Social Media Gains Importance after the COVID-19

This exploratory research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic led to increases in consumers’ social media marketing behaviors in the United States (U.S.). Previous research on the impact of a pandemic has focused on behavior for preventive health, however, little attention has been given to the impact of a pandemic on consumer behaviors. To bridge this gap, the Consumer Decision-Making Model was used as a framework to investigate changes in consumers’ social media behaviors as they perform various consumer decision-making processes. More specifically, a questionnaire was used to collect survey data from 327 U.S. consumers. Analysis of Variance tests were performed to examine mean differences in consumers’ use of social media as a consumer decision-making tool. The findings showed that consumers have increased their utilization of social media as a tool for identifying products, collecting information on products, evaluating products, and making product purchases. Thus, the findings demonstrate the growing importance of social media marketing since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global phenomenon, the findings likely can be extrapolated across many nations. Suggestions are provided to help businesses adapt to changes in consumers’ social media behaviors as they relate to the consumer decision-making processes

Vitamin D in Australia : issues and recommendations

BACKGROUND A significant number of Australians and people from specific groups within the community are suffering from vitamin D deficiency. It is no longer acceptable to assume that all people in Australia receive adequate vitamin D from casual exposure to sunlight.OBJECTIVE This article provides information on causes, consequences, treatment and prevention of vitamin D deficiency in Australia. DISCUSSION People at high risk of vitamin D deficiency include the elderly, those with skin conditions where avoidance of sunlight is required, dark skinned people (particularly women during pregnancy or if veiled) and patients with malabsorption, eg. coeliac disease. For most people, deficiency can be prevented by 5&ndash;15 minutes exposure of face and upper limbs to sunlight 4&ndash;6 times per week. If this is not possible then a vitamin D supplement of at least 400 IU* per day is recommended. In cases of established vitamin D deficiency, supplementation with 3000-5000 IU per day for at least 1 month is required to replete body stores. Increased availability of larger dose preparations of cholecalciferol would be a useful therapy in the case of severe deficiencies. * 40 IU (international units) = 1 &micro;g<br /

Randomised, controlled trial of alternating pressure mattresses compared with alternating pressure overlays for the prevention of pressure ulcers : PRESSURE (pressure relieving support surfaces) trial

Objective To compare whether differences exist between alternating pressure overlays and alternating pressure mattresses in the development of new pressure ulcers, healing of existing pressure ulcers, and patient acceptability. Design Pragmatic, open, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Setting 11 hospitals in six NHS trusts. Participants 1972 people admitted to hospital as acute or elective patients. Interventions Participants were randomised to an alternating pressure mattress (n = 982) of- an alternating pressure overlay (n = 990). Main outcome measures The proportion of participants developing a new pressure ulcer of grade 2 or worse; time to development of new pressure ulcers; proportions of participants developing a new ulcer within 30 days; healing of existing pressure ulcers; and patient acceptability Results Intention to treat analysis found no difference in the proportions of participants developing a new pressure ulcer of grade 2 or worse (10.7% overlay patients, 10.3% mattress patients; difference 0.4%, 95% confidence interval - 23% to 3.1%, P = 0.75). More overlay patients requested change owing to dissatisfaction (23.3%) than mattress patients (18.9%, P = 0.02). Conclusion No difference was found between alternating pressure mattresses and alternating pressure overlays in the proportion of people who develop a pressure ulcer

Family experiences of infant and young child feeding in lower-income countries: protocol for a systematic review of qualitative studies

PRISMA-P checklist. Completed checklist indicating inclusion of items noted. (DOCX 128 kb

Seeing an exercise as a single mathematical object: using variation to structure sense-making

In this theoretical paper we take an exercise to be a collection of procedural questions or tasks. It can be useful to treat such an exercise as a single object, with individual questions seen as elements in a mathematically and pedagogically structured set. We use the notions of 'dimensions of possible variation' and 'range of permissible change', derived from Ference Marton, to discuss affordances and constraints of some sample exercises. This gives insight into the potential pedagogical role of exercises, and shows how exercise analysis and design might contribute to hypotheses about learning trajectories. We argue that learners' response to an exercise has something in common with modeling that we might call 'micro-modeling', but we resort to a more inclusive description of mathematical thinking to describe learners' possible responses to a well-planned exercise. Finally we indicate how dimensions of possible variation inform the design and use of an exercise

Patient Preferences with Regard to Laser versus Intravitreal Injections in the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema

Purpose. To identify treatment preferences of patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) having undergone laser and intravitreal injections. Methods. Patients with DME who received lasers and injections were surveyed, measuring preferences toward specific treatments. 66/210 diabetic patients met the criteria for our survey assessing preference for lasers and/or injections, incorporating demographics and treatment preference questions. Outcome measures included treatment preference (laser or injections), how often patients are willing to be treated, and how much vision they will sacrifice to avoid being treated every month. Results. 66 patients completed the survey. The mean diabetes duration was 20.7 years, the mean retina follow-up was 4.4 years, and patients received a mean of 4.82 lasers and 4.86 injections. 56% preferred injections, 33% preferred laser, and 11% had no preference. Regarding treatment effectiveness, 38% found no difference, 36% chose laser, and 25% chose injections. Regarding anxiety, 56% reported injection anxiety. While 50% versus 38% reported that laser was easier than injections. 91% would give up zero lines on the eye chart, and 76% would come in 12 times yearly for treatment to maintain vision. Conclusion. Patients with DME have no profound preference regarding laser versus intravitreal injections but prefer aggressive treatment and are unwilling to sacrifice vision for less visits

Yangian in the Twistor String

We study symmetries of the quantized open twistor string. In addition to global PSL(4|4) symmetry, we find non-local conserved currents. The associated non-local charges lead to Ward identities which show that these charges annihilate the string gluon tree amplitudes, and have the same form as symmetries of amplitudes in N=4 super conformal Yang Mills theory. We describe how states of the open twistor string form a realization of the PSL(4|4) Yangian superalgebra.Comment: 37 pages, 4 figure

The transcription factor Foxg1 regulates telencephalic progenitor proliferation cell autonomously, in part by controlling Pax6 expression levels

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The transcription factor Foxg1 is an important regulator of telencephalic cell cycles. Its inactivation causes premature lengthening of telencephalic progenitor cell cycles and increased neurogenic divisions, leading to severe hypoplasia of the telencephalon. These proliferation defects could be a secondary consequence of the loss of Foxg1 caused by the abnormal expression of several morphogens (Fibroblast growth factor 8, bone morphogenetic proteins) in the telencephalon of <it>Foxg1 </it>null mutants. Here we investigated whether Foxg1 has a cell autonomous role in the regulation of telencephalic progenitor proliferation. We analysed <it>Foxg1^+/+</it>↔<it>Foxg1^-/-</it>chimeras, in which mutant telencephalic cells have the potential to interact with, and to have any cell non-autonomous defects rescued by, normal wild-type cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our analysis showed that the <it>Foxg1^-/-</it>cells are under-represented in the chimeric telencephalon and the proportion of them in S-phase is significantly smaller than that of their wild-type neighbours, indicating that their under-representation is caused by a cell autonomous reduction in their proliferation. We then analysed the expression of the cell-cycle regulator Pax6 and found that it is cell-autonomously downregulated in <it>Foxg1^-/-</it>dorsal telencephalic cells. We went on to show that the introduction into <it>Foxg1^-/-</it>embryos of a transgene designed to reverse Pax6 expression defects resulted in a partial rescue of the telencephalic progenitor proliferation defects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that Foxg1 exerts control over telencephalic progenitor proliferation by cell autonomous mechanisms that include the regulation of Pax6, which itself is known to regulate proliferation cell autonomously in a regional manner.</p

Mitotic stress is an integral part of the oncogene-induced senescence program that promotes multinucleation and cell cycle arrest

Oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) is a tumor suppression mechanism that blocks cell proliferation in response to oncogenic signaling. OIS is frequently accompanied by multinucleation; however, the origin of this is unknown. Here, we show that multinucleate OIS cells originate mostly from failed mitosis. Prior to senescence, mutant H-RasV12 activation in primary human fibroblasts compromised mitosis, concordant with abnormal expression of mitotic genes functionally linked to the observed mitotic spindle and chromatin defects. Simultaneously, H-RasV12 activation enhanced survival of cells with damaged mitoses, culminating in extended mitotic arrest and aberrant exit from mitosis via mitotic slippage. ERK-dependent transcriptional upregulation of Mcl1 was, at least in part, responsible for enhanced survival and slippage of cells with mitotic defects. Importantly, mitotic slippage and oncogene signaling cooperatively induced senescence and key senescence effectors p21 and p16. In summary, activated Ras coordinately triggers mitotic disruption and enhanced cell survival to promote formation of multinucleate senescent cells