When personalization is not an option: An in-the-wild study on persuasive news recommendation

Aiming at granting wide access to their contents, online information providers often choose not to have registered users, and therefore must give up personalization. In this paper, we focus on the case of non-personalized news recommender systems, and explore persuasive techniques that can, nonetheless, be used to enhance recommendation presentation, with the aim of capturing the user’s interest on suggested items leveraging the way news is perceived. We present the results of two evaluations “in the wild”, carried out in the context of a real online magazine and based on data from 16,134 and 20,933 user sessions, respectively, where we empirically assessed the effectiveness of persuasion strategies which exploit logical fallacies and other techniques. Logical fallacies are inferential schemes known since antiquity that, even if formally invalid, appear as plausible and are therefore psychologically persuasive. In particular, our evaluations allowed us to compare three persuasive scenarios based on the Argumentum Ad Populum fallacy, on a modified version of the Argumentum ad Populum fallacy (Group-Ad Populum), and on no fallacy (neutral condition), respectively. Moreover, we studied the effects of the Accent Fallacy (in its visual variant), and of positive vs. negative Framing

Efficacy of a preparation based on calcium butyrate, bifidobacterium bifidum, bifidobacterium lactis, and fructooligosaccharides in the prevention of relapse in ulcerative colitis: A prospective observational study

Several compounds based on short chain fatty acids and/or probiotics/prebiotics have shown promising results in the therapy of ulcerative colitis (UC), possibly due to its key role in restoring gut homeostasis as well as intestinal barrier integrity. Here, we investigated the efficacy of a patented preparation based on calcium butyrate, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bifidobacterium lactis, and fructooligosaccharides (FEEDColon(®), Princeps, Cuneo, Italy) in maintaining remission and improving subjective symptoms and inflammatory indices in patients with UC receiving 5-ASA therapy. A total of 42 patients were prospectively recruited and randomized in 21 patients receiving combination therapy with mesalamine (5-ASA) plus FEEDColon(®) and 21 patients treated with standard 5-ASA therapy. Patients were assessed at baseline, at 6-month, and 12-month follow-up (FU). Therapeutic success (defined as Mayo partial score ≤ 2 and faecal calprotectin (FC) < 250 µg/g at 12-month FU) was reached by 32 (76%) patients: 20 (95%) among those treated with 5-ASA + FeedColon(®), and 12 (57%) among those treated with 5-ASA only (p = 0.009). Consistently, patients treated with combination therapy improved subjective symptoms (quality of life, abdominal pain, and stool consistency) and reduced FC values, while those treated with 5-ASA alone, improved neither subjective symptoms nor FC during the FU. In conclusion, FEEDColon(®) supplementation appears to be a valid add-on therapy for the maintenance of remission in patients with UC. Further multicentre, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trials are needed to validate our results on larger cohorts of patients with UC

Evaluation of physical activity programmes for the elderly - exploring the lessons from other sectors and examining the general characteristics of the programmes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Portugal, there are several physical activity (PA) programmes for elderly people developed by the local government. The importance of these programmes has been increasing since the evidence has shown that this type of health promotion interventions may reduce the deleterious effects of the ageing process. However, no study has already identified the general characteristics of these programmes nor if they use any scheme to assess the quality of the service provided. A widely-used scheme is the EFQM Excellence Model, which will be in the core of our present work. Thus, the main aims of this preliminary study were 1) to identify the general characteristics of the PA programmes developed by the Portuguese Local Public Administration 2) to determine the extent of implementation of quality initiatives in these programmes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected by an on-line questionnaire sent to all Continental Municipalities (n = 278). Categorical data were expressed as absolute counts and percentages. Continuous data were expressed as the mean and SD. An open-ended question was analysed using qualitative content analysis with QSR NVivo software. Associations between categorical variables were tested by the use of contingency tables and the calculation of chi-square tests. Significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results showed: i) a total of 125 PA programmes were identified in the 18 districts of the Portugal mainland; ii) the main goal of the majority (95.2%) was the participants' health promotion; iii) different characteristics of the programmes were found according to different regions of the country; iv) certain characteristics of the programmes were associated to the existence of other features; v) only one PA programme developed quality initiatives.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, although there are many PA programmes for elderly people spread throughout the country, aiming at improving the health of participants, the overwhelming majority does not adopt quality control initiatives. Considering that the quality of a service increases customer satisfaction, the continuous quality improvement of the PA programmes for elderly people should therefore be implemented since they can be useful and critical for elderly satisfaction and adherence.</p