The Influence of Online Product Presentation and Seller Reputation on the Consumers’ Purchase Intention across Different Involvement Products

In online market, consumers tend to make use of other signals when assessing the product quality due to the aggravated information asymmetry. Taking the moderating effects of product involvement into account, this paper developed a research model to study the influence mechanism of product information presentation and seller reputation on consumers’ perceived product quality and purchase intension. A lab experiment was designed to prove the research model, in which 57 participants’ questionnaire data was collected and eye movement data was recorded by SMI Hi-speed eye tracker when they viewed the website. The results showed that perceived product information presentation and seller reputation positively influenced consumers’ perceived product quality which further more affected the willingness to buy, with the moderating effects of product involvement. More specifically, the impact of perceived product information presentation got weaker when seller reputation got higher for low-involvement product

A double burden of tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus and the role of vitamin D deficiency

Tuberculosis remains a major global health challenge, particularly in low-to-middle income countries such as China. At the same time, the country is facing a rapidly increasing diabetes incidence over the last 10 years. Diabetes aggravates the tuberculosis epidemic which poses a serious challenge in public health. In recent years, the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency represents a global health problem, which is also associated with the risk of diabetes, and tuberculosis. Therefore, we carried out this study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of co-occurrence of tuberculosis and diabetes and to elucidate the role of vitamin D deficiency. In a rural area setting in Linyi, Shandong, China, 6382 active tuberculosis patients, together with 6674 non-tuberculosis controls were screened for diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in tuberculosis was 6.3%, nearly 35% higher than controls. Tuberculosis was independently associated with about three times higher risk of having diabetes. Hyperglycemia was found to be associated with a nearly two-fold higher probability of patient delay of tuberculosis in a randomly selected subgroup from this study. Compared with the highest quartile, subjects in the lowest quartile of serum 25(OH)D had a more than four-fold and two-fold increased risk of having tuberculosis, and concurrent tuberculosis and diabetes. Subsequently, a city level hospital-based study was carried out. A high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency of nearly 80% was observed in tuberculosis patients, and serum 25(OH)D was observed to be inversely associated with TNF-α, while positively associated with leptin, indicating a possible immune-modulatory mechanism of vitamin D. In the intervention trial of vitamin D3 (800IU/d), 358 newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients were included and more severe signs and symptoms at presentation were observed in those with diabetes. Vitamin D showed a favourable adjunctive effect on clinical manifestations in this subgroup, while no similar effects were found in patients with tuberculosis only. In conclusion, active tuberculosis patients had an increased risk of having diabetes, as well as prevalent hypovitaminosis D. Vitamin D showed an adjunctive effect in the therapy, i.e., improvement of tuberculosis clinical manifestations in patients with combined diabetes and tuberculosis. Our study provides possible etiological clues for the combined diseases, and the possible role of vitamin D deficiency. We recommend bidirectional screening for tuberculosis and diabetes, especially early detection of tuberculosis in diabetes patients; and health education to increase awareness of the double burden. In addition, vitamin D supplementation may benefit tuberculosis patients in general. Moreover, extra vitamin D may benefit the general population especially in a situation of a heavy tuberculosis burden combined with prevalent vitamin D deficiency. We suggest future studies to address long-term treatment outcomes of patients with the combined diseases and to define certain markers to set up a prognostic model. Also, longitudinal studies to verify the role of vitamin D deficiency in the double burden, and confirmative trials on the effect of vitamin D supplementation are needed.</p

The Effect of Social Chatbot Avatar Presentation on User Self-disclosure

The emergence of artificial intelligence has boosted the development and utilization of chatbots that can satisfy both users\u27 task-oriented needs, such as information search for purchase, and their social needs, such as self-disclosure for rapport-building. While much research has focused on its usage in the commercial context, little effort has been paid to examine social chatbots for psychotherapy, where facilitating relationship formation is crucial in chatbot design. Inspired by prevalent chatbot applications and drawing on the literature on visual cues and self-disclosure, this paper aims to 1) explore the effects of different presentations of social chatbot avatars (text, profile, and background) on users\u27 self-disclosure, along with the mediating role of self-awareness, and 2) understand the moderating role of chatbot gaze directions (direct gaze and averted gaze). The proposed studies will theoretically contribute to literature regarding human-robot interaction. Research findings will also provide substantial practical implications for chatbot design

Using Active Privacy Transparency to Mitigate the Tension Between Data Access and Consumer Privacy

Recently, news exposure about privacy practices has brought substantial negative effects on companies’ reputation and trust, which, in essence, reflects the escalating tension between data access and privacy protection that companies are currently facing. Accordingly, we design an active privacy transparency measure and implement it on our self-developed app. Through a two-task experiment, we simultaneously explore the profound and immediate effects of privacy transparency on firms and the underlying mechanisms. Results from our analyses show that active privacy transparency significantly mitigates users perceived psychological contract violations, which in turn helps companies prevent negative word-of-mouth and loss of trust. Moreover, it also ensures companies’ immediate access to user data, and the moderating role of privacy literacy provides an explanation for this insignificant effect and previous inconsistent findings. More interestingly, we find that active privacy transparency might better elicit users’ actual privacy preferences and help companies identify their targeted users

Improved production of docosahexaenoic acid in batch fermentation by newly-isolated strains of Schizochytrium sp. and Thraustochytriidae sp. through bioprocess optimization

