Is it just a dream? How attributions for successful and unsuccessful social mobility attempts maintain the myth of the American Dream

Despite rising inequality making upward social mobility difficult, faith in the American Dream persists. Why is this the case? In six studies (five pre-registered), we demonstrate that in scenarios where hard work and ability are held constant, people praise the hard work and talent of individuals who successfully move up the social ladder while derogating these same characteristics among individuals who do not; a pattern of attributions which is likely to reinforce the American Dream. Further, conservatives explain mobility failure particularly in terms of personal shortcomings whereas liberals look to systemic disadvantages, attributions that in turn predicted lowered and heightened support for policies designed to promote equality, respectively. Moreover, experimentally inducing a focus on societal barriers to upward mobility (vs. Internal factors) increased support for policies to reduce these barriers, and reduced system justification and faith in the American Dream, particularly among conservatives

Improving Patient Experience and Education by Leveraging Technology

It is estimated that 65% of the population are visual learners. With that in mind, a team of cardiac nurses in a large academic tertiary hospital developed a quality improvement project to hopefully improve patient engagement as well the patients’ perception that the nurses explained things in a manner that they could understand. Baseline patient survey scores for the question, “Nurses Explained Things In A Way That I Understand”, were under the 75thpercentile for a period of 9 months. A root cause analysis was conducted and it demonstrated numerous reasons for this score. Several countermeasures were instituted to include the use of I Pads for patient education. In conjunction with the hospital IT specialists, cardiac educational materials were developed and videos chosen for I Pad use. A daily KPI was established to track progress of their i Pad usage goal. Follow-up survey results demonstrated significant improvement post I Pad implementation to the question “Nurses Explained Things In A Way That I Understand”. Next steps include further education of nursing staff on educating patients in the use of I Pads as well as adding other cardiovascular educational materials

The Potential of Honey as a Prebiotic Food to Re-engineer the Gut Microbiome Toward a Healthy State

Honey has a long history of use for the treatment of digestive ailments. Certain honey types have well-established bioactive properties including antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. In addition, honey contains non-digestible carbohydrates in the form of oligosaccharides, and there is increasing evidence from in vitro, animal, and pilot human studies that some kinds of honey have prebiotic activity. Prebiotics are foods or compounds, such as non-digestible carbohydrates, that are used to promote specific, favorable changes in the composition and function of the gut microbiota. The gut microbiota plays a critical role in human health and well-being, with disturbances to the balance of these organisms linked to gut inflammation and the development and progression of numerous conditions, such as colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, and mental health issues. Consequently, there is increasing interest in manipulating the gut microbiota to a more favorable balance as a way of improving health by dietary means. Current research suggests that certain kinds of honey can reduce the presence of infection-causing bacteria in the gut including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Clostridiodes difficile, while simultaneously stimulating the growth of potentially beneficial species, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. In this paper, we review the current and growing evidence that shows the prebiotic potential of honey to promote healthy gut function, regulate the microbial communities in the gut, and reduce infection and inflammation. We outline gaps in knowledge and explore the potential of honey as a viable option to promote or re-engineer a healthy gut microbiome

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Molecular investigation of mycobacterium tuberculosis and the critical cell wall lipase culp6

Tuberculosis remains a leading challenge in global public health. An in depth understanding of physiological processes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is required for the development of improved treatments. This study aimed to develop tools for disruption of mycobacterial genes utilising the group II intron based Targetron system. The putatively essential cell wall lipase Cutinase-like protein 6 (Culp6, Rv3802c) was also investigated to determine its biological function and role as a target for the antibiotic tetrahydrolipstatin (THL). The Targetron was adapted for use in mycobacteria through incorporation into an inducible mycobacterial vector, and functional Targetron insertion sites identified in a number of mycobacterial genes. However, induction of Targetron expression under a range of growth conditions failed to result in successful gene disruption. Despite modifications including codon optimisation of the intron reverse transcriptase, the mycobacterial species tested have proved impervious to Targetron insertion. Further investigation of the Targetron in mycobacteria is required to develop this molecular tool. This study has revealed the Mycobacterium smegmatis Culp6 ortholog MSMEG_6394 is required for optimal growth under conditions of stress, including increased temperature and presence of Tween. Loss of MSMEG_6394 leads to altered colony morphology and increased sensitivity to Rifampicin and Isoniazid. Complementation with M. tuberculosis Culp6 restored the phenotype of the MSMEG_6394 deletion mutant. THL disrupts mycolic acid synthesis and is known to inhibit purified Culp6, however does not reduce the growth of M. smegmatis. In this study, it was revealed that either over-expression of Culp6, or increased temperature, resulted in sensitisation of M. smegmatis to THL. Taken together, these results suggest an interaction between Culp6 and THL in mycobacteria. The data presented in this study is highly suggestive of a function for Culp6 in cell wall synthesis

Molecular investigation of mycobacterium tuberculosis and the critical cell wall lipase culp6

Tuberculosis remains a leading challenge in global public health. An in depth understanding of physiological processes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is required for the development of improved treatments. This study aimed to develop tools for disruption of mycobacterial genes utilising the group II intron based Targetron system. The putatively essential cell wall lipase Cutinase-like protein 6 (Culp6, Rv3802c) was also investigated to determine its biological function and role as a target for the antibiotic tetrahydrolipstatin (THL). The Targetron was adapted for use in mycobacteria through incorporation into an inducible mycobacterial vector, and functional Targetron insertion sites identified in a number of mycobacterial genes. However, induction of Targetron expression under a range of growth conditions failed to result in successful gene disruption. Despite modifications including codon optimisation of the intron reverse transcriptase, the mycobacterial species tested have proved impervious to Targetron insertion. Further investigation of the Targetron in mycobacteria is required to develop this molecular tool. This study has revealed the Mycobacterium smegmatis Culp6 ortholog MSMEG_6394 is required for optimal growth under conditions of stress, including increased temperature and presence of Tween. Loss of MSMEG_6394 leads to altered colony morphology and increased sensitivity to Rifampicin and Isoniazid. Complementation with M. tuberculosis Culp6 restored the phenotype of the MSMEG_6394 deletion mutant. THL disrupts mycolic acid synthesis and is known to inhibit purified Culp6, however does not reduce the growth of M. smegmatis. In this study, it was revealed that either over-expression of Culp6, or increased temperature, resulted in sensitisation of M. smegmatis to THL. Taken together, these results suggest an interaction between Culp6 and THL in mycobacteria. The data presented in this study is highly suggestive of a function for Culp6 in cell wall synthesis

Barriers and Bootstraps? The role of attributions for social mobility success and failure in policy support and faith in the American Dream

Despite rising inequality making upward social mobility difficult, faith in the American Dream persists. Americans are often exposed to narratives where hard work leads to upward social mobility but are less likely to hear about the numerous instances where the same efforts don’t pay off. Across three pre-registered studies, we examined responses to identical narrative of social mobility effort that either ended in success or failure. Despite equal efforts, a target was viewed as less hardworking and competent and worse at managing their time and money when they failed vs. succeeded to be upwardly mobile. Liberals and conservatives made equally strong internal explanations for social mobility successes. However, conservatives explained failures with more internal and less societal attributions than liberals. These attributions were found to have important implications for faith in the American Dream and support for policies to promote equality. Moreover, experimentally inducing a focus on societal barriers to upward mobility (vs. internal factors) increased support for policies to reduce these barriers, and reduced faith in the American Dream, particularly among conservatives