The role of hotel image and image congruence and their effects on repeat intention in the hotel industry

The primary objective of this study was to empirically determine the relationship between hotel image, image congruence and repeat intention of Las Vegas Hotels. The sample (N = 211) included customers of various hotels in Las Vegas. The data was collected on the Las Vegas Strip through self-administered surveys and was analyzed using Correlation, Analysis of Variance, and Regression. As previous research indicated that a favorable image led to repeat patronage, the findings from this study determined a significant effect of hotel image and image congruence on repeat intention. Some other interesting findings included variations in the effects of hotel image and image congruence on repeat intention for three different groups of hotels and gender. The findings from this study not only support the few resources available on hotel image, but can also be a good guide for future studies on image and intention in the hotel, hospitality and services industry

The Essence of Transpersonal Psychology Contemporary Views

The authors compiled 80 chronologically ordered passages from the contemporary psychology literature that address the essence of transpersonal psychology. A thematic analysis of these passages revealed that the two most frequent categories, occurring 53 (66.2%) and 49 (61.2%) times respectively, were: (a) Going beyond or transcending the individual, ego, self, the personal, personality, or personal identity; existence of a deeper, true, or authentic Self; and (b) Spirituality, psychospiritual, psychospiritual development, the spiritual, spirit. Other, less frequent, themes included: special states of consciousness; interconnectivity/unity; going beyond other schools of psychology; emphasis on a scientific approach; mysticism; full range of consciousness; greater potential; inclusion of non-Western psychologies; meditation; and existence of a wider reality

Parental monitoring trajectories and gambling among a longitudinal cohort of urban youth

Aim: To test the strength of the association between parental monitoring trajectories throughout early adolescence (ages 11–14) and gambling behaviours by young adulthood (age 22). Design: Longitudinal cohort design. Setting: Baltimore, Maryland. Participants: The sample of 514 participants with gambling data between ages 16–22 and parental monitoring data between ages 11–14 were predominantly African American and received subsidized lunches at age 6. Measurements: The South Oaks Gambling Screen and South Oaks Gambling Screen–Revised for Adolescents collected self-reports on annual gambling and gambling problems between ages 16–22. The Parental Monitoring Subscale of the Structured Interview of Parent Management Skills and Practices–Youth Version collected self-reports on annual parental monitoring between ages 11–14. Findings: General growth mixture modelling identified two parental monitoring trajectories: (i) ‘stable’ class (84.9%) began with a high level of parental monitoring at age 11 that remained steady to age 14; (ii) ‘declining’ class (15.1%) began with a significantly lower level of parental monitoring at age 11 and experienced a significant to through age 14. The declining class had increased significantly unadjusted (OR = 1.91; 95% CI = 1.59, 2.23; P ≤ 0.001) and adjusted (aOR = 1.57; 95% CI = 1.24, 1.99; P = 0.01) odds of problem gambling compared with non-gambling. Conclusion: Low and/or declining parental monitoring of children between the ages of 11 and 14 is associated significantly with problem gambling when those children reach young adulthood

Investigating the association between strategic and pathological gambling behaviors and substance use in youth: Could religious faith play a differential role?

Objectives: This study investigated the link between gambling behaviors and the use of alcohol, drugs, and nonprescribed prescription medications, while exploring the moderating role of distinct religious faiths. Methods:: In 2010, 570 students from the American University of Beirut completed a self-reported, anonymous English questionnaire, which included lifetime gambling and past-year substance use measures. Results: Half (55%) were lifetime gamblers, of whom, 12% were probable pathological gamblers. About 60% were strategic gamblers. Lifetime gamblers were more than twice as likely as nongamblers to report past-year illegal drug use and alcohol abuse. Probable pathological gamblers were also more than four times as likely as nongamblers to report nonmedical prescription drug use, illegal drug use, and alcohol abuse. Compared to nonstrategic gamblers, strategic gamblers had more than three times the odds of illegal drug and cigarette use. The link between alcohol abuse and gambling was stronger among Christians than Muslims. Conversely, Muslims were more likely to report the co-occurrence of various gambling behaviors (lifetime, probable pathological, and strategic gambling) with both illegal drug use and cigarette use. Conclusions: Gambling and substance use behaviors were strongly linked in this sample of youth from Lebanon, corroborating the evidence from North America. Particularly novel are the co-occurrence of pathological gambling and nonmedical prescription drug use and the potential differential role of religion

Examining potential school contextual influences on gambling among high school youth

