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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2009.04.002 Byline: So Young Sohn, Jae Kang Lee Author Affiliation: Department of Information and Industrial Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Wheat bran contains a high level of arabinoxylan. We investigated whether wheat bran affects the composition and immune responses of splenic T cells and the mucosal IgA response of small intestines in mice. Mice were fed soluble arabinoxylan-enriched wheat bran for 4 weeks. Wheat bran increased the population of CD4(+) T cells. When splenocytes from each group were stimulated with anti-CD3 antibody, there was no change in proliferative capacity, but a significant decrease in expression of the early activation marker CD69 was observed in the high-dose group. With regard to T cell-derived cytokines, levels of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-10, and interferon-γ were unaffected but that of IL-4 was decreased in mice receiving wheat bran. Further, wheat bran increased mucosal and luminal secretory IgA levels in the distal small intestine. Our results suggest that wheat bran affects systemic and intestinal immunity and can be developed as an immunoenhancing functional food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Internet music market is a new profit-making entity and is growing rapidly due to its extension into the mobile device market. Introduction of the portable multimedia player (PMP), which is the next generation of MP3-players, will influence a customer’s audio and video service preference. The Internet music market needs to develop a new business model (BM) for PMPs. This article examines new BMs for customer preference via a conjoint analysis. In addition, we investigate customers’ willingness to pay (WTP) using a multinomial logit model. The study helps with the decision-making procedure for designing a BM adaptable to new technology development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since the Korean government implemented the “Number Portability System” in the domestic mobile communications market, mobile communication companies have been striving to hold onto existing customers and at the same time to attract new customers. This paper presents a competing risk model that considers the characteristics of a customer in order to predict the customer''s mean residual life under the “Number Portability System.” Competing causes for churning considered are pricing policy, quality of communication, and usefulness of service. It has been observed that the customers who pay more are less sensitive to pricing policy; younger people are less sensitive than older people to the change of the quality of communication; and women are more sensitive than men in terms of usefulness of service. We expect that the result of this study can be used as a guideline for effective management of mobile phone customers under the number portability system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Four compounds, hericerin (1), isohericerinol A (2), N -de-phenylethyl isohericerin (3) and corallocin A (4) were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Hericium erinaceus, a lion's mane mushroom (Hericiaceae). Among them, isohericerinol A (2) was newly reported in nature. Further investigation of the neurotrophic effect of isolated compounds demonstrated that isohericerinol A (2) strongly increased the nerve growth factor (NGF) production in C6 glioma cells followed by corallocin A (4) and hericerin (1). Increased NGF production by these compounds promoted the neurite outgrowth in N2a neuronal cells. Western blot analysis also showed the increased protein expression of NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and synaptophysin (SYP) in C6-N2a cells. Taken together, our present study characterized the neurotrophic constituents of H. erinaceus , which may support the potential use of memory improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]