Risk factors for the development of depression in patients with hepatitis C taking interferon-α

Interferon-α, currently used for the treatment of hepatitis C, is associated with a substantially elevated risk of depression. However, not everyone who takes this drug becomes depressed, so it is important to understand what particular factors may make some individuals more ‘at risk’ of developing depression than others. Currently there is no consensus as to why interferon-induced depression occurs and the range of putative risk factors is wide and diverse. The identification of risk factors prior to treatment may allow identification of patients who will become depressed on interferon, allowing the possibility of improved treatment support and rates of treatment adherence. Here, we consolidate and review the literature on risk factors, and we discuss the potential confounds within the research examined in order to better isolate the risk factors that may be important in the development of depression in these patients and which might help predict patients likely to become depressed on treatment. We suggest that interactions between psychobehavioral, genetic, and biological risk factors are of particular importance in the occurrence of depression in patients with hepatitis C taking interferon-α

COVID-19 Beliefs, Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance in First-year University Students: Cohort Comparison and Mediation Analysis

Students’ learning contexts can influence their learning beliefs and academic performance outcomes; as such, students studying during the COVID-19 outbreak may be at risk of negative impacts on their academic self-efficacy and subject grades compared to other cohorts. They may also have specific beliefs about the impact of COVID-19-related changes on their capacity to perform, with potential consequences for self-efficacy and academic performance. Two weeks after the COVID-19-related transition to online-only learning, 89 first-year psychology students completed a measure of academic self-efficacy and indicated how they thought COVID-19-related changes would impact their capacity to perform in a psychology subject. At the end of the semester, subject grades were obtained from institutional records. Contrary to expectations, neither the self-efficacy beliefs nor the subject grades of the 2020 cohort were significantly different from those of a sample of 2019 first-year psychology students (n = 85). On average, 2020 students believed that COVID-19-related changes to their learning environment had a negative impact on their capacity to perform well. A mediation analysis indicated that students’ beliefs about the impact of COVID-19 on their capacity did not directly, or indirectly (via self-efficacy), predict grades. The only significant association in the model was between self-efficacy and grades. Although students reported believing that COVID-19-related changes would negatively impact their capacity to perform, there is little evidence that these beliefs influenced their academic self-efficacy or academic performance or that studying during the COVID-19 outbreak disadvantaged students in comparison with the previous years. A follow-up analysis indicated that self-efficacy was a stronger predictor of grades in the 2020 cohort than in the 2019 cohort. While there may be several unmeasured reasons for cohort differences, one potential interpretation is that, in the context of uncertainty associated with COVID-19, self-efficacy beliefs assumed relatively greater importance in terms of mobilising the resources required to perform well

Diffusion of personalized e-­‐government services among Dutch municipalities

__Abstract__ In this article, we investigate how and why various municipalities in the Netherlands adopt personalized electronic services. More spe

The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH)

The Year of Polar Prediction in the Southern Hemisphere (YOPP-SH) had a Special Observing Period (SOP) that ran from November 16, 2018 to February 15, 2019, a period chosen to span the austral warm season months of greatest operational activity in the Antarctic. Some 2200 additional radiosondes were launched during the 3-month SOP, roughly doubling the routine program, and the network of drifting buoys in the Southern Ocean was enhanced. An evaluation of global model forecasts during the SOP and using its data has confirmed that extratropical Southern Hemisphere forecast skill lags behind that in the Northern Hemisphere with the contrast being greatest between the southern and northern polar regions. Reflecting the application of the SOP data, early results from observing system experiments show that the additional radiosondes

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Beyond the Heroic Stereotype: Sidney Jeffryes and the Mythologising of Australian Antarctic History

In 2010 the Australian Antarctic Names and Medals Committee announced that it had named a glacier near Commonwealth Bay in East Antarctica in honour of Sidney Jeffryes. Jeffryes was a member of Douglas Mawson\u27s Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE), 1911-14, and the decision to attach his name to an Antarctic feature, coming just before the centenary of the AAE\u27s departure, reflected a gradual historical revisionism around the expedition occurring at this time. Seeking to \u27honour … historically significant figures … whose contributions [to the AAE] have not yet been recognised\u27, the Committee also attached the names of two other previously ignored members of the expedition to glaciers (AG, \u27Australian Antarctic Glaciers Named\u27). In 2017 this approach was extended to include the non-human, when 26 islands, rocks and reefs around the site of the AAE headquarters were named in honour of the \u27beloved dogs, which played a critical role in Australia\u27s heroic era of exploration\u27 (AG, \u27Mawson\u27s Huskies\u27). After nearly a century of focus on the \u27Great Man\u27 of Australian Antarctic history- Mawson-the criteria for significance were beginning to broaden

Resilience factors in women of refugee background: A qualitative systematic review

Women of Refugee Background (WoRB) are identified as being understudied within research, despite making up half of the world’s refugee population. Resilience is a common characteristic ascribed to WoRB and if often identified as a core factor influencing long-term wellbeing. Despite this, there is increasing doubts regarding the validity of hegemonic Western understandings of resilience and associated theoretical frameworks when applied to refugee populations. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate factors endorsed by WoRB as contributing to their resilience. Furthermore, it aimed to identify the theoretical frameworks which have been applied to WoRB to help contextualise and/or interpret the resilience research focusing on WoRB. The current review identified 30 relevant studies following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Religion/spirituality, culture, children, social support, family, personal characteristics and formalised supports were key themes identified as being endorsed by WoRB as contributing to their resilience. Identified resilience frameworks used within research were also discussed along with the theoretical and practical implications