If Only I had the Time! The Impact of Time Salience on Consumers’ Evaluations of Product Offers

We explore consumers\u27 consideration of their time budgets when evaluating product offers in a context in which we expect those budgets are most easily ignored—product giveaways. Across three studies, we manipulate the salience of time for participants considering free seminars (Study 1a) and free vacations (Studies 1b and 2) to be received in the near or distant future. Beginning with Study 1, we demonstrate that when time is made salient to them, consumers consider slack in their time budgets when evaluating near-future but not distant-future product giveaways. Otherwise, consumers appear to largely ignore time budget slack when evaluating free offers. In Study 2, we replicate these basic effects while providing evidence that consumers\u27 consider slack in their time budgets at the point they commit to a giveaway rather than at the point when they will receive the product. We discuss these findings in terms of both their theoretical and marketing implications

Pautas filosóficas para un académico

ResumenDurante la sesión de preguntas que siguió a una charla que di en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la UNAB en Bucaramanga, Colombia, me pidieron que describiera los principios filosóficos que han guiado mi carrera académica. Eso hice. Después de regresar a mi casa en Canadá, el Dr. Luis Alfonso DÍaz, editor de la revista MedUNAB, me pidió que escribiera esos principios para una publicación en la revista. Este comentario es una respuesta a esa petición

Appraising and applying evidence about a diagnostic test during a performance-based assessment

BACKGROUND: The practice of Evidence-based Medicine requires that clinicians assess the validity of published research and then apply the results to patient care. We wanted to assess whether our soon-to-graduate medical students could appraise and apply research about a diagnostic test within a clinical context and to compare our students with peers trained at other institutions. METHODS: 4(th )year medical students who previously had demonstrated competency at probability revision and just starting first-year Internal Medicine residents were used for this research. Following an encounter with a simulated patient, subjects critically appraised a paper about an applicable diagnostic test and revised the patient's pretest probability given the test result. RESULTS: The medical students and residents demonstrated similar skills at critical appraisal, correctly answering 4.7 and 4.9, respectively, of 6 questions (p = 0.67). Only one out of 28 (3%) medical students and none of the 15 residents were able to correctly complete the probability revision task (p = 1.00). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that most students completing medical school are able to appraise an article about a diagnostic test but few are able to apply the information from the article to a patient. These findings raise questions about the clinical usefulness of the EBM skills possessed by graduating medical students within the area of diagnostic testing

Entangling macroscopic oscillators exploiting radiation pressure

It is shown that radiation pressure can be profitably used to entangle {\it macroscopic} oscillators like movable mirrors, using present technology. We prove a new sufficient criterion for entanglement and show that the achievable entanglement is robust against thermal noise. Its signature can be revealed using common optomechanical readout apparatus.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figures, new separability criterion added, new figure 2, authors list change

A Comprehensive Catalogue of Variable Stars in the field of 47 Tucanae

We present the results of a comprehensive search for stellar variability in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Using the Mount Stromlo 40-inch (1m) telescope at Siding Spring Observatory and a combined V+R filter, we have detected 100 variable stars across a 52$\times52'$ field centered on the cluster. Here we present the V+R lightcurves and preliminary investigations of the detected variables, which comprise 28 Eclipsing Binaries (21 contact binaries and 7 detached systems), 45 RR Lyrae stars (41 of which belong to the SMC and four seemingly to the Galactic Halo), and 20 K-giant Long Period Variables (LPVs). We also detected four $\delta$ Scuti stars, one TypeI Cepheid, and one TypeII Cepheid. One variable appears to be a dust-enshrouded SMC star with a short period pulsation. Of these 100 variables, 69 are new discoveries. Our eclipsing binary sample indicates a radial segregation in period, and includes two binaries that are seemingly orbited by low-luminosity stellar companions. One RR Lyrae star shows a Blahzko effect with remarkable regularity.Comment: 62 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ. For a full resolution version and variable star findercharts, see: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~dtf

Observational evidence for self-interacting cold dark matter

Cosmological models with cold dark matter composed of weakly interacting particles predict overly dense cores in the centers of galaxies and clusters and an overly large number of halos within the Local Group compared to actual observations. We propose that the conflict can be resolved if the cold dark matter particles are self-interacting with a large scattering cross-section but negligible annihilation or dissipation. In this scenario, astronomical observations may enable us to study dark matter properties that are inaccessible in the laboratoryComment: 4 pages, no figures; added references, pedagogical improvements, to appear in PR

Regulatory objectivity in action: Mild cognitive impairment and the collective production of uncertainty

In this paper, we investigate recent changes in the definition and approach to Alzheimer’s disease brought about by growing clinical, therapeutic and regulatory interest in the prodromal or preclinical aspects of this condition. In the last decade, there has been an increased interest in the biomolecular and epidemiological characterization of pre-clinical dementia. It is argued that early diagnosis of dementia, and particularly of Alzheimer‘s disease, will facilitate the prevention of dementing processes and lower the prevalence of the condition in the general population. The search for a diagnostic category or biomarker that would serve this purpose is an ongoing but problematic endeavour for research and clinical communities in this area. In this paper, we explore how clinical and research actors, in collaboration with regulatory institutions and pharmaceutical companies, come to frame these domains as uncertainties and how they re-deploy uncertainty in the ‘collective production’ of new diagnostic conventions and bioclinical standards. While drawing as background on ethnographic, documentary and interview data, the paper proposes an in-depth, contextual analysis of the proceedings of an international meeting organized by the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drug Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss whether or not a particular diagnostic convention — mild cognitive impairment — exists and how best it ought to be studied. Based on this analysis we argue that the deployment of uncertainty is reflexively implicated in bioclinical collectives’ search for rules and conventions, and furthermore that the collective production of uncertainty is central to the ‘knowledge machinery’ of regulatory objectivity

