"Lose 30lbs in 30 days" : assigning responsibility for deceptive advertising of weight-loss products

Purpose &ndash; The aim of this paper is to outline key social marketing issues apparent in deceptive weight-loss advertising, from the perspective of government policy-makers, manufacturers, the media, and consumers. The purpose is to examine the complexity of one aspect of the obesity battle and provide a framework for coordinated and integrated social marketing initiatives from a multiple stakeholder perspective.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; The results of deceptive weight-loss advertising are framed using the harm chain model, and the paper offers recommended solutions based on a framework of marketing, education and policy changes across the network of stakeholders.Findings &ndash; This paper concludes that a resolution to the harm created by deceptive weight-loss advertising can be achieved by the creation of a more holistic, system-wide solution to this important health and policy issue. This networked approach must involve all aspects of harm in a multi-stakeholder solution, including both upstream and downstream integration. Specific recommendations are made for policy-makers, manufacturers, the media, and consumers to achieve this goal.Social implications &ndash; From a marketing perspective, analyzing the issue of deceptive weight-loss advertising using the harm chain allows for the creation of a more holistic, system-wide solution involving stakeholders in all aspects of harm for this important health and policy issue.Originality/value &ndash; This research examines the problem of obesity and weight-loss advertising from the unique perspective of the harm chain framework. The authors make unified recommendations for various stakeholders including industry, media, government and consumers, in order to direct integrated social marketing and consumer-oriented strategies within this industry.<br /

Nuclear Receptors as Therapeutic Targets for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Lost in Translation

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by a progressive loss of neurons that leads to a broad range of disabilities, including severe cognitive decline and motor impairment, for which there are no effective therapies. Several lines of evidence support a putative therapeutic role of nuclear receptors (NRs) in these types of disorders. NRs are ligand-activated transcription factors that regulate the expression of a wide range of genes linked to metabolism and inflammation. Although the activation of NRs in animal models of neurodegenerative disease exhibits promising results, the translation of this strategy to clinical practice has been unsuccessful. In this review we discuss the role of NRs in neurodegenerative diseases in light of preclinical and clinical studies, as well as new findings derived from the analysis of transcriptomic databases from humans and animal models. We discuss the failure in the translation of NR-based therapeutic approaches and consider alternative and novel research avenues in the development of effective therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Extending the tactical horizon networking aircraft to enable persistent surveillance and target development for SOF

The NPS Tactical Horizon Extension Project objective is to define and demonstrate a concept by which task force-level commanders and below can obtain a persistent, over-the-horizon surveillance capability for the purpose of target development and other missions without tasking national or theater-level assets. Our goal is to increase the ISR capacity of units who normally would not rate the priority to task a Predator, Global Hawk, or U-2. There are two guiding tenets in developing this concept. First, the equipment and its control should be organic to the SOF unit or task force. Second, utilizing this capability should not require the soldier to carry any additional equipment into the field. Initial research led us to the idea of using networked unmanned aerial systems (UAS's) to generate an over-the-horizon surveillance capability for SOF. We demonstrated the concept by forming a network comprised of a forward ground team, an inexpensive, test-bed UAS equipped with an off-the-shelf video camera, a manned aircraft, and a tactical operations center (TOC). We attained connectivity through an ITT Mesh structure at 2.4 GHz, amplified to 1W. Researchers were from the Defense Analysis, Mechanical and Astronautical Engineering, and Information Sciences Departments. We conducted successful experiments through the USSOCOM-NPS Cooperative Field Experimentation Program.http://archive.org/details/extendingtactica109452582Outstanding ThesisApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Gallium(III)-Promoted Halocyclizations of 1,6-Diynes

Adrian Landreth was an REU student, summer 2014Cyclization of 1,6-diynes promoted by stoichiometric Ga(III) halides produces vinyl halides in good to excellent yields. Under acidic conditions, initially formed iodocyclization products undergo in situ Friedel-Crafts cyclizations, giving access to iodo-indenopyridines. The application of the vinyl halides in cross-coupling reactions has been explored, and mechanistic aspects of the cyclization are discussed.HIGMS CMLD Initiative (P50 GM067041) NSF REU - Adrian Landreth support (CHE 1156666) NSF - NMR purchase (CHE 0619339) NSF - HRMS purchase (CHE0443618