The impact of unhealthy food sponsorship vs. pro-health sponsorship models on young adults' food preferences: A randomised controlled trial

Background: Unhealthy foods are promoted heavily, through food company sponsorship of elite sport, resulting in extensive exposure among young adults who are avid sport spectators. This study explores the effects of sponsorship of an elite sporting event by: (A) non-food brands (control), (B) unhealthy food brands, (C) healthier food brands, or (D) an obesity prevention public health campaign on young adults' brand awareness, attitudes, image perceptions, event-sponsor fit perceptions, and preference for food sponsors' products. Methods: A between-subjects web-based experiment was conducted, consisting of four sponsorship conditions (A through D) featuring three product categories within each condition. Australian adults (N = 1132) aged 18-24 years were recruited via a national online panel. Participants viewed promotional videos and news stories about an upcoming international, multi-sport event (with sponsor content edited to reflect each condition), completed a distractor task, and then answered questions assessing the response variables. Regression analyses were conducted to test for differences by sponsorship condition on the respective outcome measures. Results: Compared to the control condition, unhealthy food sponsorship promoted higher awareness of, and more favourable attitudes towards, unhealthy food sponsor brands. Unhealthy food sponsorship also led to greater perceived event-sponsor fit and transfer of perceptions of the sporting event to the unhealthy food sponsor brands, relative to the control group. Exposure to sponsorship for healthier foods produced similar sponsorship effects for healthier food sponsor brands, as well as prompting a significant increase in the proportion of young adults showing a preference for these products. Obesity prevention campaign sponsorship promoted higher campaign awareness and perceived event-sponsor fit, but did not impact food attitudes or preference for unhealthy versus healthier foods. Conclusion: Findings suggest that restricting elite sport sponsorship to healthier food brands that meet set nutritional criteria could help promote healthier eating among young adults. Sporting organisations should be encouraged to seek sponsorship from companies who produce healthier food brands and government-funded social marketing campaigns. Clinical trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) registration number ACTRN12618000368235. Retrospectively registered 12 March 2018

Quantification in cardiac MRI: advances in image acquisition and processing

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging enables accurate and reproducible quantification of measurements of global and regional ventricular function, blood flow, perfusion at rest and stress as well as myocardial injury. Recent advances in MR hardware and software have resulted in significant improvements in image quality and a reduction in imaging time. Methods for automated and robust assessment of the parameters of cardiac function, blood flow and morphology are being developed. This article reviews the recent advances in image acquisition and quantitative image analysis in CMR

Angiographic correlations of patients with small vessel disease diagnosed by adenosine-stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) with adenosine-stress myocardial perfusion is gaining importance for the detection and quantification of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, there is little knowledge about patients with CMR-detected ischemia, but having no relevant stenosis as seen on coronary angiography (CA). The aims of our study were to characterize these patients by CMR and CA and evaluate correlations and potential reasons for the ischemic findings. 73 patients with an indication for CA were first scanned on a 1.5T whole-body CMR-scanner including adenosine-stress first-pass perfusion. The images were analyzed by two independent investigators for myocardial perfusion which was classified as subendocardial ischemia (n = 22), no perfusion deficit (n = 27, control 1), or more than subendocardial ischemia (n = 24, control 2). All patients underwent CA, and a highly significant correlation between the classification of CMR perfusion deficit and the degree of coronary luminal narrowing was found. For quantification of coronary blood flow, corrected Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) frame count (TFC) was evaluated for the left anterior descending (LAD), circumflex (LCX) and right coronary artery (RCA). The main result was that corrected TFC in all coronaries was significantly increased in study patients compared to both control 1 and to control 2 patients. Study patients had hypertension or diabetes more often than control 1 patients. In conclusion, patients with CMR detected subendocardial ischemia have prolonged coronary blood flow. In connection with normal resting flow values in CAD, this supports the hypothesis of underlying coronary microvascular impairment. CMR stress perfusion differentiates non-invasively between this entity and relevant CAD

Characterization of the association between 8q24 and colon cancer: gene-environment exploration and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome-wide association studies and subsequent replication studies have shown that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the chromosomal region 8q24 are associated with colorectal cancer susceptibility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined 11 SNP markers in the 8q24 region between 128.47 and 128.54 Mb, using a total of 1,987 colon cases and 2,339 controls who self-reported as white from two independent, well-characterized study populations. Analysis was performed separately within each study, and combined using random effects meta-analysis. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) and to test for effect modification by known colon cancer risk factors. We also performed a meta-analysis combining our results with previous studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed evidence of association for four SNPs in low to high linkage disequilibrium (r²ranging from 0.18 to 0.93) localized in a 16.2 kb region defined by rs10505477 and rs1056368. The combined results for our two studies of colon cancer showed an OR of 1.10 (95% CI: 1.01-1.20, P_trend= 0.023), and a meta-analysis of our results with previously reported studies of colon and colorectal cancer strongly support the association for this SNP (combined OR for rs6983267 = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.18-1.24, p = 5.5 × 10^-44). We did not observe any notable evidence of effect modification by known colon cancer risk factors, and risk did not differ significantly by tumor site or stage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study confirms the association between polymorphisms on chromosome 8q24 and colon cancer risk and suggests that the susceptibility locus in region 8q24 is not strongly modified by various lifestyle, environmental, and demographic risk factors for colon cancer.</p

Comparative Advertising Wars: An Historical Analysis of Their Causes and Consequences

This historical study contributes to the extensive literature on comparative advertising by examining the causes and consequences of comparative advertising wars; that is, when one advertiser responds to a direct or implied attack by another advertiser. Primary and secondary sources consist of articles published in historic and contemporary marketing and advertising trade journals, such as Printers’ Ink, Advertising & Selling, and Advertising Age. The findings reveal that well-publicized advertising wars occurred frequently between major U.S. advertisers throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, and that they most often occurred in product and service markets characterized by intense competition. Many, if not most, advertisers’ principal motive for responding to a comparative advertising attack has been emotional rather than rational. The findings also reveal that advertising wars often became increasingly hostile, leading to negative consequences for all combatants, as well as a broad and negative social consequence in the form of potentially misleading advertising.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline