Technically Speaking: Technical Skills Needed for Agricultural Communication Baccalaureate Graduates

Technically Speaking: Technical Skills Needed for Agricultural Communication Baccalaureate Graduates Abstract The purpose of this national study was to assess the perceived importance of 57 technical skills identified in previous literature, and to determine entry-level, agricultural communication graduates’ ability to perform those technical skills as perceived by agricultural communication graduates, communication industry professionals, and agricultural communication faculty members. Participants from the three evaluation groups (n = 193) identified three of the most important technical skills needed by agricultural communication graduates. These skills were communicating in written form, concise and clear writing, and communicating verbally. Graduates placed a higher importance on technical skills than the other two evaluation groups. All three evaluation groups showed some agreement on graduates’ highest ability to perform several technical skills: ability to use technology, ability to use Microsoft Word, and ability to adapt to contemporary media. A significant difference was found between the evaluation groups for the ability graduates afforded themselves in telephone etiquette, ability to use Microsoft Word, reading skills, ability to use Instagram, ability to use graphic design software, and ability to use web design software, as compared to the other two evaluation groups. Recommendations included incorporating technical skills into instruction for undergraduate students. Content should be focused in technical-skill areas identified as being of high importance: communicate in written form; communicate verbally; write concisely and clearly; and use of proper punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Faculty members could benefit from research that identifies more effective measures to evaluate technical skills attainment

Predicting consumer product demands via Big Data: the roles of online promotional marketing and online reviews

This study aims to investigate the contributions of online promotional marketing and online reviews as predictors of consumer product demands. Using electronic data from Amazon.com, we attempt to predict if online review variables such as valence and volume of reviews, the number of positive and negative reviews, and online promotional marketing variables such as discounts and free deliveries, can influence the demand of electronic products in Amazon.com. A Big Data architecture was developed and Node.JS agents were deployed for scraping the Amazon.com pages using asynchronous Input/Output calls. The completed Web crawling and scraping data-sets were then preprocessed for Neural Network analysis. Our results showed that variables from both online reviews and promotional marketing strategies are important predictors of product demands. Variables in online reviews in general were better predictors as compared to online marketing promotional variables. This study provides important implications for practitioners as they can better understand how online reviews and online promotional marketing can influence product demands. Our empirical contributions include the design of a Big Data architecture that incorporate Neural Network analysis which can used as a platform for future researchers to investigate how Big Data can be used to understand and predict online consumer product demands

Low-Dose Doxycycline Treatment Normalizes Levels of Some Salivary Metabolites Associated with Oral Microbiota in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

Saliva is a complex oral fluid, and plays a major role in oral health. Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS), as an autoimmune disease that typically causes hyposalivation. In the present study, salivary metabolites were studied from stimulated saliva samples (n = 15) of female patients with pSS in a group treated with low-dose doxycycline (LDD), saliva samples (n = 10) of non-treated female patients with pSS, and saliva samples (n = 14) of healthy age-matched females as controls. Saliva samples were analyzed with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based on the non-targeted metabolomics method. The saliva metabolite profile differed between pSS patients and the healthy control (HC). In the pSS patients, the LDD treatment normalized saliva levels of several metabolites, including tyrosine glutamine dipeptide, phenylalanine isoleucine dipeptide, valine leucine dipeptide, phenylalanine, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), urocanic acid, and salivary lipid cholesteryl palmitic acid (CE 16:0), to levels seen in the saliva samples of the HC. In conclusion, the data showed that pSS is associated with an altered saliva metabolite profile compared to the HC and that the LLD treatment normalized levels of several metabolites associated with dysbiosis of oral microbiota in pSS patients. The role of the saliva metabolome in pSS pathology needs to be further studied to clarify if saliva metabolite levels can be used to predict or monitor the progress and treatment of pSS

Factors associated with dropout during recruitment and follow-up periods of a mHealth-based randomized controlled trial for Mobile.Net to encourage treatment adherence for people with serious mental health problems

