Assessing the validity of western measurement of online risks to children in an Asian context

Before the advent of the Internet, television with limited channels was the only media choice that most children were exposed to, and took place under family supervision. Children’s television viewing was controllable and the risks were limited to watching sexual and violent content. Nowadays, children are surrounded by a variety of digital media and are exposed to many different risks, many of which are still unknown and under-researched. For many children, the Internet is fully integrated into their daily lives, along with the potential risks. The present study aimed to (i) describe the level of risks children are exposed to, and (2) test the measurement validity of a total of 45 items assessing nine scales online risky behavior in children were adapted from studies carried out in Europe and the United States. The study comprised 420 school going children aged 9, 11, 13, 14, and 16 studying in Malaysia. Descriptive analyses showed that children were more exposed to ‘unwanted exposure to pornography’ and less to ‘conduct risk’. Boys and older children were more exposed to the risks compared to girls and younger children. The study validated five dimensions (inappropriate materials, sexting, contact-related risks on, risky online sexual behavior, and bullying/being bullied) assessing children’s online risky behavior by using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Further research is needed to investigate the measurement of children’s online risk, since the scales developed in Europe and the United States are not wholly suitable to an Asian context

Estimating the economic burden of cardiovascular events in patients receiving lipid-modifying therapy in the UK.

OBJECTIVES: To characterise the costs to the UK National Health Service of cardiovascular (CV) events among individuals receiving lipid-modifying therapy. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using Clinical Practice Research Datalink records from 2006 to 2012 to identify individuals with their first and second CV-related hospitalisations (first event and second event cohorts). Within-person differences were used to estimate CV-related outcomes. SETTING: Patients in the UK who had their first CV event between January 2006 and March 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Patients ≥18 years who had a CV event and received at least 2 lipid-modifying therapy prescriptions within 180 days beforehand. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Direct medical costs (2014 £) were estimated in 3 periods: baseline (pre-event), acute (6 months afterwards) and long-term (subsequent 30 months). Primary outcomes included incremental costs, resource usage and total costs per period. RESULTS: There were 24 093 patients in the first event cohort of whom 5274 were included in the second event cohort. The mean incremental acute CV event costs for the first event and second event cohorts were: coronary artery bypass graft/percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (CABG/PTCA) £5635 and £5823, myocardial infarction £4275 and £4301, ischaemic stroke £3512 and £4572, heart failure £2444 and £3461, unstable angina £2179 and £2489 and transient ischaemic attack £1537 and £1814. The mean incremental long-term costs were: heart failure £848 and £2829, myocardial infarction £922 and £1385, ischaemic stroke £973 and £682, transient ischaemic attack £705 and £1692, unstable angina £328 and £677, and CABG/PTCA £-368 and £599. Hospitalisation accounted for 95% of acute and 61% of long-term incremental costs. Higher comorbidity was associated with higher long-term costs. CONCLUSIONS: Revascularisation and myocardial infarction were associated with the highest incremental costs following a CV event. On the basis of real-world data, the economic burden of CV events in the UK is substantial, particularly among those with greater comorbidity burden

An Introduction to RNA Databases

We present an introduction to RNA databases. The history and technology behind RNA databases is briefly discussed. We examine differing methods of data collection and curation, and discuss their impact on both the scope and accuracy of the resulting databases. Finally, we demonstrate these principals through detailed examination of four leading RNA databases: Noncode, miRBase, Rfam, and SILVA.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, 1 tables. Submitted as a chapter for "An introduction to RNA bioinformatics" to be published by "Methods in Molecular Biology

Adjacent Nucleotide Dependence in ncRNA and Order-1 SCFG for ncRNA Identification

Background: Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are known to be involved in many critical biological processes, and identification of ncRNAs is an important task in biological research. A popular software, Infernal, is the most successful prediction tool and exhibits high sensitivity. The application of Infernal has been mainly focused on small suspected regions. We tried to apply Infernal on a chromosome level; the results have high sensitivity, yet contain many false positives. Further enhancing Infernal for chromosome level or genome wide study is desirable. Methodology: Based on the conjecture that adjacent nucleotide dependence affects the stability of the secondary structure of an ncRNA, we first conduct a systematic study on human ncRNAs and find that adjacent nucleotide dependence in human ncRNA should be useful for identifying ncRNAs. We then incorporate this dependence in the SCFG model and develop a new order-1 SCFG model for identifying ncRNAs. Conclusions: With respect to our experiments on human chromosomes, the proposed new model can eliminate more than 50 % false positives reported by Infernal while maintaining the same sensitivity. The executable and the source code of programs are freely available a

Does message framing affect changes in behavioural intentions in people with psoriasis? A randomized exploratory study examining health risk communication

