Emerging adults' cultural values, prosocial behaviors, and mental health in 14 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Evidence suggests an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, particularly among emerging adults. However, theories on altruism born of suffering or adversarial growth suggest that we might also see prosocial behavior as a function of the pandemic, which may protect against mental health challenges. Because cultural values are central in determining prosocial behavior, the current study explored how cultural values were differentially associated with adaptive prosocial behaviors that might protect against mental health challenges. Participants for the current study included 5,682 young people aged 18-25 years from 14 different countries around the world (68% female, 62% college students). Path analyses suggested that there were few differences in patterns as a function of culture, but revealed that horizontal individualism and horizontal and vertical collectivism were indirectly associated with lower levels of depression via prosocial behavior toward family members. Discussion focuses on the importance of coping by strengthening family relationships via prosocial behavior during the pandemic

Visualising the invisible: a network approach to reveal the informal social side of student learning

World-wide, universities in health sciences have transformed their curriculum to include collaborative learning and facilitate the students’ learning process. Interaction has been acknowledged to be the synergistic element in this learning context. However, students spend the majority of their time outside their classroom and interaction does not stop outside the classroom. Therefore we studied how informal social interaction influences student learning. Moreover, to explore what really matters in the students learning process, a model was tested how the generally known important constructs—prior performance, motivation and social integration—relate to informal social interaction and student learning. 301 undergraduate medical students participated in this cross-sectional quantitative study. Informal social interaction was assessed using self-reported surveys following the network approach. Students’ individual motivation, social integration and prior performance were assessed by the Academic Motivation Scale, the College Adaption Questionnaire and students’ GPA respectively. A factual knowledge test represented student’ learning. All social networks were positively associated with student learning significantly: friendships (β = 0.11), providing information to other students (β = 0.16), receiving information from other students (β = 0.25). Structural equation modelling revealed a model in which social networks increased student learning (r = 0.43), followed by prior performance (r = 0.31). In contrast to prior literature, students’ academic motivation and social integration were not associated with students’ learning. Students’ informal social interaction is strongly associated with students’ learning. These findings underline the need to change our focus from the formal context (classroom) to the informal context to optimize student learning and deliver modern medics

Effects of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Metapneumovirus, Parainfluenza Virus 3 and Influenza Virus on CD4+ T Cell Activation by Dendritic Cells

BACKGROUND: Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV), and to a lesser extent human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3), re-infect symptomatically throughout life without antigenic change, suggestive of incomplete immunity. One causative factor is thought to be viral interference with dendritic cell (DC)-mediated stimulation of CD4+ T cells. METHODOLOGY, PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We infected human monocyte-derived DC with purified HRSV, HMPV, HPIV3, or influenza A virus (IAV) and compared their ability to induce activation and proliferation of autologous CD4+ T cells in vitro. IAV was included because symptomatic re-infection without antigenic change is less frequent, suggesting that immune protection is more complete and durable. We examined virus-specific memory responses and superantigen-induced responses by multiparameter flow cytometry. Live virus was more stimulatory than inactivated virus in inducing DC-mediated proliferation of virus-specific memory CD4+ T cells, suggesting a lack of strong suppression by live virus. There were trends of increasing proliferation in the order: HMPV<HRSV<HPIV3<IAV, and greater production of interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α by proliferating cells in response to IAV, but differences were not significant. Exposure of DC to HRSV, HPIV3, or IAV reduced CD4+ T cell proliferation in response to secondary stimulus with superantigen, but the effect was transitory and greatest for IAV. T cell cytokine production was similar, with no evidence of Th2 or Th17 skewing. CONCLUSIONS, SIGNIFICANCE: Understanding the basis for the ability of HRSV in particular to symptomatically re-infect without significant antigenic change is of considerable interest. The present results show that these common respiratory viruses are similar in their ability to induce DC to activate CD4+ T cells. Thus, the results do not support the common model in which viral suppression of CD4+ T cell activation and proliferation by HRSV, HMPV, and HPIV3 is a major factor in the difference in re-infectability compared to IAV

Refining transcriptional programs in kidney development by integration of deep RNA-sequencing and array-based spatial profiling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The developing mouse kidney is currently the best-characterized model of organogenesis at a transcriptional level. Detailed spatial maps have been generated for gene expression profiling combined with systematic <it>in situ </it>screening. These studies, however, fall short of capturing the transcriptional complexity arising from each locus due to the limited scope of microarray-based technology, which is largely based on "gene-centric" models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To address this, the polyadenylated RNA and microRNA transcriptomes of the 15.5 dpc mouse kidney were profiled using strand-specific RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) to a depth sufficient to complement spatial maps from pre-existing microarray datasets. The transcriptional complexity of RNAs arising from mouse RefSeq loci was catalogued; including 3568 alternatively spliced transcripts and 532 uncharacterized alternate 3' UTRs. Antisense expressions for 60% of RefSeq genes was also detected including uncharacterized non-coding transcripts overlapping kidney progenitor markers, Six2 and Sall1, and were validated by section <it>in situ </it>hybridization. Analysis of genes known to be involved in kidney development, particularly during mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition, showed an enrichment of non-coding antisense transcripts extended along protein-coding RNAs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The resulting resource further refines the transcriptomic cartography of kidney organogenesis by integrating deep RNA sequencing data with locus-based information from previously published expression atlases. The added resolution of RNA-Seq has provided the basis for a transition from classical gene-centric models of kidney development towards more accurate and detailed "transcript-centric" representations, which highlights the extent of transcriptional complexity of genes that direct complex development events.</p

A typology of farm households for the Umutara Province in Rwanda

Rwanda, Farm household, Farm typology, Technology adoption, Multivariate analysis,