Tweeting about sexism motivates further activism: A social identity perspective

Women, more so than men, are using social media activism to respond to sexism. However, when they do, they are also faced with gendered criticisms (\u27hashtag feminism\u27) that may instead serve to silence them. Based in social identity theory, this research examined how women\u27s social media activism, in response to sexism, may be a first step toward further activism. Two studies used a simulated Twitter paradigm to expose women to sexism and randomly assigned them to either tweet in response, or to a no-tweet control condition. Both studies found support for a serial mediation model such that tweeting after sexism strengthened social identity, which in turn increased collective action intentions, and in turn, behavioural collective actions. Study 2 further showed that validation from others increases the indirect effect of tweeting on behavioural collective action through collective action intentions, but group efficacy did not moderate any indirect effects. It was concluded that when social media activism in response to sexism promotes an enactment of women’s social identity, thereby mobilizing them to further action

Active speed role in opinion formation of interacting moving agents

We propose a general non-linear analytical framework to study the evolution of the opinion state of a population of moving individuals. This novel scheme allows us to study a broad range of social phenomena, like, for example, the influence of agent interaction dynamics in the opinion formation or the inclusion of different individual's idiosyncrasies. We consider societies composed by agents who adopt one of the n possible opinions or internal states. The opinion state may only be modified while the agent keeps contact with another one. In general, this framework could be solved numerically, and, for some special perturbative cases, it is possible to find analytical steady states. In order to check our scheme for different social conventions, we implement computational simulations of an ensemble of self-propelled agents, finding a good agreement between theory and simulation results. We found, for slow society kinetics in all the cases studied, that there exist a shift of the opinion populations towards the moderate opinion states. This suggest that active speed can be understood as a parameter measuring the social temperature of the community

Association of Acute Trapeziometacarpal Joint Dislocation and Trapezium Fracture in a 14-Year-Old Boy: A Case Report

Fracture-dislocation of the trapeziometacarpal (TM) joint in adolescent patients is a rare injury, with only 3 cases reported in literature to our knowledge. Its low incidence, together with the complexity of the anatomy and biomechanics of TM joint, may represent a challenge for surgeons in choosing the best treating option. Here, we report a case of a TM fracture dislocation in a 14-year-old boy treated with percutaneous Kirschner wire pinning. The results we obtained endorsed our choice in patients for whom closed reduction is achievable

Active governance of agro-pastoral, forest and protected areas mitigates wildfire impacts in Italy

: Wildfire regimes affected by global change have been the cause of major concern in recent years. Both direct prevention (e.g., fuel management planning) and land governance strategies (e.g., agroforestry development) can have an indirect regulatory effect on wildfires. Herein, we tested the hypothesis that active land planning and management in Italy have mitigated wildfire impacts in terms of loss of ecosystem services and forest cover, and burned wildland-urban interface, from 2007 to 2017. At the national scale, we assessed the effect size of major potential fire drivers such as climate, weather, flammability, socio-economic descriptors, land use changes, and proxies for land governance (e.g., European funds for rural development, investments in sustainable forest management, agro-pastoral activities), including potential interactions, on fire-related impacts via Random Forest modelling and Generalized Additive Mixed Model. Agro-forest districts (i.e., aggregations of neighbouring municipalities with homogeneous forest and agricultural characteristics) were used as spatial units of analysis. Our results confirm that territories with more active land governance show lower wildfire impacts, even under severe flammability and climatic conditions. This study supports current regional, national, and European strategies towards "fire resistant and resilient landscapes" by fostering agro-forestry, rural development, and nature conservation integrated policies

Why does GM1 induce a potent beneficial response to experimental Chagas disease?

Being one of the world’s neglected diseases, Chagas has neither a vaccine nor a satisfactory therapy. Inoculation of murine models with the ganglioside GM1 has shown a strikingly nonlinear effect, leading to a strong decrease in parasite load at low doses but reverting to a load increase at high doses. Cardiocyte destruction concomitant with the disease is also significantly reduced by a moderate application of GM1. A mathematical model for the interaction between the parasite and the immune system is shown to explain these effects and is used to predict an optimal dosage that maximizes parasite removal with minimal cardiocyte destruction

Rates of hypogonadism forms in Klinefelter patients undergoing testicular sperm extraction : a multicenter cross-sectional study

Introduction and objectives: Adult patients with Klinefelter syndrome (KS) may present with testicular volume loss and a decrease in circulating testosterone (T) levels. However, the actual rate of hypogonadism in adult KS men is unknown. We aimed to (a) assess the prevalence of different forms of hypogonadism in a cohort of KS patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA); and (b) investigate potential preoperative predictor of positive sperm retrieval (SR) at surgery in the same cohort of men. Methods: Complete data from 103 KS men with NOA who underwent testicular sperm extraction (TESE) between 2008 and 2019 at five centers were analyzed. Comorbidities were scored with the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Patients were categorized into four groups of hypogonadism as follows: eugonadism [normal total T (tT) ( 653.03 ng/mL) and normal luteinizing hormone (LH) ( 649.4 mUI/mL)], secondary hypogonadism [low tT ( 643.03 ng/mL) and low/normal LH ( 649.4 mUI/mL)], primary hypogonadism [low tT ( 643.03 ng/mL) and elevated LH ( 659.4 mUI/mL)], and compensated hypogonadism [normal tT ( 653.03 ng/mL) and elevated LH ( 659.4 mUI/mL)]. Descriptive statistics tested the association between clinical characteristics and laboratory values among the four groups. Results: Median (IQR) patients age was 32 (24, 37) years. Baseline follicle-stimulating hormone and tT levels were 29.5 (19.9, 40.9) mUI/mL and 3.8 (2.5, 11.0) ng/mL, respectively. Eugonadism, primary hypogonadism, and compensated hypogonadism were found in 16 (15.6%), 34 (33.0%), and 53 (51.4%) men, respectively. No patients had secondary hypogonadism. Positive SR rate at TESE was 21.4% (22 patients); of 22, 15 (68.2%) patients underwent assisted reproductive technology and five (22.7%) ended in live birth children. Patients\u2019 age, BMI, CCI, FSH levels, and positive SR rates were comparable among hypogonadism groups. No preoperative parameters were associated with positive SR at logistic regressions analysis. Conclusions: Findings from this cross-sectional study showed that 15.6% of adult KS men have normal tT values at presentation in the real-life setting. Most KS patients presented with either compensated or primary hypogonadism. Sperm retrieval rates were not associated with different forms of hypogonadism