Thraustochytrids, rich in docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6??3), represent a potential source of dietary fatty acids. Yet, the effect of culture conditions on growth and fatty acid composition vary widely among different thraustochytrid strains. Two different thraustochytrid strains, Schizochytrium sp. PKU#Mn4 and Thraustochytriidae sp. PKU#Mn16 were studied for their growth and DHA production characteristics under various culture conditions. Although they exhibited similar fatty acid profiles, PKU#Mn4 seemed a good candidate for industrial DHA fermentation while PKU#Mn16 displayed growth tolerance to a wide range of process conditions. Relative DHA content of 48.5% and 49.2% (relative to total fatty acids), respectively, were achieved on glycerol under their optimal flask culture conditions. Maximum DHA yield (Yp/x) of 21.0% and 18.9% and productivity of 27.6 mg/L-h and 31.9 mg/L-h were obtained, respectively, in 5-L bioreactor fermentation operated with optimal conditions and dual oxygen control strategy. A 3.4- and 2.8-fold improvement of DHA production (g/L), respectively, was achieved in this study. Overall, our study provides the potential of two thraustochytrid strains and their culture conditions for efficient production of DHA-rich oil

High Flow Nasal Catheter (HFNC) for Sepsis Induced Respiratory Failure After Extubation Meta Analysis of Clinical Control Studies on Reintubation Rate and Mortality

Objective: To analyze the reintubation rate and mortality of patients with sepsis complicated (or induced) respiratory failure after extubation, and to seek evidence-based basis for the efficacy of HFNC in the re intubation rate and mortality of sepsis induced respiratory failure after extubation. Methods: The databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid, CNKI, CBM, VIP and Wanfang were searched to find the clinical studies of patients with sepsis and respiratory failure, and meta-analysis was carried out by Stata software. Results: Meta analysis showed that there was no significant difference between HFNC and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) in 72 hour reintubation rate, mortality during ICU and 28-day in hospital. Conclusion: The reintubation rate and mortality of HFNC after extubation in sepsis induced respiratory failure are equivalent to that of NPPV

Marine thraustochytrid: exploration from taxonomic challenges to biotechnological applications

Thraustochytrids, as a distinct group of heterotrophic protists, have garnered considerable attention owing to their remarkable adaptability in extreme marine environments, pronounced capacity for metabolic regulation and prolific production of high-value metabolites. The taxonomic classification of these microorganisms presents a substantial challenge due to the variability in morphological characteristics under different culture conditions. And this undermines the efficacy of traditional classification systems on physiological and biochemical traits. The establishment of a polyphasic taxonomic system integrating genomic characteristics in the future will provide new avenues for more accurate classification and identification. Thraustochytrids can effectively accumulate bioactive substances such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), squalene and carotenoids. Through fermentation optimization and genetic modification, scientists have significantly enhanced the production of these metabolites. Moreover, the application of thraustochytrids in aquaculture, poultry and livestock feed has significantly improved animal growth and physiological indicators meanwhile increasing their DHA content. Natural bioactive substances in thraustochytrids, such as terpenoid compounds with antioxidant properties, have been proposed for application in the cosmetics industry. In the field of pharmacology, thraustochytrids have shown certain anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities and provide potential for the development of new oral vaccines. Additionally, they can degrade various industrial and agricultural wastes for growth and fatty acid production, demonstrating their potential in environmental bioremediation. Therefore, thraustochytrids not only exhibit tremendous application potential in the field of biotechnology, but also hold significant value in environmental protection and commercialization

An Effective Ensemble Framework for Multi-Objective Optimization

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61876110, 61876163, and 61836005, a grant from ANR/RGC Joint Research Scheme sponsored by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China and France National Research Agency (Project No. A-CityU101/16), the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Key Program Grant U1713212, and CONACyT grant no. 221551.Peer reviewedPostprin

Transcriptional patterns, biomarkers and pathways characterizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma of Southern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a complicated process involving genetic predisposition, Epstein-Bar Virus infection, and genetic alterations. Although some oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes have been previously reported in NPC, a complete understanding of the pathogenesis of NPC in the context of global gene expression, transcriptional pathways and biomarker assessment remains to be elucidated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Total RNA from 32 pathologically-confirmed cases of poorly-differentiated NPC was divided into pools inclusive of four consecutive specimens and each pool (T1 to T8) was co-hybridized with pooled RNA from 24 normal non-cancerous nasopharyngeal tissues (NP) to a human 8K cDNA array platform. The reliability of microarray data was validated for selected genes by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Stringent statistical filtering parameters identified 435 genes to be up-regulated and 257 genes to be down-regulated in NPC compared to NP. Seven up-regulated genes including CYC1, MIF, LAMB3, TUBB2, UBE2C and TRAP1 had been previously proposed as candidate common cancer biomarkers based on a previous extensive comparison among various cancers and normal tissues which did not, however, include NPC or NP. In addition, nine known oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, MIF, BIRC5, PTTG1, ATM, FOXO1A, TGFBR2, PRKAR1A, KLF5 and PDCD4 were identified through the microarray literature-based annotation search engine MILANO, suggesting these genes may be specifically involved in the promotion of the malignant conversion of nasopharyngeal epithelium. Finally, we found that these differentially expressed genes were involved in apoptosis, MAPK, VEGF and B cell receptor signaling pathways and other functions associated with cell growth, signal transduction and immune system activation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study identified potential candidate biomarkers, oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes involved in several pathways relevant to the oncogenesis of NPC. This information may facilitate the determination of diagnostic and therapeutic targets for NPC as well as provide insights about the molecular pathogenesis of NPC.</p