Political Radicalization as a Communication Process

Based on data taken from 412 adult education students in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this research attempts to show that attitudes toward French Canadian Separatism by the sample members can be accounted for by differentiaf communication processes. Results show that attitudes held by sample members are well explained (R2 = .64) by a weighted average of the information they received from interpersonal and media sources. The resultant attitude shows substantial effects on behaviors related to separatism for the same respondents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67215/2/10.1177_009365027400100301.pd

The social predictors of paternal antenatal mental health and their associations with maternal mental health in the Queensland Family Cohort prospective study

OnlinePublAntenatal depression (AND) affects 1 in 10 fathers, potentially negatively impacting maternal mental health and well-being during and after the transition to parenthood. However, few studies have assessed the social predictors of paternal AND or their possible associations with maternal mental health. We analysed data from 180 couples participating in the Queensland Family Cohort longitudinal study. Both parents completed surveys measuring mental health, relationship quality, social support, and sleep quality at 24 weeks of pregnancy. Mothers also completed the same surveys 6 weeks’ postpartum. Antenatal depression, stress, and anxiety were highest among fathers reporting lower social support and higher sleep impairment. Maternal AND, stress, and anxiety were higher among mothers reporting higher physical pain and poor sleep quality. Postnatally, mothers reporting lower social support also reported higher depression, anxiety, stress, and psycho-social well-being. While there were no significant associations between AND among fathers and maternal antenatal or postnatal depression, an exploratory analysis revealed that mothers whose partners reported lower antenatal social support also reported lower postnatal social support and higher postnatal depression. Our findings highlight the importance of including data among fathers to achieve a whole family approach to well-being during the transition to parenthood.Barnaby J. W. Dixson, Danielle Borg, Kym M. Rae, Koa Whittingha, Brenda Gannon, Steven M. McPhail, Hannah E. Carter, Karen M. Moritz, Roslyn N. Boyd, Samudragupta Bora, Sailesh Kumar, Julanne Frater, Daniel Schweitzer, Paul Miller, Divya Mehter, Vicki L. Clifto

Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995-2009: analysis of individual data for 25,676,887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2)

BACKGROUND: Worldwide data for cancer survival are scarce. We aimed to initiate worldwide surveillance of cancer survival by central analysis of population-based registry data, as a metric of the effectiveness of health systems, and to inform global policy on cancer control. METHODS: Individual tumour records were submitted by 279 population-based cancer registries in 67 countries for 25·7 million adults (age 15-99 years) and 75,000 children (age 0-14 years) diagnosed with cancer during 1995-2009 and followed up to Dec 31, 2009, or later. We looked at cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast (women), cervix, ovary, and prostate in adults, and adult and childhood leukaemia. Standardised quality control procedures were applied; errors were corrected by the registry concerned. We estimated 5-year net survival, adjusted for background mortality in every country or region by age (single year), sex, and calendar year, and by race or ethnic origin in some countries. Estimates were age-standardised with the International Cancer Survival Standard weights. FINDINGS: 5-year survival from colon, rectal, and breast cancers has increased steadily in most developed countries. For patients diagnosed during 2005-09, survival for colon and rectal cancer reached 60% or more in 22 countries around the world; for breast cancer, 5-year survival rose to 85% or higher in 17 countries worldwide. Liver and lung cancer remain lethal in all nations: for both cancers, 5-year survival is below 20% everywhere in Europe, in the range 15-19% in North America, and as low as 7-9% in Mongolia and Thailand. Striking rises in 5-year survival from prostate cancer have occurred in many countries: survival rose by 10-20% between 1995-99 and 2005-09 in 22 countries in South America, Asia, and Europe, but survival still varies widely around the world, from less than 60% in Bulgaria and Thailand to 95% or more in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the USA. For cervical cancer, national estimates of 5-year survival range from less than 50% to more than 70%; regional variations are much wider, and improvements between 1995-99 and 2005-09 have generally been slight. For women diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2005-09, 5-year survival was 40% or higher only in Ecuador, the USA, and 17 countries in Asia and Europe. 5-year survival for stomach cancer in 2005-09 was high (54-58%) in Japan and South Korea, compared with less than 40% in other countries. By contrast, 5-year survival from adult leukaemia in Japan and South Korea (18-23%) is lower than in most other countries. 5-year survival from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is less than 60% in several countries, but as high as 90% in Canada and four European countries, which suggests major deficiencies in the management of a largely curable disease. INTERPRETATION: International comparison of survival trends reveals very wide differences that are likely to be attributable to differences in access to early diagnosis and optimum treatment. Continuous worldwide surveillance of cancer survival should become an indispensable source of information for cancer patients and researchers and a stimulus for politicians to improve health policy and health-care systems

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Supplementary Material for: Inpatient Fall Prediction Models: A Scoping Review

