What Advertisers Want: A Hedonic Analysis of Advertising Rates in South African Consumer Magazines

This article explores the role of circulation, readership and reader demographics in the determination of advertising rates in South African consumer magazines. The study uses panel data collected between 2000 and 2003 to quantify the relationships by assigning implicit prices to various magazine characteristics. Furthermore, a synopsis of the structure of the magazine industry in South Africa is developed using cluster-analytic techniques. The analysis lends some statistical credence to some widely held beliefs in the publishing industry; namely that advertisers value the young, the educated and the affluent as audiences. The role of race and gender in the determination of magazine advertising rates is also explored.

The Cutting Edge in Print: Images and the Discerning Mind in Achille Marozzo’s Opera nova (1536)

This article explores how Scholastic notions of the body, mind and cognition inform the didactic principles structuring the Opera nova (1536) by Achille Marozzo (1484-1553). A Bolognese fencing master, Marozzo belonged to a tradition of institutionalized martial training which had historically emphasized its connections to academic discourses of learning. In spite of this, Marozzo’s own work has been interpreted as following a straightforward tradition of copying forms and patterns, without much of an underlying theoretical argument. This article argues that Marozzo does present several conceptual references to Scholastic ideas about the workings of the brain, however, in particular to the mind’s dependence on mental images provided by the senses. Delving into these references not only helps to understand the didactic principles at work in the Opera nova as a whole, but also the specific role Marozzo seems to have attributed to the many woodcuts included in his book. In presenting this argument, this article then argues for the fruitful insights that can be gained from connecting fight books to both medieval and early modern Scholasticism, and the history of early modern art and science

Function and Regulation of the Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-l in TNF-Stimulated Endothelial Cells

The accumulation of circulating monocytes in the vessel wall is an important aspect of the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and allied problems such as restenosis after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Three distinct steps can be distinguished in the stimulated accumulation of these cells. First there is an increased rolling, followed by firm adhesion, and finally migration of the monocytes in the direction of a chemotactic gradient. These different steps are regulated by specific endothelial cell adhesion molecules. In general rolling is mediated by the selectins, while immunoglobulin supergene family member vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-l specifically mediates rolling and fiml adhesion of monocytes. VCAM-I may thus enhance the local accumulation of monocytes even in the absence of seledin expression. In experimental models of atherosclerosis VCAM-I expression is an early feature of the atheromatous lesion, which suggests that VCAM-l plays a role in the initiation and progression of the atherosclerotic plaque. The expression of VCAM-l on endothelial cells is induced by the cytokine tumor necrosis factor a (TNF) and presumably regulated at the transcriptional level in part through the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor (NF) KB. TNF stimulates intracellular signalling in endothelial cells through the production of lipid second messengers and mitogen activated protein kinase cascades. It has been hypothesized that reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydrogen peroxide, function as intracellular second messengers in the signal transduction of TNF. This putative role for ROS may comprise a novel mechanism of intracellular signalling next to protein phosphorylation. the cyclic nucleotide system, and signalling through the inositol phosphates and intracellular calcium. In the present thesis we have investigated the possible role of ROS as second messengers in the TNF stimulated expression of VCAM-l by endothelial cells

Impact of first-trimester anomaly scan on health-related quality of life and healthcare costs:a scoping review

Importance: The first-trimester anomaly scan (FTAS) has the potential to detect major congenital anomalies in an early stage of pregnancy. Due to this potential early detection, there is a trend to introduce FTAS in regular care. Data regarding the impact of FTAS on the patient’s perspective are limited. Objective: To provide an overview of the literature assessing the impact of the FTAS on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and healthcare costs. Evidence acquisition: Literature search was performed in Embase, PubMed, Medline Ovid, Cochrane Library database, Web-of-Science, and Google Scholar were searched. All studies that reported the performance of a nuchal translucency measurement with a basic fetal assessment HRQoL or healthcare costs of FTAS were included. Studies solely describing screening of chromosomal anomalies were excluded. Three authors independently screened the studies and extracted the data. Results were combined using descriptive analysis. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016045190. Results: The search yielded 3242 articles and 16 were included. Thirteen articles (7045 pregnancies) examined the relationship between FTAS and HRQoL. Anxiety scores were raised temporarily before FTAS and returned to early pregnancy baseline following the absence of anomalies. Depression scores did not change significantly as a result of FTAS. Three articles studied healthcare costs. These studies, published before 2005, found a combination of FTAS and second-trimester anomaly scan (STAS) resulted in an increased amount of detected anomalies when compared to a STAS-only regimen. However, the combination would also be more costly. Conclusions: Women experience anxiety in anticipation of the FTAS result and following a reassuring FTAS result, anxiety returns to the baseline level. FTAS seems to be a reassuring experience. The included studies on costs showed the addition of FTAS is likely to increase the number of detected anomalies against an increase in healthcare costs per pregnancy. Review registration: PROSPERO CRD42016045190.</p