Constructing an Index for Brand Equity: A Hospital Example

If two hospitals are providing identical services in all respects, except for the brand name, why are customers willing to pay more for one hospital than the other? That is, the brand name is not just a name, but a name that contains value (brand equity). Brand equity is the value that the brand name endows to the product, such that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for products with the particular brand name. Accordingly, a company needs to manage its brand carefully so that its brand equity does not depreciate. Although measuring brand equity is important, managers have no brand equity index that is psychometrically robust and parsimonious enough for practice. Indeed, index construction is quite different from conventional scale development. Moreover, researchers might still be unaware of the potential appropriateness of formative indicators for operationalizing particular constructs. Towards this end, drawing on the brand equity literature and following the index construction procedure, this study creates a brand equity index for a hospital. The results reveal a parsimonious five-indicator brand equity index that can adequately capture the full domain of brand equity. This study also illustrates the differences between index construction and scale development

A Two-stage Architecture for Stock Price Forecasting by Integrating Self-Organizing Map and Support Vector Regression

Stock price prediction has attracted much attention from both practitioners and researchers. However, most studies in this area ignored the non-stationary nature of stock price series. That is, stock price series do not exhibit identical statistical properties at each point of time. As a result, the relationships between stock price series and their predictors are quite dynamic. It is challenging for any single artificial technique to effectively address this problematic characteristics in stock price series. One potential solution is to hybridize different artificial techniques. Towards this end, this study employs a two-stage architecture for better stock price prediction. Specifically, the self-organizing map (SOM) is first used to decompose the whole input space into regions where data points with similar statistical distributions are grouped together, so as to contain and capture the non-stationary property of financial series. After decomposing heterogeneous data points into several homogenous regions, support vector regression (SVR) is applied to forecast financial indices. The proposed technique is empirically tested using stock price series from seven major financial markets. The results show that the performance of stock price prediction can be significantly enhanced by using the two-stage architecture in comparison with a single SVR model

Inhibition of SARS-CoV 3C-like Protease Activity by Theaflavin-3,3′-digallate (TF3)

SARS-CoV is the causative agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The virally encoded 3C-like protease (3CL(Pro)) has been presumed critical for the viral replication of SARS-CoV in infected host cells. In this study, we screened a natural product library consisting of 720 compounds for inhibitory activity against 3CL(Pro). Two compounds in the library were found to be inhibitive: tannic acid (IC(50) = 3 µM) and 3-isotheaflavin-3-gallate (TF2B) (IC(50) = 7 µM). These two compounds belong to a group of natural polyphenols found in tea. We further investigated the 3CL(Pro)-inhibitory activity of extracts from several different types of teas, including green tea, oolong tea, Puer tea and black tea. Our results indicated that extracts from Puer and black tea were more potent than that from green or oolong teas in their inhibitory activities against 3CL(Pro). Several other known compositions in teas were also evaluated for their activities in inhibiting 3CL(Pro). We found that caffeine, (—)-epigallocatechin gallte (EGCg), epicatechin (EC), theophylline (TP), catechin (C), epicatechin gallate (ECg) and epigallocatechin (EGC) did not inhibit 3CL(Pro) activity. Only theaflavin-3,3′-digallate (TF3) was found to be a 3CL(Pro) inhibitor. This study has resulted in the identification of new compounds that are effective 3CL(Pro) inhibitors

Neoadjuvant Carboplatin/Paclitaxel versus 5-Fluorouracil/Cisplatin in Combination with Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma:A Multicenter Comparative Study

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The most beneficial neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for Asian patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma remains uncertain. Using propensity score matching by inverse probability of treatment weighting to balance the baseline variables, the neoadjuvant carboplatin/paclitaxel (CROSS) regimen versus the cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (PF) regimen in combination with 41.4–50.4 Gy of radiotherapy were compared. We found that Taiwanese patients treated with the CROSS regimen (Carboplatin + Paclitaxel + 41.4–45.0 Gy) had less treatment-related complications and more favorable survival figures. Collectively, these results suggest that CROSS is safe and effective. ABSTRACT: Background: The most beneficial neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) combination for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Asia remains uncertain. Herein, we compared the neoadjuvant carboplatin/paclitaxel (CROSS) regimen versus the cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (PF) regimen in combination with 41.4–50.4 Gy of radiotherapy. Methods: Patients were stratified according to their nCRT regimen: CROSS + 41.4–45.0 Gy (CROSS), PF + 45.0 Gy (PF4500) or PF + 50.4 Gy (PF5040). Propensity score matching by inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to balance the baseline variables. Results: Before IPTW, a total of 334 patients were included. The lowest chemotherapy completion rate was observed in the PF5040 group (76.2% versus 89.4% and 92.0% in the remaining two groups, respectively). Compared with CROSS, both PF groups showed more severe weight loss during nCRT and a higher frequency of post-esophagectomy anastomotic leaks. The use of PF5040 was associated with the highest rate of pathological complete response (45.3%). While CROSS conferred a significant overall survival benefit over PF4500 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.62, p = 0.018), similar survival figures were observed when compared with PF5040 (HR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.94 to 1.45, p = 0.166). Conclusions: The CROSS regimen conferred a significant survival benefit over PF4500, although the similar survival figures were similar to those observed with PF5040. Considering the lower incidences of severe weight loss and post-esophagectomy anastomotic leaks, CROSS represents a safe and effective neoadjuvant treatment for Taiwanese patients with ESCC

