A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

Report from Working Group 3: Beyond the standard model physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

This is the third out of five chapters of the final report [1] of the Workshop on Physics at HL-LHC, and perspectives on HE-LHC [2]. It is devoted to the study of the potential, in the search for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, of the High Luminosity (HL) phase of the LHC, defined as $3$ ab$^{-1}$ of data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, and of a possible future upgrade, the High Energy (HE) LHC, defined as $15$ ab$^{-1}$ of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV. We consider a large variety of new physics models, both in a simplified model fashion and in a more model-dependent one. A long list of contributions from the theory and experimental (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) communities have been collected and merged together to give a complete, wide, and consistent view of future prospects for BSM physics at the considered colliders. On top of the usual standard candles, such as supersymmetric simplified models and resonances, considered for the evaluation of future collider potentials, this report contains results on dark matter and dark sectors, long lived particles, leptoquarks, sterile neutrinos, axion-like particles, heavy scalars, vector-like quarks, and more. Particular attention is placed, especially in the study of the HL-LHC prospects, to the detector upgrades, the assessment of the future systematic uncertainties, and new experimental techniques. The general conclusion is that the HL-LHC, on top of allowing to extend the present LHC mass and coupling reach by $20-50\%$ on most new physics scenarios, will also be able to constrain, and potentially discover, new physics that is presently unconstrained. Moreover, compared to the HL-LHC, the reach in most observables will, generally more than double at the HE-LHC, which may represent a good candidate future facility for a final test of TeV-scale new physics

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

The balance between individual liberty and the government’s duty of security: Identifying Michel Foucault’s means of correct training in Juli Zeh’s Corpus Delicti

Master of ArtsDepartment of Modern LanguagesNecia N. ChronisterDuring the recent global pandemic, the balance between individual liberty and the government’s duty to protect its citizens has become an international topic of debate. The primary aim of this project was to explore this balance as it is depicted in Juli Zeh’s not-too-distant medical dystopian novel Corpus Delicti: Ein Prozess. An area of analytical focus that is lacking on this contemporary novel is the discussion of biopower and how those who wield power in health crises behave. Michel Foucault’s text Discipline and Punish offers the theoretical framework to identify those who exercise biopower in an extreme example of authoritarianism. By no means a comparison to what we continue to experience in today’s pandemic, the project does aim to identify actions and ideas to avoid in order to maintain a healthy balance between liberty and protection

Haemolysis Detection in MicroRNA-Seq from Clinical Plasma Samples

The abundance of cell-free microRNA (miRNA) has been measured in blood plasma and proposed as a source of novel, minimally invasive biomarkers for several diseases. Despite improvements in quantification methods, there is no consensus regarding how haemolysis affects plasma miRNA content. We propose a method for haemolysis detection in miRNA high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data from libraries prepared using human plasma. To establish a miRNA haemolysis signature we tested differential miRNA abundance between plasma samples with known haemolysis status. Using these miRNAs with statistically significant higher abundance in our haemolysed group, we further refined the set to reveal high-confidence haemolysis association. Given our specific context, i.e., women of reproductive age, we also tested for significant differences between pregnant and non-pregnant groups. We report a novel 20-miRNA signature used to identify the presence of haemolysis in silico in HTS miRNA-sequencing data. Further, we validated the signature set using firstly an all-male cohort (prostate cancer) and secondly a mixed male and female cohort (radiographic knee osteoarthritis). Conclusion: Given the potential for haemolysis contamination, we recommend that assays for haemolysis detection become standard pre-analytical practice and provide here a simple method for haemolysis detection

