34 research outputs found

    A quasi-experimental approach to analyzing sexual appeal and gender in advertising – evidences from Brazil

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    Purpose – The use of sexual appeal in advertisements is a common practice in promotion, and its acceptance can vary throughout cultures. In the last twenty years, its use has been evaluated in several markets, including Brazil, where this research study was undertaken. The purpose of the study is to measure the effects of sexual appeal in advertisements on consumers, comparing the role of gender and perceptions about models’ idealized bodies.Design/Methodology/Approach – Two quasi-experiments were conducted on a dataset obtained from a non-probabilistic sample using online questionnaires. Both studies consider the effect of using sexual appeal in advertisements. The first used gym advertisements to compare the attitudes and purchase intention between men and women. The second assessed the use of female models with and without idealized appearance in beer advertisements.Findings and implications – It was observed that advertisements with low sexual appeal resulted in better evaluations; however, those with a higher level of sexual appeal were better evaluated by men if containing female models with characteristics typically considered to be attractive. On the other hand, women rated more highly the ads using female models with no features commonly regarded as attractive. Thus, it was concluded that gender can influence the advertising format to be adopted by companies: in the case of a female target audience, it is probably better to use models without “ideal” characteristics, but the opposite may have a more significant effect when it comes to a male target audience. This clearly incongruent perspective – gender-based bias – is a critical issue for managers and researchers.Limitations – This study only focused on a narrow dataset made up of Brazilian respondents, which was used as a non-probabilistic, convenience sample. Originality – This study is the first to use a quasi-experimental approach, connecting gender attitudes to brands and ads to bodies of idealized models and sexual appeal effects in ads.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    O papel da saliva na proteção contra a erosão dental /The role of saliva in protecting against dental erosion

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    A expectativa de vida aumentada somada ao desenvolvimento da odontologia preventiva tem proporcionado um aumento da longevidade dos dentes de indivíduos com idade mais avançada. Como consequência, observou-se o aumento da incidência de desgastes dentais não relacionados com a cárie, conhecidos como lesões não cariosas do esmalte e da dentina. O estilo de vida da população vem mudando com o passar do tempo, além disso, as situações de estresse que atingem a maior parte dos indivíduos têm trazido algumas consequências para a saúde bucal. O consumo desenfreado de alimentos industrializados faz com que o pH salivar fique ácido, o que favorece o aparecimento da erosão dentária. Diante disso, esse trabalho se propõe a avaliar o papel da saliva na proteção contra a erosão dental, e as medidas a serem tomadas para evitá-la. Foram selecionados artigos nas bases de dados PubMed e Scielo, utilizando as palavras chave saliva, lesões não cariosas, esmalte, dieta, erosão dental, remineralização, tratamento, fluoreto e fosfato de cálcio no período de 2009 a 2021. Como resultado dessa revisão de literatura, pode-se observar que o papel da saliva na proteção contra a erosão dental se dá por meio de seus componentes orgânicos e inorgânicos, juntamente de seu sistema tampão. Como forma de prevenção, pode-se citar o aconselhamento dietético e de higiene oral, estimulação do fluxo salivar e aplicação tópica de flúor

    Resistencia de cultivares de frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris) a Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

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    Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) es una plaga que provoca daños en los cultivos de fríjol al reducir el área foliar y destruir las estructuras reproductivas. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo evaluar los tipos y niveles de resistencia de cultivares de frijol a S. frugiperda. Los cultivares evaluados fueron: BRS Ametista, Pérola, BRS Notável, BRS Realce, Jalo Precoce, BRS Campeiro, BRS Agreste, BRS Cometa, BRS Executivo y BRS Pitanga, en el Laboratorio de Entomología Agrícola del Instituto Federal Goiano, Campus de Urataí, Brasil. Antixenosis, a libre y no libre escogencia y antibiosis se evaluaron en laboratorio (25 ± 2 °C, 70 ± 10 % HR y fotoperiodo 14 h). Los cultivares BRS Pitanga, BRS Executivo, BRS Notável y BRS Campeiro presentaron antixenosis y BRS Realce antibiosis a S. frugiperda. Sin embargo, no se sabe si los niveles de resistencia, exhibidos en el laboratorio, son suficientemente altos que representen un valor económico de campo para los agricultores. Por lo tanto, el próximo paso es evaluar, en condiciones de campo, los cultivares que mostraron mayor resistencia en las pruebas de laboratorio. Si las evaluaciones de campo indican niveles de resistencia suficientes, para tener un valor práctico, estos cultivares pueden utilizarse como fuentes en el programa de mejoramiento o ser utilizados directamente por los agricultores

    Prognostic value of MGMT promoter methylation in glioblastoma patients treated with temozolomide-based chemoradiation : a Portuguese multicentre study