Introduction: The digitization of hospital systems, including integrated electronic medical records, has provided opportunities to improve the prediction performance of inpatient fall risk models and their application to computerized clinical decision support systems. This review describes the data sources and scope of methods reported in studies that developed inpatient fall prediction models, including machine learning and more traditional approaches to inpatient fall risk prediction. Methods: This scoping review used methods recommended by the Arksey and O’Malley framework and its recent advances. PubMed, CINAHL, IEEE Xplore, and EMBASE databases were systematically searched. Studies reporting the development of inpatient fall risk prediction approaches were included. There was no restriction on language or recency. Reference lists and manual searches were also completed. Reporting quality was assessed using adherence to Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis statement (TRIPOD), where appropriate. Results: Database searches identified 1,396 studies, 63 were included for scoping assessment and 45 for reporting quality assessment. There was considerable overlap in data sources and methods used for model development. Fall prediction models typically relied on features from patient assessments, including indicators of physical function or impairment, or cognitive function or impairment. All but two studies used patient information at or soon after admission and predicted fall risk over the entire admission, without consideration of post-admission interventions, acuity changes or length of stay. Overall, reporting quality was poor, but improved in the past decade. Conclusion: There was substantial homogeneity in data sources and prediction model development methods. Use of artificial intelligence, including machine learning with high-dimensional data, remains underexplored in the context of hospital falls. Future research should consider approaches with the potential to utilize high-dimensional data from digital hospital systems, which may contribute to greater performance and clinical usefulness

Economic consideration for reducing hospital presentations among patients with decompensated cirrhosis: not all presentations avoided can be considered equal

Individuals with decompensated cirrhosis and ascites requiring paracentesis utilize exceptionally high levels of hospital resources. Consequently, potential modifications to existing models of healthcare to assist patients in the management of their liver disease and reduce the need for hospital encounters have potential to improve patients’ health and reduce demand on acute hospital services. However, there is a paucity of data examining how much healthcare resources could be re-directed to interventions that prevent hospitalizations without net annual budgetary disadvantage (from the hospital’s perspective). The purpose of this study was to probabilistically examine how much healthcare resourcing could be saved per hospital presentation avoided among this clinical population

Development of a valid and reliable test to assess trauma radiograph interpretation performance

Objectives\ud \ud The purpose of this investigation was to develop and examine the preliminary validity and reliability among radiographers of a test to assess trauma radiograph interpretation performance suitable for use among health professionals.\ud \ud Methods\ud \ud Stage 1 examined 14,159 consecutive appendicular and axial examinations from a hospital emergency department over a 12 month period to quantify a typical anatomical region case-mix of trauma radiographs. A sample of radiographic cases representative of affected anatomical regions was then developed into the Image Interpretation Test (IIT). Stage 2 involved prospective investigations of the IIT's reliability (inter-rater, intra-rater, internal consistency) and validity (concurrent) among 41 radiographers.\ud \ud Results\ud \ud The IIT included 60 cases. The median (interquartile range) clinical experience of participants was 5 (2–10) years. Case scores were internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90). Favourable inter-rater reliability (kappa > 0.70 for 58/60 cases, Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) > 0.99 for total score) and intra-rater reliability (kappa > 0.90 for 60/60 cases, ICC > 0.99 for total score) was observed. There was a positive association between radiographers' confidence in image interpretation and IIT score (coefficient = 1.52, r-squared = 0.60, p < 0.001).\ud \ud Conclusions\ud \ud The IIT developed during this investigation included a selection of radiographic cases consistent with anatomical regions represented in an adult trauma case-mix. This study has also provided foundational preliminary evidence to support the reliability and validity of the IIT among radiographers. The findings suggest that it is possible to assess image interpretation performance of adult trauma radiographs with this test

Introduction

La molteplicità delle cause nel pensiero greco dopo Aristotele

Domain nucleation processes in mesoscopic Ni80Fe20 wire junctions

The magnetization reversal process in permalloy (Ni80Fe20) wire junction structures has been investigated using magnetoresistance (MR) measurements and scanning Kerr microscopy. A combination of electron beam lithography and a lift-off process has been utilized to fabricate wires consisting of two 200 µm length regions with distinct widths w1 and w2 in the range 1–5 µm. Longitudinal MR measurements and magneto-optic Kerr effect hysteresis loops demonstrate that the magnetization reversal of the complete structure is predominantly determined by the wider region for fields applied parallel to the wire axis. Magnetic force microscopy and micromagnetic calculations show that several domain walls nucleate in the wider part and are trapped in the junction area. This implies that domain nucleation at the junction of the wire initiates magnetization reversal in the narrow half. As a consequence, the switching fields are found to be identical in both halves in this case. These results suggest the possibility of designing structures which can be used to "launch" reverse domains in narrow wires within a controlled field range. © 2000 American Institute of Physics