Eat to the Beat: Musical Incongruity Resolution in Restaurant Advertising

Music is considered an effective tool in shaping consumers’ responses to advertising. The present study examines the effects of mildly incongruent background music upon consumers’ responses to restaurant advertising. It integrates country of origin and genre congruity of music in a single congruity framework through focusing more closely upon the twin components of congruity (expectancy and relevancy) and examines how various quadrants of musical in/congruity affect consumers’ cognitive responses and behavioral intentions. Between-subjects experiment was conducted to explore participants’ responses to an advertisement promoting a fictitious Italian restaurant. Findings indicate how the deliberate crafting of musical incongruity can be used to engage and amuse consumers, proposing that resolving mild musical incongruity may enhance consumers’ attitude toward advertising, perception of brand image and quality, as well as their purchase intent. The present research develops, refines, and redefines the concept of musical congruity in advertising and offers the first empirical evidence for the positive effects of using purposeful, mildly incongruent music upon consumers’ cognitive responses to advertising as well as their behavioral intentions

Determination of mancozeb toxicity and biochemical effects in common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

The aim of this study was to investigate mancozeb toxicity and its effects on physiological characteristics of common carp. Fish were reared for one week to acclimatize with the experimental conditions. For 96h-LC50 determination, the fish were stocked in 16 aquaria at the density of 10 fish per aquarium. The aquaria were exposed to 8 mancozeb concentrations (two aquaria per concentration) for 96 h (0, 0.94, 1.87, 3.75, 7.50, 15, 30 and 60 mg/L). 96h-LC50 was calculated based on the fish mortality, being 8.03 (4.95-13.2) mg/L. For sub-acute test, the fish were exposed to 0 (control), 1.6, 2.4 and 3.2 mg/L mancozeb (20, 30 and 40% of the 96h-LC50) for one week. Blood samples were taken from each treatment for determination of plasma glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, calcium, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Mancozeb exposure led to increase in glucose and AST, and decrease in plasma proteins and ALT. In conclusion, mancozeb exposure causes stress response, health problem and tissue damage in common carp

Efficacy of fish oil- and linseed oil-enriched Artemia nauplii on growth performance and stress resistance of tiger barb larvae (Puntius tetrazona)

Fish oil is the important fat source in fish nutrition. High demand for fish oil and low global supply arise a need of alternative oils in fish culture. Plant oils are a good candidate in this case. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of fish oil and linseed oil on growth and stress resistance of tiger barb (Puntius tetrazona) larvae. Artemia nauplii were enriched by 2.5, 5 and 7.5 of each oil. The enriched nauplii were offered to larvae for 14 d. thereafter, fish were fed non-enriched nauplii for another 14 d. At the end of the trial, larvae were subjected to osmotic stress and their survival was recorded. There was no significant difference in final weight, SGR and weight gain among the treatments at day 14. However, oil type and oil levels significantly affected these parameters after 28 d. Fish of 2.5-LO and 5-FO groups showed the best and worst performance, respectively. There was no significant difference in survival rate among the treatments, after 14 and 28 d; however, oil type significantly affected survival of the larvae after osmotic stress. Survival of larvae fed on linseed oil-enriched nauplii was significantly higher than that of those fed on fish oil-enriched nauplii. Linseed oil showed significantly better results in growth performance and stress resistance compared to fish oil. It is concluded that linseed oil is more suitable than fish oil for Artemia enrichment to feed tiger barb larvae. The potential reasons for the better performance of larvae fed on linseed oil-enriched Artemia were discussed

Molecular characterization of the human and sheep hydatid cyst strains in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province of Iran using restriction fragment length plolymorphism (PCR RFLP)

Background: Hydatidosis caused by larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus is a cosmopolitan zoonotic infection. In endemic area for this disease there is considerable genetic variation among different isolates of the parasite. These variations may affect the epidemiology, pathology and control of the disease. In this work strain identification of hydatid cysts isolated from human or sheep in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province of Iran has been investigated. Method: Fertile sheep hydatid cysts were collected from several abattoirs inChaharmahal vaBakhtiari province ofIran. Human isolates were obtained at surgery from Kashani hospital in the same area. DNA was extracted from preserved protoscoleces and Nested PCR was performed on the extracted DNA samples, the rDNA-ITS fragment was amplified subsequently. Using 4 restriction enzymes include Rsa², HpaII, Alu² and taq², PCR-RFLP procedure was performed on the PCR products. Results: The size of PCR product in this research was 1000bp in both human and sheep isolates. UsingAlu² enzyme; three fragments of 100, 180 and 720bp in human isolates and two fragments of 800bp and 200bp in sheep isolates were created. Rsa² also revealed three segments of 150, 180 and 670bp in human samples and two fragments of 655bp and 345bp in sheep samples. After using HpaII enzyme three segments with 120, 200 and 680bp length in human isolates and two fragments with 700bp and 300bp in sheep isolates were detected. Finally using Taq² enzyme no digestion was occurred on human or sheep samples. Conclusion: The result of this investigation showed that human hydatid cyst strain in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiati province of Iran is different from sheep ones, so it is recommended to recognize DNA sequence in this human samples in future studies

