A meta-analysis on the effects of product scarcity

Product scarcity can influence purchase decisions, but this relationship is multifaceted due to the influence of various cues. This study aims to integrate knowledge of this subject through a meta-analysis. The findings suggest that the likelihood of purchasing a scarce product is greater under (i) scarcity conditions of excessive demand (rather than restricted supply) and variety (rather than a category), but not urgency (limited quantity and limited time) scarcity, and (ii) product conditions of enduring luxuries (as opposed to transitory luxuries) and the presence (rather than absence) of social signaling and seasonality. From a theoretical standpoint, this study offers a typology of product and scarcity cues and employs a meta-analysis to enhance our understanding of the relationships between product scarcity, product and scarcity cues, and purchase decisions, resulting in the establishment of a heterogeneous theory of product scarcity. From a managerial standpoint, the study suggests that product scarcity can affect purchase decisions and can be ethically utilized as a marketing strategy.

The three facets of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic during the first two waves in the northern, central, and southern Italy

Background: There is a scarcity of information in literature regarding the clinical differences and co-morbidities of patients affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which could clarify the different prevalence of the outcomes (composite and only death) between several Italian regions.Objective: This study aimed to assess the heterogeneity of clinical features of patients with COVID-19 upon hospital admission and disease outcomes in the northern, central, and southern Italian regions.Methods: An observational cohort multicenter retrospective study including 1210 patients who were admitted for COVID-19 in Infectious diseases, Pulmonology, Endocrinology, Geriatrics and Internal Medicine Units in Italian cities stratified between north (263 patients);center (320 patients);and south (627 patients), during the first and second pandemic waves of SARS-CoV-2 (from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021). The data, obtained from clinical charts and collected in a single database, comprehended demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, hospital and home pharmacological therapies, oxygen therapy, laboratory values, discharge, death and Intensive care Unit (ICU) transfer. Death or ICU transfer were defined as composite outcomes.Results: Male patients were more frequent in the northern Italian region than in the central and southern regions. Diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, chronic pulmonary and chronic kidney diseases were the comorbidities more frequent in the southern region;cancer, heart failure, stroke and atrial fibrillation were more frequent in the central region. The prevalence of the composite outcome was recorded more fre-quently in the southern region. Multivariable analysis showed a direct association between the combined event and age, ischemic cardiac disease, and chronic kidney disease, in addition to the geographical area.Conclusions: Statistically significant heterogeneity was observed in patients with COVID-19 characteristics at admission and outcomes from northern to southern Italy. The higher frequency of ICU transfer and death in the southern region may depend on the wider hospital admission of frail patients for the availability of more beds since the burden of COVID-19 on the healthcare system was less intense in southern region. In any case, predictive analysis of clinical outcomes should consider that the geographical differences that may reflect clinical differences in patient characteristics, are also related to access to health-care facilities and care modalities. Overall, the present results caution against generalizability of prognostic scores in COVID-19 patients derived from hospital cohorts in different settings.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/li-censes/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Acceptance of service robots: a meta-analysis in the hospitality and tourism industry

Robot services have become an essential competitive differentiator in the hospitality and tourism industry. Seminal studies indicate the need for more profound knowledge about the factors that can increase the acceptance of service robots. This paper investigates the relationship between informational cues and acceptance of service robots through a meta-analysis. Our study also analyzes the acceptance of service robots through contextual characteristics moderators. The results showed that perceived robot trust influences the relationship between informational cues (anthropomorphism and social influence) and acceptance of service robots. By analyzing previous studies, our framework demonstrates that acceptance of service robots has increased more after the COVID pandemic than before the COVID pandemic. Furthermore, the relationship between attitude toward robots and robot usage intention tends to be greater in humanoid service robots (than social robots) and analytical intelligence (than mechanical intelligence). © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Clinical, biochemical features and functional outcome of patients with SARS-CoV-2-related subacute thyroiditis: a review.

INTRODUCTION: SARS CoV-2 infection involves many organs and systems, including the thyroid, in which it manifests itself as subacute thyroiditis (SAT). After our first description of SAT due to SARS-CoV2 infection, other reports have confirmed the correlation between SARS-CoV-2 and SAT. We review the cases of SAT associated with COVID-19 to highlight its peculiar clinical and biochemical features, including its outcome and what it has added to our understanding of SAT. RESULTS: We have reviewed 24 articles, for a total of 69 cases of SAT related to SARS-CoV2 infection. All had neck pain, whereas thyrotoxicosis was documented in 68/68 who had their thyroid function checked. Ultrasound, performed in 67 patients, was typical of SAT in 65 and low uptake at scintigraphy was demonstrated in all 12 evaluated patients. Patients had a prompt response to the anti-inflammatory and/or glucocorticoid therapy, as expected in SAT. The rate of hypothyroidism was higher (36.5%) in COVID-19-related SAT compared to that observed in the pre-COVID era (10%). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical, biochemical, and instrumental features of SAT related to SARS-CoV2 are like those observed in SAT cases reported prior to COVID-19 pandemic, but it appears more severe.

Ecological Footprint and tourism: development and sustainability monitoring of ecotourism packages in Mediterranean Protected Areas. (Special Issue: Sustainably managing outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism as social-ecological systems.)

