Roosevelt University

This analysis utlilizes Fligstein's political-cultural approach to understand how firms in the electric guitar industry have navigated intellectual property protections-namely trademarks and, to a lesser extent, patents-to manage their relationships with other firms in a market space. The study draws from historical and journalistic accounts, legal documents, trade publications, correspondence with market actors, and prior experience with guitars and economic and cultural products. Narratives describing intellectual property disputes are provided, along with a collection of key lessons for understanding the role of intellectual property disputes in managing inter-firm relationships. A key observation derived from this study is that the use of legal institutions to resolve inter-firm disputes can be risky for firms and may, under some circumstances, be unreliable mechanisms for promoting a firm's market position and survivability.

BACKGROUND:There is no published evidence to support the efficacy of any digital vaping cessation program for young adults (YAs) at differing levels of readiness to quit. In this pilot randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the preliminary acceptability and efficacy of a program for vaping cessation based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT on Vaping), delivered via a smartphone app and text messaging. METHODS:YAs aged 18-30 (n = 61) were randomized 1:1 to ACT on Vaping (n = 31) or incentivized text message control (n = 30). Outcome data were collected at 3 months post-randomization. Results were compared against a priori benchmarks for acceptability (satisfaction of ≥3.5 on 5-point scale) and efficacy relative to control (meeting at least one of three): ≥1-point difference in Contemplation Ladder change scores; ≥5 percentage difference in 24-hour quit attempts, ≥5 percentage difference in cotinine-confirmed 30-day point prevalence abstinence (PPA) from all non-therapeutic nicotine/tobacco. RESULTS:Satisfaction with ACT on Vaping averaged 3.8, exceeding the acceptability benchmark. A higher proportion of participants in the ACT on Vaping arm reported a 24-hour quit attempt (87.5% vs. 75.9%), exceeding the efficacy benchmark. Both changes in quit readiness (+0.96 in ACT on Vaping vs. +0.72 in control) and cotinine-confirmed 30-day PPA (4.2% in ACT on Vaping vs. 0% in control) were descriptively higher for ACT on Vaping but did not reach the benchmark level for efficacy. CONCLUSIONS:ACT on Vaping had promising acceptability and preliminary efficacy. A fully powered trial of ACT on Vaping is warranted to evaluate its efficacy. IMPLICATIONS:Digital interventions are a promising yet under-researched approach for reaching and supporting YAs to quit vaping. This proof-of-concept pilot randomized controlled trial evaluated a novel mobile health application and associated text messaging program (ACT on Vaping) for young adult vaping cessation and found preliminary evidence for acceptability and efficacy relative to an incentivized text message control arm, warranting evaluation in a fully powered trial as a next step. TRIAL REGISTRATION:NCT05897242.