Evaluation of the effect of Chrysin and Caffeic acid phenethyl ester on eIF4E expression in AGS cell line

Introduction: The Ras/Akt/mTORC1 signal transduction pathways play a critical role in regulating translation and converge on initiation factor eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) which is overexpressed in various malignancies. In the current study we aimed to assess the effect of chrysin and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on eIF4E expression level in human stomach cancer AGS cell line. Methods: AGS cells were treated with 15, 20, 30 and 40 &mu;M concentration of chrysin and CAPE separately, then eIF4E expression was evaluated in treated cells using real time-PCR method. Results: A significant decrease in eIF4E expression in the cells following 40 &mu;M chrysin treatment was observed (p&lt;0.05). There was a significant decrease in CAPE-treated cells in a dose dependent manner. Indeed the cells treated with 30 and 40 &mu;M concentrations of CAPE, showed a significant decline in eIF4E expression (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that CAPE and chrysin may be useful as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment of gastric cancers with an elevated eIF4E expression level.</p

Digenic inheritance in autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss cases carrying GJB2 heterozygote mutations: Assessment of GJB4, GJA1, and GJC3

Objective: Autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) can be caused by many genes. However, mutations in the GJB2 gene, which encodes the gap-junction (GJ) protein connexin (Cx) 26, constitute a considerable proportion differing among population. Between 10 and 42 percent of patients with recessive GJB2 mutations carry only one mutant allele. Mutations in GJB4, GJA1, and GJC3 encoding Cx30.3, Cx43, and Cx29, respectively, can lead to HL Combination of different connexins in heteromeric and heterotypic GJ assemblies is possible. This study aims to determine whether variations in any of the genes GJB4, GJA1 or GJC3 can be the second mutant allele causing the disease in the digenic mode of inheritance in the studied GJB2 heterozygous cases. Methods: We examined 34 unrelated GJB2 heterozygous ARNSHL subjects from different geographic and ethnic areas in Iran, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by direct DNA sequencing to identify any sequence variations in these genes. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays were performed on 400 normal hearing individuals. Results: Sequence analysis of GJB4 showed five heterozygous variations including cA51C>A, c.219C>T, c.507C>G, c.155_158delTCTG and c.542C>T, with only the latter variation not being detected in any of control samples. There were three heterozygous variations including c.758C>T, c.717G>A and c.3*dupA in GJA1 in four cases. We found no variations in GJC3 gene sequence. Conclusion: Our data suggest that GJB4 c.542C>T variant and less likely some variations of GJB4 and GJA1, but not possibly GJC3, can be assigned to ARNSHL in GJB2 heterozygous mutation carriers providing clues of the digenic pattern. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Mutation screening of exons 7 and 13 of the TMC1 gene in autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) in Iran

Mutation screening of exons 7 and 13 of th

Investigation of mutations in exons 19-23 MYH7 gene in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients using PCR-SSCP/HA technique in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari province

زمینه و هدف: کاردیومایوپاتی هایپرتروفی (HCM) رایج ترین نوع از بیماری های قلبی است که 2/0 درصد از جمعیت جهان را تحت تأثیر قرار داده و همچنین رایج ترین علت مرگ قلبی ناگهانی در جوانان زیر 35 سال است. حدود 35 درصد موارد بیماری مربوط به اگزون های 24- 8 از ژن MYH7 است. هدف این مطالعه بررسی احتمال حضور جهش های مربوط به ژن MYH7 در اگزون های 23-19 در بیماران HCM استان چهارمحال و بختیاری بود. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی 30 بیمار مبتلا به HCM به روش نمونه گیری آسان از بین مراجعین به کلینیک قلب دانشگاه علوم پزشکی شهرکرد انتخاب شدند. در این بیماران DNAبه روش استاندارد فنل-کلروفرم استخراج شد. اگزون های مورد نظر با استفاده از روش PCR تکثیر و با روش SSCP به صورت تک رشته تبدیل شد و همراه نمونه های دو رشته ای روی ژل پلی آکریل آمید الکتروفورز گردید. سپس باندهای مشکوک تعیین توالی گردید و نتایج با استفاده از نرم افزار Chromas تجزیه و تحلیل شدند. یافته ها: در اگزون های 20، 21 و 23 تغییری مشاهده نشد، اما در اگزون های 19 و 22 دو جهش R719W و R870H یافت شد که به ترتیب در دو و یک نفر از بیماران وجود داشتند. نتیجه گیری: از آنجا که تغییرات در اگزون های 19 و 22 باعث تغییر اسید آمینه ای در میوزین بتا می شود، جهش‌های ژن MYH7 در این اگزون ها، احتمالاً سهم به سزایی در بیماران HCM این استان دارند. به هر صورت، لازم است برای نتیجه گیری بهتر، بیماران بیشتری مورد مطالعه قرار گیرند