The effect of mortality salience on consumers' preference for experiential purchases and its mechanism

Inevitably, consumers will be exposed to death-related information in their daily lives. For example, they are informed about deaths and injuries caused by accidents, terrorism and disasters on social media. They may also encounter the experiences of deceased friends and relatives or the news of unfortunate strangers. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more frequently exposed to death cues. Researches have shown that consumers' decision-makings and purchasing behaviors shift when dealing with death threats. Compared to material consumption, experiential consumption delivers greater and persistent well-being and it is emerging as an extremely important consumption pattern. It is unclear, however, whether these mortality cues will exert positive or negative effects on consumers' preference for experiential purchases. Based on the meaning maintenance model, 4 studies were conducted to examine how mortality salience influences consumers' preference for experiential purchases. In Study 1a and Study 1b, we experimentally manipulated mortality salience and examined its effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases. Study 1a (N = 140) was a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to different groups to imagine about incurable infectious disease or dental surgery. Participants in Study 1b (N = 252) were instructed to write about death or dental pain. Study 2 (N =219) was designed to test the mediating role of meaning in life. Participants were required to read a news report concerning traffic accident or dental surgery, and then finish the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Study 3 (N = 166) was a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) × 2 (social support: high level vs. low level) between-subjects design. Participants were provided a news report pertaining to the global fatalities under the COVID-19 pandemic in mortality salience condition, and pertaining to global tourism during the pandemic period in the control condition. Social support was manipulated by writing in detail a difficult situation "in which your family or friends accompanied you", or "in which you had to face all by yourself". Additionally, we used a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) to document a robust effect across all studies. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) Exposed to mortality salience will lead to stronger preference for experiential purchases. (2) The effects seem to be driven by meaning in life, whereby exposure to mortality salience undermines consumers' meaning in life, and consumers will gravitate towards experiential consumption to enhance their impaired meaning. (3) Social support moderates the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. Only when consumers received low level of social support, will mortality salience reduce their meaning in life. (4) Social support moderates the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases. Specifically, meaning in life mediates the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases only when consumers received low social support. To enhance the overall validity, we performed a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) on the four studies. The SPM showed that consumers had greater preference of experiential purchase when exposed to mortality salience (Estimate β = 0.30, SE = 0.07, z = 4.178, p < 0.001), which strengthened the robustness of our general conclusion. This research yields practical implications by demonstrating that mortality salience exerts positive effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases, which enables us to identify the changes in consumption patterns and mindset under the pandemic, providing references for marketing and promotion strategies. © Science Press.

Feasibility Study on Browser-Based Federated Machine Learning (FML) Architecture for Medical Application

Traditional approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI) based medical image classification requires huge amounts of data sets to be stored in a centralized server for analysis and training. In medical applications, data privacy and ownership may pose a challenge. In addition, costs incurred by data transfer and cloud server may pose a challenge to implementing a large dataset. This work studies the feasibility of a decentralized, browser-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) federated machine learning (FML) architecture. The proposed work studies the feasibility of bringing training and inference to the browser, hence removing the need to transfer raw data to a centralized server. If feasible, the system allows practitioners to compress and upload their pre-trained model to the server instead of raw data. This allows medical practitioners to update the model without the need to reveal their raw data. A sandbox system was implemented by applying transfer learning on MobileNet V3 and was tested with chest X-ray image datasets from COVID-19, viral pneumonia, and normal patients to simulate medical usage environment. The training speed, model performance and inference speed were tested on a PC browser and mobile phone with various levels of network throttling and image degradation. © 2022 IEEE.

[Analysis of the whole genome traceability and transmission path simulation experiment of the local cluster COVID-19 epidemic].

Objective: To trace and characterize the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 of confirmed cases in the outbreak of COVID-19 on July 31, 2021 in Henan Province. Method: Genome-wide sequencing and comparative analysis were performed on positive nucleic acid samples of SARS-CoV-2 from 167 local cases related to the epidemic on July 31, 2021, to analyze the consistency and evolution of the whole genome sequence of virus. Results: Through high-throughput sequencing, a total of 106 cases of SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequences were obtained. The results of genome analysis showed that the whole genome sequences of 106 cases belonged to the VOC/Delta variant strain (B.1.617.2 clade), and the whole genome sequences of 106 cases were shared with the genomes of 3 imported cases from Myanmar admitted to a hospital in Zhengzhou. On the basis of 45 nucleotide sites, 1-5 nucleotide variation sites were added, and the genome sequence was highly homologous. Conclusion: Combined with the comprehensive analysis of viral genomics, transmission path simulation experiments and epidemiology, it is determined that the local new epidemic in Henan Province is caused by imported cases in the nosocomial area, and the spillover has caused localized infection in the community. At the same time, it spills over to some provincial cities and results in localized clustered epidemics.

Potential mechanisms underlying lithium treatment for Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19.

Disruption of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis plays an important role as an upstream pathology in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and correction of Ca2+ dysregulation has been increasingly proposed as a target of future effective disease-modified drugs for treating AD. Calcium dysregulation is also an upstream pathology for the COVID-19 virus SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication, leading to host cell damage. Clinically available drugs that can inhibit the disturbed intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis have been repurposed to treat COVID-19 patients. This narrative review aims at exploring the underlying mechanism by which lithium, a first line drug for the treatment of bipolar disorder, inhibits Ca2+ dysregulation and associated downstream pathology in both AD and COVID-19. It is suggested that lithium can be repurposed to treat AD patients, especially those afflicted with COVID-19.

Dantrolene repurposed to treat sepsis or septic shock and COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Disruption of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis via excessive and pathological Ca2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and/or sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) through ryanodine receptor (RyRs) Ca2+ channels play a critical role in the pathology of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and associated multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) in sepsis or septic shock. Dantrolene, a potent inhibitor of RyRs, is expected to ameliorate SIRS and MODS and decrease mortality in sepsis or septic shock patients. This review summarized the potential mechanisms of therapeutic effects of dantrolene in sepsis or septic shock at molecular, cell, and organ levels and provided suggestions and strategies for future clinical studies.

Oxygen therapy strategies and techniques to treat hypoxia in COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Hypoxia is one of the primary causes that leads to multiple organ injuries and death in COVID-19 patients. Aggressive oxygen therapy for the treatment of hypoxia is important in saving these patients. We have summarized the mechanisms, efficacy, and side effects of various oxygen therapy techniques and their status or the potential to treat hypoxia in COVID-19 patients. The benefit to risk ratio of each oxygen therapy technique and strategy to use them in COVID-19 patients are discussed. High flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNO) should be considered a better choice as an early stage oxygen therapy. Supraglottic jet oxygenation and ventilation (SJOV) is a promising alternative for HFNO with potential benefits.

Could dantrolene be explored as a repurposed drug to treat COVID-19 patients by restoring intracellular calcium homeostasis?

Dantrolene, an FDA approved drug to treat malignant hyperthermia and muscle spasm, has been demonstrated to inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mediated toxicity of host cells. Ryanodine receptor overactivation and associated disruption of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis play important roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication of host cells. Dantrolene, as an inhibitor of RyRs, is expected to ameliorate these detrimental effects of SARS-CoV-2 in host cells. Additionally, dantrolene has also been shown to inhibit multiple cell or organ damage induced by hypoxia/ischemia, mitochondria damage, oxidative stresses, inflammation, impairment of autophagy and apoptosis, etc., which are often the causes of severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. We have repurposed that dantrolene has a high potential at treating COVID-19 patients and reducing its morbidity and mortality.