Bridging Consumers’ Self-Brand Distance through Virtual-Reality: Perspective from Presence Experiences

Virtual-reality (VR) technology seems to be an efficient tool for consumer-brand relationship management since it could affect individuals’ psychological distance by enhancing their presence experiences. However, the effects of VR on individuals’ psychological distance are inconsistent. Based on the customer experience framework and construal level theory, these inconsistent effects could be attributed to the two aspects, namely, internal components of presence experience (i.e., immersive presence and realistic presence) and different impacts of vividness modes (i.e., modeling mode and panoramic mode). To address the above research gap, this study plans to investigate the relationships among consumers’ self-brand distance, presence experiences, vividness modes, and interactivity. An experiment will be conducted to collect empirical data in the VR-simulated shopping environment. The analysis of covariance could be used to examine the hypotheses. This research could offer implications to the literature and practice related to VR shopping and consumer-brand relationship management

THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE COMPETENCE ON ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF IT ALIGNMENT

Scholars have proposed that IT enables organizational agility by extending the reach and richness of firm knowledge and processes. However, this relationship is still open to debate. Based on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper proposes a model to investigate how employee competence (i.e., IT competence of business people and business competence of IT professionals) affects organizational agility through IT alignment. Data analysis results show that IT alignment fully mediates the influence of IT competence of business people and partially mediates the influence of business competence of IT professionals on organizational agility. In addition, the two kinds of competence are also positively interacting with each other to enhance IT alignment. We summarize with implications and suggestions for future research

How Online Extended Reality (XR) Promotes Consumer Offline Engagement

Using extended-reality (XR) simulation to replicate physical surroundings has become increasingly prevalent in engaging online consumers with offline businesses. However, the efficacy of this XR technology remains ambiguous. To justify the huge investments in XR-related technologies, we investigate the impacts of extended surroundings on consumers’ offline engagement with associated businesses. Specifically, we utilize a natural experimental design on a leading housing platform that applies XR simulation to present the surrounding environment of housing estates. By combining propensity score matching and difference-in-differences, our findings indicate that extended surroundings increase consumer offline engagement outcomes, particularly word-of-mouth volume, and valence. Furthermore, we examine the heterogeneous effects moderated by three business characteristics. To our knowledge, this is the first to examine the impacts of XR simulation of extended surroundings. Therefore, this research offers significant implications for the literature and practice related to XR and omnichannel marketing

Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Primary biliary cirrhosis(PBC) is a slowly progressive autoimmune disease of the liver which mainly affects women aged between 35 and 45 years.Prolonged liver inflammation can cause scarring, leading to cirrhosis. Although 50 to 60 percent of patients are asymptomatic at diagnosis, they will develop symptoms later. PBC can be associated with arthralgia and other non-hepatic autoimmune diseases, such as Sjögren’s syndrome, sicca syndrome, thyroiditis and scleroderma. PBC and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been suggested to coexist in 1.8 to 5.6% of patients with PBC, but data supporting this association are scarce. We report two cases of such an association and discuss how to improve threapy

Therapeutic potential of peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in one cirrhotic patient caused by HBV combined with HCV

Stem cell based therapy was very attractive in decompensated liver cirrhosis currently. The possible mechanism might be due to its potential to help tissue regeneration with minimally invasive procedures. Here we report the case of a 44-year-old man, infected by hepatitis B virus (HBV) combined with hepatitis C virus (HCV) for longer than 10 years, who eventually developed decompensated liver cirrhosis. After being infused with mobilized peripheral blood stem cells, the patient showed significantly elevated serum albumin level, cholesterol (CHO), cholinesterase (CHE) and decreased PT (prothrombin time) during the 26 months of follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first case of transplanting mobilized PBSCs to treat the HBV combined with HCV related decompensated liver cirrhosis

Who are the preferential targets for intervention programs related to the female condom among sex workers in Southern China?

The authors used a cluster analysis approach to investigate which female sex workers (FSW) are preferential targets for female condom (FC) intervention programs in southern China. Cross-sectional 6-month (N = 316) and 12-month (N = 217) postintervention surveys of FSW were analyzed. Based on FC attitudes and beliefs, initially suggesting FC use to a partner, practicing insertion, total times ever used, and willingness to use in the future, cluster analysis apportioned women into two clusters, with 50.6% and 58.1% of participants in the likely future FC users group at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. Likely future FC users tended to be from boarding houses, older, currently or previously married, experienced with childbirth, with current multiple sex partners, longer history of sex work, and more unprotected sexual encounters. Focusing FC programs on sectors of the community with more FSW who are likely to use FC may be more costeffective for enhancing FC acceptability and usage. © 2013 The Guilford Press

Association of early life adversity with cardiovascular disease and its potential mechanisms: a narrative review

Strong epidemiological evidence has shown that early life adversity (ELA) has a profound negative impact on health in adulthood, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Here, we review cohort studies on the effects of ELA on cardiovascular outcomes and the possible underlying mechanisms. In addition, we summarize relevant studies in rodent models of ELA. This review reveals that the prevalence of ELA varies between regions, time periods, and sexes. ELA increases cardiovascular health risk behaviors, susceptibility to mental illnesses, and neuroendocrine and immune system dysfunction in humans. Rodent models of ELA have been developed and show similar cardiovascular outcomes to those in humans but cannot fully replicate all ELA subtypes. Therefore, combining cohort and rodent studies to further investigate the mechanisms underlying the association between ELA and cardiovascular diseases may be a feasible future research strategy

Assessment of Cardiovascular Health of Children Ages 6 to 10 Years Conceived by Assisted Reproductive Technology

Importance: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been widely used for treatment of infertility and has brought millions of births worldwide. The health of offspring conceived by ART has been of much concern, and adverse cardiovascular health outcomes have been reported by previous studies.Objective: To assess the cardiovascular health of children conceived by ART.Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study was conducted among participants recruited from November 2017 to February 2019. Participants were 382 children conceived by ART who were selected from a single reproductive center and 382 children who were naturally conceived, randomly selected from a primary school, and matched by sex, age, and maternal age at the child's birth (2 years older or younger). Data were analyzed from March 2019 through December 2019.Exposures: Conception by ART.Main outcomes and measures: Blood pressure was measured, and echocardiography was performed to determine left ventricular structural and functional parameters. Adjusted relative wall thickness (aRWT) was found for age, with high RWT defined as an aRWT of 0.375 or more.Results: Among 764 children aged 6 to 10 years, 382 children were conceived by ART (mean [SD] age, 7.20 [1.21] years; 201 [52.6%] boys) and 382 children were naturally conceived (mean [SD] age, 7.20 [1.21] years; 201 [52.6%] boys). Children conceived by ART had statistically significantly increased mean (SD) height (130.2 [9.5] cm vs 128.5 [8.1] cm; P = .007) and body mass index (17.6 [3.6] vs 17.1 [2.7]; P = .03). Those conceived by ART, compared with children in the matched control group, had statistically significantly increased blood pressure (mean [SD] systolic blood pressure, 105.5 [6.9] mm Hg vs 103.5 [8.4] mm Hg; adjusted P P P P 2.7 vs 28.28 [3.54] g/m2.7; adjusted P P P = .03), high RWT (61 children [16.0%] vs 0 children; P P for left ventricle remodeling Conclusions and relevance: This study found that children conceived by ART had increased blood pressure and unfavorable changes in left ventricular structure and function compared with children who were naturally conceived. These findings suggest that further studies are needed to investigate the potential mechanisms and long-term outcomes associated with these differences.</p