Don\u27t rain on my parade : barriers to ecological tourism

This research investigates the perceived risks and perceptions of visitor experiences associated with visitation to an ecological tourist destination. The research identified a significant consumption barrier which appeared to impact significantly and reflect juxtapositions with regard to tourists&rsquo; perceived (reflective) and lived (responsive) experiences with the tourist attraction. The conflicting reports of the &ldquo;over-commercialisation&rdquo; of the attraction and the enjoyment of the natural experience recorded at varying recollection periods, provided valuable insight into tourist consumption barriers to the establishment of relational bonds between tourists and ecological tourist attractions.<br /

An exploration of motives for attending Australian ecotourism locations and their influence on future intentions

This paper sought to explore the push [internal] motivations of eco-tourists and the influence of these motivational drives on their future ecotourism intentions. Findings from this exploratory study identified five key internal motivations, namely, \u27self-esteem\u27, \u27relaxation\u27, \u27social interaction\u27, \u27self-fulfilment\u27 and \u27thrill and excitement\u27. Further analysis identified that \u27self-esteem\u27, elaxation\u27 and \u27self-fulfilment\u27 motives were significantly related to ecotourist\u27s intention to volunteer as well as their intention to donate money to an eco-tourism destination. Additionally, \u27self-fulfilment\u27 and \u27thrill and excitement\u27 motives were identified as impacting upon eco-tourists&rsquo; future attendance intentions. Consequently, findings from this research provide eco-tourism operators with insight into eco-tourist motivations to inform product and brand development and promotional activities and assist in the ongoing development effective eco-tourist retention strategies.<br /

Perceived Risk Triggers the Effects of Trace-Back Information on Consumer Trust

Understanding how trace-back information quality with the support of traceability systems contributes to consumer trust has been of interest to academics and practitioners. Drawing upon Commitment-Trust Theory, this research examines the role of trace-back information on consumer trust in the context of food safety. A consumer-based questionnaire survey was conducted following a structural model that was tested by using structural equation modelling techniques. The findings indicate that perceived risk increases perceived informativeness of traceability systems. More particularly, providing consumers with high quality trace-back information about the sources of ingredients, the production process, storage, and the supply chain is considered as the informativeness of traceability systems. Importantly, trace-back information about a product has a positive influence on consumer trust. Once consumers have increased trust in a product, they would buy a product about which they were concerned

Information Transparency Matters in Relation to Consumer Trust in Food Safety

The purpose of this article is to provide an integrative conceptual model and propositions to assist in understanding whether information transparency matters under the support of traceability systems and online social networking information in relation to consumer trust in food safety. Extant literature forms the foundation for this article. A conceptual model resulting from this proposes that information on food products provided by traceability systems is proposed to stimulate consumers’ perceived knowledge of food products. Furthermore, online social networking information advances consumer trust in food product safety. The conceptual model proposes three testable propositions and provides insights into food information that consumers find useful for developing trust in food products

Predicting preschool pain-related anticipatory distress: the relative contribution of longitudinal and concurrent factors

Anticipatory distress prior to a painful medical procedure can lead to negative sequelae including heightened pain experiences, avoidance of future medical procedures, and potential non-compliance with preventative healthcare such as vaccinations. Few studies have examined the longitudinal and concurrent predictors of pain-related anticipatory distress. This paper consists of two companion studies to examine both the longitudinal factors from infancy, as well as concurrent factors from preschool that predict pain-related anticipatory distress at the preschool age. Study 1 examined how well preschool pain-related anticipatory distress was predicted by infant pain responding at 2, 4, 6 and 12 months of age. In Study 2, using a developmental psychopathology framework, longitudinal analyses examined the predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating, and present factors that led to the development of anticipatory distress during routine preschool vaccinations. A sample of 202 caregiverchild dyads was observed during their infant and preschool vaccinations (OUCH Cohort) and was used for both studies. In Study 1, pain responding during infancy was not found to significantly predict pain-related anticipatory distress at preschool. In Study 2, a strong explanatory model was created whereby 40% of the variance in preschool anticipatory distress was explained. Parental behaviours from infancy and preschool were the strongest predictors of child anticipatory distress at preschool. Child age positively predicted child anticipatory distress. This strongly suggests that the involvement of parents in pain management interventions during immunization is one of the most critical factors in predicting anticipatory distress to the preschool vaccination