Background: Clinical trials are the gold standard of evidence-based practice. Still many papers inadequately report methodology in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), particularly for mHealth interventions for people with serious mental health problems. To ensure robust enough evidence, it is important to understand which study phases are the most vulnerable in the field of mental health care. Objective: We mapped the recruitment and the trial follow-up periods of participants to provide a picture of the dropout predictors from a mHealth-based trial. As an example, we used a mHealth-based multicenter RCT, titled “Mobile.Net,” targeted at people with serious mental health problems. Methods: Recruitment and follow-up processes of the Mobile.Net trial were monitored and analyzed. Recruitment outcomes were recorded as screened, eligible, consent not asked, refused, and enrolled. Patient engagement was recorded as follow-up outcomes: (1) attrition during short message service (SMS) text message intervention and (2) attrition during the 12-month follow-up period. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify which demographic factors were related to recruitment and retention. Results: We recruited 1139 patients during a 15-month period. Of 11,530 people screened, 36.31% (n=4186) were eligible. This eligible group tended to be significantly younger (mean 39.2, SD 13.2 years, P<.001) and more often women (2103/4181, 50.30%) than those who were not eligible (age: mean 43.7, SD 14.6 years; women: 3633/6514, 55.78%). At the point when potential participants were asked to give consent, a further 2278 refused. Those who refused were a little older (mean 40.2, SD 13.9 years) than those who agreed to participate (mean 38.3, SD 12.5 years; t1842=3.2, P<.001). We measured the outcomes after 12 months of the SMS text message intervention. Attrition from the SMS text message intervention was 4.8% (27/563). The patient dropout rate after 12 months was 0.36% (4/1123), as discovered from the register data. In all, 3.12% (35/1123) of the participants withdrew from the trial. However, dropout rates from the patient survey (either by paper or telephone interview) were 52.45% (589/1123) and 27.8% (155/558), respectively. Almost all participants (536/563, 95.2%) tolerated the intervention, but those who discontinued were more often women (21/27, 78%; P=.009). Finally, participants’ age (P<.001), gender (P<.001), vocational education (P=.04), and employment status (P<.001) seemed to predict their risk of dropping out from the postal survey. Conclusions: Patient recruitment and engagement in the 12-month follow-up conducted with a postal survey were the most vulnerable phases in the SMS text message-based trial. People with serious mental health problems may need extra support during the recruitment process and in engaging them in SMS text message-based trials to ensure robust enough evidence for mental health care

Somatic MED12 mutations are associated with poor prognosis markers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in adults. We performed systematic database search and identified highly specific MED12 mutations in CLL patients. To study this further, we collected three independent sample series comprising over 700 CLL samples and screened MED12 exons 1 and 2 by direct sequencing. Mutations were identified at significant frequency in all three series with a combined mutation frequency of 5.2% (37/709). Positive mutation status was found to be associated with unmutated IGHV and ZAP70 expression, which are well-known poor prognosis markers in CLL. Our results recognize CLL as the first extrauterine cancer type where 5'terminus of MED12 is mutated at significant frequency. Functional analyses have shown that these mutations lead to dissociation of Cyclin C-CDK8/19 from the core Mediator and to the loss of Mediator-associated CDK kinase activity. Additional studies on the role of MED12 mutation status as a putative prognostic factor as well as mutations' exact tumorigenic mechanism in CLL are warranted.Peer reviewe

Recommendations on TNFα inhibitor biosimilar use in clinical practice: a comparison of European gastroenterology IBD guidance

Background: Professional associations publish guidance advising gastroenterologists on prescribing biosimilars; however, guidelines differ between countries and change over time. This study aimed to map the presence and content of guidance from European gastroenterology associations on TNFα inhibitor biosimilar use and its development over time. Research design and methods: Guidelines on biosimilar prescribing from national gastroenterology associations in the European Economic Area (EEA) partnered with the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) were collected. Treatment guidelines and biosimilar position papers from 2010 to 2022 were included. Data were extracted using a template. Results: 26 of 30 EEA countries have an ECCO-partnered gastroenterology association, of which 14 (53.8%) had national guidelines addressing biosimilars, four (15.4%) followed ECCO’s position, and three (11.6%) had treatment guidelines without mentioning biosimilars. From five countries (19.2%) no guidelines were retrieved. Among 18 countries with guidance, 14 (77.8%) associations endorsed initiating biological treatment with biosimilars, and 13 (72.2%) endorsed transitioning from originator to biosimilar. Nine associations published multiple guidelines over time addressing biosimilars; overall, their positions became more encouraging. Conclusions: The majority of gastroenterology associations endorsed biosimilar use. The lack of (up-to-date) guidelines for some associations indicates an area of improvement to support biosimilar use in clinical practice

Defining the Scope of Exposome Studies and Research Needs from a Multidisciplinary Perspective

The concept of the exposome was introduced over 15 years ago to reflect the important role that the environment exerts on health and disease. While originally viewed as a call-to-arms to develop more comprehensive exposure assessment methods applicable at the individual level and throughout the life course, the scope of the exposome has now expanded to include the associated biological response. In order to explore these concepts, a workshop was hosted by the Gunma University Initiative for Advanced Research (GIAR, Japan) to discuss the scope of exposomics from an international and multidisciplinary perspective. This Global Perspective is a summary of the discussions with emphasis on (1) top-down, bottom-up, and functional approaches to exposomics, (2) the need for integration and standardization of LC- and GC-based high-resolution mass spectrometry methods for untargeted exposome analyses, (3) the design of an exposomics study, (4) the requirement for open science workflows including mass spectral libraries and public databases, (5) the necessity for large investments in mass spectrometry infrastructure in order to sequence the exposome, and (6) the role of the exposome in precision medicine and nutrition to create personalized environmental exposure profiles. Recommendations are made on key issues to encourage continued advancement and cooperation in exposomics