How Does the Stage of a Contract Affect Performance: Evidence from Professional Basketball

This study uses theories of motivation to analyze how performance changes over the life of a contract. Utilizing performance data for professional basketball players in the NBA for three seasons, the results show that performance does change over the life of a contract. Factors affecting how much control a player has over his performance are found to be important in how the players' performance changes as the contract completion nears

Digital Frugality for Managerial Tasks: Three-way Interaction Effects of Redundancy of Software on Techno-stressors

In this research, we study how non-frugal organizational IT practices can affect employee well-being in completing managerial tasks. Building on the conservation of resource theory, we will examine a three-way interaction effect of the redundancy of required skills, required resources, and obtained results on technology-driven stressors. Data was collected from 357 managers to analyze the proposed three-way interaction effect for techno-overload, techno-complexity, techno- invasion, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. This article highlights the importance of being frugal – that is, acknowledging and diminishing redundancy among ICT assets and usage within organizations - for reducing technostress among employees

Are adipokines associated with atrial fibrillation in type 2 diabetes?

Introduction: The potential effect of adipokines on the development of AF is yet to be established. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of baseline serum adipokines with 1) the presence of AF at baseline and 2) future risk of AF development. Material and methods: The current study is a sub-analysis of the prospective, randomised AVOCADO (Aspirin Vs./Or Clopidogrel in Aspirin-resistant Diabetics inflammation Outcomes) trial. The AVOCADO study included patients with type 2 DM burdened with at least two additional cardiovascular risk factors and receiving acetylsalicylic acid. In patients included in the current analysis adipokines and inflammatory biomarker levels were measured. Information on the subsequent AF diagnosis was collected after a median of 5.4 years of follow-up. Results: A total of 273 patients with type 2 DM (median age 68 years; 52% male) were included in the initial analysis comparing patients with and without AF at baseline. Patients with diagnosed AF (12%) had higher levels of serum resistin [8.5 (5.8–10.5) vs. 6.9 (5.6–8.7) ng/mL; p = 0.034], adiponectin [6.9 (5.6–8.7) vs. 2.7 (1.8–4.2) ng/mL; p = 0.032], and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide [336 (148–473) vs. 108 [45–217]; p < 0.001) than non-AF patients. There were no significant differences in serum leptin, IL-6, and TNF-alpha concentrations between the two groups. From subjects without known AF at study entry, 19% developed AF at follow-up. In logistic regression analysis, baseline adipokine levels did not predict AF development. Conclusion: In type 2 DM, patients with AF have higher resistin and adiponectin concentrations than patients with no AF. None of the studied adipokines proved a predictor of future AF development.

Sweet escape: The role of empathy in social media engagement with human versus virtual influencers

Virtual influencers engage in emotional sharing to gain and keep followers. However, given that many people use social media for diversion purposes, this emotional sharing may hinder users’ ability to escape from everyday emotional experiences, particularly for highly empathetic individuals. Using a between subjects, randomised experimental design, we explore how empathy affects reactions to virtual vs. human influencers, showing that those highest on empathy are more likely to follow a virtual influencer, and rate her as more socially attractive, than a comparable human influencer; these results disappear when the influencers’ true nature is unknown to participants. We postulate that these results represent an “escapism effect”, where the virtual influencer is expected to provide greater diversionary benefits from everyday human emotional experiences and require fewer cognitive resources in the form of emotional sense making. We present practical implications and future research opportunities arising from this effect

Oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. New possibilities of treatment

Multiple sclerosis is a progressive inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Although the primary cause of this disease has not been established yet, it is known that destruction of myelin sheaths and loss of neurons and oligodendrocytes can be observed as disease progresses. It has been suggested that a  possible link between neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration could be the phenomenon of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress develops when there are too many free radicals produced within the cell, and the natural antioxidative mechanisms are not effective enough to dispose of them. It has been proven to contribute to the pathomechanism of such neurodegenerative disorders as Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease. The role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis has also been recently confirmed, establishing it as a new target in the disease’s management. Even though the efficacy of such antioxidants as polyphenols, vitamins (A, C, E) and alpha-lipoic acid has been confirmed in many preclinical experiments, no significant effect has been shown in clinical trials. However, some clinical trials related to the use of antioxidants in multiple sclerosis treatment are still in progress. One compound with antioxidant potential that has been proven effective and safe in both preclinical and clinical trials is dimethyl fumarate. It was licensed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in 2013. Even though its mechanism of action has not been fully established, one of its known effects is the induction of antioxidant pathway related to Nrf2 transcription factor and synthesis of antioxidant enzymes, leading to decrease in oxidative stress.Stwardnienie rozsiane to choroba zapalno-demielinizacyjna ośrodkowego układu nerwowego o dotychczas nieznanej przyczynie. W przebiegu stwardnienia rozsianego następuje uszkodzenie osłonki mielinowej komórek nerwowych oraz śmierć neuronów i  oligodendrocytów. W  ostatnich latach zwrócono uwagę, że ogniwem łączącym proces zapalny z neurodegeneracją może być stres oksydacyjny, czyli przewaga tworzenia wolnych rodników nad ich eliminacją przez systemy antyoksydacyjne komórki. Udowodniono, iż stres oksydacyjny ma związek z  patogenezą wielu chorób neurodegeneracyjnych, w tym choroby Parkinsona czy choroby Alzheimera. Wykazano także jego udział w patogenezie stwardnienia rozsianego. W związku z tym zwalczanie stresu oksydacyjnego stało się jednym z nowych celów terapeutycznych. W badaniach przedklinicznych i klinicznych oceniano skuteczność różnych substancji o właściwościach antyoksydacyjnych, m.in. polifenoli, witamin, kwasu α-liponowego czy ekstraktów z Ginkgo biloba, jako potencjalnych leków na stwardnienie rozsiane. Ich skuteczność w modelach zwierzęcych rzadko znajduje odzwierciedlenie w wynikach badań klinicznych, ale wybrane związki są obecnie w trakcie oceny klinicznej. W badaniach zarówno przedklinicznych, jak i klinicznych skuteczny okazał się fumaran dimetylu, zarejestrowany w 2013 roku do leczenia stwardnienia rozsianego. Mechanizm działania tego związku nie został jeszcze w pełni poznany. Wiadomo jednak, że pobudza on naturalny szlak antyoksydacyjny związany z czynnikiem transkrypcyjnym Nrf2, co prowadzi do redukcji nasilenia stresu oksydacyjnego

Close encounters with the virtual kind: Defining a human-virtual agent coexistence framework

Virtual agent research has evolved into a substantial body of work, albeit one with a fragmented structure and overlapping, and at times inconsistent, definitions and results. The current paper presents a computational literature review of 1865 academic journal publications and conference proceedings from 1995 to 2022 using Latent Dirichlet Allocation to understand the publication trends in the field, its intellectual structure, and how topics within virtual agent research have evolved and relate to each other. Our results point to a model of 16 topics as best representing the current state of the research landscape. We present descriptions of these topics, as well as topic dynamics and networks, in order to provide a clear picture of the current state of the field. We then organise these topics into a Human-Virtual Agent Coexistence Framework, identifying current trends and opportunities for future research