Product quality risk perceptions and decisions: contaminated pet food and lead-painted toys.

In the context of the recent recalls of contaminated pet food and lead-painted toys in the United States, we examine patterns of risk perceptions and decisions when facing consumer product-caused quality risks. Two approaches were used to explore risk perceptions of the product recalls. In the first approach, we elicited judged probabilities and found that people appear to have greatly overestimated the actual risks for both product scenarios. In the second approach, we applied the psychometric paradigm to examine risk perception dimensions concerning these two specific products through factor analysis. There was a similar risk perception pattern for both products: they are seen as unknown risks and are relatively not dread risks. This pattern was also similar to what prior research found for lead paint. Further, we studied people's potential actions to deal with the recalls of these two products. Several factors were found to be significant predictors of respondents' cautious actions for both product scenarios. Policy considerations regarding product quality risks are discussed. For example, risk communicators could reframe information messages to prompt people to consider total risks packed together from different causes, even when the risk message has been initiated due to a specific recall event

Regulation of MntH by a Dual Mn(II)- and Fe(II)-Dependent Transcriptional Repressor (DR2539) in Deinococcus radiodurans

The high intracellular Mn/Fe ratio observed within the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans may contribute to its remarkable resistance to environmental stresses. We isolated DR2539, a novel regulator of intracellular Mn/Fe homeostasis in D. radiodurans. Electrophoretic gel mobility shift assays (EMSAs) revealed that DR2539 binds specifically to the promoter of the manganese acquisition transporter (MntH) gene, and that DR0865, the only Fur homologue in D. radiodurans, cannot bind to the promoter of mntH, but it can bind to the promoter of another manganese acquisition transporter, MntABC. β-galactosidase expression analysis indicated that DR2539 acts as a manganese- and iron-dependent transcriptional repressor. Further sequence alignment analysis revealed that DR2539 has evolved some special characteristics. Site-directed mutagenesis suggested that His98 plays an important role in the activities of DR2539, and further protein-DNA binding activity assays showed that the activity of H98Y mutants decreased dramatically relative to wild type DR2539. Our study suggests that D. radiodurans has evolved a very efficient manganese regulation mechanism that involves its high intracellular Mn/Fe ratio and permits resistance to extreme conditions

Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe

An Examination of Chinese Graduate Students’ Intercultural Competence through Digital Storytelling: A Cultural Plunge Project

This qualitative study explores the intercultural competence of students from the People’s Republic of China through creating a digital story based on a “cultural plunge” assignment in a graduate class for pre- and in-service teachers in the College of Education at a large public university in the Southwestern United States. The participants were required to “immerse” themselves in a culture substantially different from their own, and create a digital story to present what they had experienced and to reflect on what they had learned about others and themselves. Along with examining the content of the digital stories based on the VALUE model of intercultural competence, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to uncover the participants’ perspectives on the cultural plunge project, their intercultural competence, and the digital storytelling process. The three research questions were: 1) What were the attitudes of participants about using digital storytelling for their cultural plunge project? 2) How did engaging in the cultural plunge project affect their intercultural competence? And 3) how did the participants find that using the digital storytelling technique helped them meet the goals of the cultural plunge project? The researcher and two independent coders conducted content analysis to identify the dimensions and perspectives reflected in the digital stories and interviews. The results showed that Chinese graduate students changed their attitudes toward using digital storytelling in the cultural plunge project, as, in the beginning, they had little interest in the project and were unsure about how to use the technology. In the end, they reported the project was interesting and valuable, and a good prompt for reflection. Additionally, the content analysis revealed the presence of the three VALUE dimensions of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, found to be related to the development of cultural competence. Through this assignment, the students learned about and reflected upon cultural differences in family life, personal relationships, learning, civic responsibility, and ways of viewing the world. Such knowledge is profoundly vital to navigate the interconnected environment of the 21st century successfully. One implication is that the cultural plunge digital story helped prepare these future educators to work with culturally diverse students

An Examination of Chinese Graduate Students’ Intercultural Competence through Digital Storytelling: A Cultural Plunge Project

This qualitative study explores the intercultural competence of students from the People’s Republic of China through creating a digital story based on a “cultural plunge” assignment in a graduate class for pre- and in-service teachers in the College of Education at a large public university in the Southwestern United States. The participants were required to “immerse” themselves in a culture substantially different from their own, and create a digital story to present what they had experienced and to reflect on what they had learned about others and themselves. Along with examining the content of the digital stories based on the VALUE model of intercultural competence, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews to uncover the participants’ perspectives on the cultural plunge project, their intercultural competence, and the digital storytelling process. The three research questions were: 1) What were the attitudes of participants about using digital storytelling for their cultural plunge project? 2) How did engaging in the cultural plunge project affect their intercultural competence? And 3) how did the participants find that using the digital storytelling technique helped them meet the goals of the cultural plunge project? The researcher and two independent coders conducted content analysis to identify the dimensions and perspectives reflected in the digital stories and interviews. The results showed that Chinese graduate students changed their attitudes toward using digital storytelling in the cultural plunge project, as, in the beginning, they had little interest in the project and were unsure about how to use the technology. In the end, they reported the project was interesting and valuable, and a good prompt for reflection. Additionally, the content analysis revealed the presence of the three VALUE dimensions of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, found to be related to the development of cultural competence. Through this assignment, the students learned about and reflected upon cultural differences in family life, personal relationships, learning, civic responsibility, and ways of viewing the world. Such knowledge is profoundly vital to navigate the interconnected environment of the 21st century successfully. One implication is that the cultural plunge digital story helped prepare these future educators to work with culturally diverse students

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Kadsura ananosma

The first complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) sequence of Kadsura ananosma was determined from Illumina HiSeq pair-end sequencing data in this study. The cpDNA is 145,903 bp in length, contains a large single-copy region (LSC) of 94,757 bp and a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,042 bp, which were separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IR) regions of 16,552 bp. The genome contains 125 genes, including 82 protein-coding genes, 8 ribosomal RNA genes, and 35 transfer RNA genes. Further phylogenomic analysis showed that K. ananosma and Kadsura coccinea clustered in a clade in Schisandraceae family