Tell Me Your Story and I Will Tell Your Sales: A Topic Model Analysis of Narrative Style and Firm Performance on Etsy

Strategy scholars have widely recognized the central role that narratives play in the construction of organizational identities. Moreover, storytelling is an important strategic asset that firms can leverage to inspire employees, excite investors and engage customers' attention. This chapter illustrates how advancements in computational linguistic may offer opportunities to analyze the stylistic elements that make a story more convincing. Specifically, we use a topic model to examine how narrative conventionality influences the performance of 78,758 craftsmen selling their handmade items in the digital marketplace of Etsy. Our findings provide empirical evidence that effective narratives display enough conventional features to align with audience expectations, yet preserve some uniqueness to pique audience interest. By elucidating our approach, we hope to stimulate further research at the interface of style, language and strategy

Physiopathology and biomechanics of hip osteoarthritis

Several factors seem to play a relevant role in the pathogenesis of hip osteoarthritis. Among these, an altered biomechanic and neuromuscular integrity of the hip joint should be considered. This is a review of the recent international literature concerning the role of loads and strengths acting on the hip joint, in order to better understand the pathogenesis and the physiopathology of the hip osteoarthritis. The study of these factors might be important to prevent the development of the osteoarthritis and might suggest the conservative treatment. In particular, the role of the balance among the muscles working in maintaining the equilibrium of the acting strengths is matter of discussion. The articular and neuromuscular dysfunction might induce an altered load distribution in the hip, particularly on the articular cartilage surface, and seems to favour the development of hip osteoarthritis..

Impact of Sleeve Gastrectomy on Weight Loss, Glucose Homeostasis, and Comorbidities in Severely Obese Type 2 Diabetic Subjects

This study was undertaken to assess medium-term effects of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on body weight and glucose homeostasis in severely obese type 2 diabetic (T2DM) subjects. Twenty-five obese T2DM subjects (10 M/15 F, age 45 ± 9 years, BMI 48 ± 8 kg/m2, M ± SD) underwent evaluation of anthropometric/clinical parameters and glucose homeostasis before, 3 and 9–15 months after LSG. Mean BMI decreased from 48 ± 8 kg/m2 to 40 ± 9 kg/m2 (P < .001) at 3 months and 34 ± 6 kg/m2 (P < .001) at 9–15 months after surgery. Remission of T2DM (fasting plasma glucose < 126 mg/dL and HbA1c < 6.5% in the absence of hypoglycemic treatment) occurred in all patients but one. There was a remarkable reduction in the percentage of patients requiring antihypertensive and hypolipidemic drugs. Our study shows that LSG is effective in producing a significant and sustained weight loss and improving glucose homeostasis in severely obese T2DM patients

Wearable augmented reality platform for aiding complex 3D trajectory tracing

Augmented reality (AR) Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) are emerging as the most efficient output medium to support manual tasks performed under direct vision. Despite that, technological and human-factor limitations still hinder their routine use for aiding high-precision manual tasks in the peripersonal space. To overcome such limitations, in this work, we show the results of a user study aimed to validate qualitatively and quantitatively a recently developed AR platform specifically conceived for guiding complex 3D trajectory tracing tasks. The AR platform comprises a new-concept AR video see-through (VST) HMD and a dedicated software framework for the effective deployment of the AR application. In the experiments, the subjects were asked to perform 3D trajectory tracing tasks on 3D-printed replica of planar structures or more elaborated bony anatomies. The accuracy of the trajectories traced by the subjects was evaluated by using templates designed ad hoc to match the surface of the phantoms. The quantitative results suggest that the AR platform could be used to guide high-precision tasks: on average more than 94% of the traced trajectories stayed within an error margin lower than 1 mm. The results confirm that the proposed AR platform will boost the profitable adoption of AR HMDs to guide high precision manual tasks in the peripersonal space

Key Ergonomics Requirements and Possible Mechanical Solutions for Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Displays in Surgery

In the context of a European project, we identified over 150 requirements for the development of an augmented reality (AR) head-mounted display (HMD) specifically tailored to support highly challenging manual surgical procedures. The requirements were established by surgeons from different specialties and by industrial players working in the surgical field who had strong commitments to the exploitation of this technology. Some of these requirements were specific to the project, while others can be seen as key requirements for the implementation of an efficient and reliable AR headset to be used to support manual activities in the peripersonal space. The aim of this work is to describe these ergonomic requirements that impact the mechanical design of the HMDs, the possible innovative solutions to these requirements, and how these solutions have been used to implement the AR headset in surgical navigation. We also report the results of a preliminary qualitative evaluation of the AR headset by three surgeons

Subclinical dermal involvement is detectable by high frequency ultrasound even in patients with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

