Analyzing Factors Affecting Repurchase Intention During Gezi Park Brand Protests

During the Gezi Park protests, some major brands were criticized within social media either for what they did or did not and social pressure to boycott those brands was highly apparent. Many newspaper articles highlighted that negative WOM during the protests might have affected consumers’ brand related knowledge. This notion is further supported by previous research. What happened during and after Gezi Park protests creates a perfect environment to analyze this effect. In addition, it was believed that only a portion of the consumers were highly affected by the protest calls. Consequently, this study aims to understand whether consumers have really changed their intention to buy from of a bank and a domestic coffee chain due to protest calls. The study also analyzes whether only a proportion of the consumers were affected and whether their trust, loyalty, awareness, perceived quality, and self-construal, and the company’s perceived social responsibility played a significant role in this change. A hierarchical logistic regression procedure (Forward Wald) with 357 usable cases was used with likelihood of change in purchase as the dependent variable. The results indicate that for the domestic coffee shop only perceived social responsibility plays a role in the change of consumers’ purchase intention. However, for the bank within the study, perceived social responsibility is found to be an insignificant contributor, whereas loyalty and awareness are found   to be significant contributors to consumers’ purchase decisions. Perceived quality/trust and consumers’ self-construal are found to have no effect on the change of consumers’ intention for both brands under study. Keywords: Brand Communication, Boycott, Brand Loyalty, Purchase Intentio

Brand Image, Satisfaction, and Brand Loyalty - How Effective Are They in the Automotive Industry Market Share

The study analyzes the influence of satisfaction, image, and loyalty on market share within the automotive industry by using real market data to capture market share of the car brands within the study. The results of the study confirm that automobile companies, which operate in a very competitive and dynamic environment need to ensure customer satisfaction and positive brand image, that collectively affect customer loyalty to keep sustainable growth. Keywords: brand image, brand loyalty, market share, satisfactio

Sudden Death of a Pregnant Woman in Third Trimester with No Risk Factor

Acute myocardial infarction in pregnancy is rare and life-threatening for both the mother and the fetus. We present the case of a 31-year-old previously healthy woman with no risk factors at 32 weeks of gestation who applied with vomiting, dyspnea and orthopnea. A respiratory arrest developed followed by loss of the fetal viability, cardiac arrest, and failure of resuscitation. We aim to raise awareness about the clinical approach to pregnant patients who are to be considered with a broad spectrum of differential diagnosis

alpha-Lipoic Acid Vaginal Administration Contrasts Inflammation and Preterm Delivery in Rats

alpha-Lipoic acid (ALA) is a safe natural molecule involved in the immunomodulation of many physiological processes. Orally administered ALA has been reported to treat several inflammatory pathologies and support pregnancy. Our study aimed at testing ALA vaginal administration in female Wistar rats evaluating its tissue distribution (experiment I), impact on implantation process (experiment II), and effectiveness in contrasting induced preterm birth (experiment III). In experiment I, rats were intravaginally treated with 50 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg ALA, or with a physiologic solution, for 4 days. alpha-Lipoic acid distribution in uterus and cervical tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemical analyses. In experiment II, rats received intravaginally the above treatments for 5 days, then they were mated and, if pregnant, included in the experiment to evaluate both implantation rate and the content of implantation mediators in uterus tissues. In experiment III, pregnant rats were pretreated with placebo or with vaginal ALA for 4 days and then induced to delivery with mifepristone plus PGE2 on the 19th day of pregnancy. The delivery time was recorded, and the messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were detected in the uterine tissues by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Immunohistochemistry was also performed. Results showed that vaginal ALA was well absorbed and distributed. The treatment did not affect the implantation process and was able to significantly revert mifepristone plus prostaglandin E2 effects, delaying the timing of delivery and significantly decreasing mRNA synthesis and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. We provide for the first time new information on vaginal ALA use, even during pregnancy, opening a perspective for further studies

Clinical characteristics of 74 pandemic H1N1 influenza patients from Turkey Risk factors for fatality

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical characteristics and certain risk factors that may be associated with fatal outcome in patients with H1N1 influenza

Prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis in the Metropolitan Area of Edirne City, Turkey

Objective: The prevalence and incidence of multiple sclerosis may vary according to the influence of the altitude of a geographical area as well as the genetic and environmental factors. This study ained to determine the incidence and prevalence of multiple sclerosis in Edirne population