Threat, Efficacy and Message Framing in Consumer Healthcare

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the interactive effects of message framing, perceived threat and efficacy appeals on attitudes/intentions towards consumer healthcare communications, particularly, cataract surgery. Design/methodology/approach: This paper develops two conceptual models dealing with threat, efficacy and framing and tests them with data collected from two field experiments. Findings: The results reveal that high efficacy messages in combination with high threat or loss-framed messages have a significant positive influence on consumer attitudes and intentions in the consumer healthcare arena. Practical implications: The findings have managerial value and public policy implications for healthcare officials in developing effective communications material. Specifically, this paper recommends that high threat, high efficacy and loss-framed efficacy messages be used. Originality/value: This research extends previous work by demonstrating the effectiveness of threat appeals and framing on consumer attitudes and intentions to undergo cataract surgery. It also demonstrates the use of communication models in the healthcare domain

Adjunctive quetiapine for serotonin reuptake inhibitor-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled treatment trials

Small studies have shown positive effects from adding a variety of antipsychotic agents in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder who are unresponsive to treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The evidence, however, is contradictory. This paper reports a meta-analysis of existing double-blind randomized placebo-controlled studies looking at the addition of the second-generation antipsychotic quetiapine in such cases. Three studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Altogether 102 individuals were subjected to analysis using Review Manager (4.2.7). The results showed evidence of efficacy for adjunctive quetiapine (< 400 mg/day) on the primary efficacy criterion, measured as changes from baseline in total Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale scores (P = 0.008), the clinical significance of which was limited by between-study heterogeneity. The mechanism underlying the effect may involve serotonin and/or dopamine neurotransmission

PD1-Expressing T Cell Subsets Modify the Rejection Risk in Renal Transplant Patients

We tested whether multi-parameter immune phenotyping before or after renal ­transplantation can predict the risk of rejection episodes. Blood samples collected before and weekly for 3 months after transplantation were analyzed by multi-parameter flow cytometry to define 52 T cell and 13 innate lymphocyte subsets in each sample, producing more than 11,000 data points that defined the immune status of the 28 patients included in this study. Principle component analysis suggested that the patients with histologically confirmed rejection episodes segregated from those without rejection. Protein death 1 (PD-1)-expressing subpopulations of regulatory and conventional T cells had the greatest influence on the principal component segregation. We constructed a statistical tool to predict rejection using a support vector machine algorithm. The algorithm correctly identified 7 out of 9 patients with rejection, and 14 out of 17 patients without rejection. The immune profile before transplantation was most accurate in determining the risk of rejection, while changes of immune parameters after transplantation were less accurate in discriminating rejection from non-rejection. The data indicate that pretransplant immune subset analysis has the potential to identify patients at risk of developing rejection episodes, and suggests that the proportion of PD1-expressing T cell subsets may be a key indicator of rejection risk

Isolation and Characterisation of Genes Encoding Ice Recrystallisation Inhibition Proteins (IRIPs) in the Cryophilic Antarctic Hair-Grass (\u3ci\u3eDeschampsia Antarctica\u3c/i\u3e) and the Temperate Perennial Ryegrass (\u3ci\u3eLolium Perenne\u3c/i\u3e)

Antarctic hairgrass (D. antarctica Desv.), the only grass species indigenous to Antarctica, has a well developed tolerance of freezing, strongly induced by cold-acclimation. In response to low temperatures D. antarctica exhibits recrystallisation inhibition (RI) activity, localised to the apoplasm, that prevents further growth of ice crystals following freezing

Cascading signaling pathways improve the fidelity of a stochastically and deterministically simulated molecular RS latch

