Developing And Implementing A Social Media Program While Optimizing Return On Investment - An MBA Program Case Study

Over the past decade, Web 2.0 has brought a wealth of opportunities for improving marketing effectiveness; social media platforms, in particular, have proven to be exceptional tools for realizing growth potential.  The big question for businesses used to be how to measure and report financial return on investment (ROI) for social media ad spend to show that it is impactful as a marketing media tool.  The focus has now shifted to how much traditional media spend should be reallocated to social or online media.  The current paper is a Social Media case study of a large MBA program which has developed and implemented a comprehensive Social Media program with a focus on two “ROI” issues - financial Return on Investment and Reallocation of Investment.  Social media plan development and implementation, integrated marketing/sales funnel development, and social media platform ROI results are discussed and evaluated.  Lessons learned and next steps are also posited

Proceedings in Marine Biology

Journal of the Graduate Course of the Freie Universiät Berlin (Germany) at Kristinebergs Marina Forskningsstation (Sweden)Zeitschrift zur Kursreise der Freien Universität Berlin (Deutschland) an die Kristinebergs Marina Forskningsstation (Schweden)Peer Reviewe

Internal Versus External Electrical Cardioversion of Atrial Arrhythmia in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Atrial arrhythmias are common in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). External shocks and internal cardioversion through commanded ICD shock for electrical cardioversion are used for rhythm-control. However, there is a paucity of data on efficacy of external versus internal cardioversion and on the risk of lead and device malfunction. We hypothesized that external cardioversion is noninferior to internal cardioversion for safety, and superior for successful restoration of sinus rhythm. Methods: Consecutive patients with ICD undergoing elective cardioversion for atrial arrhythmias at 13 centers were randomized in 1:1 fashion to either internal or external cardioversion. The primary safety end point was a composite of surrogate events of lead or device malfunction. Conversion of atrial arrhythmia to sinus rhythm was the primary efficacy end point. Myocardial damage was studied by measuring troponin release in both groups. Results: N=230 patients were randomized. Shock efficacy was 93% in the external cardioversion group and 65% in the internal cardioversion group (P<0.001). Clinically relevant adverse events caused by external or internal cardioversion were not observed. Three cases of pre-existing silent lead malfunction were unmasked by internal shock, resulting in lead failure. Troponin release did not differ between groups. Conclusions: This is the first randomized trial on external vs internal cardioversion in patients with ICDs. External cardioversion was superior for the restoration of sinus rhythm. The unmasking of silent lead malfunction in the internal cardioversion group suggests that an internal shock attempt may be reasonable in selected ICD patients presenting for electrical cardioversion