Development of Trust in an Online Breast Cancer Forum: A Qualitative Study

Background: Online health forums provide peer support for a range of medical conditions, including life-threatening and terminal illnesses. Trust is an important component of peer-to-peer support, although relatively little is known about how trust forms within online health forums. Objective: The aim of this paper is to examine how trust develops and influences sharing among users of an online breast cancer forum. Methods: An interpretive qualitative approach was adopted. Data were collected from forum posts from 135 threads on nine boards on the UK charity, Breast Cancer Care (BCC). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 BCC forum users. Both datasets were analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s [2006] approach and combined to triangulate analysis. Results: Trust operates in three dimensions, structural, relational and temporal, which intersect with each other and do not operate in isolation. The structural dimension relates to how the affordances and formal rules of the site affected trust. The relational dimension refers to how trust was necessarily experienced in interactions with other forum users: it emerged within relationships and was a social phenomenon. The temporal dimension relates to how trust changed over time and was influenced by the length of time users spent on the forum. Conclusions: Trust is a process that changes over time, and which is influenced by structural features of the forum and informal but collectively understood relational interactions among forum users. The study provides a better understanding of how the intersecting structural, relational and temporal aspects that support the development of trust facilitate sharing in online environments. These findings will help organisations developing online health forums

Predictive Analysis on Twitter: Techniques and Applications

Predictive analysis of social media data has attracted considerable attention from the research community as well as the business world because of the essential and actionable information it can provide. Over the years, extensive experimentation and analysis for insights have been carried out using Twitter data in various domains such as healthcare, public health, politics, social sciences, and demographics. In this chapter, we discuss techniques, approaches and state-of-the-art applications of predictive analysis of Twitter data. Specifically, we present fine-grained analysis involving aspects such as sentiment, emotion, and the use of domain knowledge in the coarse-grained analysis of Twitter data for making decisions and taking actions, and relate a few success stories

Fallout radionuclide-based techniques for assessing the impact of soil conservation measures on erosion control and soil quality: An overview of the main lessons learnt under an FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project

This paper summarizes key findings and identifies the main lessons learnt from a 5-year (2002-2008) coordinated research project (CRP) on "Assessing the effectiveness of soil conservation measures for sustainable watershed management and crop production using fallout radionuclides" (D1.50.08), organized and funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency through the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. The project brought together nineteen participants, from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and Vietnam, involved in the use of nuclear techniques and, more particularly, fallout radionuclides (FRN) to assess the relative impacts of different soil conservation measures on soil erosion and land productivity. The overall objective of the CRP was to develop improved land use and management strategies for sustainable watershed management through effective soil erosion control practices, by the use of 137Cs (half-life of 30.2 years), 210Pb ex (half-life of 22.3 years) and 7Be (half-life of 53.4 days) for measuring soil erosion over several spatial and temporal scales. The environmental conditions under which the different research teams applied the tools based on the use of fallout radionuclides varied considerably - a variety of climates, soils, topographies and land uses. Nevertheless, the achievements of the CRP, as reflected in this overview paper, demonstrate that fallout radionuclide-based techniques are powerful tools to assess soil erosion/deposition at several spatial and temporal scales in a wide range of environments, and offer potential to monitor soil quality. The success of the CRP has stimulated an interest in many IAEA Member States in the use of these methodologies to identify factors and practices that can enhance sustainable agriculture and minimize land degradation. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

DOWN GAZE PALSY DUE TO PERIAQUEDUCTAL LESION DIAGNOSED BY MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

WOS: A1995RQ91700013PubMed ID: 8545100Selective paralysis of downward gaze is known to be rare. There are 6 cases reported in the literature based on neuropathologic and anatomical studies, We report a 60-year-old diabetic and hypertensive patient with isolated down gaze palsy, Computed tomography failed to show the lesion in the periaqueductal region, and the diagnosis was made by Magnetic resonance imaging, The case presented is the only one still surviving

Down gaze palsy due to periaqueductal lesion diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging

PubMedID: 8545100Selective paralysis of downward gaze is known to be rare. There are 6 cases reported in the literature based on neuropathologic and anatomical studies. We report a 60-year-old diabetic and hypertensive patient with isolated down gaze palsy. Computed tomography failed to show the lesion in the periaqueductal region, and the diagnosis was made by Magnetic resonance imaging. The case presented is the only one still surviving. © 1995 S. Karger AG, Basel