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While biological systems have often been compared with digital systems, they differ by the strong effect of crosstalk between signals due to diffusivity in the medium, reaction kinetics and geometry. Memory elements have allowed the creation of autonomous digital systems and although biological systems have similar properties of autonomy, equivalent memory mechanisms remain elusive. Any such equivalent memory system, however, must silence the effect of crosstalk to maintain memory fidelity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we present a system of enzymatic reactions that behaves like an RS latch (a simple memory element in digital systems). Using both a stochastic molecular simulator and ordinary differential equation simulator, we showed that crosstalk between two latches operating in the same spatial localization disrupts the memory fidelity of both latches. Crosstalk was reduced or silenced when simple reaction loops were replaced with multiple step or cascading reactions, showing that cascading signaling pathways are less susceptible to crosstalk.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus, the common biological theme of cascading signaling pathways is advantageous for maintaining the fidelity of a memory latch in the presence of crosstalk. The experimental implementation of such a latch system will lead to novel approaches to cell control using synthetic proteins and will contribute to our understanding of why cells behave differently even when given the same stimulus.</p

A Common Variant at the 14q32 Endometrial Cancer Risk Locus Activates AKT1 through YY1 Binding.

A recent meta-analysis of multiple genome-wide association and follow-up endometrial cancer case-control datasets identified a novel genetic risk locus for this disease at chromosome 14q32.33. To prioritize the functional SNP(s) and target gene(s) at this locus, we employed an in silico fine-mapping approach using genotyped and imputed SNP data for 6,608 endometrial cancer cases and 37,925 controls of European ancestry. Association and functional analyses provide evidence that the best candidate causal SNP is rs2494737. Multiple experimental analyses show that SNP rs2494737 maps to a silencer element located within AKT1, a member of the PI3K/AKT/MTOR intracellular signaling pathway activated in endometrial tumors. The rs2494737 risk A allele creates a YY1 transcription factor-binding site and abrogates the silencer activity in luciferase assays, an effect mimicked by transfection of YY1 siRNA. Our findings suggest YY1 is a positive regulator of AKT1, mediating the stimulatory effects of rs2494737 increasing endometrial cancer risk. Identification of an endometrial cancer risk allele within a member of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, more commonly activated in tumors by somatic alterations, raises the possibility that well tolerated inhibitors targeting this pathway could be candidates for evaluation as chemopreventive agents in individuals at high risk of developing endometrial cancer.The QIMR Berghofer groups were supported by a Rio Tinto Ride to Conquer Cancer (RTCC)/Weekend to End Women's Cancers (WEWC) Grant and NHMRC project grants 1058415 to SLE and 1031333 to ABS. ABS is supported by an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (1061779). DFE is a Principal Research Fellow of CR-UK.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Cell Press

Disulfide-activated protein kinase G I alpha regulates cardiac diastolic relaxation and fine-tunes the Frank-Starling response

British Heart Foundation, European Research Council (ERC Advanced award), Medical Research Council and the Department of Health via the NIHR cBRC award to Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. Part supported by the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre

Potent Inhibition of HIV-1 Replication by a Tat Mutant

Herein we describe a mutant of the two-exon HIV-1 Tat protein, termed Nullbasic, that potently inhibits multiple steps of the HIV-1 replication cycle. Nullbasic was created by replacing the entire arginine-rich basic domain of wild type Tat with glycine/alanine residues. Like similarly mutated one-exon Tat mutants, Nullbasic exhibited transdominant negative effects on Tat-dependent transactivation. However, unlike previously reported mutants, we discovered that Nullbasic also strongly suppressed the expression of unspliced and singly-spliced viral mRNA, an activity likely caused by redistribution and thus functional inhibition of HIV-1 Rev. Furthermore, HIV-1 virion particles produced by cells expressing Nullbasic had severely reduced infectivity, a defect attributable to a reduced ability of the virions to undergo reverse transcription. Combination of these inhibitory effects on transactivation, Rev-dependent mRNA transport and reverse transcription meant that permissive cells constitutively expressing Nullbasic were highly resistant to a spreading infection by HIV-1. Nullbasic and its activities thus provide potential insights into the development of potent antiviral therapeutics that target multiple stages of HIV-1 infection