Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Secondary Market Ticket Price, Attendance Demand, And Fan’s Willingness to Pay: National Football League (NFL)

This study explores how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected secondary market ticket prices, the number of attendees, and fans’ willingness to pay in the National Football League (NFL). The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the sport industry, affecting everything from the scheduling and delivery of games to the financial health of teams, leagues, and related businesses. One of the most visible impacts of the pandemic has been the suspension, delay, and cancellation of many sporting events, including entire seasons of some professional sport leagues. Sporting events require large gatherings of people in close proximity, which is precisely the opposite of what is needed to control the spread of the virus. The pandemic has also led to the closure of sports venues, training facilities, and other sports-related businesses, leading to significant financial losses. In addition to the postponement or cancellation of events, the pandemic has also affected how sporting events were disclosed to fans. Many events were held without fans in attendance or with limited-capacity crowds. Therefore, amid disease threats, examining the secondary ticket market, attendance demand, and willingness to pay is important: fan demand and willingness to pay concerning updated marketing and ticket pricing policies can influence revenue generation in sport. Two types of data observations were collected for this study: primary and secondary. Specifically, secondary market ticket prices and the number of attendees for each game were collected during NFL 2022 season to investigate the impact of COVID-19 health risks on ticket prices and attendance demand. Also, the survey was designed to understand NFL fans’ willingness to pay for tickets amid the pandemic. A multilevel regression model analysis was adopted due to the nested structure of the data, involving secondary data such as ticket prices and the number of attendees. Also, structural equation modeling analysis was utilized to investigate NFL fans’ willingness to pay. The results show that when secondary market sellers’ ticket prices significantly reflected COVID-19 deaths, NFL fans considered COVID-19 cases whether they attended a game or not. Also, team performance predictors are a significant consideration for price and attendance demand determinations. Although the risk attitude of COVID-19 directly explained fans’ willingness to pay (WTP) for additional safety in the stadium, willingness to pay for a ticket does not have a significant relationship with willingness to pay for higher safety measures. However, WTP was significantly related to past spending on NFL game tickets. Overall, this study found that COVID-19 health risks (i.e., COVID-19 cases and deaths) explain ticket prices in the secondary market and the number of attendees in the NFL. Also, the results uncovered fans’ willingness to pay for higher safety services amid the pandemic that is related to the COVID-19 surcharge

State Complexity of Regular Tree Languages for Tree Matching

We study the state complexity of regular tree languages for tree matching problem. Given a tree t and a set of pattern trees L, we can decide whether or not there exists a subtree occurrence of trees in L from the tree t by considering the new language L′ which accepts all trees containing trees in L as subtrees. We consider the case when we are given a set of pattern trees as a regular tree language and investigate the state complexity. Based on the sequential and parallel tree concatenation, we define three types of tree languages for deciding the existence of different types of subtree occurrences. We also study the deterministic top-down state complexity of path-closed languages for the same problem.</jats:p

Broussonetia papyrifera Root Bark Extract Exhibits Anti-inflammatory Effects on Adipose Tissue and Improves Insulin Sensitivity Potentially Via AMPK Activation

The chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue plays a causal role in obesity-induced insulin resistance and its associated pathophysiological consequences. In this study, we investigated the effects of extracts of Broussonetia papyrifera root bark (PRE) and its bioactive components on inflammation and insulin sensitivity. PRE inhibited TNF-alpha-induced NF-kappa B transcriptional activity in the NF-kappa B luciferase assay and pro-inflammatory genes&apos; expression by blocking phosphorylation of I kappa B and NF-kappa B in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, which were mediated by activating AMPK. Ten-week-high fat diet (HFD)-fed C57BL6 male mice treated with PRE had improved glucose intolerance and decreased inflammation in adipose tissue, as indicated by reductions in NF-kappa B phosphorylation and pro-inflammatory genes&apos; expression. Furthermore, PRE activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and reduced lipogenic genes&apos; expression in both adipose tissue and liver. Finally, we identified broussoflavonol B (BF) and kazinol J (KJ) as bioactive constituents to suppress pro-inflammatory responses via activating AMPK in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Taken together, these results indicate the therapeutic potential of PRE, especially BF or KJ, in metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes

PPM1A Controls Diabetic Gene Programming through Directly Dephosphorylating PPAR?? at Ser273

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) is a master regulator of adipose tissue biology. In obesity, phosphorylation of PPAR gamma at Ser273 (pSer273) by cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) orchestrates diabetic gene reprogramming via dysregulation of specific gene expression. Although many recent studies have focused on the development of non-classical agonist drugs that inhibit the phosphorylation of PPAR gamma at Ser273, the molecular mechanism of PPAR gamma dephosphorylation at Ser273 is not well characterized. Here, we report that protein phosphatase Mg2+/Mn2+-dependent 1A (PPM1A) is a novel PPAR gamma phosphatase that directly dephosphorylates Ser273 and restores diabetic gene expression which is dysregulated by pSer273. The expression of PPM1A significantly decreases in two models of insulin resistance: diet-induced obese (DIO) mice and db/db mice, in which it negatively correlates with pSer273. Transcriptomic analysis using microarray and genotype-tissue expression (GTEx) data in humans shows positive correlations between PPM1A and most of the genes that are dysregulated by pSer273. These findings suggest that PPM1A dephosphorylates PPAR gamma at Ser273 and represents a potential target for the treatment of obesity-linked metabolic disorders

Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein Inhibits Interleukin 12 and Nitric Oxide Production from Activated Macrophages

