• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.99-108
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• 2014

Purpose - The goals of this study are the following. First, this study focused on customer satisfaction of in-flight service. Specifically, in-flight duty free items were considered because of their potential value related with the differentiated strategy of airline companies. Second, this study analyzed feasible strategies that would fence off the aversive attitudes of consumers toward innovation regarding in-flight duty free items. Third, this study strived to discover implicit routes related with the reactions of of consumers to innovation. Fourth, the construal level theory was applied to the context of in-flight service. Psychological distance is expected to promote acceptance of innovation for duty free items. Research design, data, and methodology - This study consisted of three experiments. All data were collected through the participation of university students. First, the experiment employed a 2×2 between-subject design. The first independent variable was temporal distance (long vs. short of navigation time). The second independent variable was innovativeness (innovative duty free items vs. typical items). Further, experiment 2 involved a 2×2 between-subject design. The first independent variable was social distance (typical vs. atypical stewardess image). The second was innovativeness that was based on a pattern similar to that of the prior experiment. The third experiment involved a 2×2×2 design. The first and second independent variables were temporal distance and item innovation, respectively, based on the method of experiment 1. The third independent variable was cognitive depletion (depletion vs. control condition). Results - Experiment 1 demonstrated that the innovation of duty free items would need to consider the journey time of the airline. Specifically, innovative items were preferred in case of a long journey; typical items, however, were liked in a short journey. Further, experiment 2 demonstrated that, in spite of a short journey, innovative items would be preferred if an atypical stewardess was serving. An atypical stewardess was linked with social distance, and the psychological effects would activate a creative and flexible mindset that would fit with innovative duty free items. The final experiment was accomplished for the examination of cognitive processing of psychological distance on innovation-acceptance. Specifically, if the effects were related with systematic processing, then cognitive effort would be needed. In contrast, if they were related with heuristic processing, then such efforts would not be required. The same pattern appeared under both cognitive depletion and control condition; therefore, the effects of psychological distance were implied to be heuristic processing. Conclusions - Managers need to consider the navigation time, stewardess concepts, and depletion of consumers as important factors for innovative strategy regarding in-flight service. Longer journeys are more successful for innovative trials. Further, a more atypical stewardess image is more successful for atypical service. Long navigation and unfamiliar stewardesses may activate creative and flexible thinking. Further, cognitive depletion of consumers is not a dominant factor of psychological distance effects, because the effects are not related with systematic processing, but with heuristic processing.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.67-79
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• 2014

Purpose - This study aims to accomplish three major research goals. First, it strives to change consumers' focus from peripheral routes to a central route of public service advertising related to the good health policy, without problematic effects, by influencing consumers' knowledge or involvement. Second, this study examines the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and construal level theory (CLT). Specifically, we consider that the central route of ELM might correspond with the focal goal of CLT. Third, this study analyzes ELM through CLT. That is, ELM predicted that low involvement would take the peripheral route, and high involvement would take the central route. Research design, data, and methodology - This study consisted of three experiments. The first experiment had a 2×2 between-subject design. The subjects were university students and the research period was approximately one year. The first independent variable was the involvement of the overweight issue; this variable was measured and split by the median. The second independent variable was the temporal distance (near vs. distant future); this variable was manipulated. The second experiment also had a 2×2 between-subject design. The first variable was the involvement of cervical adenocarcinoma prevention, and was considered already manipulated by sex. Specifically, males had a low involvement of the disease, but females had high involvement. The second independent variable was priming (power vs. submissive). Power priming would induce abstract thinking, but submissive priming would take concrete processing. The third experiment had a 2×2×2 between-subject design. The first variable was cognitive depletion, and was manipulated by memorizing 9-digit numbers. The second and third independent variables were involvement and abstract thinking induction, such as prior experiments. Data were collected through questionnaires, and were analyzed by an SPSS program. Major hypotheses were tested by examining the interaction effects through ANOVA. Results - Major findings are as follows. First, even for low-involved consumers in the overweight category, distant future manipulation induced them to focus not on the peripheral route but on the central route of the public service advertisement. This result does not correspond to the typical ELM prediction. Second, under power priming, low-involved males of the cervical adenocarcinoma category focused on the peripheral route because of the induction to abstract thinking. This result replicated the first experiment, and confirmed the theoretical robustness. Third, high-involved females focused not on the central but on the peripheral route under the mixed condition of cognitive depletion and near future manipulation. Depletion consumed cognitive resources, and the processing mode of consumers changed from systematic to heuristic. Conclusions - ELM needs to be complemented through CLT in context of public service good health advertising. Specifically, the involvement of ELM may impact consumers' thinking mode (abstract vs. concrete), and the interaction effects may influence consumers' focus on advertising (central vs. peripheral route). This study's limitations were bounded subjects, limited stimuli, and somewhat weak external validity.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.125-138
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• 2022