DNA methylation biomarkers for predicting pregnancy complications

Preeclampsia (PE), preterm birth (PTB), small for gestational age (SGA), and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) afflict 1 in 4 of first pregnancies and can be life threatening to the mother and/or baby. Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers in clinical practice that discriminate which women are likely to have a complicated pregnancy. This is particularly important in first pregnancies where there is no previous pregnancy history to inform the clinician of the woman?s likely risk of a complicated pregnancy. The SCOPE (SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints) interna- tional consortium of pregnancy research has assembled a biobank and detailed clinical and lifestyle database for nearly 6,000 women pregnant for the first time. In Adelaide, 1169 women were recruited prospectively with detailed clinical and lifestyle information, biological samples from mother, baby and father, as well as the known outcome of the pregnancy. Of the 1169 Adelaide SCOPE women 861 had uncomplicated pregnancies, 93 developed PE, 95 delivered SGA babies, 69 delivered preterm and 51 had GDM. To identify biomarkers for predicting pregnancy complica- tions, DNA was extracted from maternal buffy coat samples at 15 weeks? gestation. Since the mechanisms by which environmental factors alter gene expression are thought to be epigenetic, and the most characterised epigenetic mechanism is DNA methylation, we investigated whether epigenetic biomarkers could predict pregnancy complications, either alone or in combination with clinical characteristics and genetic infor- mation (SNPs). Our preliminary data from 8 PE, 8 PTB and 8 uncompli- cated term pregnancies suggests that analysis of DNA methylation could generate reliable diagnostic markers to predict pregnancy outcome, us- ing a methodology known as methylation-sensitive genotyping-by- sequencing. Currently we are assessing more than 400 samples from women with the 4 common pregnancy complications and uncomplicated pregnancies to validate DNA methylation changes that can be used for screening maternal blood samples for pregnancy complication pre- diction.Peer reviewe

Characterization of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in human placenta cell types across gestation

The placenta is an important organ in pregnancy, however, very little is understood about placental development at a molecular level. This includes the role of epigenetic mechanisms and how they change throughout gestation. DNA methylation studies in this organ are complicated by the different cell types that make up the placenta, each with their own unique transcriptome and epigenome. Placental dysfunction is often associated with pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia (PE). Aberrant DNA methylation in the placenta has been identified in pregnancy complications. We used immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) to localize 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) in placenta tissue from first and second trimester as well as uncomplicated term and PE samples. IHC analysis of whole placental tissues showed 5-mC increased across gestation. When cytotrophoblasts (CTB) and syncytiotrophoblasts (STB) were isolated and assessed using IF, both 5-mC and 5-hmC increased in term CTBs compared to first/second-trimester samples. Staining intensity of 5-hmC was higher in first/second trimester STBs compared to CTBs (P = 0.0011). Finally, IHC staining of term tissue from PE and uncomplicated pregnancies revealed higher 5-mC staining intensity in placentas from PE pregnancies (P = 0.028). Our study has shown increased 5-mC and 5-hmC staining intensities across gestation and differed between two trophoblast populations. Differences in DNA methylation profiles between placental cell types may be indicative of different functions and requires further study to elucidate what changes accompany placental pathologies

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus prevalence and folic acid food fortification: Insights from Australian pregnancy cohorts

Objectives: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) incidence in Australia increased from 5.6% in 2010 to 19.3% in 2022, coinciding with national folic acid (FA) food fortification. High FA intake has been associated with increased insulin resistance and GDM. We examined the association between Australian FA food fortification and maternal folate, placental endocrine function, maternal insulin resistance and GDM incidence.Design and setting: Case control study of two pregnancy cohorts recruited at the same hospital prior to (SCOPE; 2005-2008; Total N=1164) and post (STOP; 2015-2018; Total N=1300) FA food fortification.Outcomes: Circulating folate, red cell folate (RCF), insulin, glucose, prolactin (PRL), human placental lactogen (hPL) and placental growth hormone (GH2) were measured in early pregnancy maternal blood. Results: GDM incidence increased from 5% (SCOPE) to 15.2% (STOP) and was associated with increased maternal folate. Compared to pre-FA fortification, women post-fortification had higher serum folate (18%; pConclusions: GDM is associated with higher maternal folate in early gestation. Excess maternal folate due to FA fortification may alter placental endocrine function to increase insulin resistance and risk of GDM, particularly in women with obesity.Note: Data is in long format with repeated measures for Prolactin, HPL, GH2 and HOMA-IR. Folate, demographics and outcome data only measured at one timepoint.</p