The Partisan Effects of COVID-19: News Sources and Mask Wearing

Within only one year of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, risk prevention, including the use of a mask to prevent spread of the disease, became incredibly politicized within the United States. By looking at mainstream media sources such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, in this article I will be examining how news media sources affect the viewer\u27s perceptions of mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the Chapman Survey of American Fears, a representative national sample of U.S. adults, I found that individuals who choose to watch FOX news every day were most likely to disagree that the benefits of wearing a mask outweighed the consequences of not wearing one. In contrast, I found that individuals who watch CNN every day were most likely to agree that the benefits of wearing a mask outweigh the consequences of not wearing one. I also found that the majority of people who watch Fox News are Republican and the majority of people who watch CNN are Democrats. Lastly, I found that the more Republican you identify, the less likely you are to agree that wearing a mask is beneficial. The tie between partisan news sources and the effect it has on its viewers is incredibly important as the pandemic continues to have a heavy toll on the United States. The United States is also one of the only countries in which the use of masks became heavily politicized and the pandemic caused a partisan divide. In a society where media continues to have a significant presence, it is important to understand and recognize the ways in which it influences, not only our everyday lives, but perceptions of risk prevention of a global pandemic in which we all play a role in ending

Calibrating urgency: triage decision-making in a pediatric emergency department

Triage, the first step in the assessment of emergency department patients, occurs in a highly dynamic environment that functions under constraints of time, physical space, and patient needs that may exceed available resources. Through triage, patients are placed into one of a limited number of categories using a subset of diagnostic information. To facilitate this task and standardize the triage decision process, triage guidelines have been implemented. However, these protocols are interpreted differently by highly experienced (expert) nurses and less experienced (novice) nurses. This study investigates the process of triage; the factors that influence triage decision-making, and how the guidelines are used in the process. Using observations and semi-structured interviews of triage nurses, data was collected in the pediatric emergency department of a large Canadian teaching hospital. Results show that in emergency situations (1) triage decisions were often non-analytic and based on intuition, particularly with increasing expertise, and (2) guidelines were used differently by nurses during the triage process. These results suggest that explicit guideline information becomes internalized and implicitly used in emergency triage practice as nurses gain experience. Implications of these results for nursing education and training, and guideline development for emergency care are discussed

Analysis of tick-borne encephalitis virus-induced host responses in human cells of neuronal origin and interferon-mediated protection

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is a member of the genus Flavivirus. It can cause serious infections in humans that may result in encephalitis/meningoencephalitis. Although several studies have described the involvement of specific genes in the host response to TBEV infection in the central nervous system (CNS), the overall network remains poorly characterized. Therefore, we investigated the response of DAOY cells (human medulloblastoma cells derived from cerebellar neurons) to TBEV (Neudoerfl strain, Western subtype) infection to characterize differentially expressed genes by transcriptome analysis. Our results revealed a wide panel of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and pro-inflammatory cytokines, including type III but not type I (or II) interferons (IFNs), which are activated upon TBEV infection, as well as a number of non-coding RNAs, including long non-coding RNAs. To obtain a broader view of the pathways responsible for eliciting an antiviral state in DAOY cells we examined the effect of type I and III IFNs and found that only type I IFN pre-treatment inhibited TBEV production. The cellular response to TBEV showed only partial overlap with gene expression changes induced by IFN-β treatment – suggesting a virus-specific signature – and we identified a group of ISGs that were highly up-regulated following IFN-β treatment. Moreover, a high rate of down-regulation was observed for a wide panel of pro-inflammatory cytokines upon IFN-β treatment. These data can serve as the basis for further studies of host–TBEV interactions and the identification of ISGs and/or lncRNAs with potent antiviral effects in cases of TBEV infection in human neuronal cells

Corrigendum: Analysis of tick-borne encephalitis virus-induced host responses in human cells of neuronal origin and interferon-mediated protection

No abstract available

Sequence and Spatiotemporal Expression Analysis of CLE-Motif Containing Genes from the Reniform Nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford & Oliveira)

The reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, is a sedentary semi-endoparasitic species with a host range that encompasses more than 77 plant families. Nematode effector proteins containing plant-ligand motifs similar to CLAVATA3/ESR (CLE) peptides have been identified in the Heterodera, Globodera, and Meloidogyne genera of sedentary endoparasites. Here, we describe the isolation, sequence analysis, and spatiotemporal expression of three R. reniformis genes encoding putative CLE motifs named Rr-cle-1, Rr-cle-2, and Rr-cle-3. The Rr-cle cDNAs showed .98% identity with each other and the predicted peptides were identical with the exception of a short stretch of residues at the carboxy(C)-terminus of the variable domain (VD). Each RrCLE peptide possessed an amino-terminal signal peptide for secretion and a single C-terminal CLE motif that was most similar to Heterodera CLE motifs. Aligning the Rr-cle cDNAs with their corresponding genomic sequences showed three exons with an intron separating the signal peptide from the VD and a second intron separating the VD from the CLE motif. An alignment of the RrCLE1 peptide with Heterodera glycines and Heterodera schachtii CLE proteins revealed a high level of homology within the VD region associated with regulating in planta trafficking of the processed CLE peptide. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) showed similar expression profiles for each Rr-cle transcript across the R. reniformis life-cycle with the greatest transcript abundance being in sedentary parasitic female nematodes. In situ hybridization showed specific Rr-cle expression within the dorsal esophageal gland cell of sedentary parasitic females

The Effect of Movement Therapy on Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia - A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Negative symptoms of patients with Schizophrenia are resistant to medical treatment or conventional group therapy. Understanding schizophrenia as a form of disembodiment of the self, a number of scientists have argued that the approach of embodiment and associated embodied therapies, such as Dance and Movement Therapy (DMT) or Body Psychotherapy (BPT), may be more suitable to explain the psychopathology underlying the mental illness and to address its symptoms. Hence the present randomized controlled trial (DRKS00009828, http://apps.who.int/trialsearch/) aimed to examine the effectiveness of manualized movement therapy (BPT/DMT) on the negative symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. Method:A total of 68 out-patients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder were randomly allocated to either the treatment (n = 44, 20 sessions of BPT/DMT) or the control condition [n = 24, treatment as usual (TAU)]. Changes in negative symptom scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with Simpson-Angus Scale (SAS) scores as covariates in order to control for side effects of antipsychotic medication. Results:After 20 sessions of treatment (BPT/DMT or TAU), patients receiving movement therapy had significantly lower negative symptom scores (SANS total score, blunted affect, attention). Effect sizes were moderate and mean symptom reduction in the treatment group was 20.65%. Conclusion:The study demonstrates that embodied therapies, such as BPT/DMT, are highly effective in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Results strongly suggest that BPT/DMT should be embedded in the daily clinical routine

Impacto del trabajo de extensión social y comunitaria que realiza URACCAN - IEPA, en la comunidad mestiza de el Hormiguero e Indígena de Wasakin, Municipios de Siuna y Rosita R.A.A.N periodo 1997 -2007.

El presente estudio se realizó en la comunidad de El Hormiguero, y en la comunidad de Wasakin, Municipios de Siuna y Rosita respectivamente del año 1997 al 2007. Este se hizo con el objetivo primordial de valorar el impacto del trabajo de extensión social y comunitaria que realiza el Instituto de Estudio y Promoción de la Autonomía (IEPA), determinar los beneficios que obtienen los beneficiarios y beneficiarias del acompañamiento comunitario, además conocer la percepción de comunitarios y comunitarias sobre la contribución de la extensión social comunitaria. La metodología empleada para este trabajo fue la aplicación de entrevistas a beneficiarios y beneficiarias del acompañamiento, de igual forma se realizó la técnica de grupo focal, entrevista, en cada una de las comunidades de estudio, como también la observación directa y pláticas informales, esta investigación es de tipo descriptiva con un enfoque cualitativo. A continuación se mencionan algunos de los principales hallazgos obtenidos de ésta investigación: como una manera de llevar a cabo las actividades establecidas hacia las comunidades, el IEPA implementa metodologías sobre distintas temáticas abordadas, entre las que se destacan la ley de Autonomía, gestión local, ley de medio ambiente, demarcación territorial, derechos indígenas entre otras, que se desarrollan cada trimestre. Por medio de este acompañamiento se han generado beneficios en ambas comunidades, ya que a través de esto la universidad URACCAN gestionó a la Corte Suprema de Justicia un centro de mediación y resolución de conflictos en el Hormiguero y como principal logro los comunitarios y comunitarias han desarrollo sus habilidades por medio de sus propias gestiones para su comunidad. En Wasakin los comunitarios y comunitarios obtuvieron la construcción de un puente de hamaca, con la ayuda de también otro de los logros es que se ha incrementado la capacidad de gestión de los mismos, además ambos comunidades cuentan con una muy buena organización. Por otro lado los beneficiarios y beneficiarias de ambas comunidades de estudio perciben que el trabajo del IEPA a través del acompañamiento ha contribuido en gran medida en su desarrollo individual y comunitario. Este estudio servirá como insumo para que la universidad URACCAN en conjunto con las Institutos y Centros Estudios pueda valorar el impacto que ha tenido en el desarrollo de sus funciones y en beneficio a esto puedan continuar con este proceso