Validation of the Online Political Engagement Scale in a British population survey

Summary. Over the last decade, an ever increasing number of citizens have been using online media to participatein and engage with politics. Social media sites and online blogs have enabled new opportunities for interactive,user-centered political experiences. Currently, there is a general scarcity of psychometrically validated and standardizedinstruments that assess politically-related constructs (e.g., political engagement, political participation) in thefield of political science. The main aim of the present study was to develop a valid, reliable, standardized psychometrictool to assess online political engagement among the general population. The present study examined thepsychometric properties of a seven-item Online Political Engagement Scale (OPEnS) that assesses a range of politicalactions people engage in online during election campaigns. To develop the scale, data from the 2010 BritishElection Survey were used, as well as information collected from a total of 3,075 people who participated in apost-election online survey. The main findings obtained in the present study supported the unidimensional natureof the online political engagement construct given the results obtained from exploratory and confirmatory factoranalyses. The OPEnS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing this phenomenon, and it may beuseful in studies investigating newer patterns of online political engagement and disengagement.Resum. Durant l’última dècada, un nombre cada vegada més gran de ciutadans han estat utilitzant els mitjansde comunicació en línia per participar i comprometre’s amb la política. Les xarxes socials i blocs en línia hanpermès noves oportunitats per a experiències polítiques interactius, centrats en l’usuari. Actualment, hi ha unaescassetat general d’instruments psicomètrics estandarditzats i validats que avaluen constructes relacionats ambla política (per exemple, el compromís polític, participació política) en el camp de la ciència política. L’objectiuprincipal d’aquest estudi era desenvolupar una eina vàlida, fiable i estandarditzada per avaluar la participaciópolítica en línia entre la població general. El present estudi va examinar les propietats psicomètriques d’una escalade set items, l’Escala de Compromís Polític en línia (Online Political Engagement Scale, OPEnS) que avalua unseguit d’accions polítiques en les que les persones s’involucren en línia durant les campanyes electorals. Per desenvoluparl’escala, es van utilitzar les dades de l’Enquesta d’Elecció Britànica de 2010, així com la informació recopiladad’un total de 3.075 persones que van participar en una enquesta en línia després de les eleccions. Elsprincipals resultats obtinguts en el present estudi van recolzar la naturalesa unidimensional del constructe decompromís polític en línia, donat els resultats obtinguts de les anàlisis factorial exploratòria i confirmatòria.L’OPEnS sembla ser un instrument vàlid i fiable per avaluar aquest fenomen, i pot ser útil en estudis de recerca denous patrons de participació i no participació política en línia

Measuring societal awareness of the rural agrarian landscape: indicators and scale issues

The work presented in this report is part of the effort to define the landscape state and diversity indicator in the frame of COM (2006) 508 “Development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy”. The Communication classifies the indicators according to their level of development, which, for the landscape indicator is “in need of substantial improvements in order to become fully operational”. For this reason a full re-definition of the indicator has been carried out, following the initial proposal presented in the frame of the IRENA operation (“Indicator Reporting on the Integration of Environmental Concerns into Agricultural Policy”). The new proposal for the landscape state and diversity indicator is structured in three components: the first concerns the degree of naturalness, the second landscape structure, the third the societal appreciation of the rural landscape. While the first two components rely on a strong bulk of existing literature, the development of the methodology has made evident the need for further analysis of the third component, which is based on a newly proposed top-down approach. This report presents an in-depth analysis of such component of the indicator, and the effort to include a social dimension in large scale landscape assessment.JRC.H.4-Monitoring Agricultural Resource

INF2 promotes the formation of detyrosinated microtubules necessary for centrosome reorientation in T cells

T cell antigen receptor-proximal signaling components, Rho-family GTPases, and formin proteins DIA1 and FMNL1 have been implicated in centrosome reorientation to the immunological synapse of T lymphocytes. However, the role of these molecules in the reorientation process is not yet defined. Here we find that a subset of microtubules became rapidly stabilized and that their α-tubulin subunit posttranslationally detyrosinated after engagement of the T cell receptor. Formation of stabilized, detyrosinated microtubules required the formin INF2, which was also found to be essential for centrosome reorientation, but it occurred independently of T cell receptor-induced massive tyrosine phosphorylation. The FH2 domain, which was mapped as the INF2 region involved in centrosome repositioning, was able to mediate the formation of stable, detyrosinated microtubules and to restore centrosome translocation in DIA1-, FMNL1-, Rac1-, and Cdc42-deficient cells. Further experiments indicated that microtubule stabilization was required for centrosome polarization. Our work identifies INF2 and stable, detyrosinated microtubules as central players in centrosome reorientation in T cellsThis work was supported by grants BFU2009-07886 and CONSOLIDER COAT CSD2009-00016 to M.A. Alonso, and BFU2011-22859 to I. Correas (all of them from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain), and grant S2010/BMD-2305 from the Comunidad de Madrid to I. Correa

Validation of the Online Political Engagement Scale in a British population survey

Over the last decade, there has been an ever increasing number of citizens using online media to participate in and engage with politics. Social media sites and online blogs have enabled new opportunities for interactive and user-centered political experiences. Currently, there is a general scarcity of psychometrically validated and standardized instruments that assess politically-related constructs in the field of political sciences. The main aim of the present study was to develop a standardized psychometric tool to assess online political engagement among the general population that is valid and reliable. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a 7-item Online Political Engagement Scale (OPEnS) that assesses various online political actions people engage with during election campaigns. To develop the scale, data from the 2010 British Election Survey were used, and a total of 3,075 people participated in an online survey, post-election. The main findings obtained in the present study supported the undimensionality of the online political engagement construct given the results obtained from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The OPEnS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing this phenomenon, and may be useful in studies investigating newer patterns of online political engagement and disengagement