Background and Objectives: Gambling is an increasing concern among adolescence, yet there has been limited investigation into school-level factors that may increase the risk for gambling. The current study examined the relationship between substance use and gambling, and explored the influence of school context on adolescent gambling. Methods: Data come from 25,456 students in 58 high schools participating in the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative. Youth-reports of socio-demographics, lifetime gambling, and past-month substance use (ie, alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, non-medical prescription drug) were collected. School-level characteristics were student suspension rate, student mobility, percentage of students receiving free/reduce-priced meals, percentage of African American students, urbanicity, gambling prevalence, gambling problem prevalence, and substance use prevalence. Weighted multilevel analyses were conducted. Results: One-third (n = 8,318) reported lifetime gambling, and 10% (n = 2,580) of the full sample, or 31% of the gamblers, experienced gambling problems. Being male and alcohol, marijuana, and non-medical prescription drug use were associated with twice the odds of gambling. Among gamblers, being male, African American, and cigarette, marijuana, and non-medical prescription drug use were associated with higher odds of gambling problems. The school-level factors of suspension rate and percentage of African American had minimal, inverse associations with gambling; however, none were related to gambling problems. Conclusions: Multilevel results indicated that adolescents that are male and use substances are more likely to gamble and have gambling problems. Scientific Significance: The findings indicate a need for prevention programs targeting risky behaviors to also target gambling as such behaviors often co-occur among adolescents

Treatment of Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC) infections: a review of published case series and case reports

Grace C. Lee is with the Pharmacotherapy Education and Research Center, School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX and the College of Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX USA David S. Burgess is with the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, Lexington, KY, USAThe emergence of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) producing bacteria has become a significant global public health challenge while the optimal treatment remains undefined. We performed a systematic review of published studies and reports of treatment outcomes of KPC infections using MEDLINE (2001–2011). Articles or cases were excluded if one of the following was fulfilled: no individual patient data provided, no treatment regimen specified, no treatment outcome specified, report of colonization, or greater than three antibiotics were used to treat the KPC infection. Data extracted included patient demographics, site of infection, organism, KPC subtype, antimicrobial therapy directed at KPC-infection, and treatment outcome. Statistical analysis was performed in an exploratory manner. A total of 38 articles comprising 105 cases were included in the analysis. The majority of infections were due to K. pneumoniae (89%). The most common site of infection was blood (52%), followed by respiratory (30%), and urine (10%). Forty-nine (47%) cases received monotherapy and 56 (53%) cases received combination therapy directed at the KPC-infection. Significantly more treatment failures were seen in cases that received monotherapy compared to cases who received combination therapy (49% vs 25%; p= 0.01). Respiratory infections were associated with higher rates of treatment failure with monotherapy compared to combination therapy (67% vs 29% p= 0.03). Polymyxin monotherapy was associated with higher treatment failure rates compared to polymyxin-based combination therapy (73% vs 29%; p= 0.02); similarly, higher treatment failure rates were seen with carbapenem monotherapy compared to carbapenem-based combination therapy (60% vs 26%; p= 0.03). Overall treatment failure rates were not significantly different in the three most common antibiotic-class combinations: polymyxin plus carbapenem, polymyxin plus tigecycline, polymyxin plus aminoglycoside (30%, 29%, and 25% respectively; p=0.6). In conclusion, combination therapy is recommended for the treatment of KPC infections; however, which combination of antimicrobial agents needs to be established in future prospective clinical [email protected]

Gambling and sexual behaviors in African-American adolescents

Objectives: Late adolescence represents a developmental risk period when many youth become involved in multiple forms of high-risk behaviors with adverse consequences. This study assessed the degree to which two such behaviors, adolescent sexual behaviors and gambling, were associated in a community-based sample with a large African-American presence. Study design: Data are derived from a cohort study. This study focuses on 427 African-American participants with complete information on gambling and sexual behaviors by age 18 (72% of original cohort). Gambling involvement and related problems were based on responses to the South Oaks Gambling Screen — Revised for Adolescents. Several questions assessed sexual behaviors, including age of initiation. Multivariable logistic regression models adjusted for demographics, intervention status, impulsivity, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and alcohol and illegal drug use. Results: Almost half of the sample (49%, n = 211) had gambled at least once before age 18. More gamblers than non-gamblers had initiated sexual intercourse by age 18 (aOR: 2.29 [1.16, 4.52]). Among those who had initiated sexual activity, more gamblers than non-gamblers with high impulsivity levels at age 13 (vs. low impulsivity levels) had become pregnant or had impregnated someone. Among those who had initiated sexual activity by age 18, more male gamblers had impregnated someone by age 18 as compared to female gamblers becoming pregnant. Conclusions: Gambling and sexual behaviors often co-occur among adolescents. Such findings prompt the need for the inclusion of gambling, an often overlooked risky behavior, in behavioral prevention/intervention programs targeting adolescents

