Emotional Support, Perceived Corporate Ownership and Skepticism toward Out-groups in Virtual Communities

Consumers often look to virtual communities for knowledge and support in overcoming the challenges they face. This article examines the role of emotional support in virtual communities that help participants to cope with personal challenges such as healthcare, financial or legal matters. It examines the potential for peer to peer emotional support experienced in virtual communities to generate skepticism toward related out-groups such as doctors and drug companies. It also examines the degree to which corporate ownership of the virtual community reduces the degree to which emotional support generates skepticism toward out-groups. Guided by predictions of social identity theory, we use data from 270 regular participants in healthcare virtual communities to show that emotional support does generate skepticism toward out-groups. However, we find that this effect is reversed when the virtual community is reported by participants to be corporate owned. We offer guidance to public policy makers on the potential negative consequences of skepticism and we provide advice to managers on how to counter skepticism and improve community stickiness

A Modular Low-clearance Wrist Orthosis for Improving Wrist Motion in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) often exhibit impairments in the coordination of the grip and lift phases of arm movements that directly impact their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). The application of assistive robotic therapy to children with spastic hemiplegic CP has shown that augmented movement training can lead to improved functional outcomes and improved arm kinematics. Assistive robotic therapy of the wrist has been shown to help improve motor skills in stroke patients, but the devices employed are often large and obtrusive, focusing on a repeated motion rather than a task-based itinerary. Here, we propose a lightweight low clearance wrist orthosis for use in children with Cerebral Palsy that actuates pronation/supination and flexion/extension of the wrist

Maladaptive behavior and affect regulation: A functionalist perspective.

Clinical science has benefited tremendously from taking seriously the proposition that putatively maladaptive behaviors serve psychological functions, prominently among these affect regulation (AR). These functionalist accounts have not only advanced basic clinical science, but also formed the bedrock for the development of effective treatments. Drawing heavily on reinforcement learning theory, we aim to elucidate functional relationships between maladaptive behavior and AR. Specifically, we take the view that maladaptive behaviors are frequently motivated and reinforced by hedonic AR functions (i.e., decreasing negative affect and increasing positive affect) but are also susceptible to becoming stimulus-bound habits. We review empirical evidence related to one such behavior, nonsuicidal self-injury. We close with a brief reflection on future directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

The design of a hospital for the treatment of DR-TB in Ibhayi, Port Elizabeth

Tuberculosis, and more specifically drug resistant tuberculosis, is a growing epidemic in South Africa. Yet many of the existing specialised tuberculosis facilities have been designed in a way that do not incorporate biophillic elements necessary to create a healing environment with spaces conducive to the wellness of its users. This treatise responds to these issues through the design of a hospital that utilises biophillic principles with highly inclusive spaces providing a dignified sense of place for drug-resistant tuberculosis patients where the architecture offers more than a functional space. It induces healing

Diagnostic and Prescriptive Benefits of Consumer Participation in Virtual Communities of Personal Challenge

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show how active participants within personal challenge virtual communities (e.g., virtual health communities, online legal forums etc.) derive learning benefits from their involvement within the community. In doing so the research conceptualises and tests a model of engagement within such virtual communities. Design/methodology/approach: This research was conducted through the design of a survey administered to an online panel of active participants from several virtual health communities. Structural equation modelling was used to test the conceptual model. Findings: Along with well researched concepts such as social identification, this research identifies diagnostic and prescriptive benefits as key learning benefits associated with active participation within personal challenge communities. These benefits drive social support which individuals attain from these virtual communities, which in turn drives engagement within the community. It is also found that anticipated negative emotions from leaving the community mediate social support and engagement. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to develop a model of consumer engagement with personal challenge virtual communities. The findings make a contribution to the field of online communities by showing how learning benefits (diagnostic and prescriptive) transpire within these communities and by showing how these benefits lead to greater community engagement

Diverse viral glycoproteins as well as CD4 co-package into the same human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) particles

BACKGROUND: Retroviruses can acquire not only their own glycoproteins as they bud from the cellular membrane, but also some cellular and foreign viral glycoproteins. Many of these non-native glycoproteins are actively recruited to budding virions, particularly other viral glycoproteins. This observation suggests that there may be a conserved mechanism underlying the recruitment of glycoproteins into viruses. If a conserved mechanism is used, diverse glycoproteins should localize to a single budding retroviral particle. On the other hand, if viral glycoproteins have divergent mechanisms for recruitment, the different glycoproteins could segregate into different particles. RESULTS: To determine if co-packaging occurs among different glycoproteins, we designed an assay that combines virion antibody capture and a determination of infectivity based on a luciferase reporter. Virions were bound to a plate with an antibody against one glycoprotein, and then the infectivity was measured with cells that allow entry only with a second glycoprotein. We tested pairings of glycoproteins from HIV, murine leukemia virus (MLV), Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), and Ebola virus. The results showed that glycoproteins that were actively recruited into virions were co-packaged efficiently with each other. We also tested cellular proteins and found CD4 also had a similar correlation between active recruitment and efficient co-packaging, but other cellular proteins did not. CONCLUSION: Glycoproteins that are actively incorporated into HIV-1 virions are efficiently co-packaged into the same virus particles, suggesting that the same general mechanism for recruitment may act in many viruses

