Beyond resistance: social factors in the general public response to pandemic influenza

Background: Influencing the general public response to pandemics is a public health priority. There is a prevailing view, however, that the general public is resistant to communications on pandemic influenza and that behavioural responses to the 2009/10 H1N1 pandemic were not sufficient. Using qualitative methods, this paper investigates how members of the general public respond to pandemic influenza and the hygiene, social isolation and other measures proposed by public health. Going beyond the commonly deployed notion that the general public is resistant to public health communications, this paper examines how health individualism, gender and real world constraints enable and limit individual action. Methods: In-depth interviews (n = 57) and focus groups (ten focus groups; 59 individuals) were conducted with community samples in Melbourne, Sydney and Glasgow. Participants were selected according to maximum variation sampling using purposive criteria, including: 1) pregnancy in 2009/2010; 2) chronic illness; 3) aged 70 years and over; 4) no disclosed health problems. Verbatim transcripts were subjected to inductive, thematic analysis. Results: Respondents did not express resistance to public health communications, but gave insight into how they interpreted and implemented guidance. An individualistic approach to pandemic risk predominated. The uptake of hygiene, social isolation and vaccine strategies was constrained by seeing oneself 'at risk' but not 'a risk' to others. Gender norms shape how members of the general public enact hygiene and social isolation. Other challenges pertained to over-reliance on perceived remoteness from risk, expectation of recovery from infection and practical constraints on the uptake of vaccination. Conclusions: Overall, respondents were engaged with public health advice regarding pandemic influenza, indicating that the idea of public resistance has limited explanatory power. Public communications are endorsed, but challenges persist. Individualistic approaches to pandemic risk inhibit acting for the benefit of others and may deepen divisions in the community according to health status. Public communications on pandemics are mediated by gender norms that may overburden women and limit the action of men. Social research on the public response to pandemics needs to focus on the social structures and real world settings and relationships that shape the action of individuals

Public attitudes and emotions toward novel carbon removal methods in alternative sociotechnical scenarios

Despite high expectations about the role of carbon removal in meeting global climate targets, many of the proposed techniques remain nascent. This is especially so for techniques with potential for large-scale, permanent removal of CO2, such as Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) and Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE). In such a context, understanding public attitudes is crucial but challenging, since we do not have enough information about the sociotechnical configurations which might accompany such proposals over future timescales. Carbon removal at scale will not take place in a vacuum – it will co-evolve within political, social, economic, and legal structures which in turn will have a strong influence on public attitudes. This study used a nationally-representative survey (n=1,978) in the UK to test the impact of alternative sociotechnical systems on public attitudes to DACCS and OAE. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five scenario conditions, representing different forms of governance logic (top-down vs bottom-up) and market logic (planned vs liberal economy), plus one with minimal sociotechnical information. We find that the scenario condition significantly impacted perceptions of OAE, with participants preferring its implementation within a bottom-up, planned economy scenario, and rejecting scenarios which most closely resembled the status quo. There were no significant differences between scenarios for DACCS, suggesting that the technology may be more flexible across alternative sociotechnical arrangements. OAE arouses more negative emotions, particularly worry about impacts on ocean ecosystems, whereas DACCS arouses more hope. We found that climate worry is associated with stronger emotions – both positive and negative – toward both techniques, thus CDR could be polarising for the most climate-worried, likely due to tensions between climate urgency and concerns about deterring emissions reductions. The most important criteria for future CDR deployment were deemed to be biodiversity, durability, and cost, with a strong discourse around the current cost-of-living crisis

Public attitudes and emotions toward novel carbon removal methods in alternative sociotechnical scenarios