Inferring genetic interactions via a nonlinear model and an optimization algorithm

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Biochemical pathways are gradually becoming recognized as central to complex human diseases and recently genetic/transcriptional interactions have been shown to be able to predict partial pathways. With the abundant information made available by microarray gene expression data (MGED), nonlinear modeling of these interactions is now feasible. Two of the latest advances in nonlinear modeling used sigmoid models to depict transcriptional interaction of a transcription factor (TF) for a target gene, but do not model cooperative or competitive interactions of several TFs for a target.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>An S-shape model and an optimization algorithm (GASA) were developed to infer genetic interactions/transcriptional regulation of several genes simultaneously using MGED. GASA consists of a genetic algorithm (GA) and a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, which is enhanced by a steepest gradient descent algorithm to avoid being trapped in local minimum. Using simulated data with various degrees of noise, we studied how GASA with two model selection criteria and two search spaces performed. Furthermore, GASA was shown to outperform network component analysis, the time series network inference algorithm (TSNI), GA with regular GA (GAGA) and GA with regular SA. Two applications are demonstrated. First, GASA is applied to infer a subnetwork of human T-cell apoptosis. Several of the predicted interactions are supported by the literature. Second, GASA was applied to infer the transcriptional factors of 34 cell cycle regulated targets in <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, and GASA performed better than one of the latest advances in nonlinear modeling, GAGA and TSNI. Moreover, GASA is able to predict multiple transcription factors for certain targets, and these results coincide with experiments confirmed data in YEASTRACT.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>GASA is shown to infer both genetic interactions and transcriptional regulatory interactions well. In particular, GASA seems able to characterize the nonlinear mechanism of transcriptional regulatory interactions (TIs) in yeast, and may be applied to infer TIs in other organisms. The predicted genetic interactions of a subnetwork of human T-cell apoptosis coincide with existing partial pathways, suggesting the potential of GASA on inferring biochemical pathways.</p

Transitions in Gambling Participation During Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine transitions in gambling participation from late adolescence into emerging adulthood and to identify factors (i.e., gender, race, intervention status, lunch status, conduct disorder, parental monitoring, neighborhood environment, and substance use) that might influence these transitions. Methods: Markov modeling was used to describe the movement between past-year gambling states (i.e., nongambling and gambling) across 5 years. Annual data on the past-year gambling behavior and substance use were collected from 515 young men and women starting at the age of 17 years. Results: Past-year gambling declined from 51% prevalence at the age of 17 years to 21% prevalence at the age of 22 years. Participants who reported no past-year gambling at a particular annual assessment had more than an 80% probability of also reporting no past-year gambling at the following assessment. Men were 1.07–2.82 times more likely than women to transition from past-year nongambling to gambling year to year, and women were 1.27–5.26 times more likely than men to transition from past-year gambling to nongambling year to year. In addition, gender and past-year tobacco use interacted such that men who used tobacco were most likely (and men who did not use tobacco least likely) to gamble at baseline. Conclusions: Transition rates between gambling states appear to be relatively stable over time from late adolescence into emerging adulthood; however, men and those who engage in substance use may be at an increased risk of gambling participation

Transitions in Gambling Participation During Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine transitions in gambling participation from late adolescence into emerging adulthood and to identify factors (i.e., gender, race, intervention status, lunch status, conduct disorder, parental monitoring, neighborhood environment, and substance use) that might influence these transitions. Methods: Markov modeling was used to describe the movement between past-year gambling states (i.e., nongambling and gambling) across 5 years. Annual data on the past-year gambling behavior and substance use were collected from 515 young men and women starting at the age of 17 years. Results: Past-year gambling declined from 51% prevalence at the age of 17 years to 21% prevalence at the age of 22 years. Participants who reported no past-year gambling at a particular annual assessment had more than an 80% probability of also reporting no past-year gambling at the following assessment. Men were 1.07–2.82 times more likely than women to transition from past-year nongambling to gambling year to year, and women were 1.27–5.26 times more likely than men to transition from past-year gambling to nongambling year to year. In addition, gender and past-year tobacco use interacted such that men who used tobacco were most likely (and men who did not use tobacco least likely) to gamble at baseline. Conclusions: Transition rates between gambling states appear to be relatively stable over time from late adolescence into emerging adulthood; however, men and those who engage in substance use may be at an increased risk of gambling participation