Understanding drivers of social transmission of information on the internet

Abstract The aim of this study is to deepen our understanding of the drivers of social transmission of information on the internet. The information in question, within this research refers to viral messages, thus building on previous findings on word-of-mouth and viral marketing. Viral marketing is any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence. Even though much has been written about viral marketing ever since the term was introduced in 1997, there is still a gap in understanding the critical success factors thereof. That is why I have firstly organized the literature published thus far into four streams, complemented these findings with my own from this research and at the end presented several directions for future research. Firstly, a comprehensive overview of various streams of research in the field is presented - each stream elaborates a different driver of sharing. These are: physiological activation in consumers that leads to sharing, psychological motivations/predispositions for sharing, incentives for sharing and the effect of influentials. This overview is drawn from the literature on viral marketing published in the past fifteen years since viral marketing was introduced. A series of three experiments ensues in subsequent sections during which the effects of some of these drivers are tested. In experiment 1 the effects of physiological activation and psychological motivation, first two drivers, are compared against one another. The second and third experiments focus solely on activation and test particular qualities of color in advertising material as the trigger of evoked activation in consumers. The findings show that high physiological activation in individuals leads to more social sharing, regardless whether this activation was achieved through the content that was consumed or prior to content exposure. Essentially this means that excited consumers share more and advertisers should reach them either when they are in this state, or try to achieve this state through content they present them with. Combining both these scenarios into one would perhaps be the best tactic. Some of ad's elements that could be employed to foster this activation increase are level of color saturation, tempo of music, the number of edits and cuts in videos etc. Conslusion is in the form of a case study of most successful YouTube.com content publishers, individuals who, for the most part, rely on viral marketing as a key driver of their success. Through their examples, a real life application of priorly presented findings is elaborated

Multifocal pleomorphic dermal sarcoma and the role of inflammation and immunosuppression in a lung transplant patient: a case report

Background Pleomorphic dermal sarcoma is the cutaneous variant of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. It is a rare malignancy of unclear histogenesis; it is a diagnosis of exclusion that requires extensive use of immunohistochemistry to rule out other malignancies. Pleomorphic dermal sarcoma typically presents as a solitary tumor in sun-exposed areas and may have unpredictable clinical behavior, with some tumors associated with metastasis and death. Case presentation We present an unusual case of multifocal pleomorphic dermal sarcoma arising in the areas of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency panniculitis in a lung transplant patient. Our patient was a 58-year-old white woman whose initial presentation was consistent with alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency panniculitis. She then developed extensive multifocal, bleeding, and ulcerated nodules in the areas of the panniculitis. A skin biopsy was consistent with a diagnosis of pleomorphic dermal sarcoma. Her immunosuppressive regimen was decreased, and she was treated with liposomal doxorubicin 40 mg/m2 every 3 weeks with some initial improvement in the size of her tumors. However, soon after beginning therapy, she developed pneumonia and septic shock and ultimately died from multi-organ failure. Conclusions We hypothesize that chronic, multifocal inflammation in the skin in the setting of immunosuppression led to simultaneous, malignant transformation in numerous skin lesions. We discuss the challenges of diagnosing pleomorphic dermal sarcoma, therapeutic options, and stress the need for multidisciplinary management of these cases

Evolutionarily conserved mammalian adenine nucleotide translocase 4 is essential for spermatogenesis

The adenine nucleotide translocases (Ant) facilitate the transport of ADP and ATP by an antiport mechanism across the inner mitochondrial membrane, thus playing an essential role in cellular energy metabolism. We recently identified a novel member of the Ant family in mouse, Ant4, of which gene configuration as well as amino acid homology is well conserved among mammals. The conservation of Ant4 in mammals, along with the absence of Ant4 in nonmammalian species, suggests a unique and indispensable role for this ADP/ATP carrier in mammalian development. Of interest, in contrast to its paralog Ant2, which is encoded by the X chromosome and ubiquitously expressed in somatic cells, Ant4 is encoded by an autosome and selectively expressed in testicular germ cells. Immunohistochemical examination as well as RNA expression analysis using separated spermatogenic cell types revealed that Ant4 expression was particularly high in spermatocytes. When we generated Ant4-deficient mice by targeted disruption, a significant reduction in testicular size was observed without any other distinguishable abnormalities in the mice. Histological examination as well as stage-specific gene expression analysis in adult and neonatal testes revealed a severe reduction of spermatocytes accompanied by increased apoptosis. Subsequently, the Ant4-deficient male mice were infertile. Taken together, these data elucidated the indispensable role of Ant4 in murine spermatogenesis. Considering the unique conservation and chromosomal location of the Ant family genes in mammals, the Ant4 gene may have arisen in mammalian ancestors and been conserved in mammals to serve as the sole and essential mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier during spermatogenesis where the sex chromosome-linked Ant2 gene is inactivated. © 2007 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Long Interspersed Element-1 Protein Expression Is a Hallmark of Many Human Cancers

Cancers comprise a heterogeneous group of human diseases. Unifying characteristics include unchecked abilities of tumor cells to proliferate and spread anatomically, and the presence of clonal advantageous genetic changes. However, universal and highly specific tumor markers are unknown. Herein, we report widespread tong interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) repeat expression in human cancers. We show that nearly half of all human cancers are immunoreactive for a LINE-1 encoded protein. LINE-1 protein expression is a common feature of many types of high-grade malignant cancers, is rarely detected in early stages of tumorigenesis, and is absent from normal somatic tissues. Studies have shown that LINE-1 contributes to genetic changes in cancers, with somatic LINE-1 insertions seen in selected types of human cancers, particularly colon cancer. We sought to correlate this observation with expression of the LINE-1 encoded protein, open reading frame 1 protein, and found that LINE-1 open reading frame 1 protein is a surprisingly broad, yet highly tumor-specific, antigen