This research examined whether feeling awe weakens people's desire for money. Two experiments demonstrated that, as a self-transcendent emotion, awe decreased people's money desire. In Experiment 1, recalling a personal experience of awe makes people place less importance on money, compared with recalling an experience of happiness and recalling a neutral experience. In experiment 2, we examined different variants of awe, such as negative awe and non-nature awe. Viewing images that elicited awe, no matter what kind of awe, can induce people to put less effort into obtaining money. Process evidence suggested that awe's weakening of money desire was due to its power to make people transcend their mundane concerns. Our findings have implications for willingness to donate, price sensitivity, religious practices, and economic utilities.

BackgroundVisual disturbances associated with isolated sphenoid sinus inflammatory diseases (ISSIDs) are easily misdiagnosed due to the nonspecific symptoms and undetectable anatomical location. The main objective of this retrospective case series is to investigate the clinical features of visual disturbances secondary to ISSIDs.MethodsClinical data of 23 patients with unilateral or bilateral visual disturbances secondary to ISSIDs from 2004 to 2014 with new symptoms were collected. Collected data including symptoms, signs, neuroimaging and pathologic diagnosis were analyzed.ResultsThere were 14 males and 9 females, and their ages ranged from 31 to 83 years. Fifteen patients suffered blurred vision and 11 patients suffered binocular double vision, including 3 patients who had unilateral visual changes and diplopia simultaneously. Headache was observed in 18 patients, and orbit pain/ocular pain in 8 patients. Other presenting symptoms included ptosis (4 patients) and proptosis (1 patient). Only 5 patients had nasal complaints. The corrected visual acuities were between NLP to 20/20. Patients with diplopia included 5 with unilateral oculomotor nerve palsy and 6 with unilateral abducens nerve palsy. All patients performed orbital/sinus/brain radiologic examination and found responsible lesions in sphenoid sinus. All patients underwent endoscopic sinus surgery, and 9 patients were found to suffer sphenoid mucocele, 9 with fungal sinusitis, and 5 with sphenoid sinusitis. Visual disturbances improved in 6 patients, and all the patients with diplopia had a postoperative recovery.ConclusionVisual disturbances resulting from ISSIDs are relatively uncommon, but it is crucial that the patient with new vision loss or diplopia and persistent headache or orbit pain be evaluated for the possibility of ISSIDs especially before corticosteroid administration.

The discovery of hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF)‐prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (PHI) has revolutionized the treatment strategy for renal anemia. However, the presence of multiple transcription targets of HIF raises safety concerns regarding HIF‐PHI. Here, we explored the dose‐dependent effect of MK‐8617 (MK), a kind of HIF‐PHI, on renal fibrosis. MK was administered by oral gavage to mice for 12 wk at doses of 1.5, 5, and 12.5 mg/kg. In vitro, the human proximal tubule epithelial cell line HK‐2 was treated with increasing doses of MK administration. Transcriptome profiling was performed, and fibrogenesis was evaluated. The dose‐dependent biphasic effects of MK on tubulointerstitial fibrosis (TIF) were observed in chronic kidney disease mice. Accordingly, high‐dose MK treatment could significantly enhance TIF. Using RNA‐sequencing, combined with in vivo and in vitro experiments, we found that Krüppel‐like factor 5 (KLF5) expression level was significantly increased in the proximal tubular cells, which could be transcriptionally regulated by HIF‐1α with high‐dose MK treatment but not low‐dose MK. Furthermore, our study clarified that HIF‐1α‐KLF5‐TGF‐β1 signaling activation is the potential mechanism of high‐dose MK‐induced TIF, as knockdown of KLF5 reduced TIF in vivo. Collectively, our study demonstrates that high‐dose MK treatment initiates TIF by activating HIF‐1α‐KLF5‐TGF‐β1 signaling. These findings provide novel insights into TIF induction by high‐dose MK (HIF‐PHI), suggesting that the safety dosage window needs to be emphasized in future clinical applications.—Li, Z.‐L., Lv, L.‐L., Wang, B., Tang, T.‐T., Feng, Y., Cao, J.‐Y., Jiang, L.‐Q., Sun, Y.‐B., Liu, H., Zhang, X.‐L., Ma, K.‐L., Tang, R.‐N., Liu, B.‐C. The profibrotic effects of MK‐8617 on tubulointerstitial fibrosis mediated by the KLF5 regulating pathway. FASEB J. 33, 12630–12643 (2019). http://www.fasebj.org

Six methodologically diverse studies addressed three fundamental questions about awe in consumers. First, to what extent is awe a relevant emotion in consumer experiences of products? A pilot study examined contents of tweets containing “awe” and showed that it was frequently used in people's voluntary expressions. Study 1 showed that products could elicit awe among a significant portion of consumers. Second, what kind of product triggers awe in consumers? Study 2 determined that descriptions of awe‐inspiring products typically featured four dimensions: timelessness, accommodation, beauty, and vastness. Studies 3 and 4 showed that only timelessness and accommodation could differentiate awe from admiration (Study 3) and love (Study 4) whereas beauty and vastness were not as important. The third question relates to the consequences produced by awe‐inspiring products. Study 3 showed that awe comprised a blend of positive and negative emotions. Studies 3 to 5 showed that awe not only made products more memorable but also enhanced consumers’ intentions to spread positive word‐of‐mouth publicity and to purchase the product. These findings shed light on the folk understanding and expression of this emotion and establish key landmarks in the hitherto uncharted consumer research domain of awe.