Ecotourism is a potential lever for sustainable development, but common standards and approaches lack to manage and monitor the impact of defined packages on natural resources and local communities. A customized version of Ecological Footprint Accounting is evaluated here to assess its usefulness as analytical tool to quantitatively analyse the environmental pressures associated with ecotourism packages developed in and around Protected Areas in the Mediterranean Region. Within the framework of the EU-funded DestiMED project, a bottom-up, participatory approach was developed for managing and monitoring 13 ecotourism packages by involving local tourism stakeholders and service providers. The application of Ecological Footprint Accounting relied on data sourced from local service providers to complement existing statistics and datasets, and was used in an empirical iterative process to provide local tourism stakeholders with recommendations to guide them in the management of a low-impact tourism offer. International travel to and from the 13 destinations was found to place a Footprint on the environment - mainly because of carbon emissions - higher than that of the entire stay at destination. Footprint results of the packages revealed some overlooked tourism's impacts on ecosystems due to unexpected drivers, such as the Food & Drink services offered to tourists at destination. Results indicate that managing tourism product development at destination, and investing in providing knowledge on the principles of sustainability, could lower ecotourism's impacts whilst contributing to building resilience and aiding the post-COVID recovery of destinations. Management implications: This article tested the applicability and usefulness of Ecological Footprint Accounting (EFA) to assess ecotourism packages developed in and around Protected Areas (PAs) across the Mediterranean Region. A customized version of Ecological Footprint Accounting is suitable for managers and can be used to quantitatively assess the multiple pressures of the activities included in ecotourism packages through a bottom up approach. This innovative monitoring process typically fosters the engagement with the local service providers, which is key for a sustainability monitoring of the touristic offer. Applied to ecotourism packages, EFA allows identifying the main ecosystems under pressure as well as the main drivers causing such pressures. This information is useful to understand the actual impacts caused by the packages offered in their territory, and - when combined with tangible recommendations for improvements - to help adjust the services offered in the packages to possibly reduce environmental impacts.

Adipose tissue in COVID-19: detection of SARS-CoV-2 in adipocytes and activation of the interferon-alpha response.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a recognized risk factor for the progression to severe forms of COVID-19, yet the mechanisms of the association are unclear. METHODS: Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue specimens of subjects deceased from COVID-19 (n = 23) were compared to those of controls dying abruptly from causes other than infectious (accidental trauma, sudden cardiac death). Alterations of lung parenchyma consistent with moderate to severe disease were detected in all COVID-19 cases, not in controls. Investigations included: histopathologic features, detection of virus antigens and genome, characterization of infiltrating leukocytes, transcription levels of immune-related genes. RESULTS: By RT-PCR, the SARS-CoV-2 genome was detected in the adipose tissue of 13/23 (56%) cases of the COVID-19 cohort. The virus nucleocapsid antigen was detected in the cytoplasm of 1-5% adipocytes in 12/12 COVID-19 cases that were virus-positive by PCR in the adipose tissue (one case could not be assessed due insufficient tissue). The adipose tissue of COVID-19 cases showed leukocyte infiltrates and upregulation of the interferon-alpha pathway. After adjusting for age and sex, the activation score of IFN-alpha was directly related with transcription levels of the ACE2 gene, a key entry factor of SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS: In lethal COVID-19 cases, the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen has been detected in a sizeable proportion of adipocytes, showing that the virus may directly infect the parenchymal cells of subcutaneous fat. Infection appears to activate the IFN alpha pathway and to attract infiltrating leukocytes. Due to the huge numbers of adipocytes in adults, the adipose tissue represents a significant reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 and an important source of inflammatory mediators.

Post-acute cardiac complications following SARS-CoV-2 infection in partial lipodystrophy due to LMNA gene p.R349W mutation.

PURPOSE: SARS-CoV-2 infection may cause varying degrees of cardiac injury and the presence of underlying cardiovascular morbidities contributes to the frequency and severity of occurrence of this complication. Lipodystrophy syndromes are frequently characterized by severe metabolic derangements that represent relevant cardiovascular risk factors. Besides causing lipodystrophy, mutations in the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene can lead to a wide spectrum of tissue-specific disorders including cardiac involvement. METHODS AND RESULTS: We herein examine the case of two patients affected by atypical progeroid syndrome and partial lipodystrophy due to a heterozygous missense LMNA mutation c.1045 C > T (p.R349W) who presented initially with mild COVID-19 and developed severe cardiovascular complications within few weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Before being infected with SARS-CoV-2, our patients had cardiovascular morbidities (mild mitral regurgitation in one patient, ischemic heart disease with bifascicular block in the other patient) in adjunct to cardiovascular risk factors, but the SARS-CoV-2 infection contributed to quickly and significantly decompensate their balance. CONCLUSION: These findings warn that patients affected by LMNA p.R349W mutation and likely other LMNA mutations associated with cardiovascular morbidity should be considered at extremely elevated risk of post-acute cardiological manifestations and should therefore undergo a vigilant follow-up after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Both patients developed COVID-19 before the specific vaccination was available to them and this unfortunate situation should remark the importance of vaccination coverage against SARS-CoV-2 infection for all patients affected by lipodystrophy, especially those with underlying comorbidities.

COVID-19 autopsy cases: detection of virus in endocrine tissues.

PURPOSE: The SARS-CoV-2 genome has been detected in a variety of human samples including blood, urine, semen, and faeces. However, evidence of virus presence in tissues other than lung are limited. METHODS: We investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 could be detected in 50 autoptic specimens of endocrine organs from 29 patients who died of COVID-19. RESULTS: The virus was detected in 25 specimens including ten abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue samples (62%), six testes (67%), and nine thyroid (36%) samples. The analysis of multiple endocrine organ samples obtained from the same patients showed that, in virus-positive cases, the viral genome was consistently detected in all but two matched specimens. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that the virus spread into endocrine organs is a common event in severe cases. Further studies should assess the rate of the phenomenon in clinically mild cases. The potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on endocrine functions should be taken into consideration.