Exploring Item Order in Anxiety-Related Constructs: Practical Impacts of Serial Position

The present study was designed to test for item order effects by measuring four distinct constructs that contribute substantively to anxiety-related psychopathology (i.e., anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, injury/illness sensitivity, and intolerance of uncertainty). Participants (n = 999; 71% women) were randomly assigned to complete measures for each construct presented in one of two modalities: (a) items presented cohesively as measures or (b) items presented randomly interspersed with one another. The results suggested that item order had a relatively small impact on item endorsement, response patterns, and reliabilities. The small impact was such that item order appears unlikely to influence clinical decisions related to these measures. These findings not only have implications for these and other similar measures, but further inform a long-standing debate about whether item grouping is a substantial concern in measurement. Accessed 6,950 times on https://pareonline.net from April 21, 2012 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

What do we know about the nexus between culture, age, gender and health literacy? Implications for improving the health and well-being of young Indigenous males

Health literacy, although diversely defined, refers to the abilities, relationships and external environments required for people to successfully promote health. Existing research suggests that health literacy is related to health inequities, including individual and community capacity to navigate health. A diverse range of factors shape health literacy abilities and environments, especially culture, gender and age. However, the nexus between these variables and their cumulative impact on health literacy development remains largely unexplored. Commentary that explores these dynamics among young Indigenous males is particularly scant. In turn, strategies to bridge health equity gaps have been obscured. This article brings together disparate research on health literacy, masculinities, youth studies and men’s health in order to address this oversight. By outlining the collective conceptual contribution of these strands of scholarship, we show that young Indigenous males navigate health literacy through a complex cultural interface that balances both Western and Indigenous understandings of health. Alternative masculine identities, which simultaneously embrace and resist components of hegemonic masculinity, also shape this health literacy lens. We explain that the development of health literacy is important for young people, particularly young Indigenous males, and that this is negotiated in tandem with external support structures, including family and friends. By describing these intersections, we explore the implications for researchers, policymakers and practitioners seeking to achieve the dual goal of improving health literacy and reducing health inequi-ties among this highly marginalised population

Using social media in health literacy research: A promising example involving Facebook with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males from the top end of the Northern Territory

This brief report describes three key lessons learned during a health literacy research project with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males from the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. More specifically, it is a methodologically focused paper that discusses processes associated with using a combination of yarning sessions and social media content as tools to unpack conceptualisations of health and well‐being among this marginalised population. The lessons discussed include (a) the utility of using social media in providing an authentic window into the lives of a hard‐to‐reach populations; (b) the need to carefully consider ethical implications; and (c) the benefits of using social media content to triangulate data and enhance methodological rigour. To understand the methodological contribution social media can make to equity‐focused health literacy research, it is first useful to understand what is meant by health literacy

GeneWeaver: a web-based system for integrative functional genomics

High-throughput genome technologies have produced a wealth of data on the association of genes and gene products to biological functions. Investigators have discovered value in combining their experimental results with published genome-wide association studies, quantitative trait locus, microarray, RNA-sequencing and mutant phenotyping studies to identify gene-function associations across diverse experiments, species, conditions, behaviors or biological processes. These experimental results are typically derived from disparate data repositories, publication supplements or reconstructions from primary data stores. This leaves bench biologists with the complex and unscalable task of integrating data by identifying and gathering relevant studies, reanalyzing primary data, unifying gene identifiers and applying ad hoc computational analysis to the integrated set. The freely available GeneWeaver (http://www.GeneWeaver.org) powered by the Ontological Discovery Environment is a curated repository of genomic experimental results with an accompanying tool set for dynamic integration of these data sets, enabling users to interactively address questions about sets of biological functions and their relations to sets of genes. Thus, large numbers of independently published genomic results can be organized into new conceptual frameworks driven by the underlying, inferred biological relationships rather than a pre-existing semantic framework. An empirical ‘ontology’ is discovered from the aggregate of experimental knowledge around user-defined areas of biological inquiry

Geologic predictors of drinking water well contamination in North Carolina

More than 200 million people worldwide, including 11 million in the US, are estimated to consume water containing arsenic (As) concentrations that exceed World Health Organization and US EPA standards. In most cases, the As found in drinking water wells results from interactions between groundwater and geologic materials (geogenic contamination). To that end, we used the NCWELL database, which contains chemical information for 117,960 private drinking wells across North Carolina, to determine the spatial distribution of wells containing As contaminated water within geologic units. Specific geologic units had large percentages (up to 1 in 3) of wells with water exceeding the EPA As maximum contaminant level (MCL, 10 μg/L), both revealing significant variation within areas that have been previously associated with As contamination and identifying as yet unidentified problematic geologic units. For the 19 geologic units that have >5% of wells that contain water with As concentrations in exceedance of 10 μg/L, 12 (63%) are lithogenically related to the Albemarle arc, remnants of an ancient volcanic island, indicating the importance of volcanogenic materials, as well as recycled (eroded and deposited) and metamorphosed volcanogenic material. Within geologic units, wells that have As concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L tended to have pH values greater than wells with As concentrations less than 10 μg/L, emphasizing the importance of the extent of interaction between groundwater and geologic materials. Using census information with the geologic-based exceedance percentages revealed the importance of regional geology on estimates of population at risk compared to estimates based on county boundaries. Results illustrate that relating As contamination to geologic units not only helps explain sources of geogenic contamination but sharpens the identification of communities at risk for exposure and further illuminates problematic areas through geologic interpretation