This study has examined the effect of cognitive resource on purchase intention of scarcity products according to the level of need for cognitive closure. In order to find out the effect on purchase intention for products that are presented a shopping environment is supposed, where various timing of consumer promotion reward exist, and where consumers can easily access and experience a lot of cognitive changes. the effect of how these two influences are adjusted according to the level of need for cognitive closure (NFCC). The study divide into two experiments. Research analyzes the behavioral differences of consumers for scarcity message products according to cognitive resource level with a moderating effect of NFCC. As a result of the study, Research according to the level of cognitive resource, when applied scarcity message product showed a negative effect of the cognitive resource (self-regulating resource) depletion level on the purchase intention of high-involvement product with scarcity message (Hypothesis 1). Consumers' purchase intention for limited products was higher at the non-depleted level than at the cognitive resource depletion level, and this difference was found statistically significant. Next, as a result of examining the difference according to the level of NFCC, the difference in the influence of cognitive resource level on purchase intention of scarcity products was found to be statistically significant where the NFCC was low (Hypothesis 2).

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2016

Voltage-gated $Ca^{2+}$ ($Ca_V$) channels are dynamically modulated by Gprotein-coupled receptors (GPCR). The $M_1$ muscarinic receptor stimulation is known to enhance $Ca_V2.3$ channel gating through the activation of protein kinase C (PKC). Here, we found that $M_1$ receptors also inhibit $Ca_V2.3$ currents when the channels are fully activated by PKC. In whole-cell configuration, the application of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a PKC activator, potentiated $Ca_V2.3$ currents by ~two-fold. After the PMA-induced potentiation, stimulation of $M_1$ receptors decreased the $Ca_V2.3$ currents by $52{\pm}8%$. We examined whether the depletion of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate ($PI(4,5)P_2$) is responsible for the muscarinic suppression of $Ca_V2.3$ currents by using two methods: the Danio rerio voltage-sensing phosphatase (Dr-VSP) system and the rapamycin-induced translocatable pseudojanin (PJ) system. First, dephosphorylation of $PI(4,5)P_2$ to phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI(4)P) by Dr-VSP significantly suppressed $Ca_V2.3$ currents, by $53{\pm}3%$. Next, dephosphorylation of both PI(4)P and $PI(4,5)P_2$ to PI by PJ translocation further decreased the current by up to $66{\pm}3%$. The results suggest that $Ca_V2.3$ currents are modulated by the $M_1$ receptor in a dual mode-that is, potentiation through the activation of PKC and suppression by the depletion of membrane $PI(4,5)P_2$. Our results also suggest that there is rapid turnover between PI(4)P and $PI(4,5)P_2$ in the plasma membrane.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.224-230
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• 2011

In order to develop silk peptide (SP) preparations possessing cognition-enhancing effect, several candidates were screened through in vitro assays, and their effectiveness was investigated in facilitated brain aging model rats. Incubation of brain acetyl-cholinesterase with SP-PN (1-1,000 ${\mu}g/ml$) led to inhibition of the enzyme activity up to 35%, in contrast to a negligible effect of SP-NN. The expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) mRNA of neural stem cells expressing ChAT gene (F3.ChAT) was increased by 24-hour treatment with 10 and 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ SP-NN (1.35 and 2.20 folds) and SP-PN (2.40 and 1.34 folds). Four-week subcutaneous injections with D-galactose (150 mg/kg) increased activated hippocampal astrocytes to 1.7 folds (a marker of brain injury and aging), decreased acetylcholine concentration in cerebrospinal fluid by 45-50%, and thereby impaired learning and memory function in passive avoidance and water-maze performances. Oral treatment with SP preparations (50 or 300 mg/kg) for 5 weeks from 1 week prior to D-galactose injection exerted recovering activities on acetylcholine depletion and brain injury/aging as well as cognitive deficit induced by D-galactose. The results indicate that SP preparations restore cognitive functions of facilitated brain aging model rats by increasing the release of acetylcholine, in addition to neuroprotective activity.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2013

Microglia play a role in maintaining and resolving brain tissue homeostasis. In pathological conditions, microglia release pro-inflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic factors, which aggravate the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Autophagy pathway might be involved in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic factors in microglia, though details of the mechanism remain largely unknown. In the present study, we examined the role of the autophagy pathway in activated BV2 microglia cells. In BV2 cells, rapamycin treatment activated the formation of anti-LC3-labeled autophagosomes, whereas the ATG5 depletion using siRNA-ATG5 prevented the formation of LC3-labeled autophagosomes, indicating that BV2 cells exhibit an active classical autophagy system. When treated with LPS, BV2 cells expressed an increase of anti-LC3-labeled dots. The levels of LC3-labeled dots were not suppressed, instead tended to be enhanced, by the inhibition of the autophagy pathway with siRNA-ATG5 or wortmannin, suggesting that LPS-induced LC3-labeled dots in nature were distinct from the typical autophagosomes. The levels of LPS-induced expression of iNOS and IL6 were suppressed by treatment with rapamycin, and conversely, their expressions were enhanced by siRNA-ATG5 treatment. Moreover, the activation of the autophagy pathway using rapamycin inhibited cell death of LPS-stimulated microglia. These results suggest that although microglia possess a typical autophagy pathway, the glial cells express a non-typical autophagy pathway in response to LPS, and the activation of the autophagy pathway suppresses the expression of iNOS and IL6, and the cell death of LPS-stimulated microglia.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.501-507
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• 2016

