157 research outputs found
Von der Sorge und Sorglosigkeit : zu Gemeinsamkeiten von Pflege und Tourismus
No full textDieser Beitrag zum Denkanstoß 17 „Zukunft der Pflege“ ergänzt die Beiträge des Denkanstoßes um weitere Aspekte, die nicht in dem Heft berücksichtigt werden konnten. Harald Pechlaner, Giulia Isetti und Michael de Rachewitz erläutern in ihrem Beitrag die Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen den Konzepten von Gastfreundschaft und Pflege (cura)
Customers' emotions in real time: measuring affective responses to service and relationship quality at the reception desk
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore customers’ emotions during a host–guest interaction at
the reception desk of a hotel. Guests’ emotional responses are analyzed in real time to understand their
link to behavior and levels of service and relationship quality.
Design/methodology/approach – To achieve this aim, 225 random customers experience six different
types of interactions (scenarios) at a staged reception desk, representing a high/low service or
relationship quality. The emotions provoked within guests are (video) recorded and analyzed with the
help of SHORETM, a facial recognition software that processes four basic emotions derived from human
muscular activity and calculates average emotional scores per scenario.
Findings – Results reveal that customers respond more positively to service than to relationship quality.
Informal approaches to interacting with guests are mixed; they can both excite or irritate customers. As
with existing evidence in service marketing research, the results found out through this study
demonstrate that a good service recovery process seems to immediately generate more satisfied
customers than do constant high-quality standards.
Research limitations/Implications – Themain limitations are related to the semi-staged nature of social
interactions, which might cause distortions in measuring emotions and limitations in the comparability of
cases.
Practical Implications – Practical implications are directed to service designers and managers in
hospitality to improve service design and ensure effective service recoveries.
Originality/value – This paper introduces a novel approach for assessing host–guest interactions in
tourism based on a real-time emotional assessment of service and relationship quality in hospitality.
Technologically advanced observation techniques enable in-depth analyses of actions and emotional
responses between hosts and guests across time. New insights concerning service design and service
recovery management are gained for practitioners and for future research
The inhibition of oxygen radical release from human neutrophils by resting platelets is reversed by administration of acetylsalicylic acid or clopidogrel
No full textThe sociology of agriculture in transition: The political economy of agriculture after biotechnology
No full textIn 2007, a global food crisis brought the topic of agriculture back into the public eye, and retriggered debates about the ability of agricultural industrialization to feed the world. As a nature-based process and an exception to capitalist industrialization, agriculture trends are difficult to assess. One of the more productive attempts to do so has developed conceptual tools that account for the distinction from typical capital accumulation patterns, notably Goodman, Sorj, and Wilkinson’s (1987) classic concepts of “appropriationism” and “substitutionism.” Agricultural biotechnologies are testing the limits of even these more refined conceptualizations, as the technologies’ associated proprietary framework — including seed saving restrictions, grower contracts, and patent infringement litigation — is reorganizing many traditional agricultural practices. Drawing on case studies in Mississippi, U.S. and Saskatchewan, Canada, this paper argues that these trends suggest a need for a new concept in political economy of agriculture theory, which I term “expropriationism.” This concept identifies several aspects of an agricultural reorganization premised on legal means to enhance capital accumulation and on separating corporate ownership from liability. This accumulation strategy has important implications given the high salience that agriculture has for society.Peer reviewedbiotechnology; political economy; genetic modification; GMO; agriculture; paten
Plasma levels of procalcitonin and interleukin-6 in acute myocardial infarction
No full textPlasma levels of procalcitonin and interleukin-6 in acute myocardial infarction
The neoliberal diet and inequality in the United States
No full textThis paper discusses increasing differentiation of U.S. dietary components by socioeconomic strata and its health implications. While upper-income groups have had increasing access to higher-quality foods, lower-to-middle-income class diets are heavily focused on “energy-dense” fares. This neoliberal diet is clearly associated with the proliferation of obesity that disproportionately affects the poor. We provide a critical review of the debate about obesity from within the critical camp in food studies, between individual-focused and structural perspectives. Using official data, we show how the US diet has evolved since the 1960s to a much greater emphasis on refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils. Inequality is demonstrated by dividing the population into households-income quintiles and how they spend on food. We then introduce our Neoliberal Diet Risk Index (NDR), comprised of measures of food-import dependency, the Gini coefficient, rates of urbanization, female labor-force participation, and economic globalization. Our index serves to measure the risk of exposure to the neoliberal diet comparatively, across time and between nations. We conclude that only a societal actor like the state can redirect the food-production system by modifying its agricultural subsidy policies. Inequality-reducing policies will make the healthier food involved in such change widely available for all.Peer reviewedObesity; Inequality; Food; Nutrition; Diet; Neoliberalism; Health inequalitie
