1,697 research outputs found
Social and behavioral consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic: Validation of a Pandemic Disengagement Syndrome Scale (PDSS) in four national contexts
The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a self-report measure that investigates people's general disengagement after the acute phases of the pandemic. Across three studies, we examined the psychometric features of the Pandemic Disengagement Syndrome Scale (PDSS) in four national contexts. In Study 1, we developed the instrument and investigated the factorial structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance across gender and countries (the United States and Italy), and discriminant validity. A bifactor model with two specific factors (Social Avoidance and Alienation) provided a better fit than the competing models. In Study 2, we tested the stability of the PDSS as well as its predictive validity. In Study 3, we conducted a quasi-experimental comparison between Norway and Sweden, to investigate whether scores on the PDSS are related to a markedly distinct approach to the pandemic in terms of mandatory lockdown. Overall, results from the three studies demonstrated that the PDSS is a valid and reliable measure of a syndrome of disengagement from others following a pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
Happiness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: A population-based longitudinal study
The aims of the present study were to investigate (1) whether the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures to control its spread were associated with changes in happiness before and after the pandemic and (2) whether household size, living with a partner/spouse, living with at least one son/daughter, financial support, income loss, and job loss following the pandemic were associated with happiness after controlling for previous levels of happiness. We use data from the Italian Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW). Specifically, we used longitudinal data from 2283 respondents who participated in the SHIW 2016 and SHIW 2020. Results revealed a small but significant increase in happiness from 2016 to 2021. In addition, living with a partner/spouse predicted higher happiness with a medium effect size, and total income loss predicted lower happiness with a small to medium effect size. Household size, living with at least one son/daughter, financial support, partial income loss, and job loss following the pandemic were unrelated to happiness
No Conclusive Evidence for Transits of Proxima b in MOST photometry
The analysis of Proxima Centauri's radial velocities recently led
Anglada-Escud\'e et al. (2016) to claim the presence of a low mass planet
orbiting the Sun's nearest star once every 11.2 days. Although the a-priori
probability that Proxima b transits its parent star is just 1.5%, the potential
impact of such a discovery would be considerable. Independent of recent radial
velocity efforts, we observed Proxima Centauri for 12.5 days in 2014 and 31
days in 2015 with the MOST space telescope. We report here that we cannot make
a compelling case that Proxima b transits in our precise photometric time
series. Imposing an informative prior on the period and phase, we do detect a
candidate signal with the expected depth. However, perturbing the phase prior
across 100 evenly spaced intervals reveals one strong false-positive and one
weaker instance. We estimate a false-positive rate of at least a few percent
and a much higher false-negative rate of 20-40%, likely caused by the very high
flare rate of Proxima Centauri. Comparing our candidate signal to HATSouth
ground-based photometry reveals that the signal is somewhat, but not
conclusively, disfavored (1-2 sigmas) leading us to argue that the signal is
most likely spurious. We expect that infrared photometric follow-up could more
conclusively test the existence of this candidate signal, owing to the
suppression of flare activity and the impressive infrared brightness of the
parent star.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Posterior samples, MOST photometry and HATSouth
photometry are all available at https://github.com/CoolWorlds/Proxim
The Need for Laboratory Measurements and Ab Initio Studies to Aid Understanding of Exoplanetary Atmospheres
We are now on a clear trajectory for improvements in exoplanet observations
that will revolutionize our ability to characterize their atmospheric
structure, composition, and circulation, from gas giants to rocky planets.
However, exoplanet atmospheric models capable of interpreting the upcoming
observations are often limited by insufficiencies in the laboratory and
theoretical data that serve as critical inputs to atmospheric physical and
chemical tools. Here we provide an up-to-date and condensed description of
areas where laboratory and/or ab initio investigations could fill critical gaps
in our ability to model exoplanet atmospheric opacities, clouds, and chemistry,
building off a larger 2016 white paper, and endorsed by the NAS Exoplanet
Science Strategy report. Now is the ideal time for progress in these areas, but
this progress requires better access to, understanding of, and training in the
production of spectroscopic data as well as a better insight into chemical
reaction kinetics both thermal and radiation-induced at a broad range of
temperatures. Given that most published efforts have emphasized relatively
Earth-like conditions, we can expect significant and enlightening discoveries
as emphasis moves to the exotic atmospheres of exoplanets.Comment: Submitted as an Astro2020 Science White Pape
Value of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty after unsuccessful intravenous streptokinase therapy in acute myocardial infarction
The effect of sequential high-dose intravenous streptokinase (SK) (1.5 million units) followed by emergency percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) on preserving left ventricular function was assessed prospectively in 34 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Intravenous SK therapy was initiated 2.6 +/- 1.3 hours (mean +/- standard deviation) after the onset of chest pain. Urgent coronary angiography showed persistent total occlusion in 13 patients, significant diameter stenosis (70 to 99%) in 18 patients and a widely patent artery (less than 50% stenosis) in 3 patients. Emergency PTCA was performed in 29 patients 5.0 +/- 2.1 hours after symptom onset. Successful recanalization was achieved in 33 of the 34 patients (97%) treated with sequential therapy. Repeat contrast ventriculograms recorded 7 to 10 days after intervention in 23 patients showed that the left ventricular ejection fraction increased from 53 +/- 12% to 59 +/- 13% (area-length method, p < 0.002). Regional wall motion of the infarcted segments improved from - 2.7 +/- 1.1 to - 1.5 +/- 1.7 SD/chord (centerline method, p < 0.003). In the subgroup of patients with an occluded artery on initial angiography (group A, N = 10), both global left ventricular ejection fraction (49 +/- 12% vs 59 +/- 12%, p < 0.002) and regional wall motion (-3.2 +/- 1.0 vs -1.9 +/- 1.7 SD/chord, p < 0.002) improved significantly. In contrast, no significant improvement was seen in patients with a patent artery on initial angiography (n = 13). Thus, sequential intravenous SK and emergency PTCA is efficacious in achieving coronary reperfusion and in improving both global and regional left ventricular function. When thrombolytic therapy fails, successful recanalization can be achieved by emergency PTCA, resulting in significant myocardial salvage.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26031/1/0000104.pd
Management of infantile hemangiomas during the COVID pandemic
This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.The COVIDâ19 pandemic has caused significant shifts in patient care including a steep decline in ambulatory visits and a marked increase in the use of telemedicine. Infantile hemangiomas (IH) can require urgent evaluation and risk stratification to determine which infants need treatment and which can be managed with continued observation. For those requiring treatment, prompt initiation decreases morbidity and improves longâterm outcomes. The Hemangioma Investigator Group has created consensus recommendations for management of IH via telemedicine. FDA/EMAâapproved monitoring guidelines, clinical practice guidelines, and relevant, upâtoâdate publications regarding initiation and monitoring of betaâblocker therapy were used to inform the recommendations. Clinical decisionâmaking guidelines about when telehealth is an appropriate alternative to inâoffice visits, including medication initiation, dosage changes, and ongoing evaluation, are included. The importance of communication with caregivers in the context of telemedicine is discussed, and online resources for both hemangioma education and propranolol therapy are provided
Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ATLAS detector
This paper presents measurements of the and cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a
function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were
collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with
the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity
of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements
varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the
1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured
with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with
predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various
parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between
them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables,
submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at
https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in âs=13âTeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of âs=13ââTeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139ââfbâ1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015â2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV
Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at â s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fbâ1 of â s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente
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