Understanding the Simultaneous Effects of Category Fit and Order of Entry on Consumer Perceptions of Brand Extensions

EXTENDED ABSTRACT -In brand extension research, category fit of the brand extension with the parent brand has received significant attention, both independently and interdependently with other conditions of interest. What has yet to be studied in conjunction with category fit, however, is order of entry. Drawing on the depth of research concerning order of entry effects and pioneering advantage, the present study is designed to analyze the combined effects of brand extension order of entry and category fit with the parent brand on consumer response. In doing so, we attempt to explicate the conditions under which a pioneer is likely to maintain their pioneering advantage, and those conditions under which subsequent entrants are better positioned to gain favorable consumer evaluations and overcome the pioneer's first to market advantage. These findings will contribute not only to our understanding of consumer evaluations of brand extensions and the conditions surrounding the successful introduction of such extensions, but also to our understanding of the pioneering advantage and consumer preference formation

Ventricular Tachycardia in Repaired Double Chambered Right Ventricle - Identification of the Substrate and Successful Ablation

A 35 year old female presented with recurrent ventricular tachycardia 5 years after she had undergone surgical repair of double chambered right ventricle. Electroanatomical mapping showed a localised scar in the apex with double potentials and good pace map. Ablation here resulted in non-inducibility of ventricular tachycardia. We hypothesise that the scarring in the apex is the result of sustained pressure overload and becomes arrhythmogenic similar to the apical scar in patients with mid-ventricular hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Control of exhaust emissions using piston coating on two-stroke SI engines with gasoline blends

An increase in fuel utilization to internal combustion engines, variation in gasoline price, reduction of the fossil fuels and natural resources, needs less carbon content in fuel to find an alternative fuel. This paper presents a comparative study of various gasoline blends in a single-cylinder two-stroke SI engine. The present experimental investigation with gasoline blends of butanol and propanol and magnesium partially stabilized zirconium (Mg-PSZ) as thermal barrier coating on piston crown of 100 µm. The samples of gasoline blends were blended with petrol in 1:4 ratios: 20 % of butanol and 80 % of gasoline; 20 % of propanol and 80 % of gasoline. In this work, the following engine characteristics of brake thermal efficiency (BTH), specific fuel consumption (SFC), HC, and CO emissions were measured for both coated and non-coated pistons. Experiments have shown that the thermal efficiency is increased by 2.2 % at P20. The specific fuel consumption is minimized by 2.2 % at P20. Exhaust emissions are minimized by 2.0 % of HC and 2.4 % of CO at B20. The results strongly indicate that the combination of thermal barrier coatings and gasoline blends can improve engine performance and reduce exhaust emissions

Forensic dentistry now and in the future

Forensic dentistry (odontology) deals with the examination, handling and presentation of dental evidence for the legal system. In the UK this work mainly involves criminal cases but in many other countries its remit also extends to civil litigation. There are four main aspects to forensic dentistry: single body identification, Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), age estimation and bite mark identification and analysis. This article provides a brief introduction to the topics and discusses potential future developments that aim to reduce the subjectivity in the analysis process and simplify presentation of evidence to non-dental parties. CPD/Clinical Relevance: This article highlights ways that dental practitioners can assist legal investigations and, in particular, forensic dentists

The Effects of Sensitization and Habituation in Durable Goods Markets

We develop a model to study the impact of changes in price sensitivity on the firm as it introduces multiple generations of a durable product where unit costs are a convex function of quality. We incorporate the psychological processes of sensitization and habituation into a model of discretionary purchasing of replacement products motivated by past experience. When price sensitivity decreases with each purchase (sensitization), the myopic firm offers a higher quality product at a much higher price with each generation. When price sensitivity increases with each purchase (habituation), the myopic firm engages in price skimming. When sensitization is followed by habituation, the myopic firm eventually provides higher quality than the market is willing to pay for, leading to a steep drop-off in sales and profits. The actions of the forward-looking firm depend on the discount rate. A firm with a low discount rate builds its customer base before offering a higher quality and higher priced product. In contrast, a firm with a high discount rate quickly increases price and quality following the same path to falling profits of the myopic firm. These results provide insight into the firm and consumer behaviors underlying the phenomenon of 'performance oversupply' identified in the innovation literature

Oral anticoagulants for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in frail elderly patients: insights from the ARISTOPHANES study