Despite high expectations about the role of carbon removal in meeting global climate targets, many of the proposed techniques remain nascent. This is especially so for techniques with potential for large-scale, permanent removal of CO2, such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). In such a context, understanding public attitudes is crucial but challenging, since we do not have enough information about the sociotechnical configurations which might accompany such proposals over future timescales. Carbon removal at scale will not take place in a vacuum—it will co-evolve within political, social, economic, and legal structures which in turn will have a strong influence on public attitudes. This study used a nationally-representative survey (n = 1978) in the UK to test the impact of alternative sociotechnical systems on public attitudes to DACCS and OAE. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five scenario conditions, representing different forms of governance logic (top–down vs bottom–up) and market logic (planned vs liberal economy), plus one with minimal sociotechnical information. We find that the scenario condition significantly impacted perceptions of OAE, with participants preferring its implementation within a bottom–up, planned economy scenario, and rejecting scenarios which most closely resembled the status quo. There were no significant differences between scenarios for DACCS, suggesting that the technology may be more flexible across alternative sociotechnical arrangements. OAE arouses more negative emotions, particularly worry about impacts on ocean ecosystems, whereas DACCS arouses more hope. We found that climate worry is associated with stronger emotions—both positive and negative—toward both techniques, thus carbon dioxide removal (CDR) could be polarising for the most climate-worried, likely due to tensions between climate urgency and concerns about deterring emissions reductions. The most important criteria for future CDR deployment were deemed to be biodiversity, durability, and cost, with a strong discourse around the current cost-of-living crisis

Zinc loss in sweat of athletes exercising in hot and neutral temperatures

Zinc (Zn) loss from sweat of 9 male and 9 female athletes exercising under hot (35 degrees C, HE) and neutral (25 degrees C, NE) conditions was examined. Subjects exercised at 50% VO2max on a cycle ergometer for 1 hr during each trial. Cell-free sweat samples were analyzed for Zn by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. There was a significant interaction of time, gender, and temperature for whole-body sweat rates (WBSR). WBSR for males were higher during both trials and at each time. WBSR from the second half of exercise were higher than those from the first half for both sexes and temperature conditions. Sweat Zn concentration was higher in the NE than in the HE, but when the sweat rates were included, the rate of Zn loss was no different between HE and NE. Zn concentration of the sweat for the first half of exercise was over twice that of the second half. Sweat Zn concentration of the men was no different than that of the women; however, due to greater sweat rate, men had significantly higher Zn losses. Although total Zn losses are estimated to be relatively low compared to the RDA, exercise at moderate intensities may increase surface Zn losses

Public attitudes and emotions toward novel carbon removal methods in alternative sociotechnical scenarios

Despite high expectations about the role of carbon removal in meeting global climate targets, many of the proposed techniques remain nascent. This is especially so for techniques with potential for large-scale, permanent removal of CO2, such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE). In such a context, understanding public attitudes is crucial but challenging, since we do not have enough information about the sociotechnical configurations which might accompany such proposals over future timescales. Carbon removal at scale will not take place in a vacuum—it will co-evolve within political, social, economic, and legal structures which in turn will have a strong influence on public attitudes. This study used a nationally-representative survey (n = 1978) in the UK to test the impact of alternative sociotechnical systems on public attitudes to DACCS and OAE. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five scenario conditions, representing different forms of governance logic (top–down vs bottom–up) and market logic (planned vs liberal economy), plus one with minimal sociotechnical information. We find that the scenario condition significantly impacted perceptions of OAE, with participants preferring its implementation within a bottom–up, planned economy scenario, and rejecting scenarios which most closely resembled the status quo. There were no significant differences between scenarios for DACCS, suggesting that the technology may be more flexible across alternative sociotechnical arrangements. OAE arouses more negative emotions, particularly worry about impacts on ocean ecosystems, whereas DACCS arouses more hope. We found that climate worry is associated with stronger emotions—both positive and negative—toward both techniques, thus carbon dioxide removal (CDR) could be polarising for the most climate-worried, likely due to tensions between climate urgency and concerns about deterring emissions reductions. The most important criteria for future CDR deployment were deemed to be biodiversity, durability, and cost, with a strong discourse around the current cost-of-living crisis

Duplex DNA from Sites of Helicase-Polymerase Uncoupling Links Non-B DNA Structure Formation to Replicative Stress