Comparative outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 primary and reinfection in older adult patients

BackgroundThe outcomes of older adult people acquiring SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was unclear. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of older adult patients with COVID-19 reinfection and those with primary infection.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study used electronic medical records from the TriNetX Research Network. Older adult patients (aged ≥65 years) with COVID-19 between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, were included in the study. The patients were subsequently categorized into reinfection or primary infection groups, according to whether they manifested two distinct COVID-19 episodes with an intervening period of more than 90 days. Propensity score matching was performed for covariate adjustment between the reinfection and primary infection groups. The primary outcome was a composite outcome, including emergency department visits, hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation use, and mortality, following primary infection and reinfection.ResultsAfter matching, 31,899 patients were identified in both the reinfection and primary infection groups. The risk of primary composite outcomes was 7.15% (n = 2,281) in the reinfection group and 7.53% (n = 2,403) in the primary infection group. No significant difference in the primary outcome was observed between groups (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.02, p = 0.17). In addition, there was no significant differences between the reinfection and primary infection groups in terms of emergency department visit (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.11, p = 0.49), all-cause hospitalization (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.02, p = 0.14), intensive care unit admission (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.67 to 1.28, p = 0.62), mechanical ventilation use (HR,1.35 95% CI, 0.69 to 2.64 p = 0.38), and all-cause mortality (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.74 to 1.20, p = 0.62).ConclusionThere were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between older adult patients with COVID-19 reinfection and those with primary infection

The effect of exercise on the risk of metabolic syndrome associated with sleep insufficiency: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionSleep disturbance and insufficient sleep have been linked to metabolic syndrome, increasing cardiovascular disease and mortality risk. However, few studies investigate the joint effect of sleep and exercise on metabolic syndrome. We hypothesized that regular exercise can mitigate the exacerbation of metabolic syndrome by sleep insufficiency.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate whether exercise can attenuate or eliminate the relationship between sleep insufficiency and metabolic syndrome.MethodA total of 6,289 adults (mean age = 33.96 years; women: 74.81%) were included in the study, a cross-sectional study conducted based on the results of employee health screening questionnaires and databases from a large healthcare system in central Taiwan. Participants reported sleep insufficiency or not. Self-reported exercise habits were classified into 3 levels: no exercise, exercise <150 min/week, and exercise ≧150 min/week. Multiple logistic regression and sensitivity analyses were conducted to understand the joint associations of sleep patterns and exercise with metabolic syndrome with exposure variables combining sleep duration/disturbances and PA.ResultsCompared with the reference group (sufficient sleep), individuals with sleep insufficiency had a higher risk for metabolic syndrome [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.40, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.01–1.94, p < 0.05] in females aged 40–64 years, but not in other populations. Sleep insufficiency was not associated with the risk of metabolic syndrome among individuals achieving an exercise level of <150 min/week, and in particular among those achieving ≧150 min/week in all populations in our study.ConclusionSleep insufficiency was related to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome in female healthcare staff aged 40–64 years. Being physically active with exercise habits in these individuals, the risk of metabolic syndrome was no longer significant

Widespread divergence of the CEACAM/PSG genes in vertebrates and humans suggests sensitivity to selection

In mammals, carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) and pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) play important roles in the regulation of pathogen transmission, tumorigenesis, insulin signaling turnover, and fetal–maternal interactions. However, how these genes evolved and to what extent they diverged in humans remain to be investigated specifically. Based on syntenic mapping of chordate genomes, we reveal that diverging homologs with a prototypic CEACAM architecture–including an extracellular domain with immunoglobulin variable and constant domain-like regions, and an intracellular domain containing ITAM motif–are present from cartilaginous fish to humans, but are absent in sea lamprey, cephalochordate or urochordate. Interestingly, the CEACAM/PSG gene inventory underwent radical divergence in various vertebrate lineages: from zero in avian species to dozens in therian mammals. In addition, analyses of genetic variations in human populations showed the presence of various types of copy number variations (CNVs) at the CEACAM/PSG locus. These copy number polymorphisms have 3–80% frequency in select populations, and encompass single to more than six PSG genes. Furthermore, we found that CEACAM/PSG genes contain a significantly higher density of nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) compared to the chromosome average, and many CEACAM/PSG SNPs exhibit high population differentiation. Taken together, our study suggested that CEACAM/PSG genes have had a more dynamic evolutionary history in vertebrates than previously thought. Given that CEACAM/PSGs play important roles in maternal–fetal interaction and pathogen recognition, these data have laid the groundwork for future analysis of adaptive CEACAM/PSG genotype-phenotypic relationships in normal and complicated pregnancies as well as other etiologies.Chia Lin Chang, Jenia Semyonov, Po Jen Cheng, Shang Yu Huang, Jae Il Park, Huai-Jen Tsai, Cheng-Yung Lin, Frank Grützner, Yung Kuei Soong, James J. Cai, Sheau Yu Teddy Hs

Current choices and prospects in management of postoperative esophageal cancer patients

Summary: Locally advanced esophageal cancer is usually dealt with multimodal therapies. The current treatment of choice is neoadjuvant chemoradiation with surgery, but several other choices are also available for adenocarcinoma. For example, adjuvant therapy can be added to the patients received upfront surgery or neoadjuvant therapy in certain conditions. However, squamous cell carcinoma has no such flexibility. This article will address the reason to this remarkable difference, also the current evidence and perspective of adjuvant therapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Keywords: Esophageal cancer, Postoperative management