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Given the positive bias toward attractive people in society, online sellers are justifiably apprehensive about perceptions of their profile pictures. Although the existing literature emphasizes the “beauty premium” and the “ugliness penalty,” the current studies of seller profile pictures on customer-to-customer e-commerce platforms find a U-shaped relationship between facial attractiveness and product sales (i.e., both beauty and ugliness premiums and, thus, a “plainness penalty”). By analyzing two large data sets, the authors find that both attractive and unattractive people sell significantly more than plain-looking people. Two online experiments reveal that attractive sellers enjoy greater source credibility due to perceived sociability and competence, whereas unattractive sellers are considered more believable on the basis of their perceived competence. While a beauty premium is apparent for appearance-relevant products, an ugliness premium is more pronounced for expertise-relevant products and for female consumers evaluating male sellers. These findings highlight the influence of facial appearance as a key vehicle for impression formation in online platforms and its complex effects in e-commerce and marketing.

This research examines the influence of backers’ social networks on their backing behavior using data from a large social networking site and a reward-based crowdfunding platform. We distinguish the roles of nodes and ties in a backer’s social network and assess the combined and differential effects of these two types of social relationship on the backer’s pledge decisions. As backers have different motives for engaging in different crowdfunding campaigns, which range from commercially oriented technological innovation to community-based social development, we further examine how these effects differ between technology-oriented campaigns and social-oriented campaigns. We find that node-level factors (e.g., centrality) have a greater influence on technology-oriented campaigns than on social-oriented campaigns, while tie-level factors (e.g., embeddedness) have a stronger impact on social-oriented campaigns. Considering the two forms of embeddedness in tandem, we find that the effects of relational embeddedness on backers’ pledge decisions are not only moderated by structural embeddedness but also contingent on campaign type. These results offer important theoretical insights into the drivers of contribution, which should be considered by crowdfunding operators and campaign proponents seeking to stimulate contribution.

While online platforms often provide a single composite rating and the ratings of different attributes of a product, they largely ignore the attribute characteristics and customer criticality, which limits managerial action. We propose a multi-facet item response theory (MFIRT) approach to simultaneously examine the effects of product attributes, reviewer criticality, consumption situation, product type, and time in assessing latent customer satisfaction. Analyses of hotel ratings from TripAdvisor and beer ratings from BeerAdvocate suggest that product attributes differ with respect to their discriminating and threshold characteristics and that reviewer segments emphasize different attributes when rating various products over time. The MFIRT approach predicts product performance more accurately than alternative methods and provides novel insights to inform marketing strategies. The MFIRT framework can fundamentally advance how we analyze customer satisfaction and other consumer attitudes and improve marketing research and practice.

Purpose This paper aims to study how price and sales level information influence consumer product perceptions and choices in online settings. It, in particular, tests whether displaying sales level information increases consumer price sensitivity, which is a potential strategic risk to retailers. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 uses eBay data to investigate whether the interaction effects between price and sales level can be observed in an existing market. Study 2 involves online experiments across three product categories. Participants choose from product pairs that are shown with either the same or different prices and with no, the same or different sales levels. Findings Study 1 shows strong effects of a product’s displayed sales and price level on its daily sales but finds no interaction effect. Study 2 shows strong effects of price and sales levels on product choice but similarly finds no evidence that sales level information influences consumer price sensitivity, although it reveals an effect on quality perceptions. The results show how perceptions of quality, sacrifice and popularity mediate the effects of price and sales level information on product choice. Research limitations/implications Study 1 has limited control over prices and sales levels. Study 2 involves only hypothetical choices. Practical implications These findings indicate that businesses can use sales level information to manage consumer product quality perceptions and choices without having to be concerned that this will make consumers more price-sensitive. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate how sales level information affects consumer responses to price differences in online contexts.

Conductive electrodes and electric circuits that can remain active and electrically stable under large mechanical deformations are highly desirable for applications such as flexible displays 1 , 2 , 3 , field-effect transistors 4 , 5 , energy-related devices 6 , 7 , smart clothing 8 and actuators 9 , 10 , 11 . However, high conductivity and stretchability seem to be mutually exclusive parameters. The most promising solution to this problem has been to use one-dimensional nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes and metal nanowires coated on a stretchable fabric 12 , 13 , metal stripes with a wavy geometry 14 , 15 , composite elastomers embedding conductive fillers 16 , 17 and interpenetrating networks of a liquid metal and rubber 18 . At present, the conductivity values at large strains remain too low to satisfy requirements for practical applications. Moreover, the ability to make arbitrary patterns over large areas is also desirable. Here, we introduce a conductive composite mat of silver nanoparticles and rubber fibres that allows the formation of highly stretchable circuits through a fabrication process that is compatible with any substrate and scalable for large-area applications. A silver nanoparticle precursor is absorbed in electrospun poly (styrene- block -butadiene- block -styrene) (SBS) rubber fibres and then converted into silver nanoparticles directly in the fibre mat. Percolation of the silver nanoparticles inside the fibres leads to a high bulk conductivity, which is preserved at large deformations ( σ  ≈ 2,200 S cm –1 at 100% strain for a 150-µm-thick mat). We design electric circuits directly on the electrospun fibre mat by nozzle printing, inkjet printing and spray printing of the precursor solution and fabricate a highly stretchable antenna, a strain sensor and a highly stretchable light-emitting diode as examples of applications. A highly stetchable non-woven mat with printed conductive circuits is fabricated by embedding silver nanoparticles in electrospun fibres.

