Dimensions of Misinformation About the HPV Vaccine on Instagram: Content and Network Analysis of Social Media Characteristics.

BACKGROUND: The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a major advancement in cancer prevention and this primary prevention tool has the potential to reduce and eliminate HPV-associated cancers; however, the safety and efficacy of vaccines in general and the HPV vaccine specifically have come under attack, particularly through the spread of misinformation on social media. The popular social media platform Instagram represents a significant source of exposure to health (mis)information; 1 in 3 US adults use Instagram. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this analysis was to characterize pro- and anti-HPV vaccine networks on Instagram, and to describe misinformation within the anti-HPV vaccine network. METHODS: From April 2018 to December 2018, we collected publicly available English-language Instagram posts containing hashtags #HPV, #HPVVaccine, or #Gardasil using Netlytic software (n=16,607). We randomly selected 10% of the sample and content analyzed relevant posts (n=580) for text, image, and social media features as well as holistic attributes (eg, sentiments, personal stories). Among antivaccine posts, we organized elements of misinformation within four broad dimensions: 1) misinformation theoretical domains, 2) vaccine debate topics, 3) evidence base, and 4) health beliefs. We conducted univariate, bivariate, and network analyses on the subsample of posts to quantify the role and position of individual posts in the network. RESULTS: Compared to provaccine posts (324/580, 55.9%), antivaccine posts (256/580, 44.1%) were more likely to originate from individuals (64.1% antivaccine vs 25.0% provaccine; P\u3c.001) and include personal narratives (37.1% vs 25.6%; P=.003). In the antivaccine network, core misinformation characteristics included mentioning #Gardasil, purporting to reveal a lie (ie, concealment), conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated claims, and risk of vaccine injury. Information/resource posts clustered around misinformation domains including falsification, nanopublications, and vaccine-preventable disease, whereas personal narrative posts clustered around different domains of misinformation, including concealment, injury, and conspiracy theories. The most liked post (6634 likes) in our full subsample was a positive personal narrative post, created by a non-health individual; the most liked post (5604 likes) in our antivaccine subsample was an informational post created by a health individual. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying characteristics of misinformation related to HPV vaccine on social media will inform targeted interventions (eg, network opinion leaders) and help sow corrective information and stories tailored to different falsehoods

Tocotrienol-Rich Fraction from Rice Bran Demonstrates Potent Radiation Protection Activity

The vitamin E analogs δ-tocotrienol (DT3) and γ-tocotrienol (GT3) have significant protective and mitigative capacity against the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation (IR). However, the expense of purification limits their potential use. This study examined the tocotrienol-rich fraction of rice bran (TRFRB) isolated from rice bran deodorizer distillate, a rice oil refinement waste product, to determine its protective effects against IR induced oxidative damage and H2O2. Several cell lines were treated with tocotrienols or TRFRB prior to or following exposure to H2O2 or IR. To determine the radioprotective capacity cells were analyzed for morphology, mitochondrial bioenergetics, clonogenic survival, glutathione oxidation, cell cycle, and migration rate. TRFRB displayed similar antioxidant activity compared to pure tocotrienols. Cells pretreated with TRFRB or DT3 exhibited preserved cell morphology and mitochondrial respiration when exposed to H2O2. Oxidized glutathione was decreased in TRFRB treated cells exposed to IR. TRFRB reversed mitochondrial uncoupling and protected cells migration rates following IR exposure. The protective antioxidant capacity of TRFRB treated cells against oxidative injury was similar to that of purified DT3. TRFRB effectively protects normal cells against IR induced injury suggesting that rice bran distillate may be an inexpensive and abundant alternate source

T2: A second generation OS for embedded sensor networks

We present T2, a second generation sensor network operating system written in the nesC language. We describe why the limitations and problems of current OSes necessitate a new design. T2 improves on current systems in three areas: platform support, application construction, and reliability. We argue that existing systems neglected these properties in order to maximize flexibility. In contrast, T2 limits flexibility to that which applications need, and leverages these constraints to improve the rest of the system. We evaluate T2 in comparison to TinyOS, and show how its structure simplifies applications, makes porting to a new platform much easier, and improves system reliability. From these results, we discuss the frictions present in component-based OSes and how T2’s design and structure makes dealing with them more tractable.

Self-Assembled Plasmonic DNA Origami Nanoantennas for Diagnostics Applications with Low-Tech Devices

The DNA origami technique provides an unprecedented method to create multiple copies of well-defined self-assembled nanostructures.1 Methods of modern chemistry allow to functionalize DNA with molecules and functional groups of interest. Exploiting these features we designed a pillar-shaped 3D DNA origami nanostructure functionalized with biotins for the surface immobilization and docking strands allowing to precisely position plasmonic nanoparticles. Upon illumination with freely propagating light, the local electric field between nanoparticles increases and a dye placed in the plasmonic hotspot exhibits a fluorescence gain of several orders of magnitude.2 In our present work, we modified a hotspot region with molecular recognition units (molecular beacon3 or sandwich assay) to detect an enhanced signal only in the presence of a specific nucleic acid target (Figure 1)