What Makes Female Players Pay for Female Mobile Games?

Extant mobile game research has paid great attention to men who play mobile games while ignoring female players. Although “willingness to pay” (WTP) is regarded as an important dependent variable in gaming research, few studies have explored this variable from an anthropomorphic perspective. To fill these gaps in the literature, this study aims to study the antecedents of WTP, with a focus on virtual in-game items and the mediating effect of work/play motivation. Based on the determinants of anthropomorphism, this work examines certain aspects of mobile games, including servant role in mobile games, a sense of communion, and the attractiveness of the characters. This study explores the effects of such characteristics on work/play motivation, as well as its influence on WTP. A game called “Love and Producer” was selected for this study, and the feedback from 230 female respondents was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that the servant role and the attractiveness of the characters affect female players’ desire to work with the characters, and the communion and the attractiveness of the characters affect female players’ desire to play with these characters. The female players’ desire to work and play with the characters directly influenced their willingness to pay for virtual game items. Moreover, the mediating effect that playing games has on female players’ desire to work/play with the characters was also validated. This article introduces new information on female game character design and interactivity in games

Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of Iliac Artery Endovascular Therapy in the Korean Vascular Intervention Society Endovascular Therapy in Lower Limb Artery Diseases (K-VIS ELLA) Registry

Background and Objectives: Limited data are available regarding long-term clinical outcomes of iliac artery endovascular therapy (EVT) in real-world practice. This study investigated long-term outcomes according to Trans-Atlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) classifications. Methods: We analyzed data from 1,705 limbs of 1,364 patients from the retrospective cohort of the multicenter Korean Vascular Intervention Society Endovascular Therapy in Lower Limb Artery Disease registry. The primary endpoint was target lesion revascularization (TLR)-free survival. Results: TASC A, B, C, and D lesions were present in 19.4%, 26.2%, 28.7%, and 25.7% of the treated limbs, respectively. The technical success rate was 96.2% and did not differ between TASC lesion types. Complications occurred in 6.8% of cases and more occurred in TASC D (11.8%). Iliac artery EVT showed a 5-year TLR-free survival of 89.2%. The TASC D group had the lowest TLR-free rate of 79.3%. TASC D (hazard ratio [HR], 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-2.73; p=0.014), plain old balloon angioplasty (HR, 4.25; 95% CI, 2.03-8.88; p<0.001), current smoker (HR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.26-2.83; p=0.002), previous bypass surgery (HR, 3.04; 95% CI, 1.28-7.19; p=0.011), combined femoropopliteal treatment (HR, 4.89; 95% CI, 3.19-7.50; p<0.001), combined below the knee treatment (HR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.25-3.89; p=0.007), and complications (HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.07-3.24; p=0.028) were predictors for TLR. Conclusions: Iliac artery EVT achieved excellent technical success and 5-year TLR-free survival. TASC D showed a favorable but lower 5-year TLR-free survival rate and higher complication rate compared with other TASC groups.N

Effects of phage endolysin SAL200 combined with antibiotics on staphylococcus aureus infection

Phages and their derivatives are increasingly being reconsidered for use in the treatment of bacterial infections due to the rising rates of antibiotic resistance. We assessed the antistaphylococcal effect of the endolysin SAL200 in combination with standard-of-care (SOC) antibiotics. The activity of SAL200 when it was combined with SOC antibiotics was assessed in vitro by checkerboard and time-kill assays and in vivo with murine bacteremia and Galleria mellonella infection models. SAL200 reduced the SOC antibiotic MICs and showed a >= 3-log(10)-CFU/ml reduction of Staphylococcus aureus counts within 30 min in time-kill assays. Combinations of SAL200 and SOC antibiotics achieved a sustained decrease of >2 log(10) CFU/ml. SAL200 significantly lowered the blood bacterial density within 1 h by >1 log(10) CFU/ml in bacteremic mice (P < 0.05 versus untreated mice), and SAL200 and SOC antibiotic combinations achieved the lowest levels of bacteremia. The bacterial density in splenic tissue at 72 h postinfection was the lowest in mice treated with SAL200 and SOC antibiotic combinations. SAL200 combined with SOC antibiotics also improved Galleria mellonella larva survival at 96 h postinfection. The combination of the phage endolysin SAL200 with SOC antistaphylococcal antibiotics showed synergistic effects in vitro and in vivo. The combination of SAL200 with SOC antibiotics could help in the treatment of difficult-to-treat S. aureus infections.Y