AbstractA characteristic feature of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a high frequency of persistence and the progression to chronic liver diseases. Recent data suggest that prevalent T helper (Th) 2 immunity as well as weak HCV-specific T-cell response is associated with viral persistence. Here, we showed that the production of interleukin 12 (IL-12) and nitric oxide (NO) that is critical for the induction of Th1 and innate immunity, but not that of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), was significantly suppressed in both HCV core-expressing macrophage cell lines and mouse peritoneal macrophages treated with recombinant core protein. In addition, IL-12 p40 promoter activity was repressed by the presence of HCV core in macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharride (LPS) following IFN-γ treatment, indicating that IL-12 production may be downregulated at the transcriptional level. We also found that proliferation of T cells and IFN-γ production in mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR) with core-expressing cells were inhibited. Taken together, our results suggest that HCV core protein could play roles in suppressing the induction of Th1 immunity through inhibition of IL-12 and NO production

Internal evaluation of a physically-based distributed model using data from a Mediterranean mountain catchment

An evaluation of the performance of a physically-based distributed model of a small Mediterennean mountain catchment is presented. This was carried out using hydrological response data, including measurements of runoff, soil moisture, phreactic surface level and actual evapotranspiration. A-priori model parameterisation was based as far as possible on property data measured in the catchment. Limited model calibration was required to identify an appropriate value for terms controlling water loss to a deeper regional aquifer. The model provided good results for an initial calibration period, when judge in terms of catchment discharge. However, model performance for runoff declined substantially when evaluated againts a consecutive, rather drier, period of data. Evaluation against other catchment responses allowed identification of the problems responsible for the observed lack of model robustness in flow simulation. In particular, it was shown that an incorrect parameterisation of the soil water was preventing adequate representation of drainage from soils during hydrogeraph recessions. This excess moisture was then being removed via an overestimation of evapotranspiration. It also appeared that the model underestimated canopy interception. The results presented here suggest that model evaluation against catchment scale variables summarising its water balance can be of great use in identifying problems with model parameterisation, even for distributed models. Evaluation using spatially distributed data yielded less useful information on model performance, owing to the relative sparseness of data points, and problems of mismatch of scale between the measurement and the model grid.This work was carried out as part of project VAHMPIRE (Validating Hydrological Models using Process Studies and Internal Data from Research Basins: tools for assessing the hydrological impacts of environmental change), which was funded by the European Commission Framework IV Environment and Climate Program (Contract No. ENV4- CT95-0134). Simulations were carried out on a UNIX workstation funded jointly by UK Nirex Ltd. and NERC grant GR3/ E0009.Peer Reviewe

Delayed Migration of Tapered Open-Cell Design Carotid Stent: A Case Report

We present a case of delayed migration of an open-cell design carotid stent, which is a rare complication following carotid artery stenting (CAS). A 65-year-old patient with carotid artery stenosis underwent CAS with an open-cell stent, initially achieving successful deployment. However, 4 months later, the stent migrated and resulted in restenosis. The patient underwent balloon angioplasty and received an additional stent, leading to improved blood flow. The rarity of stent migration, particularly in the absence of risk factors, highlights the need for clinicians to be vigilant and consider early imaging follow-up for patients at risk of this complication after CAS

Interferometric detection of prostate specific antigen based on enzyme immunoassay

AbstractInterferometric detection of Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) based on enzyme immunoassay are investigated. Refractive index changes of substrate are measured for PSA detection. Michelson scheme of optical interferometer was used so as to be applicable to a disposable fluidic chip. When interferometer is used for the measurements of refractive index changes, the detection is over 8 times more sensitive than that of absorbance changes for the same amount of target protein

Functional MR Imaging of Psychogenic Amnesia: A Case Report

We present here a case in which functional MR imaging (fMRI) was done for a patient who developed retrograde psychogenic amnesia for a four year period of her life history after a severe stressful event. We performed the fMRI study for a face recognition task using stimulation with three kinds of face photographs: recognizable familiar faces, unrecognizable friends' faces due to the psychogenic amnesia, and unfamiliar control faces. Different activation patterns between the recognizable faces and unrecognizable faces were found in the limbic area, and especially in the amygdala and hippocampus

Patterns of Post-thyroidectomy Hemorrhage

ObjectivesPostoperative hemorrhage is a potentially life-threatening complication in thyroid surgery. This study was performed to review the clinical patterns of post-thyroidectomy hemorrhage, and especially as they are related to the source of bleeding.MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of 10 patients (0.96%) with post-thyroidectomy hemorrhage that required surgical evacuation. The clinical patterns such as the time interval from surgery to hemorrhage and the signs and symptoms according to the bleeding focus were evaluated.ResultsThe mean time interval from surgery to symptom onset was 7 hr 52 min. Six cases showed bleeding deep to the strap muscles, while the other 4 cases showed bleeding superficial to the muscles. Ecchymosis was prominent and dark in color in 3 of the 4 cases (75%) of superficial bleeding, however it was identified in only 2 of the 6 cases (33%) of deep bleeding. Respiratory distress occurred in two cases of hematoma deep to the strap muscles, but in none of the cases with superficial bleeding.ConclusionThe post-thyroidectomy hemorrhage had some different clinical patterns between the superficial cases and the deep cases, showing that life-threatening airway obstruction occurred from the deep hematoma. A thorough understanding of the clinical patterns of post-thyroidectomy hemorrhage between the cases of superficial and those cases of deep hematoma may provide valuable surgical tips to manage this potentially lethal complication