Navigating Democracy: Perspectives on Western-Style Democracy in Africa

This study examines the compatibility of Western-style democracy with the socio-cultural landscapes of Africa. Utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) within Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework and incorporating Afrocentric perspectives, the study highlights how language, power dynamics, and sociocultural practices shape the discourse on democracy in Africa. Pan-Africanism and (neo)colonialism emphasize the quest for African self-determination and the need for indigenous governance structures. The study suggests a Pan-African government structure rooted in collective values and cultural autonomy as a potential alternative to Western-style democracy. While acknowledging the limitations and challenges, the study underscores the significance of contextualizing democracy within African realities and calls for prioritizing indigenous knowledge systems for collective progress and development. Ultimately, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of African politics, governance, and identity, offering insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and future research endeavors

Tempus Fugit: Unraveling Temporal Occurrence and Display Order Effects of Online Information on Employer Impressions

As social media readily enables users to traverse a targets’ posted content across time, the present research explores the effects of two types of temporality – occurrence and display order – on offline perceptions. Using the context of employers’ impression formation of job applicants, N = 200 human resource personnel were exposed to a job posting and an applicant’s resume and supplemental social media posts in a fully crossed 2 (occurrence order: posts becoming either more or less positive over a 4-year period) and display order (most-recent posts presented either first or last), and a one-condition offset in which all posts were made 2 years ago and displayed in a random order. Findings support the main effect of temporal occurrence so that more recently posted information more strongly influenced resultant perceptions of the applicant’s employability, person-organization fit, and starting salary; but neither primacy or recency effects of display order were detected. Findings are discussed with respect to warranting theory, primacy/recency effects, and the hiring process

Exploring the Role of Ventriloquism in Warranting Organizational Perceptions: Sponsored Content for Dummies

This research looks at sponsored content through the lens of warranting theory. Brands often engage in activities to influence and manipulate others’ statements about them. These activities—specifically organizations’ use of sponsored content and promotions—enable exploring previously-untested components of warranting theory. An experiment exposed N = 91 college-aged individuals to an online tweet about a restaurant made either by the organization itself (first party), an unassociated individual (third party), or an individual indicating their post was an advertisement sponsored by the organization (external ventriloquism, “puppet,” or “dummy”). Findings reveal a partial-mediation effect, whereby both the claimant and the warranting value of the claim affected perceptions of the restaurant’s quality; but warranting value did not differ among message posters. Findings are discussed with respect to warranting theory and for practitioners

Exploring the Role of Ventriloquism in Warranting Organizational Perceptions: Sponsored Content for Dummies

This research looks at sponsored content through the lens of warranting theory. Brands often engage in activities to influence and manipulate others’ statements about them. These activities—specifically organizations’ use of sponsored content and promotions—enable exploring previously-untested components of warranting theory. An experiment exposed N = 91 college-aged individuals to an online tweet about a restaurant made either by the organization itself (first party), an unassociated individual (third party), or an individual indicating their post was an advertisement sponsored by the organization (external ventriloquism, “puppet,” or “dummy”). Findings reveal a partial-mediation effect, whereby both the claimant and the warranting value of the claim affected perceptions of the restaurant’s quality; but warranting value did not differ among message posters. Findings are discussed with respect to warranting theory and for practitioners

Predicting Treatment Interruption Among People Living With HIV in Nigeria: Machine Learning Approach

BackgroundAntiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed HIV from a fatal illness to a chronic disease. Given the high rate of treatment interruptions, HIV programs use a range of approaches to support individuals in adhering to ART and in re-engaging those who interrupt treatment. These interventions can often be time-consuming and costly, and thus providing for all may not be sustainable. ObjectiveThis study aims to describe our experiences developing a machine learning (ML) model to predict interruption in treatment (IIT) at 30 days among people living with HIV newly enrolled on ART in Nigeria and our integration of the model into the routine information system. In addition, we collected health workers’ perceptions and use of the model’s outputs for case management. MethodsRoutine program data collected from January 2005 through February 2021 was used to train and test an ML model (boosting tree and Extreme Gradient Boosting) to predict future IIT. Data were randomly sampled using an 80/20 split into training and test data sets, respectively. Model performance was estimated using sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values. Variables considered to be highly associated with treatment interruption were preselected by a group of HIV prevention researchers, program experts, and biostatisticians for inclusion in the model. Individuals were defined as having IIT if they were provided a 30-day supply of antiretrovirals but did not return for a refill within 28 days of their scheduled follow-up visit date. Outputs from the ML model were shared weekly with health care workers at selected facilities. ResultsAfter data cleaning, complete data for 136,747 clients were used for the analysis. The percentage of IIT cases decreased from 58.6% (36,663/61,864) before 2017 to 14.2% (3690/28,046) from October 2019 through February 2021. Overall IIT was higher among clients who were sicker at enrollment. Other factors that were significantly associated with IIT included pregnancy and breastfeeding status and facility characteristics (location, service level, and service type). Several models were initially developed; the selected model had a sensitivity of 81%, specificity of 88%, positive predictive value of 83%, and negative predictive value of 87%, and was successfully integrated into the national electronic medical records database. During field-testing, the majority of users reported that an IIT prediction tool could lead to proactive steps for preventing IIT and improving patient outcomes. ConclusionsHigh-performing ML models to identify patients with HIV at risk of IIT can be developed using routinely collected service delivery data and integrated into routine health management information systems. Machine learning can improve the targeting of interventions through differentiated models of care before patients interrupt treatment, resulting in increased cost-effectiveness and improved patient outcomes

Functional characterisation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk locus GPX3/TNIP1

International audienceBackground Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex, late-onset, neurodegenerative disease with a genetic contribution to disease liability. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified ten risk loci to date, including the TNIP1 / GPX3 locus on chromosome five. Given association analysis data alone cannot determine the most plausible risk gene for this locus, we undertook a comprehensive suite of in silico, in vivo and in vitro studies to address this. Methods The Functional Mapping and Annotation (FUMA) pipeline and five tools (conditional and joint analysis (GCTA-COJO), Stratified Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression (S-LDSC), Polygenic Priority Scoring (PoPS), Summary-based Mendelian Randomisation (SMR-HEIDI) and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) analyses) were used to perform bioinformatic integration of GWAS data ( N cases = 20,806, N controls = 59,804) with ‘omics reference datasets including the blood (eQTLgen consortium N = 31,684) and brain ( N = 2581). This was followed up by specific expression studies in ALS case-control cohorts (microarray N total = 942, protein N total = 300) and gene knockdown (KD) studies of human neuronal iPSC cells and zebrafish-morpholinos (MO). Results SMR analyses implicated both TNIP1 and GPX3 ( p < 1.15 × 10 −6 ), but there was no simple SNP/expression relationship. Integrating multiple datasets using PoPS supported GPX3 but not TNIP1 . In vivo expression analyses from blood in ALS cases identified that lower GPX3 expression correlated with a more progressed disease (ALS functional rating score, p = 5.5 × 10 −3 , adjusted R 2 = 0.042, B effect = 27.4 ± 13.3 ng/ml/ALSFRS unit) with microarray and protein data suggesting lower expression with risk allele (recessive model p = 0.06, p = 0.02 respectively). Validation in vivo indicated gpx3 KD caused significant motor deficits in zebrafish-MO (mean difference vs. control ± 95% CI, vs. control, swim distance = 112 ± 28 mm, time = 1.29 ± 0.59 s, speed = 32.0 ± 2.53 mm/s, respectively, p for all < 0.0001), which were rescued with gpx3 expression, with no phenotype identified with tnip1 KD or gpx3 overexpression. Conclusions These results support GPX3 as a lead ALS risk gene in this locus, with more data needed to confirm/reject a role for TNIP1 . This has implications for understanding disease mechanisms ( GPX3 acts in the same pathway as SOD1 , a well-established ALS-associated gene) and identifying new therapeutic approaches. Few previous examples of in-depth investigations of risk loci in ALS exist and a similar approach could be applied to investigate future expected GWAS findings

Functional characterisation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk locus GPX3/TNIP1.

BackgroundAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex, late-onset, neurodegenerative disease with a genetic contribution to disease liability. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified ten risk loci to date, including the TNIP1/GPX3 locus on chromosome five. Given association analysis data alone cannot determine the most plausible risk gene for this locus, we undertook a comprehensive suite of in silico, in vivo and in vitro studies to address this.MethodsThe Functional Mapping and Annotation (FUMA) pipeline and five tools (conditional and joint analysis (GCTA-COJO), Stratified Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression (S-LDSC), Polygenic Priority Scoring (PoPS), Summary-based Mendelian Randomisation (SMR-HEIDI) and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) analyses) were used to perform bioinformatic integration of GWAS data (Ncases = 20,806, Ncontrols = 59,804) with 'omics reference datasets including the blood (eQTLgen consortium N = 31,684) and brain (N = 2581). This was followed up by specific expression studies in ALS case-control cohorts (microarray Ntotal = 942, protein Ntotal = 300) and gene knockdown (KD) studies of human neuronal iPSC cells and zebrafish-morpholinos (MO).ResultsSMR analyses implicated both TNIP1 and GPX3 (p &lt; 1.15 × 10-6), but there was no simple SNP/expression relationship. Integrating multiple datasets using PoPS supported GPX3 but not TNIP1. In vivo expression analyses from blood in ALS cases identified that lower GPX3 expression correlated with a more progressed disease (ALS functional rating score, p = 5.5 × 10-3, adjusted R2 = 0.042, Beffect = 27.4 ± 13.3 ng/ml/ALSFRS unit) with microarray and protein data suggesting lower expression with risk allele (recessive model p = 0.06, p = 0.02 respectively). Validation in vivo indicated gpx3 KD caused significant motor deficits in zebrafish-MO (mean difference vs. control ± 95% CI, vs. control, swim distance = 112 ± 28 mm, time = 1.29 ± 0.59 s, speed = 32.0 ± 2.53 mm/s, respectively, p for all &lt; 0.0001), which were rescued with gpx3 expression, with no phenotype identified with tnip1 KD or gpx3 overexpression.ConclusionsThese results support GPX3 as a lead ALS risk gene in this locus, with more data needed to confirm/reject a role for TNIP1. This has implications for understanding disease mechanisms (GPX3 acts in the same pathway as SOD1, a well-established ALS-associated gene) and identifying new therapeutic approaches. Few previous examples of in-depth investigations of risk loci in ALS exist and a similar approach could be applied to investigate future expected GWAS findings

Functional characterisation of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk locus GPX3/TNIP1

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex, late-onset, neurodegenerative disease with a genetic contribution to disease liability. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified ten risk loci to date, including the TNIP1/GPX3 locus on chromosome five. Given association analysis data alone cannot determine the most plausible risk gene for this locus, we undertook a comprehensive suite of in silico, in vivo and in vitro studies to address this. Methods: The Functional Mapping and Annotation (FUMA) pipeline and five tools (conditional and joint analysis (GCTA-COJO), Stratified Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression (S-LDSC), Polygenic Priority Scoring (PoPS), Summary-based Mendelian Randomisation (SMR-HEIDI) and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) analyses) were used to perform bioinformatic integration of GWAS data (Ncases = 20,806, Ncontrols = 59,804) with ‘omics reference datasets including the blood (eQTLgen consortium N = 31,684) and brain (N = 2581). This was followed up by specific expression studies in ALS case-control cohorts (microarray Ntotal = 942, protein Ntotal = 300) and gene knockdown (KD) studies of human neuronal iPSC cells and zebrafish-morpholinos (MO). Results: SMR analyses implicated both TNIP1 and GPX3 (p \u3c 1.15 × 10−6), but there was no simple SNP/expression relationship. Integrating multiple datasets using PoPS supported GPX3 but not TNIP1. In vivo expression analyses from blood in ALS cases identified that lower GPX3 expression correlated with a more progressed disease (ALS functional rating score, p = 5.5 × 10−3 , adjusted R2 = 0.042, Beffect = 27.4 ± 13.3 ng/ml/ALSFRS unit) with microarray and protein data suggesting lower expression with risk allele (recessive model p = 0.06, p = 0.02 respectively). Validation in vivo indicated gpx3 KD caused significant motor deficits in zebrafish-MO (mean difference vs. control ± 95% CI, vs. control, swim distance = 112 ± 28 mm, time = 1.29 ± 0.59 s, speed = 32.0 ± 2.53 mm/s, respectively, p for all \u3c 0.0001), which were rescued with gpx3 expression, with no phenotype identified with tnip1 KD or gpx3 overexpression