Social Media and the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Patient with Cancer

Over 70,000 adolescent and young adults aged 15 to 39 years (AYA) are diagnosed with cancer each year in the US. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has identified AYA cancer patients as a unique population. The most common cancers in this age group include tumors typically seen in pediatric patients such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and brain tumors, as well as cancers more typically seen in adult patients such as breast cancer and melanoma. In addition, some cancers have their highest incidence in AYA patients, such as Hodgkin Lymphoma, testicular cancer and bone tumors. AYA patients face additional unique issues due to their age, not just questions about treatment choices due to lack of data, but also questions about fertility, relationships, loss of autonomy, and interruptions in school/work with potentially significant financial complications. This age group also has very high rates of social media usage with up to 90% of adults aged 18 to 29 using social networking sites. In this review, we will describe the use of social media in AYAs with cancer and highlight some of the online resources for AYAs

Decision-support model to explore the feasibility of using translocation to restore a woodland caribou population in Pukaskwa National Park, Canada

The distribution and abundance of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) have declined dramatically in the past century. Without intervention the most southern population of caribou in eastern North America is expected to disappear within 20 years. Although translocations have reintroduced and reinforced some populations, approximately half of caribou translocation efforts fail. Translocations are resource intensive and risky, and multiple interrelated factors must be considered to assess their potential for success. Structured decision-making tools, such as Bayesian belief networks, provide objective methods to assess different wildlife management scenarios by identifying the key components and relationships in an ecosystem. They can also catalyze dialogue with stakeholders and provide a record of the complex thought processes used in reaching a decision. We developed a Bayesian belief network for a proposed translocation of woodland caribou into a national park on the northeastern coast of Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada. We tested scenarios with favourable (e.g., good physical condition of adult caribou) and unfavourable (e.g., high predator densities) conditions with low, medium, and high numbers of translocated caribou. Under the current conditions at Pukaskwa National Park, augmenting the caribou population is unlikely to recover the species unless wolf densities remain low (<5.5/1000 km2) or if more than 300 animals could be translocated

Health Researchers' Use of Social Media: Scoping Review.

BackgroundHealth researchers are increasingly using social media in a professional capacity, and the applications of social media for health researchers are vast. However, there is currently no published evidence synthesis of the ways in which health researchers use social media professionally, and uncertainty remains as to how best to harness its potential.ObjectiveThis scoping review aimed to explore how social media is used by health researchers professionally, as reported in the literature.MethodsThe scoping review methodology guided by Arksey and O'Malley and Levac et al was used. Comprehensive searches based on the concepts of health research and social media were conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science databases, with no limitations applied. Articles were screened at the title and abstract level and at full text by two reviewers. One reviewer extracted data that were analyzed descriptively to map the available evidence.ResultsA total of 8359 articles were screened at the title and abstract level, of which 719 were also assessed at full text for eligibility. The 414 articles identified for inclusion were published in 278 different journals. Studies originated from 31 different countries, with the most prevalent being the United States (52.7% [218/414]). The health discipline of the first authors varied, with medicine (33.3% [138/414]) being the most common. A third of the articles covered health generally, with 61 health-specific topics. Papers used a range of social media platforms (mean 1.33 [SD 0.7]). A quarter of the articles screened reported on social media use for participant recruitment (25.1% [104/414]), followed by practical ways to use social media (15.5% [64/414]), and use of social media for content analysis research (13.3% [55/414]). Articles were categorized as celebratory (ie, opportunities for engagement, 72.2% [299/414]), contingent (ie, opportunities and possible limitations, 22.7% [94/414]) and concerned (ie, potentially harmful, 5.1% [21/414]).ConclusionsHealth researchers are increasingly publishing on their use of social media for a range of professional purposes. Although most of the sentiment around the use of social media in health research was celebratory, the uses of social media varied widely. Future research is needed to support health researchers to optimize their social media use

Toward Eclipse Mapping of Hot Jupiters

Recent Spitzer infrared measurements of hot Jupiter eclipses suggest that eclipse mapping techniques could be used to spatially resolve the day-side photospheric emission of these planets using partial occultations. As a first step in this direction, we simulate ingress/egress lightcurves for the three brightest known eclipsing hot Jupiters and evaluate the degree to which parameterized photospheric emission models can be distinguished from each other with repeated, noisy eclipse measurements. We find that the photometric accuracy of Spitzer is insufficient to use this tool effectively. On the other hand, the level of photospheric details that could be probed with a few JWST eclipse measurements could greatly inform hot Jupiter atmospheric modeling efforts. A JWST program focused on non-parametric eclipse map inversions for hot Jupiters should be actively considered.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Possible thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 436b

The nearby extrasolar planet GJ 436b--which has been labelled as a 'hot Neptune'--reveals itself by the dimming of light as it crosses in front of and behind its parent star as seen from Earth. Respectively known as the primary transit and secondary eclipse, the former constrains the planet's radius and mass, and the latter constrains the planet's temperature and, with measurements at multiple wavelengths, its atmospheric composition. Previous work using transmission spectroscopy failed to detect the 1.4-\mu m water vapour band, leaving the planet's atmospheric composition poorly constrained. Here we report the detection of planetary thermal emission from the dayside of GJ 436b at multiple infrared wavelengths during the secondary eclipse. The best-fit compositional models contain a high CO abundance and a substantial methane (CH4) deficiency relative to thermochemical equilibrium models for the predicted hydrogen-dominated atmosphere. Moreover, we report the presence of some H2O and traces of CO2. Because CH4 is expected to be the dominant carbon-bearing species, disequilibrium processes such as vertical mixing and polymerization of methane into substances such as ethylene may be required to explain the hot Neptune's small CH4-to-CO ratio, which is at least 10^5 times smaller than predicted