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    Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor. The identification of novel molecular prognostic markers of GBM has recently been an area of great interest in neuro-oncology. The methylation status of the MGMT gene promoter is currently a promising molecular prognostic marker, but some controversial data have precluded its clinical use. We analyzed MGMT methylation by methylation-specific PCR in 90 GBM patients from four Portuguese hospitals, uniformly treated with radiotherapy combined with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide (Stupp protocol). The Kaplan-Meier method was used to construct survival curves, and the log-rank test and a Cox-regression model were used to analyze patient survival. The methylation status of MGMT was successfully determined in 89% (80/90) of the tumors. The frequency of tumoral MGMT promoter methylation was 47.5%. The median overall survivals (OSs) were 16 months (95% CI 12.2-19.8) and 13 months (95% CI 13.3-18.7) for patients whose tumors had a methylated or unmethylated MGMT, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses did not show any statistically significant association between MGMT methylation status and patient OS (P=0.583 by the log-rank test; P=0.617 by the Cox-regression test) or progression-free survival (P=0.775 by the log-rank test; P=0.691 by the Cox-regression test). None of the patient clinical features were significantly correlated with survival. This is the first study to report the frequency of MGMT methylation among Portuguese GBM patients. Our data did not show statistically significant associations between MGMT promoter methylation and the outcome of GBM patients treated with temozolomide. Additional robust prospective studies are warranted to clarify whether the MGMT status should be used in clinical decisions.This project was sponsored, in part, by Schering-Ploug Farma (Portugal). B.M.C. and O.M. are recipients of fellowships from the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (SFRH/BPD/33612/2009 and SFRH/BD/36463/ 2007). The funding institutions had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, interpretation of the results, the preparation of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication

    Influence of Molybdenum doses in inoculation and mineral fertilization in cowpea beans

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    In some leguminous plants, associations with nitrogen-fixing microorganisms allow their nutrition with nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere. This process is known as Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF), where through nitrogenase enzymes, N2 is converted to an available form. This process can replace in part, or in total, nitrogen fertilizers. Cowpea bean is a legume species that is recognized for its high capacity to carry out BNF. In the last decades, studies have encouraged small farmers from north and northeast Brazil to use inoculants with rhizobia species since the results of researches have demonstrated that inoculation is an interesting strategy to improve cowpea production. Considering the specific function of molybdenum (Mo) in the N assimilation, different doses of Mo were tested in this study in order to find doses that could improve and enhance BNF. Therefore, this study aimed to compare nitrogen fertilization and BNF in the N assimilation by plants with different Mo doses. Inoculation was performed with the strains UFLA 03-84 and INPA 03-11B. Doses of Mo were applied in seeds and each pot contained five seeds. Thirty-five days after germination, the plants were analyzed for shoot dry matter and fresh matter, N contents and accumulation, as well as the Soil-Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) Index and nodulation in inoculated plants. The different doses of Mo and also the nodulation treatments did not show significant differences in the contents of N. Plants with N fertilization had significant higher shoot dry matter and root dry matter production, in addition to higher N foliar contents and N accumulation. Therefore, BNF was not as efficient as nitrogen fertilization in the evaluated experimental conditions using cowpea beans

    Unveiling functional motions based on point mutations in biased signaling systems: A normal mode study on nerve growth factor bound to TrkA.

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    Many receptors elicit signal transduction by activating multiple intracellular pathways. This transduction can be triggered by a non-specific ligand, which simultaneously activates all the signaling pathways of the receptors. However, the binding of one biased ligand preferentially trigger one pathway over another, in a process called biased signaling. The identification the functional motions related to each of these distinct pathways has a direct impact on the development of new effective and specific drugs. We show here how to detect specific functional motions by considering the case of the NGF/TrkA-Ig2 complex. NGF-mediated TrkA receptor activation is dependent on specific structural motions that trigger the neuronal growth, development, and survival of neurons in nervous system. The R221W mutation in the ngf gene impairs nociceptive signaling. We discuss how the large-scale structural effects of this mutation lead to the suppression of collective motions necessary to induce TrkA activation of nociceptive signaling. Our results suggest that subtle changes in the NGF interaction network due to the point mutation are sufficient to inhibit the motions of TrkA receptors putatively linked to nociception. The methodological approach presented in this article, based jointly on the normal mode analysis and the experimentally observed functional alterations due to point mutations provides an essential tool to reveal the structural changes and motions linked to the disease, which in turn could be necessary for a drug design study

    Post-Ganglionic Horner’s Syndrome: An Unusual Presentation of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

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    In this paper, we present the rare case of a patient with cervical lymphadenopathy diagnosed as a T-cell-rich B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma that manifested Horner’s syndrome due to a post-ganglionic sympathetic neuron lesion caused by the tumor
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