Climatic effects of the Chicxulub impact ejecta

Examining the short and long term effects of the Chicxulub impact is critical for understanding how life developed on Earth. While the aftermath of the initial impact would have produced harmful levels of radiation sufficient for eradicating a large portion of terrestrial life, this process does not explain the concurrent marine extinction. Following the primary impact, a large quantity of smaller spherules would de-orbit and re-enter the earths atmosphere, dispersed nearly uniformly across the planet. This secondary wave of debris would re-enter at high velocities, altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere. Furthermore, the combined surface area for the spherules would be much larger than for the original asteroid, resulting in considerably more potential reactions. For this reason, a new method was developed for predicting the total amount of toxic species produced by the spherule re-entry phase of the Chicxulub event. Using non-equilibrium properties obtained from direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) methods coupled with spherule trajectory integration, the most likely cause of the observed marine extinction was determined

Feasibility of an Assessment Tool as a Data-Driven Approach to Reducing Racial Bias in Biomedical Publications.

The editorial independence of biomedical journals allows flexibility to meet a wide range of research interests. However, it also is a barrier for coordination between journals to solve challenging issues such as racial bias in the scientific literature. A standardized tool to screen for racial bias could prevent the publication of racially biased papers. Biomedical journals would maintain editorial autonomy while still allowing comparable data to be collected and analyzed across journals. A racially diverse research team carried out a three-phase study to generate and test a racial bias assessment tool for biomedical research. Phase 1, an in-depth, structured literature search to identify recommendations, found near complete agreement in the literature on addressing race in biomedical research. Phase 2, construction of a framework from those recommendations, provides the major innovation of this paper. The framework includes three dimensions of race: 1) context, 2) tone and terminology, and 3) analysis, which are the basis for the Race Equity Vetting Instrument for Editorial Workflow (REVIEW) tool. Phase 3, pilot testing the assessment tool, showed that the REVIEW tool was effective at flagging multiple concerns in widely criticized articles. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed REVIEW tool to reduce racial bias in research. Next steps include testing this tool on a broader sample of biomedical research to determine how the tool performs on more subtle examples of racial bias. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10916-021-01777-w

Tracking Cryptic SARS-CoV-2 Lineages Detected in NYC Wastewater

Tracking SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity is strongly indicated because diversifying selection may lead to the emergence of novel variants resistant to naturally acquired or vaccine-induced immunity. To monitor New York City (NYC) for the presence of novel variants, we deep sequence most of the receptor binding domain coding sequence of the S protein of SARS-CoV-2 isolated from the New York City wastewater. Here we report detecting increasing frequencies of novel cryptic SARS-CoV-2 lineages not recognized in GISAID’s EpiCoV database. These lineages contain mutations that had been rarely observed in clinical samples, including Q493K, Q498Y, E484A, and T572N and share many mutations with the Omicron variant of concern. Some of these mutations expand the tropism of SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses by allowing infection of cells expressing the human, mouse, or rat ACE2 receptor. Finally, pseudoviruses containing the spike amino acid sequence of these lineages were resistant to different classes of receptor binding domain neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. We offer several hypotheses for the anomalous presence of these lineages, including the possibility that these lineages are derived from unsampled human COVID-19 infections or that they indicate the presence of a non-human animal reservoir

Rapid assays and continuous in-situ biosensors for bioprocess monitoring

Fast, accurate, and precise measurements are critical in the biofuels, biochemical, biopharma, and biotechnology industries. Bioprocessing operations require rapid measurement techniques during cultivations to ensure product quality, ensure batch-to-batch consistency, increase product yield, improve process efficiency, and prevent expensive shutdowns. Although continuous sensors exist for dissolved oxygen, pressure, temperature, and pH, organic chemical concentrations must be measured using expensive equipment that can take hours or days to yield results. OptiEnz Sensors provides a biosensor platform for rapid assay or continuous monitoring of organic chemicals. The platform consists of an instrument with an attached sensor probe and replaceable sensor caps with multiple sensor spots. The sensor tips are unique to each chemical to be measured. The platform includes PC-based software for product configuration, display of results in both digital and graphical formats, and data export to process control systems. This technology is available in two platforms: A rapid assay system capable of quickly measuring the analyte concentration in samples and an in-situ probe for continuous, aseptic measurements in a bioreactor. The sensors are accurate, specific, and quantitative. OptiEnz has identified over 50 organic chemicals that can be measured using this technology and has constructed and tested biosensors for 22 of them. Of particular importance to biotech process monitoring are sensors for glucose, ethanol, lactate, glutamate, glutamine, xylose, lactose, glycerol, butanol, and methanol. The rapid assay system is on the market now for glucose and ethanol concentration measurement and a continuous sensor for in-situ glucose concentration monitoring is in customer trial