Which circulating antioxidant vitamins are confounded by socioeconomic deprivation? The MIDSPAN family study

<p><b>Background:</b> Antioxidant vitamins are often described as having “independent” associations with risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. We aimed to compare to what extent a range of antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids are associated with adulthood and childhood markers of socioeconomic deprivation and to adverse lifestyle factors.</p> <p><b>Methods and Findings:</b> Socioeconomic and lifestyle measures were available in 1040 men and 1298 women from the MIDSPAN Family Study (30–59 years at baseline) together with circulating levels of vitamins A, C, E, and carotenoids (α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein and lycopene). Markers of socioeconomic deprivation in adulthood were consistently as strongly associated with lower vitamin C and carotenoid levels as markers of adverse lifestyle; the inverse association with overcrowding was particularly consistent (vitamin C and carotenoids range from 19.1% [95% CI 30.3–6.0] to 38.8% [49.9–25.3] lower among those in overcrowded residencies). These associations were consistent after adjusting for month, classical CVD risk factors, body mass index, physical activity, vitamin supplements, dietary fat and fibre intake. Similar, but weaker, associations were seen for childhood markers of deprivation. The association of vitamin A or E were strikingly different; several adult adverse lifestyle factors associated with higher levels of vitamin A and E, including high alcohol intake for vitamin A (9.5% [5.7–13.5]) and waist hip ratio for vitamin E (9.5% [4.8–14.4]), with the latter associations partially explained by classical risk factors, particularly cholesterol levels.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Plasma vitamin C and carotenoids have strong inverse associations with adulthood markers of social deprivation, whereas vitamin A and E appear positively related to specific adverse lifestyle factors. These findings should help researchers better contextualize blood antioxidant vitamin levels by illustrating the potential limitations associated with making causal inferences without consideration of social deprivation.</p&gt

Sharp practice : illegal, unethical and questionable practices in global marketing

Abstract not available

An investigation into the relationship between price and loyalty when assessing the propensity to stay with a service provider in a B2B market

Not available

Cross-cultural knowledge management: an exploratory case study of an Australian joint venture in China

Abstract not available

Rethinking marketing education : activity based marketing : a new paradigm for learning marketing theory and practice

The first step in changing our ways of the thinking about marketing is to change how marketing is taught. The traditional approach based on the decisions about the 4 (or more) P’s is increasingly irrelevant in the complex and varied marketing environment that exists today. This paper proposes an activity-based marketing approach (ABM) as a better pedagogical alternative to the 4Ps ‘decision-based’ approach to marketing education. This new approach is based on the hypothesis that all business operations, irrespective of their size, their customer relationships, or their product-markets, have in common the same set of marketing activities. These activities are: (i) monitoring-analysis, (ii) aligning (to the environment) and (iii) delivering. Because these activities are universal to both business and non-business environments they provide a better conceptual structure in which to understand marketing management actions than do the constraints of the Ps approach. This paper discusses the authors’ application of ABM as the basis for establishing a more creative framework for understanding marketing actions and marketing decisions. In addition it proposes there are significant advantages for business to adopt this framework as the way to manage the complex tasks that today fall within marketing’s responsibilit

NeuroD2 is necessary for development and survival of central nervous system neurons

NeuroD2 is sufficient to induce cell cycle arrest and neurogenic differentiation in nonneuronal cells. To determine whether this bHLH transcription factor was necessary for normal brain development, we used homologous recombination to replace the neuroD2 coding region with a p-galactosidase reporter gene. The neuroD2 gene expressed the reporter in a subset of neurons in the central nervous system, including in neurons of the neocortex and hippocampus and cerebellum. NeuroD2(-/-)mice showed normal development until about day P14, when they began exhibiting ataxia and failure to thrive. Brain areas that expressed neuroD2 were smaller than normal and showed higher rates of apoptosis, Cerebella of neuroD2-null mice expressed reduced levels of genes encoding proteins that support cerebellar granule cell survival, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Decreased levels of BDNF and higher rates of apoptosis in cerebellar granule cells of neuroDe(-/-)mice indicate that neuroD2 is necessary for the survival of specific populations of central nervous system neurons in addition to its known effects on cell cycle regulation and neuronal differentiation. (C) 2001 Academic Press