Message framing is important in health communication research to encourage behaviour change. Psoriasis, a long-term inflammatory skin condition, has additional comorbidities including high levels of anxiety and cardiovascular disease (CVD), making message framing particularly important. This experimental study aimed to: (1) identify whether health messages about psoriasis presented as either gain- or loss-framed were more effective for prompting changes in behavioural intentions (BI), (2) examine whether BI were driven by a desire to improve psoriasis or reduce CVD risk; (3) examine emotional reactions to message frame; and (4) examine predictors of BI. A two by two experiment examined the effects on BI of message frame (loss vs. gain) and message focus (psoriasis symptom reduction vs. CVD risk reduction). Participants with psoriasis (n = 217) were randomly allocated to one of four evidence-based health messages related to either smoking, alcohol, diet or physical activity, using an online questionnaire. BI was the primary outcome. Analysis of variance tests and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. A significant frame by focus interaction was found for BI to reduce alcohol intake (p = .023); loss-framed messages were more effective for CVD risk reduction information, whilst gain-framed messages were more effective for psoriasis symptom reduction information. Message framing effects were not found for BI for increased physical activity and improving diet. High CVD risk was a significant predictor of increased BI for both alcohol reduction (β = .290, p < .01) and increased physical activity (β = −.231, p < .001). Message framing may be an important factor to consider depending on the health benefit emphasised (disease symptom reduction or CVD risk reduction) and patient-stated priorities. Condition-specific health messages in psoriasis populations may increase the likelihood of message effectiveness for alcohol reduction

Immune Correlates of Protection Against Human Cytomegalovirus Acquisition, Replication, and Disease

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the most common infectious cause of infant birth defects and an etiology of significant morbidity and mortality in solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. There is tremendous interest in developing a vaccine or immunotherapeutic to reduce the burden of HCMV-associated disease, yet after nearly a half-century of research and development in this field we remain without such an intervention. Defining immune correlates of protection is a process that enables targeted vaccine/immunotherapeutic discovery and informed evaluation of clinical performance. Outcomes in the HCMV field have previously been measured against a variety of clinical end points, including virus acquisition, systemic replication, and progression to disease. Herein we review immune correlates of protection against each of these end points in turn, showing that control of HCMV likely depends on a combination of innate immune factors, antibodies, and T-cell responses. Furthermore, protective immune responses are heterogeneous, with no single immune parameter predicting protection against all clinical outcomes and stages of HCMV infection. A detailed understanding of protective immune responses for a given clinical end point will inform immunogen selection and guide preclinical and clinical evaluation of vaccines or immunotherapeutics to prevent HCMV-mediated congenital and transplant disease

A Systematic Review of Online Sex Addiction and Clinical Treatments Using CONSORT Evaluation

Researchers have suggested that the advances of the Internet over the past two decades have gradually eliminated traditional offline methods of obtaining sexual material. Additionally, research on cybersex and/or online sex addictions has increased alongside the development of online technology. The present study extended the findings from Griffiths’ (2012) systematic empirical review of online sex addiction by additionally investigating empirical studies that implemented and/or documented clinical treatments for online sex addiction in adults. A total of nine studies were identified and then each underwent a CONSORT evaluation. The main findings of the present review provide some evidence to suggest that some treatments (both psychological and/or pharmacological) provide positive outcomes among those experiencing difficulties with online sex addiction. Similar to Griffiths’ original review, this study recommends that further research is warranted to establish the efficacy of empirically driven treatments for online sex addiction

Comparative Effectiveness of Adalimumab vs Tofacitinib in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis in Australia

Importance: There is a need for observational studies to supplement evidence from clinical trials, and the target trial emulation (TTE) framework can help avoid biases that can be introduced when treatments are compared crudely using observational data by applying design principles for randomized clinical trials. Adalimumab (ADA) and tofacitinib (TOF) were shown to be equivalent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a randomized clinical trial, but to our knowledge, these drugs have not been compared head-to-head using routinely collected clinical data and the TTE framework. Objective: To emulate a randomized clinical trial comparing ADA vs TOF in patients with RA who were new users of a biologic or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (b/tsDMARD). Design, Setting, and Participants: This comparative effectiveness study emulating a randomized clinical trial of ADA vs TOF included Australian adults aged 18 years or older with RA in the Optimising Patient Outcomes in Australian Rheumatology (OPAL) data set. Patients were included if they initiated ADA or TOF between October 1, 2015, and April 1, 2021; were new b/tsDMARD users; and had at least 1 component of the disease activity score in 28 joints using C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) recorded at baseline or during follow-up. Intervention: Treatment with either ADA (40 mg every 14 days) or TOF (10 mg daily). Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was the estimated average treatment effect, defined as the difference in mean DAS28-CRP among patients receiving TOF compared with those receiving ADA at 3 and 9 months after initiating treatment. Missing DAS28-CRP data were multiply imputed. Stable balancing weights were used to account for nonrandomized treatment assignment. Results: A total of 842 patients were identified, including 569 treated with ADA (387 [68.0%] female; median age, 56 years [IQR, 47-66 years]) and 273 treated with TOF (201 [73.6%] female; median age, 59 years [IQR, 51-68 years]). After applying stable balancing weights, mean DAS28-CRP in the ADA group was 5.3 (95% CI, 5.2-5.4) at baseline, 2.6 (95% CI, 2.5-2.7) at 3 months, and 2.3 (95% CI, 2.2-2.4) at 9 months; in the TOF group, it was 5.3 (95% CI, 5.2-5.4) at baseline, 2.4 (95% CI, 2.2-2.5) at 3 months, and 2.3 (95% CI, 2.1-2.4) at 9 months. The estimated average treatment effect was -0.2 (95% CI, -0.4 to -0.03; P = .02) at 3 months and -0.03 (95% CI, -0.2 to 0.1; P = .60) at 9 months. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, there was a modest but statistically significant reduction in DAS28-CRP at 3 months for patients receiving TOF compared with those receiving ADA and no difference between treatment groups at 9 months. Three months of treatment with either drug led to clinically relevant average reductions in mean DAS28-CRP, consistent with remission