The 2006 NESCent Phyloinformatics Hackathon: A Field Report

In December, 2006, a group of 26 software developers from some of the most widely used life science programming toolkits and phylogenetic software projects converged on Durham, North Carolina, for a Phyloinformatics Hackathon, an intense five-day collaborative software coding event sponsored by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). The goal was to help researchers to integrate multiple phylogenetic software tools into automated workflows. Participants addressed deficiencies in interoperability between programs by implementing “glue code” and improving support for phylogenetic data exchange standards (particularly NEXUS) across the toolkits. The work was guided by use-cases compiled in advance by both developers and users, and the code was documented as it was developed. The resulting software is freely available for both users and developers through incorporation into the distributions of several widely-used open-source toolkits. We explain the motivation for the hackathon, how it was organized, and discuss some of the outcomes and lessons learned. We conclude that hackathons are an effective mode of solving problems in software interoperability and usability, and are underutilized in scientific software development

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Route of drug administration in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A protocol for a randomised controlled trial (PARAMEDIC-3)

© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).AIMS: The PARAMEDIC-3 trial evaluates the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an intraosseous first strategy, compared with an intravenous first strategy, for drug administration in adults who have sustained an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. METHODS: PARAMEDIC-3 is a pragmatic, allocation concealed, open-label, multi-centre, superiority randomised controlled trial. It will recruit 15,000 patients across English and Welsh ambulance services. Adults who have sustained an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are individually randomised to an intraosseous access first strategy or intravenous access first strategy in a 1:1 ratio through an opaque, sealed envelope system. The randomised allocation determines the route used for the first two attempts at vascular access. Participants are initially enrolled under a deferred consent model.The primary clinical-effectiveness outcome is survival at 30-days. Secondary outcomes include return of spontaneous circulation, neurological functional outcome, and health-related quality of life. Participants are followed-up to six-months following cardiac arrest. The primary health economic outcome is incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year gained. CONCLUSION: The PARAMEDIC-3 trial will provide key information on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of drug route in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.Trial registration: ISRCTN14223494, registered 16/08/2021, prospectively registered.Peer reviewe

The Lantern, 2017-2018

On Dissociation • Untouchable • After Rocket Man • The Science Fair • Cardinal Rule at Stephen J. Memorial • Quentin & Sylvie • Cabello • The Get Out • Painting Day • Black, White and Grey • Family Pruning • How to Remove a Stain • Becoming Ourselves • Wonderbread U • Overture • Pescadero • Gross • Stage Fright • Lucky Daddy • Sarah • Rumble • Silvermine • The Green Iguana • A Poem for Ghost Children • A Poem for Lost Boys • Mother • Drop of Grease • Don\u27t Wanna be White • I • Amelia Earhart Disappeared Into My Vagina: An Ode to Cunts, Menstrual Cups and All Things Woman • Suburban Summer • Nightmares and Dreams Induced by My Mother • Teacups, Skins, etc. • Three Thoughts About My Bedroom • Dear Siri • 2 Queens (Beyonce in Reference to Sonia Sanchez) • Voyeurs • In Front of the Bathroom Mirror • To a Rose • Howl • Mice • Mirror • Language Accordion Volcano Mouth • Lucky Woman • Butterscotch • To Persephone • Wolf • Notes Never Passed • Topple • Bust • Kyoto • Identity • Sunflower • Tornabuoni Bubbles • Olympia • Decayed Hall • Perspectivehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1186/thumbnail.jp

Wolbachia Infections Are Virulent and Inhibit the Human Malaria Parasite Plasmodium Falciparum in Anopheles Gambiae

Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria are potent modulators of pathogen infection and transmission in multiple naturally and artificially infected insect species, including important vectors of human pathogens. Anopheles mosquitoes are naturally uninfected with Wolbachia, and stable artificial infections have not yet succeeded in this genus. Recent techniques have enabled establishment of somatic Wolbachia infections in Anopheles. Here, we characterize somatic infections of two diverse Wolbachia strains (wMelPop and wAlbB) in Anopheles gambiae, the major vector of human malaria. After infection, wMelPop disseminates widely in the mosquito, infecting the fat body, head, sensory organs and other tissues but is notably absent from the midgut and ovaries. Wolbachia initially induces the mosquito immune system, coincident with initial clearing of the infection, but then suppresses expression of immune genes, coincident with Wolbachia replication in the mosquito. Both wMelPop and wAlbB significantly inhibit Plasmodium falciparum oocyst levels in the mosquito midgut. Although not virulent in non-bloodfed mosquitoes, wMelPop exhibits a novel phenotype and is extremely virulent for approximately 12–24 hours post-bloodmeal, after which surviving mosquitoes exhibit similar mortality trajectories to control mosquitoes. The data suggest that if stable transinfections act in a similar manner to somatic infections, Wolbachia could potentially be used as part of a strategy to control the Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit malaria