Intraindividual variability dispersion (IIV-d) measures variation in a patient's test performance throughout a neuropsychological evaluation. Higher IIV-d has been identified as a potentially useful indicator of both cognitive impairment and noncredible test performance, but further exploration of the utility of these metrics for group classification is warranted. This study assessed measures of IIV-d-individual standard deviation and coefficient of variation (CoV)-for classifying levels of neurocognitive impairment and invalid test performance. Adult patients referred for outpatient neuropsychological evaluation (N = 421, Mage = 44.49, Meducation = 13.71) were administered four freestanding performance validity tests and a neuropsychological test battery yielding 18 indicator scores. Patients were classified into four groups: no neurocognitive disorder (n = 125), mild neurocognitive disorder (n = 163), major neurocognitive disorder (n = 45), and invalid performance (invalid; n = 88). Analyses of covariance revealed that both individual standard deviation (F = 13.75, p < .001, η² = 0.08) and CoV (F = 64.14, p < .001, η² = 0.31) significantly differed across groups. Results showed that high levels of variability followed increasing severity of cognitive impairment (i.e., no neurocognitive disorder < mild neurocognitive disorder < major neurocognitive disorder); performance invalidity was also associated with high variability. Additional analyses highlighted CoV as a more robust indicator of prediction utility than individual standard deviation. Overall, findings suggest that use of IIV-d metrics, particularly CoV, differentiates level of cognitive impairment. Performance invalidity can also be identified in some cases, although differentiating invalid responding from major neurocognitive disorder is more challenging using IIV-d metrics alone. Ongoing research is warranted for better understanding the use of IIV-d in facilitating diagnostic clarification and determining whether this method provides incremental value beyond other methods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Women who have experienced intimate partner violence (W-IPV) exhibit relatively high levels of disordered eating (DE). Empowerment has been demonstrated to be a protective factor against negative mental health outcomes for W-IPV, but has not been studied, with respect to DE, in this population. Race is an important construct to understanding both empowerment and DE – Black women reliably demonstrate higher levels of empowerment and lower levels of weight/shape concerns (a core symptom of and risk factor for DE) than White women. Additionally, social support has been identified as a factor promoting empowerment among W-IPV, whereas posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have been associated with DE. This study tested the associations among race, social support, empowerment, PTSD symptoms, and weight/shape concerns among W-IPV ( N = 179; 55% Black and 45% White) residing in shelter. Empowerment was negatively correlated with weight/shape concerns for the full sample. Black W-IPV demonstrated higher levels of empowerment and lower levels of weight/shape concerns – there were no race differences on either social support or PTSD symptoms. Additionally, there was a significant indirect effect of race on weight/shape concerns via empowerment and PTSD symptoms, serially. Black W-IPV reported higher levels of empowerment than White W-IPV, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of PTSD symptoms, which, finally, was associated with lower levels of weight/shape concerns. The current results suggest that empowerment may be protective against weight/shape concerns for W-IPV and may also help explain race differences in this construct. Providers who work with W-IPV should engage in practices that reinforce this culturally relevant protective factor for Black W-IPV. Additionally, future studies should attempt to replicate the current findings using a prospective longitudinal design and, if replicated, researchers should test the application of empowerment-based interventions to weight/shape concerns among W-IPV.

3606 Background: Elevated CRP levels at CRC diagnosis are consistently associated with poor outcomes, suggesting a tumor-promoting and potentially immuno-suppressive inflammatory state. The clinically assessed CRP is a pentameric protein that can dissociate to mCRP, an isoform with pro-inflammatory effects on innate immune responses. The randomized METIMMOX trial (NCT03388190) evaluated potentially immunogenic short-course oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (FLOX) alternating with nivolumab in previously untreated, unresectable metastatic MSS CRC. We investigated whether oxaliplatin-induced immunogenicity is measurable as an early change in circulating mCRP and may identify patients more likely to derive clinical benefit from sequential nivolumab. Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to the control group of FLOX (oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid) Q2W or the experimental group of alternating 2 cycles each of FLOX Q2W and nivolumab Q2W with prespecified break periods. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). This post hoc analysis included 29 patients from the experimental group, of whom 28 had paired mCRP and clinical CRP measurements from baseline (Pre) and post second FLOX cycle (Post) timepoints. CRP was measured by standard immunoturbidimetry. Plasma mCRP was separated from CRP by 100-kDa filtration and quantified by targeted nano LC-timsTOF Pro mass spectrometry with AQUA standards. CRP at the reference limit 5.0 mg/L and mCRP at the median value 45 ng/mL were used as cutoff values. Changes from Pre to Post were denoted ΔmCRP and ΔCRP and categorized as ³0 (stable/increase) and < 0 (decrease). Results: Low Pre and low Post CRP were associated with prolonged PFS (log-rank p = 0.080 and p = 0. 002, respectively), while ΔCRP showed no association (log-rank p = 0.57). By contrast, a significant association was observed for ΔmCRP (log-rank p = 0.015), where median PFS was longer among the ΔmCRP ≥0 population (16.4 months [95% CI 8.8-23.9]; n = 15) versus the ΔmCRP < 0 population (9.2 months [95% CI 3.6-14.8]; n = 13). Notably, patients with the combination ΔCRP < 0 and ΔmCRP ≥0 ( n = 8) had an undefined median PFS (≥41.6 months) at data cutoff, compared to median PFS 9.2 months (95% CI 1.4-16.9; n = 20) for all other patients (log-rank p = 0.022). Conclusions: Patients with metastatic MSS CRC who exhibited an increase in mCRP and decrease in clinical CRP following the initial 2 chemotherapy cycles of first-line oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy alternating with nivolumab had markedly prolonged PFS. Moreover, increased PFS was observed alongside increased circulating mCRP regardless of change in CRP. These data suggest an early increase in mCRP may be an indicator of immunotherapy-associated efficacy. Clinical trial information: NCT03388190 .