Typology of Tweets and User Engagement Generated by U.S. Companies Involved in Developing COVID-19 Vaccines

This study analyzes 295 tweets by four U.S. companies engaged in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19. Tweets were analyzed to understand how their Twitter feeds balanced corporate and product branding (vaccine, medicines, etc.) and disseminated scientific information relating to COVID-19. The results suggest that these companies were actively embedding technical information about COVID-19 in their corporate and product branding. Tweets providing technical and scientific information about the progress made toward developing a COVID-19 vaccine garnered high levels of user engagement from their target audience. Findings from this study indicate the growing importance of technical communication in corporate settings during a public health crisis

The effects of received grandmothers’ affection on adult grandchildren’s health behaviors using affection exchange theory

Background: Affection exchange theory (AET) explains the value of received affection for overall wellbeing in family relationships. However, this study extends prior work by investigating AET in grandmother-grandchild relationships and grandchildren’s individual well-being. This study seeks to understand the relationships between adult grandchildren’s received grandmother affection and health-related behaviors such as diet, exercise, substance abuse, and sleep. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 229 university student participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze received grandmother affection and grandchildren’s health behaviors. Results: Using cross-sectional survey methods, it was found that grandchildren’s reports of received memories and humor, and celebratory affection influenced grandchildren’s dietary behaviors. Received love and esteem, memories and humor, and celebratory affection was also associated with grandchildren’s exercise behaviors. Conclusions: Grandchildren who receive grandmother affection may be likely to engage in the well-being process by engaging in health behaviors, while those who are not receiving affection might suffer the health consequences in adulthood. These findings support the assumption of affection exchange theory that received family affection, in this case, grandmothe

BWIBots: A platform for bridging the gap between AI and human–robot interaction research

Recent progress in both AI and robotics have enabled the development of general purpose robot platforms that are capable of executing a wide variety of complex, temporally extended service tasks in open environments. This article introduces a novel, custom-designed multi-robot platform for research on AI, robotics, and especially human–robot interaction for service robots. Called BWIBots, the robots were designed as a part of the Building-Wide Intelligence (BWI) project at the University of Texas at Austin. The article begins with a description of, and justification for, the hardware and software design decisions underlying the BWIBots, with the aim of informing the design of such platforms in the future. It then proceeds to present an overview of various research contributions that have enabled the BWIBots to better (a) execute action sequences to complete user requests, (b) efficiently ask questions to resolve user requests, (c) understand human commands given in natural language, and (d) understand human intention from afar. The article concludes with a look forward towards future research opportunities and applications enabled by the BWIBot platform

Discovery of a massive giant planet with extreme density around a sub-giant star TOI-4603

We present the discovery of a transiting massive giant planet around TOI-4603, a sub-giant F-type star from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The newly discovered planet has a radius of $1.042^{+0.038}_{-0.035}$ $R_{J}$, and an orbital period of $7.24599^{+0.00022}_{-0.00021}$ days. Using radial velocity measurements with the PARAS {and TRES} spectrographs, we determined the planet's mass to be $12.89^{+0.58}_{-0.57}$ $M_{J}$, resulting in a bulk density of $14.1^{+1.7}_{-1.6}$ g ${cm^{-3}}$. This makes it one of the few massive giant planets with extreme density and lies in the transition mass region of massive giant planets and low-mass brown dwarfs, an important addition to the population of less than five objects in this mass range. The eccentricity of $0.325\pm0.020$ and an orbital separation of $0.0888\pm0.0010$ AU from its host star suggest that the planet is likely undergoing high eccentricity tidal (HET) migration. We find a fraction of heavy elements of $0.13^{+0.05}_{-0.06}$ and metal enrichment of the planet ($Z_{P}/Z_{star}$) of $4.2^{+1.6}_{-2.0}$. Detection of such systems will offer us to gain valuable insights into the governing mechanisms of massive planets and improve our understanding of their dominant formation and migration mechanisms.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Bacteria-inducing legume nodules involved in the improvement of plant growth, health and nutrition

Bacteria-inducing legume nodules are known as rhizobia and belong to the class Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. They promote the growth and nutrition of their respective legume hosts through atmospheric nitrogen fixation which takes place in the nodules induced in their roots or stems. In addition, rhizobia have other plant growth-promoting mechanisms, mainly solubilization of phosphate and production of indoleacetic acid, ACC deaminase and siderophores. Some of these mechanisms have been reported for strains of rhizobia which are also able to promote the growth of several nonlegumes, such as cereals, oilseeds and vegetables. Less studied are the mechanisms that have the rhizobia to promote the plant health; however, these bacteria are able to exert biocontrol of some phytopathogens and to induce the plant resistance. In this chapter, we revised the available data about the ability of the legume nodule-inducing bacteria for improving the plant growth, health and nutrition of both legumes and nonlegumes. These data showed that rhizobia meet all the requirements of sustainable agriculture to be used as bio-inoculants allowing the total or partial replacement of chemicals used for fertilization or protection of crops

