BackgroundBioactive molecules have received increasing attention due to their nutraceutical attributes and anticancer, antioxidant, antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing properties. This study aimed to investigate the biological properties of carotenoids extracted from Archaea.MethodsHalophilic Archaea strains were isolated from the brine of a local crystallizer pond (TS7) of a solar saltern at Sfax, Tunisia. The most carotenoid-producing strain (M8) was investigated on heptoma cell line (HepG2), and its viability was assessed by the MTT-test. The cells were incubated with different sub-lethal extract rates, with carotenoid concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 1.5 μM. Antioxidant activity was evaluated through exposing the cells to sub-lethal extract concentrations for 24 hours and then to oxidative stress induced by 60 μM arachidonic acid and 50 μM H2O2.ResultsCompared to non-treated cells, bacterial carotenoid extracts inhibited HepG2 cell viability (50%). A time and dose effect was observed, with cell viability undergoing a significant (P < 0.05) decrease with extract concentration. After exposure to oxidative stress, control cells underwent a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in viability as compared to the non-treated cells.ConclusionsThe bacterial extracts under investigation were noted to exhibit the strongest free radical scavenging activity with high carotenoid concentrations. The carotenoid extract also showed significant antiproliferative activity against HepG2 human cancer cell lines.
Purpose – Although there is existing research investigating trust itself, there is a need for research on the concept of trust, specifically in retail environments. The purpose of this paper is to identify specific the dimensions of the concept of trust with retailing and to note impactful antecedents as activators for managers to secure long-term business. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a multi-dimensional measurement scale of trust that is examined through a structural equation modeling the connections between the determinants of the concept and its various features. Findings – This research has identified two new key dimensions for trust, specific to the well-being retailing context: customer/salesperson relationship and customer/sales environment relationship. Hence, this research primarily highlights the role of the salesperson and advice in establishing and sustaining the customer-retailer trust relationship. Practical implications – On the managerial level, this research helps further an advanced relational approach in the area of consumer product distribution by paying particular attention to building and developing a trust-based relationship. This research may serve as a “handbook” for any retailer looking to establish and sustain a durable relationship with their customers. Originality/value – The paper adapts the concept of trust in the specific context of brick-and-mortar retailing and tests it thanks to a quantitative study in the field of well-being retailing. The paper uses empirical data to establish original indications regarding: new relevant dimensions for trust in a retailing context that could be used by shop managers to develop a better comprehension of trust and impactful antecedents of trust in a retailing context that could be activated by shop managers to enhance trust regarding their shops.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract consumers looking for fun, experiences, and challenges. This research adopts an integrative perspective to focus on the gaming experience and its major components. This research studies how gaming affects real life and how real life affects virtual experience. We use in-depth interviews, a netnographic study, and a three-year ethnographic immersion. The results provide an overview of gamers’ consumption experience, its major components, and their links. MMORPGs appear to be a complex experience where virtual and real-life continuously interrelate. Gaming as a virtual experience affects gamers’ real lives (virtual realisation), and gamers’ real lives affect how they experience the game (real-world virtualisation). A significant contribution of our study is to show that gaming is not a process with clear, separated chronological steps. Gaming is an experience where boundaries between virtual and real-life are not delimited and where the virtual and real-life are far from disjointed experiences.
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