BACKGROUND: Replication impediments can produce helicase-polymerase uncoupling allowing lagging strand synthesis to continue for as much as 6 kb from the site of the impediment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a cloning procedure designed to recover fragments from lagging strand near the helicase halt site. RESULTS: A total of 62% of clones from a p53-deficient tumor cell line (PC3) and 33% of the clones from a primary cell line (HPS-19I) were within 5 kb of a G-quadruplex forming sequence. Analyses of a RACK7 gene sequence, that was cloned multiple times from the PC3 line, revealed multiple deletions in region about 1 kb from the cloned region that was present in a non-B conformation. Sequences from the region formed G-quadruplex and i-motif structures under physiological conditions. CONCLUSION: Defects in components of non-B structure suppression systems (e.g. p53 helicase targeting) promote replication-linked damage selectively targeted to sequences prone to G-quadruplex and i-motif formation

Sport Chaplains and Social Workers: A Theoretical Understanding of a Necessary Component of an Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Sport in the United States

Holistic care of athletes is a growing area of research and practice. Yet, there is still much to consider as attention to this matter continues to expand. Specifically, what are the different theoretical perspectives of each profession working together towards the holistic care of athletes? The theoretical understanding between professions is essential for effective interprofessional teams—what some scholars have termed interprofessional cultural competence. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide the theoretical underpinnings for collaboration between sport chaplains and social workers, both emerging professions within interprofessional care in sport. This paper presents the unique partnership of sport chaplains and social workers in the spiritual care of athletes. Furthermore, it seeks to clarify the theoretical foundations of each profession, and how then these professions can then work together most effectively. Suggestions and ethical considerations are also given for best practices in the execution of this collaboration

Impacts of Census Differential Privacy for Small-Area Disease Mapping to Monitor Health Inequities

The US Census Bureau will implement a new privacy-preserving disclosure avoidance system (DAS), which includes application of differential privacy, on publicly-released 2020 census data. There are concerns that the DAS may bias small-area and demographically-stratified population counts, which play a critical role in public health research, serving as denominators in estimation of disease/mortality rates. Employing three DAS demonstration products, we quantify errors attributable to reliance on DAS-protected denominators in standard small-area disease mapping models for characterizing health inequities. We conduct simulation studies and real data analyses of inequities in premature mortality at the census tract level in Massachusetts and Georgia. Results show that overall patterns of inequity by racialized group and economic deprivation level are not compromised by the DAS. While early versions of DAS induce errors in mortality rate estimation that are larger for Black than non-Hispanic white populations in Massachusetts, this issue is ameliorated in newer DAS versions

Analysis of putative quadruplex-forming sequences in fungal genomes: Novel antifungal targets?

Fungal infections cause >1 million deaths annually and the emergence of antifungal resistance has prompted the exploration for novel antifungal targets. Quadruplexes are four-stranded nucleic acid secondary structures, which can regulate processes such as transcription, translation, replication and recombination. They are also found in genes linked to virulence in microbes, and ligands that bind to quadruplexes can eliminate drug-resistant pathogens. Using a computational approach, we quantified putative quadruplex-forming sequences (PQS) in 1359 genomes across the fungal kingdom and explored their presence in genes related to virulence, drug resistance and biological processes associated with pathogenicity in Aspergillus fumigatus. Here we present the largest analysis of PQS in fungi and identify significant heterogeneity of these sequences throughout phyla, genera and species. PQS were genetically conserved in Aspergillus spp. and frequently pathogenic species appeared to contain fewer PQS than their lesser/non-pathogenic counterparts. GO-term analysis identified that PQS-containing genes were involved in processes linked with virulence such as zinc ion binding, the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and regulation of transcription in A. fumigatus. Although the genome frequency of PQS was lower in A. fumigatus, PQS could be found enriched in genes involved in virulence, and genes upregulated during germination and hypoxia. Moreover, PQS were found in genes involved in drug resistance. Quadruplexes could have important roles within fungal biology and virulence, but their roles require further elucidation