Frontotemporal dementia and its subtypes: a genome-wide association study

SummaryBackground Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a complex disorder characterised by a broad range of clinical manifestations, differential pathological signatures, and genetic variability. Mutations in three genes—MAPT, GRN, and C9orf72—have been associated with FTD. We sought to identify novel genetic risk loci associated with the disorder. Methods We did a two-stage genome-wide association study on clinical FTD, analysing samples from 3526 patients with {FTD} and 9402 healthy controls. To reduce genetic heterogeneity, all participants were of European ancestry. In the discovery phase (samples from 2154 patients with {FTD} and 4308 controls), we did separate association analyses for each {FTD} subtype (behavioural variant FTD, semantic dementia, progressive non-fluent aphasia, and {FTD} overlapping with motor neuron disease FTD-MND), followed by a meta-analysis of the entire dataset. We carried forward replication of the novel suggestive loci in an independent sample series (samples from 1372 patients and 5094 controls) and then did joint phase and brain expression and methylation quantitative trait loci analyses for the associated (p<5 × 10−8) single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Findings We identified novel associations exceeding the genome-wide significance threshold (p<5 × 10−8). Combined (joint) analyses of discovery and replication phases showed genome-wide significant association at 6p21.3, \{HLA\} locus (immune system), for rs9268877 (p=1·05 × 10−8; odds ratio=1·204 95% \{CI\} 1·11–1·30), rs9268856 (p=5·51 × 10−9; 0·809 0·76–0·86) and rs1980493 (p value=1·57 × 10−8, 0·775 0·69–0·86) in the entire cohort. We also identified a potential novel locus at 11q14, encompassing RAB38/CTSC (the transcripts of which are related to lysosomal biology), for the behavioural \{FTD\} subtype for which joint analyses showed suggestive association for rs302668 (p=2·44 × 10−7; 0·814 0·71–0·92). Analysis of expression and methylation quantitative trait loci data suggested that these loci might affect expression and methylation in cis. Interpretation Our findings suggest that immune system processes (link to 6p21.3) and possibly lysosomal and autophagy pathways (link to 11q14) are potentially involved in FTD. Our findings need to be replicated to better define the association of the newly identified loci with disease and to shed light on the pathomechanisms contributing to FTD. Funding The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Institute on Aging, the Wellcome/MRC Centre on Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's Research UK, and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

Balanced gene losses, duplications and intensive rearrangements led to an unusual regularly sized genome in Arbutus unedo chloroplasts

Completely sequenced plastomes provide a valuable source of information about the duplication, loss, and transfer events of chloroplast genes and phylogenetic data for resolving relationships among major groups of plants. Moreover, they can also be useful for exploiting chloroplast genetic engineering technology. Ericales account for approximately six per cent of eudicot diversity with 11,545 species from which only three complete plastome sequences are currently available. With the aim of increasing the number of ericalean complete plastome sequences, and to open new perspectives in understanding Mediterranean plant adaptations, a genomic study on the basis of the complete chloroplast genome sequencing of Arbutus unedo and an updated phylogenomic analysis of Asteridae was implemented. The chloroplast genome of A. unedo shows extensive rearrangements but a medium size (150,897 nt) in comparison to most of angiosperms. A number of remarkable distinct features characterize the plastome of A. unedo: five-fold dismissing of the SSC region in relation to most angiosperms; complete loss or pseudogenization of a number of essential genes; duplication of the ndhH-D operon and its location within the two IRs; presence of large tandem repeats located near highly re-arranged regions and pseudogenes. All these features outline the primary evolutionary split between Ericaceae and other ericalean families. The newly sequenced plastome of A. unedo with the available asterid sequences allowed the resolution of some uncertainties in previous phylogenies of Asteridae

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Effectiveness of online mindfulness training for people experiencing mental illness

Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: Evidence has shown that self-guided web application mindfulness training can improve mental health. In this study, the “Be Mindful” online-based mindfulness training software application was offered through a United Kingdom (UK) universal community healthcare provider to patients with a mental illness diagnosis. Be Mindful is an online course providing instruction on mindfulness theories and practice training, progress tracking, integrated guidance/feedback, and motivational emails. Objective: The aim of this paper is to present feasibility findings and outcomes on anxiety, depression, and stress of an intervention offering Be Mindful. Participants were adults who had a mental illness diagnosis and were under the care of community mental health services. Methods: Open-label patient cohort design, with no control group. Pre- and post-intervention assessment using participant self-report measures: Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7); Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10); and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; a measure of depression severity). Results: Two hundred and seventy-four started and thirty-one patients completed the Be Mindful programme and outcome measures. PSS scores at baseline significantly improved from 24.6 (1.79) to 18.7 (2.05) at the end (p < 0.001), with a large effect size of 0.498. GAD-7 scores at baseline significantly improved from 11.4 (1.3) to 8.00 (1.35) at end (p < 0.001), with a medium effect size of 0.354. PHQ-9 scores at baseline significantly improved from 13.7 (1.42) to 9.09 (1.76) to 9.81 (1.77) at end (p < 0.001), with a medium effect size of 0.378. Limitations: There was no control group, and the intervention was adjunct to existing treatment. Conclusions: Be Mindful can be offered through a UK community NHS Trust and can have a significant impact on symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress in patients with experience of mental illness. Roll-out through community mental health providers to people with experience of mental illness is justified. Well-designed and sufficiently powered randomised controlled trials of theory-driven online mindfulness training for mental illness patient populations are required.https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=11704