Does It Pay to Shock? Reactions to Shocking and Nonshocking Advertising Content among University Students

Although the use of shocking content in advertising appeals has been widely adopted, the effectiveness of such communication strategies has not been empirically investigated. In two laboratory studies, conducted in the context of HIV AIDS prevention, we examine the effectiveness of shock advertising in comparison to the commonly used appeals of fear and information. Our findings suggest that shocking content in an advertisement significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior among a group of university students.

Influence of different instrumentation modalities on the surface characteristics and biofilm formation on dental implant neck, in vitro.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate surface characteristics of implants after using different instruments and biofilm formation following instrumentation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-five commercially available dental implants were embedded into seven plastic models, attached to a phantom head and randomly assigned to seven instrumentation groups: (1) stainless steel (SSC) or (2) titanium curettes (TC); air-polisher using glycine-based (3) perio (PP) or (4) soft (SP) powders or (5) erythritol powder (EP); and an ultrasonic device using (6) stainless steel (PS) or (7) plastic-coated instruments (PI). Half of each implant neck in each group (n = 5) was treated once (30 s), while the other half was left uninstrumented (control). An eighth (8) treatment group used a bur/polisher to smooth two implants (SM). Following instrumentation implants were rinsed (5 ml Ringer's solution), analysed under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and subjected twice (separately) to bacterial colonization with Streptococcus gordonii (2 h) and a mixed culture (S. gordonii, Actinomyces naeslundii, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia; 24 h). RESULTS Visual assessment of SEM pictures revealed surface modifications (smoothening to roughening) following instrumentation. These alterations differed between the instrument groups and from the control. Quantitative scoring of the photographs revealed that SSC caused a significantly rougher surface compared to other instruments (P  0.05) were evident between instrumented or control surfaces in either culture. CONCLUSIONS Overall, no significant differences were observed in the surface characteristics (except for SSC) or bacterial colonization based on one-time instrumentation

Clinical and laboratory evaluation of the effects of different treatment modalities on titanium healing caps: a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of treatment modalities on titanium surface characteristics and surrounding tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighteen participants each had four titanium healing caps (HC) attached to four newly inserted implants. After healing, each HC was randomly assigned to either (1) titanium curettes (TC), (2) stainless steel ultrasonic tip (PS), (3) erythritol air-polishing powder (EP), or (4) only rubber cup polishing (CON). Probing depths (PD), bleeding on probing (BOP), matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP-8), and periopathogens were recorded before and 3 months following instrumentation. After final assessments, HCs were removed, cleaned, and subjected to (a) bacterial colonization (Streptococcus gordonii, 24 h; mixed culture, 24 h) and (b) gingival fibroblasts (5 days). HC surfaces were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). RESULTS No significant differences between the groups were evident before or after instrumentation for PD and BOP (except TC showed a significant decrease in PD; p = 0.049). MMP-8 levels and bacterial loads were always very low. MMP-8 decreased further after instrumentation, while bacteria levels showed no change. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were evident in bacterial colonization or fibroblast attachment. A comparison of the overall mean SEM surface roughness scores showed a significant difference between all groups (p < 0.0001) with the lowest roughness after EP. CONCLUSIONS All treatments performed yielded comparable outcomes and may be implemented safely. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Clinicians may fear implant surface damage, but all instrumentation types are safe and non-damaging. They can be implemented as needed upon considering the presence of staining and soft and hard deposits

B cell expansion and lymphomagenesis induced by chronic CD40 signaling is strictly dependent on CD19.

CD40, a member of the Tumor necrosis factor receptor family, is expressed on all mature B-cells and on most B-cell lymphomas. Recently, we have shown that constitutive activation of CD40-signaling in B-cells induced by a fusion protein consisting of the transmembrane part of the Epstein-Barr viral Latent Membrane Protein 1 (LMP1) and the cytoplasmic part of CD40 (LMP1/CD40) drives B-cell lymphoma development in transgenic mice. Since LMP1/CD40-expressing B-cells showed an upregulation of CD19, we investigated CD19 function in CD40-driven B-cell expansion and lymphomagenesis. Here, we demonstrate that ablation of CD19 in LMP1/CD40 transgenic mice resulted in a severe loss and reduced life span of mature B-cells and completely abrogated development of B-cell lymphoma. CD19 is localized to lipid rafts and constitutively activated by the LMP1/CD40 fusion protein in B-cells. We provide evidence that the improved survival and malignant transformation of LMP1/CD40-expressing B-cells is dependent on activation of the MAPK Erk that is mediated through CD19 in a PI3K-dependent manner. Our data suggest that constitutively active CD40 is dependent on CD19 to transmit survival- and proliferation-signals. Moreover, we detected a similarly functioning prosurvival pathway involving phosphorylated CD19 and PI3K-dependent Erk-phosphorylation in human Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma cell lines. Our data provides evidence that CD19 plays an important role in transmitting survival and proliferation signals downstream of CD40 and therefore might be an interesting therapeutic target for the treatment of lymphoma undergoing chronic CD40-signaling