NELA-GT-2018: A Large Multi-Labelled News Dataset for The Study of Misinformation in News Articles

In this paper, we present a dataset of 713k articles collected between 02/2018-11/2018. These articles are collected directly from 194 news and media outlets including mainstream, hyper-partisan, and conspiracy sources. We incorporate ground truth ratings of the sources from 8 different assessment sites covering multiple dimensions of veracity, including reliability, bias, transparency, adherence to journalistic standards, and consumer trust. The NELA-GT-2018 dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ULHLCB.Comment: Published at ICWSM 201

Different Spirals of Sameness: A Study of Content Sharing in Mainstream and Alternative Media

In this paper, we analyze content sharing between news sources in the alternative and mainstream media using a dataset of 713K articles and 194 sources. We find that content sharing happens in tightly formed communities, and these communities represent relatively homogeneous portions of the media landscape. Through a mix-method analysis, we find several primary content sharing behaviors. First, we find that the vast majority of shared articles are only shared with similar news sources (i.e. same community). Second, we find that despite these echo-chambers of sharing, specific sources, such as The Drudge Report, mix content from both mainstream and conspiracy communities. Third, we show that while these differing communities do not always share news articles, they do report on the same events, but often with competing and counter-narratives. Overall, we find that the news is homogeneous within communities and diverse in between, creating different spirals of sameness.Comment: Published at ICWSM 201

Contents

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. By how much will faster economic growth boost government revenue? This paper estimates short- and long-run tax buoyancy in OECD countries between 1965 and 2012. We find that, for aggregate tax revenues, short-run tax buoyancy does not significantly differ from one in the majority of countries; yet, it has increased since the late 1980s so that tax systems have generally become better automatic stabilizers. Long-run buoyancy exceeds one in about half of the OECD countries, implying that GDP growth has helped improve structural fiscal deficit ratios. Corporate taxes are by far the most buoyant, while excises and property taxes are the least buoyant. For personal income taxes and social contributions, short- and long-run buoyancies have declined since the late 1980s and have, on average, become lower than one

Effects of MCH and a MCH1-receptor antagonist on (palatable) food and water intake

Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) is a regulator of ingestive behavior, but several issues regarding its effects on specific components of ingestive behavior remain to be elucidated. Therefore, we injected, in the 3rd ventricle of male Wistar rats, saline, MCH (5 mu g), MCH (5 mu g) together with a MCH1-R antagonist (A, 10 mu g) and the antagonist alone (A, 10 mu g). Our results show that (1) central administration of MCH stimulates food intake (lab chow and medium high fat diet) and this can be blocked by a MCH1-R antagonist; (2) the MCH-induced increase in food intake is mediated through increased meal number, meal duration and meal size; (3) the MCH1-R antagonist is able to significantly reduce the intake of a highly palatable food (condensed sweet milk) and is more effective in blocking MCH-induced food intake when rats are fed a palatable medium high fat food; and (4) MCH stimulated water intake independently from and disproportionately to food intake. In conclusion, our results point to an involvement of endogenous MCH in the enhanced intake of palatable food. Furthermore, they confirm that MCH stimulates not only food intake but also water intake. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Prevalence and inter-relationship of different Doppler measures of dyssynchrony in patients with heart failure and prolonged QRS: a report from CARE-HF

Background: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) improves mortality and morbidity in heart failure patients with wide QRS. Observational studies suggest that patients having more left ventricular dyssynchrony pre-implantation obtain greater benefit on ventricular function and symptoms with CRT.Aim: To provide an analysis of the prevalence and type of dyssynchrony in patients included in the CARE-HF trial.Methods: 100 patients 67 (58 to 71) years were examined with echocardiography including tissue doppler imaging before receiving a CRT-pacemaker. Atrio-ventricular dyssynchrony (LVFT/RR) was defined as left ventricular filling time <40% of the RR-interval. Inter-ventricular mechanical delay (IVMD) was measured as the difference in onset of Doppler-flow in the pulmonary and aortic outflow tracts >40 ms. Intraventricular (regional) dyssynchrony in a 16-segment model was expressed either as a delayed longitudinal contraction (DLC) during the postsystolic phase or by tissue synchronisation imaging (TSI) with a predefined time-difference in systolic maximal velocities >85 ms.Results: LVFT/RR was present in 34% and IVMD in 60% of patients while intra-ventricular dyssynchrony was present in 85% (DLC) and 86% (TSI) with a high agreement between the measures (Kappascore 0.86-1.00), indicating the methods being interchangeable. Patients with cardiomyopathy (53%) were more likely to have LVFT/RR <40% (45% vs. 21% (p= 0.02)) and more segments affected by intra-ventricular dyssynchrony 4(3, 5) vs. 3(1, 4), p = 0.002, compared to patients with ischemic heart disease.Conclusion: The prevalence of intra-ventricular dyssynchrony is high in patients with heart failure, wide QRS and depressed systolic function. Most important, TSI appears to be a fast and reliable method to identify patients with intra-ventricular dyssynchrony likely to benefit from CRT

Elevated plasma free thiols are associated with early and one-year graft function in renal transplant recipients

Background Reduced free thiols in plasma are indicative of oxidative stress, which is an important contributor to ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in kidney transplantation leading to kidney damage and possibly delayed graft function (DGF). In a post-hoc, exploratory analysis of the randomised controlled CONTEXT trial, we investigated whether higher (i.e. less oxidised) plasma levels of free thiols as a biomarker of reduced oxidative stress are associated with a better initial graft function or a higher GFR. Methods Free thiol levels were measured in plasma at baseline, 30 and 90 minutes after reperfusion of the kidney as well as at Day 1, Day 5 and twelve months after kidney transplantation in 217 patients from the CONTEXT study. Free thiol levels were compared to the kidney graft function measured as the estimated time to a 50% reduction in plasma creatinine (tCr50), the risk of DGF and measured GFR (mGFR) at Day 5 and twelve months after transplantation. Results Higher levels of free thiols at Day 1 and Day 5 are associated with higher mGFR at Day 5 (pConclusion Higher levels of plasma free thiols at Day 1 and Day 5, which are reflective of lower levels of oxidative stress, are associated with better early and late graft function in recipients of a kidney graft from deceased donors. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT01395719

Nicotine inhaler for smoking cessation [4]

To the Editor. In a recent article, Tonnesen et al suggest that a nicotine inhaler in smoking cessation could be implemented in general practitioner offices with high success rates and that it would be "acceptable" to patients. In addition, the program is described as "low intervention." Results from their study do not support such statements