Background: The aim of the study was to detect by skin high-frequency ultrasound (US) possible subclinical skin involvement in patients affected by limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc), in those skin areas apparently not affected by the disease on the basis of a normal modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS). Differences in dermal thickness (DT) in comparison with healthy subjects were investigated. Methods: Fifty patients with lcSSc (age 62 \ub1 13 years (mean \ub1 SD), disease duration 5 \ub1 5 years) and 50 sex-matched and age-matched healthy subjects (age 62 \ub1 11 years) were enrolled. DT was evaluated by both mRSS and US at the usual 17 skin areas (zygoma, fingers, dorsum of the hands, forearms, upper arms, chest, abdomen, thighs, lower legs and feet). Non-parametric tests were used for the statistical analysis. Results: Subclinical dermal involvement was detected by US even in the skin areas in patients with lcSSc, who had a normal local mRSS. In addition, statistically significantly higher mean DT was found in almost all skin areas, when compared to healthy subjects (p &lt; 0.0001 for all areas). In particular, DT was significantly greater in patients with lcSSc than in healthy subjects in four out of six skin areas with a normal mRSS (score = 0) (upper arm, chest and abdomen), despite the clinical classification of lcSSc. Conclusions: This study strongly suggests that subclinical dermal involvement may be detectable by US even in skin areas with a normal mRSS in patients classified as having lcSSc. This should be taken into account during SSc subset classification in clinical studies/trial

Laparoscopic reinforced sleeve gastrectomy: early results and complications

BACKGROUND: Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) was pioneered as a two-stage intervention for super and super-super obesity to minimize morbidity and mortality; it is employed increasingly as a primary procedure. Early outcomes and integrity of laparoscopic SG (LSG) against leak using a technique incorporating gastric transection-line reinforcement were studied. METHODS: Between 2003 and 2009, 121 patients underwent LSG (16, two-stage; 105, primary). Of the patients, 66% were women, mean age 38.8 ± 10.9 (15.0-64.0), and body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)) 48.7 ± 9.3 (33.7-74.8). Bovine pericardium (Peri-Strips Dry [PSD]) was used to reinforce the staple line. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used, as appropriate. The paired t test was used to assess change from baseline; bivariate analyses and logistic regression were used to identify preoperative patient characteristics predictive of suboptimal weight loss. RESULTS: Mean operative time was 105 min (95-180), and mean hospitalization was 5.6 days (1-14). There was no mortality. There were 6 (5.0%) complications: 1 intraoperative leak, 1 stricture, 1 trocar-site bleed, 1 renal failure, and 2 wound infections. There were no postoperative staple-line leaks. Following 15 concomitant hiatal hernia operations, 3 (20%) recurred: 1 revised to RYGB and 2 in standby. Two post-LSG hiatal hernias of the two-stage series required revisions because of symptoms. BMI decreased 24.7% at 6 months (n = 55) to 37.5 ± 9.3 (22.2-58.1); %EWL was 48.1 ± 19.3 (15.5-98.9). Twelve-month BMI (n = 41) was 38.4 ± 10.5 (19.3-62.3); %EWL was 51.7 ± 25.0 (8.9-123.3). Forty-eight-month BMI (n = 13) was 35.6 ± 6.8 (24.9-47.5); %EWL was 61.1 ± 12.2 (43.9-82.1) (p 70% of patients who experienced <50% EWL at 6 months. At 2 weeks, 100% of type 2 diabetes patients (n = 23) were off medication (mean HbA(1C), 5.9 ± 0.5%; glycemia, 90.0 ± 19.9 mg/dL (p < 0.01) at 3 months). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic PSD-reinforced LSG as a staged or definitive procedure is safe and effective in the short term and provides rapid type 2 diabetes mellitus reduction with a very low rate of complications

The role of nailfold videocapillaroscopy in Raynaud's phenomenon monitoring and early diagnosis of systemic sclerosis

Several connective tissue diseases, in particular systemic sclerosis (SSc), have Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) as their first clinical manifestation. Primary RP represents a benign condition often observed in otherwise healthy subjects, especially women: it is due to an exaggerated response to the physiological cold-induced vasospasm, whereas the secondary form of RP is typically associated with connective tissue diseases, especially SSc. Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), particulary after the recent technological advances, is a safe and reliable method to observe the microvascular structure and its early changes, especially during the transition from primary to secondary RP. In case of SSc, by considering validated patterns and scoring systems, NVC is the main tool that rheumatologists can rely on, besides the presence of specific auto-antibodies, to perform a very early diagnosis of the disease. This implies the possibility of early treatment of SSc, with an eye of predicting and preventing its major clinical complications