Intelligent data analysis to interpret major risk factors for diabetic patients with and without ischemic stroke in a small population

This study proposes an intelligent data analysis approach to investigate and interpret the distinctive factors of diabetes mellitus patients with and without ischemic (non-embolic type) stroke in a small population. The database consists of a total of 16 features collected from 44 diabetic patients. Features include age, gender, duration of diabetes, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, triglyceride levels, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, peripheral vascular disease, myocardial infarction rate, glucose level, medication and blood pressure. Metric and non-metric features are distinguished. First, the mean and covariance of the data are estimated and the correlated components are observed. Second, major components are extracted by principal component analysis. Finally, as common examples of local and global classification approach, a k-nearest neighbor and a high-degree polynomial classifier such as multilayer perceptron are employed for classification with all the components and major components case. Macrovascular changes emerged as the principal distinctive factors of ischemic-stroke in diabetes mellitus. Microvascular changes were generally ineffective discriminators. Recommendations were made according to the rules of evidence-based medicine. Briefly, this case study, based on a small population, supports theories of stroke in diabetes mellitus patients and also concludes that the use of intelligent data analysis improves personalized preventive intervention

Methods of Blinding in Reports of Randomized Controlled Trials Assessing Pharmacologic Treatments: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Blinding is a cornerstone of therapeutic evaluation because lack of blinding can bias treatment effect estimates. An inventory of the blinding methods would help trialists conduct high-quality clinical trials and readers appraise the quality of results of published trials. We aimed to systematically classify and describe methods to establish and maintain blinding of patients and health care providers and methods to obtain blinding of outcome assessors in randomized controlled trials of pharmacologic treatments. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We undertook a systematic review of all reports of randomized controlled trials assessing pharmacologic treatments with blinding published in 2004 in high impact-factor journals from Medline and the Cochrane Methodology Register. We used a standardized data collection form to extract data. The blinding methods were classified according to whether they primarily (1) established blinding of patients or health care providers, (2) maintained the blinding of patients or health care providers, and (3) obtained blinding of assessors of the main outcomes. We identified 819 articles, with 472 (58%) describing the method of blinding. Methods to establish blinding of patients and/or health care providers concerned mainly treatments provided in identical form, specific methods to mask some characteristics of the treatments (e.g., added flavor or opaque coverage), or use of double dummy procedures or simulation of an injection. Methods to avoid unblinding of patients and/or health care providers involved use of active placebo, centralized assessment of side effects, patients informed only in part about the potential side effects of each treatment, centralized adapted dosage, or provision of sham results of complementary investigations. The methods reported for blinding outcome assessors mainly relied on a centralized assessment of complementary investigations, clinical examination (i.e., use of video, audiotape, or photography), or adjudication of clinical events. CONCLUSIONS: This review classifies blinding methods and provides a detailed description of methods that could help trialists overcome some barriers to blinding in clinical trials and readers interpret the quality of pharmalogic trials

A self administered reliable questionnaire to assess lower bowel symptoms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bowel symptoms are considered indicators of the presence of colorectal cancer and other bowel diseases. Self administered questionnaires that elicit information about lower bowel symptoms have not been assessed for reliability, although this has been done for upper bowel symptoms. Our aim was to develop a self administered questionnaire for eliciting the presence, nature and severity of lower bowel symptoms potentially related to colorectal cancer, and assess its reliability.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immediately before consulting a gastroenterologist or colorectal surgeon, 263 patients likely to have a colonoscopy completed the questionnaire. Reliability was assessed in two ways: by assessing agreement between patient responses and (a) responses given by the doctor at the consultation; and (b) responses given by patients two weeks later.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was more than 75% agreement for 78% of the questions for the patient-doctor comparison and for 92% of the questions for the patient-patient comparison. Agreement for the length of time a symptom was present, its severity, duration, frequency of occurrence and whether or not medical consultation had been sought, all had agreement of greater than 70%. Over all questions, the chance corrected agreement for the patient-doctor comparison had a median kappa of 65% (which represents substantial agreement), interquartile range 57–72%. The patient-patient comparison also showed substantial agreement with a median kappa of 75%, interquartile range 68–81%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This self administered questionnaire about lower bowel symptoms is a useful way of eliciting details of bowel symptoms. It is a reliable instrument that is acceptable to patients and easily completed. Its use could guide the clinical consultation, allowing a more efficient, comprehensive and useful interaction, ensuring that all symptoms are assessed. It will also be a useful tool in research studies on bowel symptoms and their predictive value for colorectal cancer and other diseases. Studies assessing whether bowel symptoms predict the presence of colorectal cancer should provide estimates of the reliability of the symptom elicitation.</p