The Mediating Role of Popularity Rank on the Relationship between Advertising and In-app Purchase Sales in Mobile Application Market

In the booming industry of mobile application, a new business model has arisen as a lucrative way of monetization, which is characterized by scaling up user base via free distribution and following partial monetization. As a result, popularity rank and in-app purchase revenue are increasingly emphasized. In this context, understanding the relation among popularity rank, in-app purchase sales, and advertising is essential to optimal marketing decisions. For this purpose, this research investigates how advertising influences in-app purchase sales via popularity rank. Through our empirical analysis of a mobile game data collected on a daily basis, we show advertising expenditure not only improves popularity rank, but also increases in-app purchase sales. In addition, we demonstrate that mobile advertising effect on in-app purchase sales is fully mediated by popularity rank

The Market Valuation Of Pre-Registration For Firms In The Online Gaming Industry

Under the uncertainty of market conditions, top management and shareholders keep seeking evidence for whether a new product development project truly improves firm value. In an effort to find the evidence, this study examines the effect of firm’s innovative outcome on stock market performance. Specifically, we conduct an event study to test whether stock market reacts to pre-registration marketing campaign in online game. In the business practice, the pre-registration is often considered as an important event right before the commercialization of a new game launch. In our empirical analysis on the pre-registration events and daily stock returns of game companies in 2010-2014, we find that stock market responds to the pre-registration event of a new online game positively, with the abnormal returns up to 1.49%. In addition, the stock market rewards the pre-registration events of small firms more than that of large firms. Overall results suggest that stock investors take into account the pre-registration event as economically valuable information and perceive the uncertainty of the innovation process resolved.

Wearable electrochemical biosensors in North America

Tremendous research and commercialization efforts around the world are focused on developing novel wearable electrochemical biosensors that can noninvasively and continuously screen for biochemical markers in body fluids for the prognosis, diagnosis and management of diseases, as well as the monitoring of fitness. Researchers in North America are leading the development of innovative wearable platforms that can comfortably comply to the human body and efficiently sample fluids such as sweat, interstitial fluids, tear and saliva for the electrochemical detection of biomarkers through various sensing approaches such as potentiometric ion selective electrodes and amperometric enzymatic sensors. We start this review with a historical timeline overviewing the major milestones in the development of wearable electrochemical sensors by North American institutions. We then describe how such research efforts have led to pioneering developments and are driving the advancement and commercialization of wearable electrochemical sensors: from minimally invasive continuous glucose monitors for chronic disease management to non-invasive sweat electrolyte sensors for dehydration monitoring in fitness applications. While many countries across the globe have contributed significantly to this rapidly emerging field, their contributions are beyond the scope of this review. Furthermore, we share our perspective on the promising future of wearable electrochemical sensors in applications spanning from remote and personalized healthcare to wellness

p21WAF1/CIP1 gene transcriptional activation exerts cell growth inhibition and enhances chemosensitivity to cisplatin in lung carcinoma cell

BACKGROUND: Non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) exhibit poor prognosis and are usually resistant to conventional chemotherapy. Absence of p21WAF1/CIP1, a cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor, has been linked to drug resistance in many in vitro cellular models. RNA activation (RNAa) is a transcriptional activation phenomena guided by double-strand RNA (dsRNA) targeting promoter region of target gene. METHODS: In this study, we explored the effect of up-regulation of p21 gene expression on drug-resistance in A549 non-small-cell lung carcinoma cells by transfecting the dsRNA targeting the promoter region of p21 into A549 cells. RESULTS: Enhanced p21 expression was observed in A549 cells after transfection of dsRNA, which was correlated with a significant growth inhibition and enhancement of chemosensitivity to cisplatin in A549 cells in vitro. Moreover, in vivo experiment showed that saRNA targeting the promoter region of p21 could significantly inhibit A549 xenograft tumor growth. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that p21 plays a role in lung cancer drug-resistance process. In addition, this study also provides evidence for the usage of saRNA as a therapeutic option for up-regulating lower-expression genes in lung cancer

Multiparametric MR imaging in diagnosis of chronic prostatitis and its differentiation from prostate cancer

AbstractChronic prostatitis is a heterogeneous condition with high prevalence rate. Chronic prostatitis has overlap in clinical presentation with other prostate disorders and is one of the causes of high serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) level. Chronic prostatitis, unlike acute prostatitis, is difficult to diagnose reliably and accurately on the clinical grounds alone. Not only this, it is also challenging to differentiate chronic prostatitis from prostate cancer with imaging modalities like TRUS and conventional MR Imaging, as the findings can mimic those of prostate cancer. Even biopsy doesn't play promising role in the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis as it has limited sensitivity and specificity. As a result of this, chronic prostatitis may be misdiagnosed as a malignant condition and end up in aggressive surgical management resulting in increased morbidity. This warrants the need of reliable diagnostic tool which has ability not only to diagnose it reliably but also to differentiate it from the prostate cancer. Recently, it is suggested that multiparametric MR Imaging of the prostate could improve the diagnostic accuracy of the prostate cancer. This review is based on the critically published literature and aims to provide an overview of multiparamateric MRI techniques in the diagnosis of chronic prostatitis and its differentiation from prostate cancer