A Framework for Prioritizing the TESS Planetary Candidates Most Amenable to Atmospheric Characterization

A key legacy of the recently launched TESS mission will be to provide the astronomical community with many of the best transiting exoplanet targets for atmospheric characterization. However, time is of the essence to take full advantage of this opportunity. JWST, although delayed, will still complete its nominal five year mission on a timeline that motivates rapid identification, confirmation, and mass measurement of the top atmospheric characterization targets from TESS. Beyond JWST, future dedicated missions for atmospheric studies such as ARIEL require the discovery and confirmation of several hundred additional sub-Jovian size planets (R_p < 10 R_Earth) orbiting bright stars, beyond those known today, to ensure a successful statistical census of exoplanet atmospheres. Ground-based ELTs will also contribute to surveying the atmospheres of the transiting planets discovered by TESS. Here we present a set of two straightforward analytic metrics, quantifying the expected signal-to-noise in transmission and thermal emission spectroscopy for a given planet, that will allow the top atmospheric characterization targets to be readily identified among the TESS planet candidates. Targets that meet our proposed threshold values for these metrics would be encouraged for rapid follow-up and confirmation via radial velocity mass measurements. Based on the catalog of simulated TESS detections by Sullivan et al. (2015), we determine appropriate cutoff values of the metrics, such that the TESS mission will ultimately yield a sample of $\sim300$ high-quality atmospheric characterization targets across a range of planet size bins, extending down to Earth-size, potentially habitable worlds.Comment: accepted to PAS

Prevalence, Features and Risk Factors for Malaria Co-Infections amongst Visceral Leishmaniasis Patients from Amudat Hospital, Uganda

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and malaria are two major parasitic diseases sharing a similar demographic and geographical distribution. In areas where both diseases are endemic, such as Sudan, Uganda, India and Bangladesh, co-infection cases have been reported, but features and risk factors associated with these co-morbidities remain poorly characterized. In the present study, routinely collected data of VL patients admitted to Amudat Hospital, Uganda, were used to investigate the magnitude of VL-malaria co-infections and identify possible risk factors. Nearly 20% of the patients included in this study were found to be co-infected with VL and malaria, indicating that this is a common condition among VL patients living in malaria endemic areas. Young age (≤9 years) was identified as an important risk factor for contracting the VL-malaria co-infection, while being anemic or carrying a skin infection appeared to negatively correlate with the co-morbidity. Co-infected patients presented with slightly more severe symptoms compared to mono-infected patients, but had a similar prognosis, possibly due to early diagnosis of malaria as a result of systematic testing. In conclusion, these results emphasize the importance of performing malaria screening amongst VL patients living in malaria-endemic areas and suggest that close monitoring of co-infected patients should be implemented

Dietary Fiber and Saturated Fat Intake Associations with Cardiovascular Disease Differ by Sex in the Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort: A Prospective Study

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine associations between intake of macronutrients and dietary fiber and incident ischemic cardiovascular disease (iCVD) in men and women. METHODS: We used data from 8,139 male and 12,535 female participants (aged 44-73 y) of the Swedish population-based Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort. The participants were without history of CVD and diabetes mellitus, and had reported stable dietary habits in the study questionnaire. Diet was assessed by a validated modified diet history method, combining a 7-d registration of cooked meals and cold beverages, a 168-item food questionnaire (covering other foods and meal patterns), and a 1-hour diet interview. Sociodemographic and lifestyle data were collected by questionnaire. iCVD cases, which included coronary events (myocardial infarctions or deaths from chronic ischemic heart disease) and ischemic strokes, were ascertained via national and local registries. Nutrient-disease associations were examined by multivariate Cox regressions. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 13.5 years, we identified 1,089 male and 687 female iCVD cases. High fiber intakes were associated with lower incidence rates of iCVD in women and of ischemic stroke in men. In post-hoc analysis, we discovered statistically significant interactions between intake of fiber and saturated fat; these interactions also differed between men and women (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this well-defined population, a high fiber intake was associated with lower risk of iCVD, but there were no robust associations between other macronutrients and iCVD risk. Judging from this study, gender-specific nutrient analysis may be preferable in epidemiology

Quantifying neutralising antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 in dried blood spots (DBS) and paired sera

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was initially managed by non-pharmaceutical interventions such as diagnostic testing, isolation of positive cases, physical distancing and lockdowns. The advent of vaccines has provided crucial protection against SARS-CoV-2. Neutralising antibody (nAb) responses are a key correlate of protection, and therefore measuring nAb responses is essential for monitoring vaccine efficacy. Fingerstick dried blood spots (DBS) are ideal for use in large-scale sero-surveillance because they are inexpensive, offer the option of self-collection and can be transported and stored at ambient temperatures. Such advantages also make DBS appealing to use in resource-limited settings and in potential future pandemics. In this study, nAb responses in sera, venous blood and fingerstick blood stored on filter paper were measured. Samples were collected from SARS-CoV-2 acutely infected individuals, SARS-CoV-2 convalescent individuals and SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated individuals. Good agreement was observed between the nAb responses measured in eluted DBS and paired sera. Stability of nAb responses was also observed in sera stored on filter paper at room temperature for 28 days. Overall, this study provides support for the use of filter paper as a viable sample collection method to study nAb responses.</p