The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and is essential for coordinated transmission of information between them. Disruption of early stages of callosal development can cause agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC), including both complete and partial callosal absence, causing mild to severe cognitive impairment. Despite extensive studies, the etiology of AgCC remains to be clarified due to the complicated mechanism involved in generating AgCC. The biological function of PI3K signaling including phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate is well established in diverse biochemical processes including axon and dendrite morphogenesis, but the function of the closely related phosphatidylinositol-3,4,-bisphosphate (PI(3,4)P2) signaling, particularly in the nervous system, is largely unknown. Here, we provide the first report on the role of inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase II (INPP4B), a PI(3,4)P2 metabolizing 4-phosphatase in the regulation of callosal axon formation. Depleting INPP4B by in utero electroporation suppressed medially directed callosal axon formation. Moreover, depletion of INPP4B significantly attenuated formation of Satb2-positive pyramidal neurons and axon polarization in cortical neurons during cortical development. Taken together, these data suggest that INPP4B plays a role in the regulating callosal axon formation by controlling axon polarization and the Satb2-positive pyramidal neuron population. Dysregulation of INPP4B during cortical development may be implicated in the generation of partial AgCC.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.561-571
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• 2023

Background: Escalating evidence shows that ginseng possesses an antiaging potential with cognitive enhancing activity. As mountain cultivated ginseng (MCG) is cultivated without agricultural chemicals, MCG has emerged as a popular herb medicine. However, little is known about the MCG-mediated pharmacological mechanism on brain aging. Methods: As we demonstrated that glutathione peroxidase (GPx) is important for enhancing memory function in the animal model of aging, we investigated the role of MCG as a GPx inducer using GPx-1 (a major type of GPx) knockout (KO) mice. We assessed whether MCG modulates redox and cholinergic parameters, and memory function in aged GPx-1 knockout KOmice. Results: Redox burden of aged GPx-1 KO mice was more evident than that of aged wild-type (WT) mice. Alteration of Nrf2 DNA binding activity appeared to be more evident than that of NFκB DNA binding activity in aged GPx-1 KO mice. Alteration in choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was more evident than that in acetylcholine esterase activity. MCG significantly attenuated reductions in Nrf2 system and ChAT level. MCG significantly enhanced the co-localization of Nrf2-immunoreactivity and ChAT-immunoreactivity in the same cell population. Nrf2 inhibitor brusatol significantly counteracted MCG-mediated up-regulation in ChAT level and ChAT inhibition (by k252a) significantly reduced ERK phosphorylation by MCG, suggesting that MCG might require signal cascade of Nrf2/ChAT/ERK to enhance cognition. Conclusion: GPx-1 depletion might be a prerequisite for cognitive impairment in aged animals. MCG-mediated cognition enhancement might be associated with the activations of Nrf2, ChAT, and ERK signaling cascade.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.311-316
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• 2021

Ethanol often causes critical health problems by altering the neuronal activities of the central and peripheral nerve systems. One of the cellular targets of ethanol is the plasma membrane proteins including ion channels and receptors. Recently, we reported that ethanol elevates membrane excitability in sympathetic neurons by inhibiting Kv7.2/7.3 channels in a cell type-specific manner. Even though our studies revealed that the inhibitory effects of ethanol on the Kv7.2/7.3 channel was diminished by the increase of plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P₂), the molecular mechanism of ethanol on Kv7.2/7.3 channel inhibition remains unclear. By investigating the kinetics of Kv7.2/7.3 current in high K⁺ solution, we found that ethanol inhibited Kv7.2/7.3 channels through a mechanism distinct from that of tetraethylammonium (TEA) which enters into the pore and blocks the gate of the channels. Using a non-stationary noise analysis (NSNA), we demonstrated that the inhibitory effect of ethanol is the result of reduction of open probability (P_O) of the Kv7.2/7.3 channel, but not of a single channel current (i) or channel number (N). Finally, ethanol selectively facilitated the kinetics of Kv7.2 current suppression by voltage-sensing phosphatase (VSP)-induced PI(4,5)P₂ depletion, while it slowed down Kv7.2 current recovery from the VSP-induced inhibition. Together our results suggest that ethanol regulates neuronal activity through the reduction of open probability and PI(4,5)P₂ sensitivity of Kv7.2/7.3 channels.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2021

Prior research on consumer psychology has primarily focused on when and why consumers exhibit impulsive behavior, such as impulse buying. This study focuses on physical stimulation during an impulse purchase as another meaningful factor. Specifically, this study examines whether thirst depletes cognitive resources. The results of two experiments show that impulse purchase tendency increases when consumers are thirsty (Exp. 1), and that the loss of self-control is based on the relationship between thirst and impulse purchase tendency (Exp. 2). These findings suggest that physical stimulation, such as thirst, may be a useful indicator of impulsive behavior in consumers.