Asian Americans and the 2008 Election

Presents results of a survey of Asian Americans' views on the 2008 election and political participation. Examines candidate preferences, issues of concern, and percentages of likely voters, by party affiliation, voting record, ethnic group, and state

Intake of macro- and micronutrients in Danish vegans

BACKGROUND: Since information about macro- and micronutrient intake among vegans is limited we aimed to determine and evaluate their dietary and supplementary intake. METHODS: Seventy 18–61 years old Danish vegans completed a four-day weighed food record from which their daily intake of macro- and micronutrients was assessed and subsequently compared to an age-range-matched group of 1 257 omnivorous individuals from the general Danish population. Moreover, the vegan dietary and supplementary intake was compared to the 2012 Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR). RESULTS: Dietary intake differed significantly between vegans and the general Danish population in all measured macro- and micronutrients (p < 0.05), except for energy intake among women and intake of carbohydrates among men. For vegans the intake of macro- and micronutrients (including supplements) did not reach the NNR for protein, vitamin D, iodine and selenium. Among vegan women vitamin A intake also failed to reach the recommendations. With reference to the NNR, the dietary content of added sugar, sodium and fatty acids, including the ratio of PUFA to SFA, was more favorable among vegans. CONCLUSIONS: At the macronutrient level, the diet of Danish vegans is in better accordance with the NNR than the diet of the general Danish population. At the micronutrient level, considering both diet and supplements, the vegan diet falls short in certain nutrients, suggesting a need for greater attention toward ensuring recommended daily intake of specific vitamins and minerals. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12937-015-0103-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

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 &lt; 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

Getting Out the Vote among Asian Americans in Los Angeles County: The Effects of Phone Canvassing

Asian Americans are the fastest growing segment of the population yet have one of the lowest voter turnouts. The article provides some explanation why this is so, and political mobilization is one of the causes given. There is an experimental voter mobilization conducted in high-density Asian American communities in Los Angeles County, calling the treatment group to encourage them to vote. The difference between the control group and the treatment group is explained. The purpose of the experiment is to understand the political behavior of Asian Americans, a group who exhibit a lower voter turnout. The methods employed allow researches to accurately measure the effectiveness of mobilization on voter turnout. Another goal of the article is to figure out strategies to harness limited sources within a community to mobilize Asian Americans to vote. A list of the findings of the study and policy implications is discussed

The Role of Race in Political Attitudes Among the Religiously Unaffiliated

The growth of religiously unaffiliated voters has been noted for some time, but the political consequences of this trend are much less certain. Extant scholarship makes clear that in terms of vote choice, partisanship, and ideology, the group as a whole tends to diverge from those who affiliate with a religious tradition. This article examines whether the politics of the religiously unaffiliated differ across racial groups as it does among the religious. To investigate the role of race among the nonreligious, we analyze racial differences in vote choice and political attitudes among the nonreligious. Relying on the 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, as well as other survey data, we demonstrate that there are important variations across race when it comes to the politics of the religiously unaffiliated. When it comes to vote choice, partisanship, and certain deeply racialized policy issues Whites who are religiously unaffiliated demonstrate more conservative positions. But, on other policy issues that are racialized, but less obviously so, Whites tend to be more progressive than their religiously unaffiliated non-White counterparts. As such, we argue that one cannot understand the political impact of the growing religiously unaffiliated in the United States without attention to race.https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.1284

Bringing Asian American Voices to Policy Debates: Findings from the 2008 National Asian American Survey

Where do Asian Americans stand when it comes to public policy? In what ways are they most likely to participate in politics in order to exert their influence in public policy making? More often than not, the answer to these questions is mired in assumptions, anecdotes, and selective evidence because until only very recently, little systematic, nationally representative data on this emerging group has been available to the public. In this brief, we introduce the 2008 National Asian American Survey (NAAS), the first multilingual, multiethnic national survey of Asian American political attitudes and behavior, and suggest that these data shed light on: (1) critical questions about Asian Americans’ public policy attitudes and (2) the types of political action Asian Americans are most likely to take to pursue their policy interests