The Value and Risk of Curated Shopping: Online Consumer's Choice

The rapidly increasing number of products available online ironically requires consumers to spend excessive time and efforts for searching the relevant product information. As a result, it is getting popular among online consumers to use the curated shopping, which can help consumers by providing a short list of products that are carefully selected by professional curators. In this study, we examined how the risk and value of curated shopping perceived by consumers affect their decision to use the curated shopping. Through empirical analysis, we found that the perceived convenience, efficiency of curated shopping, and the degree of shopping fatigue as positive factors that increase the intention to use curated shopping. On the other hand, the perceived financial risk was found to be a significant negative factor. Furthermore, it was interesting to find that previous experience of curated shopping acts as a moderator, which affect the strength of the above relationships. The academic and practical implications of these findings were discussed

Changes in Cytokine Expression after Electroacupuncture in Neuropathic Rats

The production of proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) plays a key role in chronic pain such as neuropathic pain. We investigated changes in cytokine expression in injured peripheral nerves and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) following electroacupuncture (EA) treatment. Neuropathic pain was induced by peripheral nerve injury to the left hind limb of Sprague-Dawley rats under pentobarbital anesthesia. Two weeks later, the nerve-injured rats were treated by EA for 10 minutes. The expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in peripheral nerves and DRG of neuropathic rats were significantly increased in nerve-injured rats. However, after EA, the cytokine expression levels were noticeably decreased in peripheral nerves and DRG. These results suggest that EA stimulation can reduce the levels of proinflamtory cytokines elevated after nerve injury

Bilateral Carotid and Vertebral Rete Mirabile Presenting with a Prominent Anterior Spinal Artery Mimicking a Spinal Dural AV Fistula at MRI

Bilateral carotid and vertebral rete mirabile (CVRM) is a very rare condition. We report a new case of CVRM initially detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine. MRI demonstrated tortuous vascular signal voids limited to the anterior cerebrospinal fluid space mimicking spinal dural arteriovenous fistula. A diagnosis of CVRM was confirmed on the basis of angiographic findings of rete formation associated with bilateral aplasia of the cavernous internal carotid and vertebral arteries without abnormal arteriovenous connection

Fatal Delayed Coronary Artery Perforation After Coronary Stent Implantation

Most type I and II perforations are predominately caused by hydrophilic and stiff wires, often presented in the delayed form, and do not require pericardial drainage or surgical interventions. However, we report a type III delayed coronary artery perforation at the site of stent implantation after intervention without any evidence of immediate perforations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of angiographic documentation and treatment of delayed coronary perforation at the site of stent, presented as a cardiac arrest

Overexpression of alfalfa mitochondrial HSP23 in prokaryotic and eukaryotic model systems confers enhanced tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress

The cloning and characterization of a gene (MsHSP23) coding for a heat shock protein in alfalfa in a prokaryotic and model plant system is described. MsHSP23 contains a 633 bp ORF encoding a polypeptide of 213 amino acids and exhibits greater sequence similarity to mitochondrial sHSPs from dicotyledons than to those from monocotyledons. When expressed in bacteria, recombinant MsHSP23 conferred tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress. Furthermore, MsHSP23 was cloned in a plant expressing vector and transformed into tobacco, a eukaryotic model organism. The transgenic plants exhibited enhanced tolerance to salinity and arsenic stress under ex vitro conditions. In comparison to wild type plants, the transgenic plants exhibited significantly lower electrolyte leakage. Moreover, the transgenic plants had superior germination rates when placed on medium containing arsenic. Taken together, these overexpression results imply that MsHSP23 plays an important role in salinity and arsenic stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco. This approach could be useful to develop stress tolerant crops including forage crops

Sequential Magnetic Resonance Imaging Finding of Intramedullary Spinal Cord Abscess including Diffusion Weighted Image: a Case Report

Intramedullary spinal cord abscess (ISCA) is a rare infection of the central nervous system. We describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, including the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) findings, of ISCA in a 78-year-old man. The initial conventional MRI of the thoracic spine demonstrated a subtle enhancing nodule accompanied by significant edema. On the follow-up MRI after seven days, the nodule appeared as a ring-enhancing nodule. The non-enhancing central portion of the nodule appeared hyperintense on DWI with a decreased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value on the ADC map. We performed myelotomy and surgical drainage, and thick, yellowish pus was drained

Unilateral Hydronephrosis and Hydroureter by Foreign Body in Urinary Bladder: A Case Report

Foreign bodies inserted through the urethra are often found in the urinary bladder. We presently report the first case of hydronephrosis and hydroureter due to direct compression in the urinary bladder by silicon, which had been introduced by the patient himself 2 yr prior to presentation with severe right flank pain. Computed tomography indicated a convoluted, high-attenuation mass in the urinary bladder; unilateral hydronephrosis and hydroureter were also present due to direct compression by the mass. The foreign body was removed using a cystoscope. This foreign body was proven to be silicon