Background Patient frailty amongst patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) is associated with adverse health outcomes and increased risk of mortality. Additional evidence is needed to evaluate effective and safe NVAF treatment in this patient population. Objectives This subgroup analysis of the ARISTOPHANES study compared the risk of stroke/systemic embolism (S/SE) and major bleeding (MB) amongst frail NVAF patients prescribed nonvitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) or warfarin. Methods This comparative retrospective observational study of frail, older NVAF patients who initiated apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban or warfarin from 01JAN2013‐30SEP2015 was conducted using Medicare and 3 US commercial claims databases. To compare each drug, 6 propensity score‐matched (PSM) cohorts were created. Patient cohorts were pooled from 4 databases after PSM. Cox models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of S/SE and MB. Results Amongst NVAF patients, 34% (N = 150 487) met frailty criteria. Apixaban and rivaroxaban were associated with a lower risk of S/SE vs warfarin (apixaban: HR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.55–0.69; rivaroxaban: HR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.72–0.87). For MB, apixaban (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.57–0.66) and dabigatran (HR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.70–0.89) were associated with a lower risk and rivaroxaban (HR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.08–1.21) was associated with a higher risk vs warfarin. Conclusion Amongst this cohort of frail NVAF patients, NOACs were associated with varying rates of stroke/SE and MB compared with warfarin. Due to the lack of real‐world data regarding OAC treatment in frail patients, these results may inform clinical practice in the treatment of this patient population

A comparison of DNA sequencing and gene expression profiling to assist tissue of origin diagnosis in cancer of unknown primary.

Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is a syndrome defined by clinical absence of a primary cancer after standardised investigations. Gene expression profiling (GEP) and DNA sequencing have been used to predict primary tissue of origin (TOO) in CUP and find molecularly guided treatments; however, a detailed comparison of the diagnostic yield from these two tests has not been described. Here, we compared the diagnostic utility of RNA and DNA tests in 215 CUP patients (82% received both tests) in a prospective Australian study. Based on retrospective assessment of clinicopathological data, 77% (166/215) of CUPs had insufficient evidence to support TOO diagnosis (clinicopathology unresolved). The remainder had either a latent primary diagnosis (10%) or clinicopathological evidence to support a likely TOO diagnosis (13%) (clinicopathology resolved). We applied a microarray (CUPGuide) or custom NanoString 18-class GEP test to 191 CUPs with an accuracy of 91.5% in known metastatic cancers for high-medium confidence predictions. Classification performance was similar in clinicopathology-resolved CUPs - 80% had high-medium predictions and 94% were concordant with pathology. Notably, only 56% of the clinicopathology-unresolved CUPs had high-medium confidence GEP predictions. Diagnostic DNA features were interrogated in 201 CUP tumours guided by the cancer type specificity of mutations observed across 22 cancer types from the AACR Project GENIE database (77,058 tumours) as well as mutational signatures (e.g. smoking). Among the clinicopathology-unresolved CUPs, mutations and mutational signatures provided additional diagnostic evidence in 31% of cases. GEP classification was useful in only 13% of cases and oncoviral detection in 4%. Among CUPs where genomics informed TOO, lung and biliary cancers were the most frequently identified types, while kidney tumours were another identifiable subset. In conclusion, DNA and RNA profiling supported an unconfirmed TOO diagnosis in one-third of CUPs otherwise unresolved by clinicopathology assessment alone. DNA mutation profiling was the more diagnostically informative assay. © 2022 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Single-nuclei and bulk-tissue gene-expression analysis of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma links disease subtypes with tumor microenvironment

Pheochromocytomas (PC) and paragangliomas (PG) are rare neuroendocrine tumors associated with autonomic nerves. Here we use single-nuclei RNA-seq and bulk-tissue gene-expression data to characterize the cellular composition of PCPG and normal adrenal tissues, refine tumor gene-expression subtypes and make clinical and genotypic associations. We confirm seven PCPG gene-expression subtypes with significant genotype and clinical associations. Tumors with mutations in VHL, SDH-encoding genes (SDHx) or MAML3-fusions are characterized by hypoxia-inducible factor signaling and neoangiogenesis. PCPG have few infiltrating lymphocytes but abundant macrophages. While neoplastic cells transcriptionally resemble mature chromaffin cells, early chromaffin and neuroblast markers are also features of some PCPG subtypes. The gene-expression profile of metastatic SDHx-related PCPG indicates these tumors have elevated cellular proliferation and a lower number of non-neoplastic Schwann-cell-like cells, while GPR139 is a potential theranostic target. Our findings therefore clarify the diverse transcriptional programs and cellular composition of PCPG and identify biomarkers of potential clinical significance.Magnus Zethoven, Luciano Martelotto, Andrew Pattison, Blake Bowen, Shiva Balachander, Aidan Flynn, Fernando J. Rossello, Annette Hogg, Julie A.Miller, Zdenek Frysak, Sean Grimmond, Lauren Fishbein, Arthur S. Tischler, Anthony J. Gill, Rodney J. Hicks, Patricia L. M. Dahia, Roderick Clifton-Bligh, Karel Pacak, Richard W. Tothil