Customers as Co-Creators: Antecedents of Customer Participation in Online Virtual Communities.

The development of internet technology and the popularity of smartphones has been gradually affecting people's daily lives, thus causing subtle changes to their health. Manufacturing companies are increasingly establishing virtual communities to motivate customers to participate in new product development. However, the reasons that customers participate in the innovation process and the timing of participation remain under-researched. Hence, using data on 517 customers of 14 manufacturing enterprises, we investigate the reasons behind such participation and the moderating role of perceived ease of use and perceived control based on the social exchange theory. Results show that learning benefits, integrative benefits, and hedonic benefits have positive effects on participation. Perceived ease of use strengthens the positive relationship between integrative benefits and customer participation. Perceived control strengthens the positive relationship between hedonic benefits and customer participation. Theoretical implications and managerial practices are also discussed.

Perioperative cimetidine administration improves systematic immune response and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cimetidine has been shown to play an important role in the treatment of cancer and the regulation of the immune system. Therefore, we aimed to observe the effects of cimetidine on the systematic immune response in the perioperative period. METHODOLOGY: Sixty patients with colorectal cancer were enrolled from Jan 2005 to Dec 2005 from Taizhou Hospital. The patients were administrated with cimetidine (0.8 g.d-1 or 1.2 g.d-1) or saline from the day of admission to the 10th POD. Venous blood sample was collected and the T-, B- and NK-lymphocyte subsets were determined by flow cytometry. The specimens were subjected to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) response examination. RESULTS: The levels of CD3 and CD4 T-lymphocytes were increased significantly in both low and high dose cimetidine groups 10 days after operation. The number of CD19 B cells was also elevated by cimetidine. However, no significant changes were observed in the CD8, CD4/CD8 value. TIL responses in the cimetidine groups were also enhanced significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Cimetidine can alleviate systematic immunosuppression and improve the local immune function of the colorectal cancer patients in the perioperative period.

Decreased plasma gelsolin is associated with 1-year outcome in patients with traumatic brain injury.

PURPOSE: Decreased plasma gelsolin level has been associated with 1-month mortality after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thus, we investigated the ability of gelsolin to predict 1-year mortality and functional outcome in these patients. METHODS: One hundred fourteen healthy controls and 114 patients with acute severe TBI were included in this study. Plasma gelsolin concentration on admission was measured by ELISA. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients (48.2%) had unfavorable outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1-3) and 38 patients (33.3%) died in 1 year after TBI. Upon admission, plasma gelsolin level in patients was substantially lower than that in healthy controls. A multivariate analysis selected plasma gelsolin level as an independent predictor for 1-year unfavorable outcome and mortality of patients. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed plasma gelsolin level predicted 1-year unfavorable outcome and mortality statistically significantly. The predictive value of the gelsolin concentration was thus similar to that of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score. In a combined logistic-regression model, gelsolin did not statistically significantly improve the area under curve of GCS score. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma gelsolin level is a useful, complementary tool to predict functional outcome and mortality 1 year after TBI.

[Comparison of piezosurgery and chisel osteotomy in the extraction of mandibular impacted third molars].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of piezosurgery in the extraction of mandibular impacted third molars. METHODS: 228 mandibular impacted third molars with relative difficulty for extraction according to the scheme of degree of difficulty for extraction were included in the study, and were divided into two groups (114 teeth each group): Test group (treated by piezosurgery), control group (treated by traditional chisel osteotomy). The surgery time and pain, restriction of mouth opening and facial swelling after surgery, were evaluated in both groups. RESULTS: The average surgery time was (16 +/- 5.2) min in test group and (30 +/- 8.7) min in control group. The surgery time, pain, facial swelling rate, and restriction of mouth opening were lower than control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Compared with traditional chisel osteotomy, the average surgery time with piezosurgery was significantly shorter and the complications are obviously reduced.