comment: 12 pages including bibliography, 5 figure

Bleeding Severity in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) and Its Impact on Short-Term Clinical Outcomes

Bleeding severity in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), defined by the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC), portends adverse prognosis. We analysed data from 37,866 Australian patients undergoing PCI enrolled in the Victorian Cardiac Outcomes Registry (VCOR), and investigated the association between increasing BARC severity and in-hospital and 30-day major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) (a composite of mortality, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, target vessel revascularisation, or stroke). Independent predictors associated with major bleeding (BARC groups 3&5), and MACCE were also assessed. There was a stepwise increase in in-hospital and 30-day MACCE with greater severity of bleeding. Independent predictors of bleeding included female sex (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.34), age (OR 1.02), fibrinolytic therapy (OR 1.77), femoral access (OR 1.51), and ticagrelor (OR 1.42), all significant at the p < 0.001 level. Following adjustment of clinically important variables, BARC 3&5 bleeds (OR 4.37) were still predictive of cumulative in-hospital and 30-day MACCE. In conclusion, major bleeding is an uncommon but potentially fatal PCI complication and was independently associated with greater MACCE rates. Efforts to mitigate the occurrence of bleeding, including radial access and judicious use of potent antiplatelet therapies, may ameliorate the risk of short-term adverse clinical outcomes

Construction of challenging proline–proline junctions via diselenide–selenoester ligation chemistry

Polyproline sequences are highly abundant in prokaryotic 10 and eukaryotic proteins, where they serve as key components of 11 secondary structure. To date, construction of the proline−proline motif 12 has not been possible owing to steric congestion at the ligation junction, 13 together with an n → π* electronic interaction that reduces the 14 reactivity of acylated proline residues at the C-terminus of peptides. 15 Here, we harness the enhanced reactivity of prolyl selenoesters and a 16 trans-γ-selenoproline moiety to access the elusive proline−proline 17 junction for the first time through a diselenide−selenoester ligation− 18 deselenization manifold. The efficient nature of this chemistry is 19 highlighted in the high-yielding one-pot assembly of two proline-rich 20 polypeptide targets, submaxillary gland androgen regulated protein 3B 21 and lumbricin-1. This method provides access to the most challenging of ligation junctions, thus enabling the construction of 22 previously intractable peptide and protein targets of increasing structural complexity

Inter-rater reliability of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX): comparative data from non-clinician respondents – all raters are not equal

Primary objective: The Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) is used to obtain information about executive and emotional problems after neuropathology. The DEX is self-completed by the patient (DEX-S) and an independent rater such as a family member (DEX-I). This study examined the level of inter-rater agreement between either two or three non-clinician raters on the DEX-I in order to establish the reliability of DEX-I ratings. Methods and procedures: Family members and/or carers of 60 people with mixed neuropathology completed the DEX-I. For each patient, DEX-I ratings were obtained from either two or three raters who knew the person well prior to brain injury. Main outcomes and results: We obtained two independent-ratings for 60 patients and three independent-ratings for 36 patients. Intra-class correlations revealed that there was only a modest level of agreement for items, subscale and total DEX scores between raters for their particular family member. Several individual DEX items had low reliability and ratings for the emotion sub-scale had the lowest level of agreement. Conclusions: Independent DEX ratings completed by two or more non-clinician raters show only moderate correlation. Suggestions are made for improving the reliability of DEX-I ratings.</p

The Australian methane budget: Interpreting surface and train-borne measurements using a chemistry transport model

We investigate the Australian methane budget from 2005-2008 using the GEOS-Chem 3D chemistry transport model, focusing on the relative contribution of emissions from different sectors and the influence of long-range transport. To evaluate the model, we use in situ surface measurements of methane, methane dry air column average (XCH 4) from ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs), and train-borne surface concentration measurements from an in situ FTS along the north-south continental transect. We use gravity anomaly data from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment to describe the spatial and temporal distribution of wetland emissions and scale it to a prior emission estimate, which better describes observed atmospheric methane variability at tropical latitudes. The clean air sites of Cape Ferguson and Cape Grim are the least affected by local emissions, while Wollongong, located in the populated southeast with regional coal mining, samples the most locally polluted air masses (2.5% of the total air mass versus \u3c1% at other sites). Averaged annually, the largest single source above background of methane at Darwin is long-range transport, mainly from Southeast Asia, accounting for ~25% of the change in surface concentration above background. At Cape Ferguson and Cape Grim, emissions from ruminant animals are the largest source of methane above background, at approximately 20% and 30%, respectively, of the surface concentration. At Wollongong, emissions from coal mining are the largest source above background representing 60% of the surface concentration. The train data provide an effective way of observing transitions between urban, desert, and tropical landscapes. Copyright Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union