Jefferson Investigates: Online Shopping Behavior, HPV Vaccine & Cancer Prevention, Eye Damage Related to CMV

How Branding Affects Online Shopping Behavior

When consumers are bombarded with seemingly endless options online, what determines where shoppers will look first? Shubha Bennur, PhD, an associate professor of fashion merchandising and management at Thomas Jefferson University, led research that sheds light on how consumers evaluate branded versus unbranded products.

In a recently published study, using novel eye-tracking software, Dr. Bennur looked at consumers’ decision-making process when shopping online for jeans.  The study participants were 75 college students, who looked at mock product pages of branded and unbranded products.

“I think the decision-making process can offer very valuable implications for retailers as well as brands,” says Dr. Bennur.  “What are those visual cues that dig further to make that purchase decision?”

As students fixed their gaze on the screen, Dr. Bennur discovered that the eye tracker generated different hot spots and gaze plots on areas of interest that they focused on when they compared a branded or unbranded product.

For the branded jeans, participants spent the most time looking at product pictures and focused on the different color choices for almost 8 seconds before going to read the product description. For unbranded jeans, participants spent about 13 seconds on average looking at product reviews and the description before looking at the photo of the jeans.

“I think that really helps them make the decision they want. They want to see the product features up close. They want to see the reviews to establish that trust,” says Dr. Bennur.

She also surveyed the participants on the perception of quality between branded and unbranded products. Almost 70% of participants thought the branded jeans were of higher quality, based on price, the product image and the color.

Studies like these can help brands tailor their marketing strategies to improve their overall competitiveness in the market. In the future, Dr. Bennur hopes to explore how consumer behavior is impacted by age, culture, artificial intelligence and shopping on social media.

By Deborah Balthazar

HPV Vaccine’s Expanded Role in Cancer Prevention

While the human papillomavirus (HPV) is historically linked to cervical cancer in women, head and neck cancer has become the most common HPV-associated cancer in the U.S., with a growing prevalence among men. A new study led by Thomas Jefferson University researchers suggests that the HPV vaccine could help beyond its well-known protection against cervical cancer.

The research team, led by Joseph Curry, MD, analyzed over a million health records of individuals ages nine to 39, comparing the outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Their findings showed that men vaccinated for HPV had a lower risk of developing head and neck or oropharyngeal cancers, and vaccinated women experienced a reduced risk of cancer and other pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix. While the HPV vaccine did not significantly reduce risk of other HPV-related cancers (including oropharyngeal) in women, the results still underscore the vaccine’s broader potential in cancer prevention.

According to Dr. Curry, it’s a positive step toward addressing misconceptions surrounding the HPV vaccine, especially among groups that may not see themselves as at risk, such as men who mistakenly believe the vaccine only prevents cervical cancer.

Dr. Curry hopes the study’s results will encourage healthcare providers and policymakers to endorse vaccination initiatives as a preventative measure against various HPV-related cancers. “If we can show that vaccinated patients do much better across a variety of cancers, then that provides more data to substantiate the use of the HPV vaccine to prevent cancer on a larger scale.”

While the study's goal was to assess whether the HPV vaccine could help curb rising cases of HPV-related cancers, particularly head and neck cancers, its reliance on large-scale patient databases meant more detailed patient-specific data wasn't available, which limited the scope of the findings. Dr. Curry says his team’s future studies will aim to follow vaccinated individuals as they reach the typical age for developing these cancers, allowing researchers to better assess long-term vaccine efficacy in preventing head and neck and other HPV-linked cancers.

By Queen Muse

Immune System Plays Key Role in CMV-Related Eye Damage

Hearing loss, lack of balance and vision impairment affect nearly one-third of babies born with an infection from cytomegalovirus (CMV). In the U.S., CMV is the most common infection a pregnant person can pass along to their baby. However, until recently, very little was known about diagnosing or treating CMV. Now, research from Thomas Jefferson University and the laboratory of immunologist Christopher Snyder, PhD, reveals that the body’s own immune system might play a major role in causing eye damage in babies with CMV.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, challenges the idea that the virus is solely to blame for eye damage that can develop after an infection. Instead, the research shows that attempts of the pregnant person’s immune system to fight the virus can harm the part of the eye that senses light and sends visual information to the brain known as the retina.

“In trying to control the infection, the immune system ends up causing serious damage to the retina,” says Jessica McCord, a doctoral student in Dr. Snyder’s lab who led the project.

Working with retinal pathologist Nancy Philp, PhD, the researchers used a mouse model that mirrors human CMV infection. The team found that the immune system caused swelling and damage to blood vessels in the eye, as well as cell death in key areas of the retina, features that mimic a human infection. Blocking certain signals from the immune system, however, greatly reduced the damage, even with an ongoing infection.

“CMV is often missed because symptoms don’t always show up right away,” says Dr. Snyder. “Our work opens the door to treatments that focus not only on stopping the virus but also on calming the immune system to prevent harm.”

The findings could help guide future treatments, not only for retinal damage but also for other CMV-related complications like hearing loss and neurological impairments.

“To fully prevent disease,” McCord says, “We need to treat the virus and multiple prongs of the immune system.”

By Roni Dengler