Metallothioneins (MTs) are proteins that function by metal exchange to regulate the bioavailability of metals, such as zinc and copper. Copper functions in the brain to regulate mitochondria, neurotransmitter production, and cell signaling. Inappropriate copper binding can result in loss of protein function and Cu(I)/(II) redox cycling can generate reactive oxygen species. Copper accumulates in the brain with aging and has been shown to bind alpha-synuclein and initiate its aggregation, the primary aetiological factor in Parkinson's disease (PD), and other alpha-synucleinopathies. In PD, total tissue copper is decreased, including neuromelanin-bound copper and there is a reduction in copper transporter CTR-1. Conversely cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) copper is increased. MT-1/2 expression is increased in activated astrocytes in alpha-synucleinopathies, yet expression of the neuronal MT-3 isoform may be reduced. MTs have been implicated in inflammatory states to perform one-way exchange of copper, releasing free zinc and recent studies have found copper bound to alpha-synuclein is transferred to the MT-3 isoform and MT-3 is found bound to pathological alpha-synuclein aggregates in the alpha-synucleinopathy, multiple systems atrophy. Moreover, both MT and alpha-synuclein can be released and taken up by neural cells via specific receptors and so may interact both intra- and extra-cellularly. Here, we critically review the role of MTs in copper dyshomeostasis and alpha-synuclein aggregation, and their potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has transformed the treatment of B-cell malignancies, but its success in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains limited. Durable responses depend on the formation of long-lived memory T cells, whereas T cell exhaustion contributes to non-response and relapse. In patients with AML who achieved remission after cord blood transplantation, we here first observe enrichment of memory T cells with high expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4. Next, we show that engineering CAR-T cells to co-express CXCR4 enhances their persistence and anti-leukemic activity in patient-derived xenograft models. Using single-cell profiling and metabolic analysis, we find that CXCR4 promotes memory-associated transcriptional programs, reduces exhaustion, and supports oxidative metabolism. These effects are observed with CAR-T cells targeting CD25 or CD96 as AML-associated targets. Our results indicate that CXCR4 strengthens CAR-T cell memory and durability, offering a strategy to improve immunotherapy outcomes in AML and beyond. CAR-T cell efficacy is often limited by the inability to maintain a memory T cell program. Here, the authors show that intrinsic CXCR4 expression enhances CAR-T cell persistence and memory differentiation in acute myeloid leukemia.

The formation of cytotoxic intracellular protein aggregates is a pathological signature of multiple neurodegenerative diseases. The principle aggregating protein in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and atypical Parkinson’s diseases is α-synuclein (α-syn), which occurs in neural cytoplasmic inclusions. Several factors have been found to trigger α-syn aggregation, including raised calcium, iron, and copper. Transcriptional inducers have been explored to upregulate expression of endogenous metal-binding proteins as a potential neuroprotective strategy. The vitamin-D analogue, calcipotriol, induced increased expression of the neuronal vitamin D-dependent calcium-binding protein, calbindin-D28k, and this significantly decreased the occurrence of α-syn aggregates in cells with transiently raised intracellular free Ca, thereby increasing viability. More recently, the induction of endogenous expression of the Zn and Cu binding protein, metallothionein, by the glucocorticoid analogue, dexamethasone, gave a specific reduction in Cu-dependent α-syn aggregates. Fe accumulation has long been associated with PD. Intracellularly, Fe is regulated by interactions between the Fe storage protein ferritin and Fe transporters, such as poly(C)-binding protein 1. Analysis of the transcriptional regulation of Fe binding proteins may reveal potential inducers that could modulate Fe homoeostasis in disease. The current review highlights recent studies that suggest that transcriptional inducers may have potential as novel mechanism-based drugs against metal overload in PD.

Osteoclasts (OCs) undergo rapid apoptosis without trophic factors, such as macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (M‐CSF). Their apoptosis was associated with a rapid and sustained increase in the pro‐apoptotic BH3‐only Bcl‐2 family member Bim. This was caused by the reduced ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation of Bim that is mediated by c‐Cbl. Although the number of OCs was increased in the skeletal tissues of bim−/− mice, the mice exhibited mild osteosclerosis due to reduced bone resorption. OCs differentiated from bone marrow cells of bim−/− animals showed a marked prolongation of survival in the absence of M‐CSF, compared with bim+/+ OCs, but the bone‐resorbing activity of bim−/− OCs was significantly reduced. Overexpression of a degradation‐resistant lysine‐free Bim mutant in bim−/− cells abrogated the anti‐apoptotic effect of M‐CSF, while wild‐type Bim did not. These results demonstrate that ubiquitylation‐dependent regulation of Bim levels is critical for controlling apoptosis and activation of OCs.