The Role of Media-Induced Secondary Traumatic Stress on Perceptions of Distress

The occurrence of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) is well documented among helping professionals working with trauma clients. These individuals, such as nurses, social workers, rescue workers and mental health counselors, are at risk to succumb to STS after repeatedly hearing or learning of others’ traumas. The primary risk factor for STS is exposure to others’ traumas. Empirical studies have confirmed the presence of STS in the helping professions. However, few researchers have examined whether STS can also occur in laypersons exposed to secondary trauma by media coverage. In the current study, we used a modified version of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) to address this question. Our results suggest that media-induced secondary trauma predicts participant expectations of imminent distress

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Applied ethics in the technological world: An examination of secondary traumatic stress and trauma exposure in social media

This study integrates the humanities with psychology by examining the impact technology has on humans. Ethics, literary works that relate to the impact of technology on humans, and how social media and television today may impact the layperson in such a way that they may exhibit symptoms of the condition of secondary traumatic stress will be examined. Through the use of the humanities, this study connects the impact technology has on changing societies, the ethics associated with the way humans react to each other and how television and social media\u27s delivery of traumatic stories may leave some humans with secondary traumatic stress. First, a discussion will be presented on what is known about ethics and technology through a study of the humanities, specifically by looking at traditional literary works and philosophies. Second, an examination of the way technology has changed people will be revealed, including the technological changes in the tools we use to communicate with each other. Then a discussion will occur on how the platforms of television and Internet and social media may be a means to deliver a traumatic story, which may perhaps trigger some laypersons to acquire psychiatric symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Finally, a discussion of the administered and analyzed survey will be implemented to offer feedback on whether or not a scientific study is warranted to further examine secondary traumatic stress in the layperson. This study demonstrates how the communication technologies of television and Internet, with social media, impacted the human condition in that the very presence of television and social media today may indeed affect the human in such a way that secondary traumatic stress in the layperson may surface. In the survey, data were present that some laypersons exhibited symptoms of experiencing traumatic stress after exposure to real life traumas through television and social media. Further scientific research is necessary to determine if a correlation exists between the layperson developing secondary traumatic stress and the amount of exposure to others\u27 real-life traumatic events through television and social media

Crowdsourcing: A Valid Alternative to Expert Evaluation of Robotic Surgery Skills.

BACKGROUND: Robotic-assisted gynecologic surgery is common, but requires unique training. A validated assessment tool for evaluating trainees\u27 robotic surgery skills is Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills. OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess whether crowdsourcing can be used as an alternative to expert surgical evaluators in scoring Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills. STUDY DESIGN: The Robotic Training Network produced the Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills, which evaluate trainees across 5 dry lab robotic surgical drills. Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills were previously validated in a study of 105 participants, where dry lab surgical drills were recorded, de-identified, and scored by 3 expert surgeons using the Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills checklist. Our methods-comparison study uses these previously obtained recordings and expert surgeon scores. Mean scores per participant from each drill were separated into quartiles. Crowdworkers were trained and calibrated on Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills scoring using a representative recording of a skilled and novice surgeon. Following this, 3 recordings from each scoring quartile for each drill were randomly selected. Crowdworkers evaluated the randomly selected recordings using Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills. Linear mixed effects models were used to derive mean crowdsourced ratings for each drill. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the correlation between crowdsourced and expert surgeons\u27 ratings. RESULTS: In all, 448 crowdworkers reviewed videos from 60 dry lab drills, and completed a total of 2517 Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills assessments within 16 hours. Crowdsourced Robotic-Objective Structured Assessments of Technical Skills ratings were highly correlated with expert surgeon ratings across each of the 5 dry lab drills (r ranging from 0.75-0.91). CONCLUSION: Crowdsourced assessments of recorded dry lab surgical drills using a validated assessment tool are a rapid and suitable alternative to expert surgeon evaluation