The effect of geographic indication in advertising background pictures on product evaluation: The moderating role of familiarity

This study investigates whether geographic indications in the backgrounds of advertising pictures might affect the viewer's evaluation of a product. The findings reveal that participants in the proximal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the distal geographic indication when they were exposed to feasibility‐related information. By contrast, participants in the distal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the proximal geographic indication when they were exposed to desirability‐related information. However, familiarity with geographic indications eliminated this effect.     

The effect of religiosity on quality of life in Muslim patients with heart failure: a study in Qom,the religious capital of Iran

Due to the low quality of life (QoL) in patients with heart failure, many researchers attempted to find new ways to improve the QoL in these patients. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between QoL and religious attitudes of patients with heart failure. In this cross-sectional study, 130 male and female patients with heart failure were selected based on the inclusion criteria. Data were collected using 36-item short form Quality of Life and structured Religious Attitude Questionnaires. The average age of subjects was 59.50?±?12.29; also, 52.3% of them were female. A significant relationship was observed between patients’ QoL and their religious attitudes in mental (p?=?.03) and general health (p?=?.04) dimensions, but religious attitude had no significant correlation with physical health dimension (p?=?.66) and the total score of QoL (p?=?.30). At the end, it was concluded that religious beliefs can improve patients’ quality of life.     

Involvement of reactive oxygen species in emotional stress: A hypothesis based on the immobilization stress-induced oxidative damage and antioxidant defense changes in rat brain,and the effect of antioxidant treatment with reduced glutathione

We examined the oxidative damage and antioxidant defense changes with immobilization-induced emotional stress in the rat brain. Though superoxide dismutase activity remained unchanged, brain peroxidation was significantly accelerated by the immobilization stress. Membrane fluidity study with spin labeling in brain cortical membrane showed that immobilization stress induced an increase in microviscosity of membrane layer near the surface and in the ordering of membrane proteins but a decrease in microviscosity at the core of the membrane bilayer. The Na, K-ATPase activity decreased whereas the levels of some monoamines and their metabolites increased along with their metabolic rate. The administration of reduced glutathione showed a protective effect on the immobilization stress-induced stomach bleeding, oxidative damage and abnormal changes in the brain antioxidant defenses. Based on these results and on previous reports, we hypothesize that immobilization stress may induce the formation of reactive oxygen species which weakens the brain antioxidant defenses and induces oxidative damage. The antioxidant administration of reduced glutathione provides further evidence to support the above hypothesis, and also may provide clues in the search for a rational therapy to emotional stress. A possible correlation of emotional stress to aging is also discussed.