Molecular characterization of three novel splicing mutations causing factor V deficiency and analysis of the F5 gene splicing pattern
No full textBACKGROUND: Factor V deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive hemorrhagic disorder, associated with bleeding manifestations of variable severity. In the present study, we investigated the molecular basis of factor V deficiency in three patients, and performed a comprehensive analysis of the factor V gene (F5) splicing pattern. DESIGN AND METHODS: Mutational screening was performed by DNA sequencing. Wild-type and mutant F5 mRNA were expressed by transient transfection in COS-1 cells, followed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to evaluate degradation of mRNA carrying premature termination codons. RESULTS: Mutational screening identified three hitherto unknown splicing mutations (IVS8+6T>C, IVS21+1G>A, and IVS24+1_+4delGTAG). Production of mutant transcripts in COS-1 cells demonstrated that both IVS21+1G>A and IVS24+1_+4delGTAG cause the activation of cryptic donor splice sites, whereas IVS8+6T>C causes exon-8 skipping (F5-Delta 8-mRNA). Interestingly, F5-Delta 8-mRNA was also detected in wild-type transfected samples, human liver, platelets, and HepG2 cells, demonstrating that F5 exon-8 skipping takes place physiologically. Since F5-Delta 8-mRNA bears a premature termination codons, we investigated whether this transcript is subjected to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay degradation. The results confirmed the involvement of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay in the degradation of F5 PTC(+) mRNA. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis of the F5 splicing pattern led to the identification of two in-frame splicing variants resulting from skipping of exons 3 and 5-6. CONCLUSIONS: The functional consequences of three splicing mutations leading to FV deficiency were elucidated. Furthermore, we report the identification of three alternatively spliced F5 transcripts
Decreased levels of B-endorphin in circulating mononuclear leukocytes from patients with acute myocardial infarction
No full textLymphocytes can be activated to produce and release opioid peptides. We investigated the levels of immunoreactive β-endorphin in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 11 patients with acute myocardial infarction. The concentrations of β-endorphin in mononuclear leukocytes of 30.2 ± 6.9 pg/ 10 6 cells on admission were in the normal range of 20-40 pg/10 6 cells and decreased significantly to 6.9 ± 1.9 pg/10 6 cells after 48 h (p < 0.05). Decreased levels of mononuclear leukocyte-associated β-endorphin in acute myocardial infarction may be due to the release of endogenous opioid after stimulation by stress and acute-phase reactants and play a role in inflammation and pain
“The political economy of agriculture and food in North America: Toward convergence or divergence?”
No full textPeer reviewedBook chapte
Global distributions of age- and sex-related arterial stiffness: systematic review and meta-analysis of 167 studies with 509,743 participants
No full textBackground: Arterial stiffening is central to the vascular ageing process and a powerful predictor and cause of diverse vascular pathologies and mortality. We investigated age and sex trajectories, regional differences, and global reference values of arterial stiffness as assessed by pulse wave velocity (PWV).
Methods: Measurements of brachial-ankle or carotid-femoral PWV (baPWV or cfPWV) in generally healthy participants published in three electronic databases between database inception and August 24th, 2020 were included, either as individual participant-level or summary data received from collaborators (n = 248,196) or by extraction from published reports (n = 274,629). Quality was appraised using the Joanna Briggs Instrument. Variation in PWV was estimated using mixed-effects meta-regression and Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape.
Findings: The search yielded 8920 studies, and 167 studies with 509,743 participants from 34 countries were included. PWV depended on age, sex, and country. Global age-standardised means were 12.5 m/s (95% confidence interval: 12.1-12.8 m/s) for baPWV and 7.45 m/s (95% CI: 7.11-7.79 m/s) for cfPWV. Males had higher global levels than females of 0.77 m/s for baPWV (95% CI: 0.75-0.78 m/s) and 0.35 m/s for cfPWV (95% CI: 0.33-0.37 m/s), but sex differences in baPWV diminished with advancing age. Compared to Europe, baPWV was substantially higher in the Asian region (+1.83 m/s, P = 0.0014), whereas cfPWV was higher in the African region (+0.41 m/s, P < 0.0001) and differed more by country (highest in Poland, Russia, Iceland, France, and China; lowest in Spain, Belgium, Canada, Finland, and Argentina). High vs. other country income was associated with lower baPWV (-0.55 m/s, P = 0.048) and cfPWV (-0.41 m/s, P < 0.0001).
Interpretation: China and other Asian countries featured high PWV, which by known associations with central blood pressure and pulse pressure may partly explain higher Asian risk for intracerebral haemorrhage and small vessel stroke. Reference values provided may facilitate use of PWV as a marker of vascular ageing, for prediction of vascular risk and death, and for designing future therapeutic interventions.
Funding: This study was supported by the excellence initiative VASCage funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, by the National Science Foundation of China, and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Hunan Province. Detailed funding information is provided as part of the Acknowledgments after the main text
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