The bookings and revenues of youth hostels have significantly decreased because of the multiple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to investigate young consumers' perceptions of visiting youth hostels aftermath this pandemic. The current study examines the relationship between multi-dimensions of perceived risk, three types of images, willingness to pay and visit intention. A convenience sampling was developed where 534 questionnaires were received, followed by subsequent empirical testing of the proposed hypotheses using SPSS and AMOS-SEM. Results showed that perceived risk negatively influenced cognitive and affective image, respectively. Cognitive and affective image positively influenced overall image and finally influenced willingness to pay and visit intention separately. In addition, cognitive image positively influenced affective image. The theoretical framework satisfactorily accounted for willingness to pay and intention, and our results help youth hostels practitioners invent efficient strategies to boost young consumers' willingness to pay and intention to visit youth hostels.
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a highly infectious bacterium and the major cause of pneumonia especially in school-going children. Mycoplasma pneumoniae affects the respiratory tract, and 25% of patients experience health-related problems. It is important to have a suitable method to detect M. pneumoniae, and gold nanoparticle (GNP)-based colorimetric biosensing was used in this study to identify the specific target DNA for M. pneumoniae. The color of GNPs changes due to negatively charged GNPs in the presence of positively charged monovalent (Na+ ) ions from NaCl. This condition is reversed in the presence of a single-stranded oligonucleotide, as it attracts GNPs but not in the presence of double-stranded DNA. Single standard capture DNA was mixed with optimal target DNA that cannot be adsorbed by GNPs; under this condition, GNPs are not stabilized and aggregate at high ionic strength (from 100 mM). Without capture DNA, the GNPs that were stabilized by capture DNA (from 1 μM) became more stable under high ionic conditions and retaining their red color. The GNPs turned blue in the presence of target DNA at concentrations of 1 pM, and the GNPs retained a red color when there was no target in the solution. This method is useful for the simple, easy, and accurate identification of M. pneumoniae target DNA at higher discrimination and without involving sophisticated equipment, and this method provides a diagnostic for M. pneumoniae.
Objective: To estimate the incident risk of ischemic stroke (IS) in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2D) subjects according to different body mass index (BMI) and height categories.
Methods: A total of 25,130 newly diagnosed T2D subjects were included in this study. All T2D subjects were enrolled consecutively from the Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CDSS) of Ningbo. Standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) stratified by BMI categories and height quartiles were used to estimate the incident risk of IS in T2D subjects.
Results: In total, 22,795 subjects completed the follow-up. Among them, 1268 newly diagnosed IS cases were identified, with 149,675 person-years. The SIRs of normal BMI (18.5-24.0 kg/m2), overweight (24.0-28.0 kg/m2), and obese (≥28.0 kg/m2) in overall subjects were 2.56 (95% CI 1.90-3.13), 2.13 (95% CI 1.90-3.13), and 1.87 (95% CI 1.29-2.43), respectively (Ptrend < 0.01), comparing to the general population of Ningbo. For each 1 kg/m2 increment in BMI, the SIR was 0.948 (95% CI 0.903-0.999). For height quartiles, the SIRs of male subjects in quartile 1 (<160 cm), quartile 2 (161-165 cm), quartile 3 (165-170 cm), and quartile 4 (≥171 cm) were 2.27 (95% CI 1.99-2.56), 2.01 (95% CI 1.67-2.45), 1.37 (95% CI 1.05-1.68), and 0.91 (95% CI 0.40-1.32), respectively (Ptrend < 0.01). While for female subjects, the SIRs in quartile 1 (<155 cm), quartile 2 (156-160 cm), quartile 3 (161-165 cm), and quartile 4 (≥166 cm) were 3.57 (95% CI 3.11-3.49), 2.96 (95% CI 2.61-3.31), 1.94 (95% CI 1.51-2.36), and 1.71 (95% CI 0.95-2.47), respectively (Ptrend < 0.01).
Conclusion: Compared to the general population of Ningbo, T2D subjects had a higher incident risk of IS. Furthermore, the IS incident risk was not only higher in newly diagnosed T2D subjects with normal BMI but also lower in taller newly diagnosed T2D subjects.
In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field.