Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p<0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p<0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p<0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP >5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

November 2022 BCaT Lab Newsletter

All communications emailed to the BCaT Lab's newsletter subscribers in November 2022. The BCaT Lab is one of six DISCO Network labs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/192300/1/BCaT November 2022.pdfDescription of BCaT November 2022.pdf : NewsletterSEL

COMM 489A Black Discourse and Digital Communication Course Flier

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/192759/1/Catherine Knight Steele, COMM 498A Flier (1).pngc4321027-eaa6-44f5-a298-a6880ec181d5Description of Catherine Knight Steele, COMM 498A Flier (1).png : Course FlyerSEL

MITH 610 COMM 738D Introduction to Digital Studies in the Arts and Humanities Course Syllabus

In this course, we will think through the histories of digital technology, situating them within the cultural and social contexts in which they emerge. Students will consider approaches to the digital that include critical analysis of platforms, technoculture, big data, networks, infrastructure, archives, and design thinking. We will recognize how to strengthen social media analysis by understanding platforms and infrastructure. We will pair big data analysis with ethical archival practices that consider the people and artifacts at the center of our work. In addition to studying content and form related to digital culture, students will be introduced to computational tools that enhance textual, geospatial, and network analysis. This is not a methods course, nor is there an expectation that students master new tools in a short window; instead, this course introduces the histories, theories, and controversies at the center of the interdisciplinary work of digital studies. With this introduction, students determine which digital tools and methods are most appropriate for their research. Throughout the term, we will learn from each other's differing approaches to digital inquiry, prompting new questions and new modes of engagement.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/191443/1/Knight Steele, COMM 738 MITH 610 Syllabus, 2022-24.pdfDescription of Knight Steele, COMM 738 MITH 610 Syllabus, 2022-24.pdf : Course SyllabusSEL

Blogging While Black: a critical analysis of resistance discourse by black female bloggers

Participation in public discourse has always been limited for marginalized groups in society. Previous research examines internet blogging as a place for individuals and communities to participate in the political process. Minority bloggers may use blogs as means of mobilizing their readers around particular political causes and issues. While this work causes us to consider blogging as an avenue of incorporation into mainstream political participation, it does not chart the ways in which blogging may be used as subversive act to resist oppression by Black women in particular. This analysis attempts to account for the ways community conversations can function as an act of resistance even when overt political motivations and advocacy are not the primary goal. Gossip has previously been considered for its usefulness in managing female relationships and as a subversive act by women. Within a Black Feminist Epistemology, Black female gossip blogs are considered a possible site for resistance to oppression at three levels: the personal, the communal and the institutional. This analysis considers how a black feminist dialectic is used by certain gossip bloggers and abandoned by others. A discussion follows with implications for new media space as a tool for the continued proliferation of resistance of oppression by Black women and other marginalized groups

COMM 712 Advanced Critical and Historical Methods: Media and Digital Communication Course Syllabus

This course serves as an advanced seminar in critical methods as applied to media and digital studies. This includes analyses of both text and platform. As a part of our inquiry we will first consider what it means to engage in critical work, situation our work within the larger field. We will then explore different approaches to this work, including production, audience research, and discourse analysis. We then consider methods specific to digital studies including CTDA and digital ethnography. Through careful analysis and play we will consider how the digital humanities allow us to ask new questions in new ways. Throughout the term we will continue to develop our own ethical guidelines for our work building on the work done in internet studies, critical race studies, feminist and queer studies, critical communication and philosophy. Finally, we will consider how the digital positions critical work for public audiences.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/191442/1/Knight Steele, COMM 712 Syllabus, 2023.pdfDescription of Knight Steele, COMM 712 Syllabus, 2023.pdf : Course SyllabusSEL

COMM 489A Black Discourse and Digital Media

In this course, we will explore the history of black discourse and orality and how the unique communicative traditions of African diasporic people in the U.S., were formed in relation to technological skill. In this process, we will discuss how the parallel development of racism and black cultural traditions have equipped black users to wield digital technology skills in ways that often outpace and differ from the dominant group. We will then interrogate manifestations of this use by reading/exploring digital technologies and academic writings about them. Students will investigate the different mechanisms by which communication researchers can study black users and discourse (social scientific, interpretive and critical methods) with a specific emphasis on critical cultural studies methods and digital humanities tools. Finally, we will together design a digital artifact that demonstrates our increased knowledge on the subject and makes this knowledge accessible to a public of our choosing. This course will ask many of us to think about communication and culture in ways that are different than we may previously have approached either of these topics. We will be focused on the communicative practices and technology use of the Black community in the U.S.. By necessity, we will explore concepts like race, gender, power, and class. We will also engage deeply with black cultural expression making sure that earnest academic inquiry guides our discussion.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/191444/1/Knight Steele, COMM 489A Syllabus, 2020-23.pdfDescription of Knight Steele, COMM 489A Syllabus, 2020-23.pdf : Course SyllabusSEL

COMM 303 Media Theory Course Syllabus

This course provides students with an introduction to media theory from multiple perspectives. We will begin by understanding how the history of mediated communication has been connected to ideology and lived experiences. Through readings, lectures, discussions, and case studies, you will understand how technical, historical, economic, social, and political forces have helped shape media content and the media themselves. You should also become familiar with the debate over how much influence the media have over their audiences and what types of influences are present. The course will introduce issues relevant to the consideration of media and historically underrepresented and marginalized groups, as well as individual and societal functions of the media.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/191441/1/Knight Steele, COMM 303 Syllabus, 2022.pdfDescription of Knight Steele, COMM 303 Syllabus, 2022.pdf : Course SyllabusSEL

The Digital Barbershop: Blogs and Online Oral Culture Within the African American Community

For African Americans, the legacy of oral communication within the community is being transferred to online spaces. Blogging provides a platform with features that mirror many of the components of the Black barbershop. The barber and beauty shop symbolize a space of retreat, wherein African Americans have formed alternate publics used to critique the dominant culture, foster resistance, and strengthen African American institutions. Analysis of nine African American–authored blogs using a method of critical technocultural discourse analysis demonstrates that each blog used traditional Black rhetorical strategies while making modifications to contemporary goals. The strategies involve modifications made to traditional Black humor and folktales. The writing style is highly performative, yet relies upon participant interaction. This reliance on orality is a necessary force in the maintenance of cultural traditions that have long worked to assist in group definition and acts of resistance in political power struggles. By utilizing modified song, narrative, and fables to articulate resistance and craft African American identity, African American online oral culture persists as a strategy to house political discourse within the often hidden enclave spaces of the digital barbershop

December 2022 BCaT Lab Newsletter

All communications emailed to the BCaT Lab's newsletter subscribers in December 2022. The BCaT Lab is one of six DISCO Network labs.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/192301/1/BCaT December 2022.pdfDescription of BCaT December 2022.pdf : NewsletterSEL