The Cultural Revolution and its legacies in international perspective

This article explores the rhetoric and reality of the Cultural Revolution as an international phenomenon, examining (through published and oral histories) the ways in which it was perceived and interpreted beyond China. It focuses in particular on the diverse impact of Maoist ideas and practice on the counter-culture movement of western Europe and North America during the late 1960s and 1970s. Within Europe, Cultural Revolution Maoism galvanised Dadaist student protest, nurtured feminist and gay rights activism, and legitimised urban guerrilla terrorism. In the United States, meanwhile, it bolstered a broad programme of anti-racist civil rights campaigns, and narrow Marxist-Leninist party-building. Despite Mao’s hopes to launch a global permanent revolution, it appears that over the long term, enthusiasm for the Cultural Revolution in western Europe, the United States and parts of southeast Asia helped splinter the radical left and assisted the right in consolidating its power through the 1980s and beyond

Measuring Stress in Health Professionals Over the Phone Using Automatic Speech Analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Pilot Study

International audienceBackground During the COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals have been directly confronted with the suffering of patients and their families. By making them main actors in the management of this health crisis, they have been exposed to various psychosocial risks (stress, trauma, fatigue, etc). Paradoxically, stress-related symptoms are often underreported in this vulnerable population but are potentially detectable through passive monitoring of changes in speech behavior. Objective This study aims to investigate the use of rapid and remote measures of stress levels in health professionals working during the COVID-19 outbreak. This was done through the analysis of participants’ speech behavior during a short phone call conversation and, in particular, via positive, negative, and neutral storytelling tasks. Methods Speech samples from 89 health care professionals were collected over the phone during positive, negative, and neutral storytelling tasks; various voice features were extracted and compared with classical stress measures via standard questionnaires. Additionally, a regression analysis was performed. Results Certain speech characteristics correlated with stress levels in both genders; mainly, spectral (ie, formant) features, such as the mel-frequency cepstral coefficient, and prosodic characteristics, such as the fundamental frequency, appeared to be sensitive to stress. Overall, for both male and female participants, using vocal features from the positive tasks for regression yielded the most accurate prediction results of stress scores (mean absolute error 5.31). Conclusions Automatic speech analysis could help with early detection of subtle signs of stress in vulnerable populations over the phone. By combining the use of this technology with timely intervention strategies, it could contribute to the prevention of burnout and the development of comorbidities, such as depression or anxiety

Teleconsultations for mental health: Recommendations from a Delphi panel

Introduction: The use of teleconsultations for mental health has drastically increased since 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic. In the present paper, we aimed to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of teleconsultations for mental health compared to face-to-face consultations, and to provide recommendations in this domain. Methods: The recommendations were gathered using a Delphi methodology. The expert panel (N = 21) included professionals from the health and ICT domains. They answered questions via two rounds of web surveys, and then discussed the results in a plenary meeting. Some of the questions were also shared with non-experts (N = 104). Results: Both the experts and the non-experts with teleconsultation experience reported a general satisfaction concerning teleconsultations. A SWOT analysis revealed several strengths and opportunities of teleconsultations for mental health, but also several weaknesses and threats. The experts provided a set of practical recommendations for the preparation and organization of teleconsultations for mental health. Discussion: Teleconsultations for mental health have the potential to allow access to care for patients in remote and isolated areas. Thus, their use will unlikely be discontinued after the end of the pandemic. In this context, we suggest that the collaboration among clinicians, researchers, and interface designers is crucial to improve usability and user experience for both clinicians and patients. The importance of teaching teleconsultation skills and informing the public on the features of teleconsultations (e.g., data privacy/security) is also highlighted

Polar Positioning of Phase-Separated Liquid Compartments in Cells Regulated by an mRNA Competition Mechanism

P granules are non-membrane-bound RNA-protein compartments that are involved in germline development in C. elegans. They are liquids that condense at one end of the embryo by localized phase separation, driven by gradients of polarity proteins such as the mRNA-binding protein MEX-5. To probe how polarity proteins regulate phase separation, we combined biochemistry and theoretical modeling. We reconstitute P granule-like droplets in vitro using a single protein PGL-3. By combining in vitro reconstitution with measurements of intracellular concentrations, we show that competition between PGL-3 and MEX-5 for mRNA can regulate the formation of PGL-3 droplets. Using theory, we show that, in a MEX-5 gradient, this mRNA competition mechanism can drive a gradient of P granule assembly with similar spatial and temporal characteristics to P granule assembly in vivo. We conclude that gradients of polarity proteins can position RNP granules during development by using RNA competition to regulate local phase separation

Los días del mundial : miradas críticas desde América Latina sobre Rusia 2018

Vale la pena recordar que el fútbol no se puede reducir a la simplicidad obtusa que lo considera opio del pueblo; tampoco porta una esencia evangelizadora, ni alienadora, ni salvacionista o saludable por naturaleza. Como cientistas sociales, hemos manifestado (y lo volvemos a hacer esta vez) que la función o valor social del deporte en general, y del fútbol en particular, dependerá del interés con el que se promueva en la sociedad. Mientras hemos estado analizando, comentando, sintiendo, pensando y gozando-sufriendo de este evento, nos parece prudente preguntarnos ¿Qué rol está jugando Latinoamérica en esta industria caníbal? ¿Cuáles versiones del deporte nos interesa promover y registrar? ¿Cómo las ciencias sociales críticas estudiarán-transformarán esta práctica que cada vez se masifica siguiendo valores conservadores?¿Qué canales de comunicación merecemos mantener y promover para no olvidar las prácticas corporales y deportivas populares