Using diazenam and atrovine before strabismus surgery to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting: a randomized, controlled study

WOS: 000183897000011PubMed ID: 12825062Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of diazepam and atropine sulfate premedication in preventing nausea and vomiting after strabismus surgery under general anesthesia. Methods: Fifty children age 4 to 15 years who underwent strabismus surgery at Cukurova University Medical Faculty, Department of Ophthalmology, from February 2000 to June 2000 were randomized into 2 groups: 25 children in the control group did not receive premedication, whereas 25 children in the treatment group received premedication with 0.15 mg/kg diazepam and 0.015 mg/kg atropine sulfate. Occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) was recorded. Results: The incidence of PONV was lower in the premedicated group (P < .018, chi(2) test). Conclusions: It is concluded that diazepam and atropine sulfate premedication decreases nausea and vomiting after strabismus surgery

Early ultrastructural findings and superoxide dismutase levels in experimental ischemic optic neuropathy: Effect of hypertension and hypotension on ischemic changes

PubMedID: 11125271We induced ischemia, hypertension and hypotension in 15 rabbits in order to evaluate the ischemic changes in the optic nerve and the effect of hypertension and hypotension on ischemia. We cauterized the right internal and external carotid arteries of 15 rabbits and applied dopamine hydrochloride and glycerol trinitrate to 5 each of these rabbits. Two rabbits were used as controls. We enucleated both eyes of all animals at the 24th hour. All of the optic nerves underwent biochemical, histopathological and ultrastructural examination. Histopathological and transmission electron-microscopic changes were found to be more prominent in the hypotensive group. We observed decreased superoxide dismutase levels in all groups, but it was more evident in the third group. In comparison to hypertension, hypotension is found to be a more important factor in the development of early degenerative changes. Copyright © 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Using diazepam and atropine before strabismus surgery to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting: A randomized, controlled study

PubMedID: 12825062Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of diazepam and atropine sulfate premedication in preventing nausea and vomiting after strabismus surgery under general anesthesia. Methods: Fifty children age 4 to 15 years who underwent strabismus surgery at Çukurova University Medical Faculty, Department of Ophthalmology, from February 2000 to June 2000 were randomized into 2 groups: 25 children in the control group did not receive premedication, whereas 25 children in the treatment group received premedication with 0.15 mg/kg diazepam and 0.015 mg/kg atropine sulfate. Occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) was recorded. Results: The incidence of PONV was lower in the premedicated group (P &lt; .018, ?2 test). Conclusions: It is concluded that diazepam and atropine sulfate premedication decreases nausea and vomiting after strabismus surgery

Refractive status in congenital ptosis

The authors evaluated the status of refraction and the effect of the palpebral aperture in patients with congenital ptosis. To be included in the study, patients were required to have a measurable visual acuity. The study group consisted of 28 cases with unilateral and 11 cases with bilateral ptosis. The authors evaluated the results statistically with the chi square and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum tests. Of the 28 patients with unilateral ptosis 17 were male and 11 were female. In 15 of them the right eye was affected and in 13 the left eye. The ages of these patients ranged from seven to 32 years (mean 15.75 ± 6.30). Of these, ten were emmetropic, 16 were myopic and two were hyperopic. The refraction of the fellow eye revealed emmetropia in 22 and myopia in six cases, hyperopia was not observed. The difference in refraction between the eyes with ptosis and the fellow eye was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). The palpebral aperture was 8.09 ± 1.4 mm in emmetropic patients and 7.12 ± 2.0 mm in patients with myopia. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.31). Of the patients with bilateral ptosis eight were male and three were female with a mean age of 11.45 ± 6.93 years (4 to 23). The authors observed myopia in five, emmetropia in three and hyperopia in three of these patients. The difference in refraction between the patients with bilateral and unilateral ptosis was not found to be statistically significant (p = 0.24). As a result of this study the authors can postulate that the incidence of myopia is increased in ptosis and a narrow palpehral aperture does not have an additional effect on the refraction

Inferior ophthalmic vein varix and thrombosis

Orbital varices are congenital venous malformations of the orbit, affected by changes in venous pressure. Sudden thrombosis is an occasional feature of orbital varices. A case is presented of a patient with an inferior ophthalmic vein varix, in whom thrombosis developed five months after the initial examination, which regressed spontaneously during a follow-up period of six months. The literature is reviewed