Model-Based Meta-Analysis of Relapsing Mouse Model Studies from the Critical Path to Tuberculosis Drug Regimens Initiative Database

Tuberculosis (TB), the disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains a leading infectious disease-related cause of death worldwide, necessitating the development of new and improved treatment regimens. Nonclinical evaluation of candidate drug combinations via the relapsing mouse model (RMM) is an important step in regimen development, through which candidate regimens that provide the greatest decrease in the probability of relapse following treatment in mice may be identified for further development. Although RMM studies are a critical tool to evaluate regimen efficacy, making comprehensive “apples to apples” comparisons of regimen performance in the RMM has been a challenge in large part due to the need to evaluate and adjust for variability across studies arising from differences in design and execution. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a model-based meta-analysis on data for 17 unique regimens obtained from a total of 1592 mice across 28 RMM studies. Specifically, a mixed-effects logistic regression model was developed that described the treatment duration-dependent probability of relapse for each regimen and identified relevant covariates contributing to interstudy variability. Using the model, covariate-normalized metrics of interest, namely, treatment duration required to reach 50% and 10% relapse probability, were derived and used to compare relative regimen performance. Overall, the model-based meta-analysis approach presented herein enabled cross-study comparison of efficacy in the RMM and provided a framework whereby data from emerging studies may be analyzed in the context of historical data to aid in selecting candidate drug combinations for clinical evaluation as TB drug regimens

Infant pain-regulation as an early predictor of childhood temperament

BACKGROUND: There is considerable variability in infants’ responses to painful stimuli, including facial and vocal expressions. This variability in pain-related distress response may be an indicator of temperament styles in childhood. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationships among immunization pain outcomes (pain reactivity, pain regulation and parent ratings of infant pain) over the first year of life and parent report of early temperament. METHODS: A subset of parent-infant dyads in an ongoing Canadian longitudinal cohort was studied. Infant pain behaviours were coded using the Modified Behavior Pain Scale. Parental judgments of infant pain were recorded using the Numeric Rating Scale. Infant temperament was measured using the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised. Correlational analyses and multiple regressions were conducted. RESULTS: Multiple regressions revealed that the 12-month regulatory pain scores predicted parent ratings of the Negative Affectivity temperament dimension at 14 months of age. Parent ratings of infant pain at 12 months of age predicted parent ratings of the Orienting/Affiliation temperament dimension, with sex differences observed in this substrate. CONCLUSION: Pain-related distress regulation at one year of age appears to be a novel indicator of parent report of temperament ratings. Pain outcomes in the first six months of life were not related to parent temperament ratings

Identification of rare-disease genes using blood transcriptome sequencing and large control cohorts.

It is estimated that 350 million individuals worldwide suffer from rare diseases, which are predominantly caused by mutation in a single gene1. The current molecular diagnostic rate is estimated at 50%, with whole-exome sequencing (WES) among the most successful approaches2-5. For patients in whom WES is uninformative, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has shown diagnostic utility in specific tissues and diseases6-8. This includes muscle biopsies from patients with undiagnosed rare muscle disorders6,9, and cultured fibroblasts from patients with mitochondrial disorders7. However, for many individuals, biopsies are not performed for clinical care, and tissues are difficult to access. We sought to assess the utility of RNA-seq from blood as a diagnostic tool for rare diseases of different pathophysiologies. We generated whole-blood RNA-seq from 94 individuals with undiagnosed rare diseases spanning 16 diverse disease categories. We developed a robust approach to compare data from these individuals with large sets of RNA-seq data for controls (n = 1,594 unrelated controls and n = 49 family members) and demonstrated the impacts of expression, splicing, gene and variant filtering strategies on disease gene identification. Across our cohort, we observed that RNA-seq yields a 7.5% diagnostic rate, and an additional 16.7% with improved candidate gene resolution

Evaluation of the selectivity and sensitivity of isoform- and mutation-specific RAS antibodies

Researchers rely largely on antibodies to measure the abundance, activity, and localization of a protein, information that provides critical insight into both normal and pathological cellular functions. However, antibodies are not always reliable or universally valid for the methods in which they are used; in particular, the reliability of commercial antibodies against RAS is highly variable. Waters et al . rigorously assessed 22 commercially available RAS antibodies for their utility to detect the distinct RAS isoforms in various cell types and for their use in specific analytical methods. Their findings show how reliably one can interpret the data acquired from each reagent