A COMPARISON OF INTRAPERITONEAL INSTILLATION OF ROPIVACAINE AND ROPIVACAINE WITH DEXMEDETOMIDINE FOR POSTOPERATIVE ANALGESIA FOLLOWING LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Objective: laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgeries are having advantages over open cholecystectomy with less pain and quick recovery. Intraperitoneal route of administration of a local anaesthetic is a cheap, easy and non-invasive method of reducing the intensity of post laparoscopic pain. This study compared the postoperative analgesic effect of intraperitoneal instillation of ropivacaine 0.5% and ropivacaine 0.5% with dexmedetomidine (1µg/kg) in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia. Methods: Total 86 patients were divided equally in 2 groups. Patients in group R received 20 ml 0.5% isobaric ropivacaine hydrochloride+5 ml NS where in Group RD, patients received 20 ml 0.5% isobaric ropivacaine hydrochloride with 1µg/kg dexmedetomidine hydrochloride. Solution was diluted with normal saline to make a total volume 25 ml. Hemodynamic parameters were noted during surgery Postoperatively, patient was assessed for pain using the visual analogue scale (VAS) at 30 min, then 2,4,8,12 and 24 h. Total analgesic consumption in the first 24 h also compared. Results: Baseline demographic profile of study participants were similar. Mean duration of analgesia was significantly higher in group RD (10.05±6.916 h) as compared to group R (5.59±6.8) (p=0.003). Mean dose of rescue analgesia was significantly higher in group R (130.81±61.44) as compared to group RD (75±36.6) (p<0.001). VAS score was significantly higher in group R as compared to group RD at different time intervals. Conclusion: We concluded that intraperitoneal Ropivacaine with Dexmedetomidine produced postoperative analgesia better than ropivacaine alone

Perioperative anaesthetic challenges in coronavirus disease associated mucormycosis: A retrospective study

Background & Aim: Mucormycosis is a life-threatening fungal infection that occurs in immune-compromised patients. There were large number of mucormycosis cases reported during COVID pandemic (2019-21) mainly as post COVID sequelae. In the present retrospective study we aimed to evaluate the perioperative challenges faced in the anaesthetic management of Coronavirus disease associated Mucormycosis (CAM) patients who underwent surgery under general anesthesia. Methods: The perioperative records of CAM patients who underwent surgery from May 2021-July 2021 for mucormycosis were reviewed and evaluated in terms of difficult bag mask ventilation, difficult intubation and other intraoperative and post-operative complications. Observation and Results: The incidence of CAM and its associated surgery was significantly more in males than females and the mean age of the patients was 50 years. In 39.8% patients we encountered difficult bag mask ventilation. and in 17.5% patients more than two attempts for intubation were required. Conclusion: Mucormycosis patients posted for surgery may pose various anesthetic challenges especially in airway management and anesthesiologists must be well prepared for i

Ultrasound Findings in Hand Joints Involvement in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis and Its Correlation with Clinical DAS28 Score

Objective. To determine the frequency of the various ultrasound findings in hand joints in patients with psoriatic arthritis and correlate grayscale and Power Doppler ultrasonography findings with Disease Activity Score 28. Methods. This prospective study was performed in 30 patients. Ultrasound evaluation of 28 joints of both hands was undertaken and various findings were recorded including synovial hypertrophy, Power Doppler abnormality, soft tissue thickening, tendonitis, joint effusion, periosteal reaction, and erosions. Composite ultrasound scores and Disease Activity Score 28 were calculated and compared. Spearman correlation was used to see relationship between the ultrasound and DAS28 scores. Results. Ultrasound detected more abnormalities in the hand joints than did clinical examination. The frequency of various ultrasound abnormalities was as follows: Synovial hypertrophy was seen in 100%, Power Doppler abnormality suggesting hypervascularity was seen in 36.7%, soft tissue thickening was seen in 66.7%, periosteal reaction was seen in 33.3%, erosions were seen in 30% (mostly in DIP and PIP joints), and flexor tendonitis was seen in 6.7% of patients. Significant correlation was found between Disease Activity Score 28 and grayscale joint score (GSJS) (Spearman’s ρ: 0.499; P: 0.005), grayscale joint count (GSJC) (ρ: 0.398; P: 0.029), and Power Doppler joint score (PDJS) (ρ: 0.367; P: 0.046). There was a statistically significant difference between remission and low disease activity group and moderate disease activity group in terms of GSJC, GSJS, PDJC, and PDJS (P<0.05). These ultrasound measures were higher in moderate disease activity zone patients. Conclusion. Ultrasound is a useful modality for the objective assessment of psoriatic arthritis. Ultrasound including Power Doppler can be used as a modality for assessment of severity of psoriatic arthritis as it correlates with the clinical scoring

Identification and management of “delirious mania:” A rare clinical entity

Little is known about the entity of delirious mania, apart from a few reports. Delirious mania, though a potentially lethal condition, has not found a place in the current classification system. We discuss the approach to the identification and management of delirious mania in a female patient presenting with catatonic and delirious features, with a past history of recurrent mood episodes. However, it must be emphasized that it is likely to be a rare clinical presentation of bipolar disorder and should not be the first diagnostic consideration. As a rule, any patient presenting with delirium or clouded consciousness first warrants a thorough medical workup and other specialty referrals

Aggressive angiomyxoma of transplanted kidney mimicking posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Angiomyxoma is a scarce neoplasm arising from the soft tissues of perineum and pelvis, more commonly seen in the females. For such a tumor to arise in a renal allograft is rare and has previously been reported only in few case. We report a case of aggressive angiomyxoma arising de novo in the renal allograft nine-year posttransplantation. We describe its imaging features on ultrasound and computed tomography which closely mimic the more usual tumor of the transplanted kidney, posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder and suggest that angiomyxoma may be considered as a differential diagnosis in a case of soft tissue mass arising within the renal allograft