Mental Health, Health Coverage, and Perceived Barriers to Care among LGBTQ+ Southerners

Background: Research has found that those who are LGBTQ+ face disproportionate mental health outcomes with transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals having even greater mental health disparities than the general population and cisgender LGB+ individuals alike. Cross-sectional and surveillance studies have also found that LGBTQ+ and TGD individuals disproportionately have health access-related disparities in terms of healthcare coverage and perceived barriers to care than the general population. There is indication that LGBTQ+ individuals in the U.S. South have greater and unique health needs due to a widening health coverage gap relative to other regions of the U.S. Aim: Using 2017 LGBT Institute Southern Survey data, this study examines the relationships and disparities in mental health among LGBTQ+ individuals and across sexual and gender identity groups with healthcare coverage and perceived barriers to care to address multiple research gaps in LGBTQ+ and trans health research. Methods: A chi-square analysis was conducted to determine associations and group differences in healthcare coverage with psychological distress. Several One-way ANOVA tests were performed to assess the mental health disparities between sexual, gender and racial/ethnic groups via the mean psychological distress scores. Lastly, multivariate linear regression models were used to investigate the relationships healthcare coverage, perceived barriers to care, and individual LGBTQ+ identities have with psychological distress, after inputting sets of socio-demographic variables and interaction terms into each model. Results: There were disparities in healthcare coverage and mean psychological distress scores between LGBTQ+ groups, with higher uninsured rates and mean distress for respondents identifying as bisexual or other and among those identifying as TGD. In the linear regression, healthcare coverage (p\u3c0.0001) and perceived barriers to care (p\u3c0.0001) were significantly associated with psychological distress, even after all socio-demographic variables were controlled. Trans women (β=1.44, p\u3c0.01) and gender diverse individuals (β =1.05, p\u3c0.05) compared to cis men, and bisexuals (β=0.93, p\u3c0.01) compared to gay men have higher distress. Conclusions: Mental health and health access disparities within LGBTQ+ sub-groups exist, which future studies should further examine utilizing inclusive, robust study designs. Public health policies and interventions which promote cultural responsiveness would be beneficial in reducing health access disparities among LGBTQ+ Southerners associated with poorer mental health statuses

Public Support for Sustainable Development: A Mile Wide, but How Deep?

This article argues that public recognition of problems related to sustainable development and public support for domestic and international actions to address these problems is a major challenge for policies that aim to balance the needs of billions of people with the needs of the planet. The article reviews opinion polls on various topics related to global sustainable development, as well as research on the relationship between attitudes, behaviors, and collective actions. It also reflects on future prospects for changing the public support for sustainable development from “a mile wide and an inch deep” to “a mile wide and deep.

Exploration of the Auditory System and the Prevention of Hearing Loss from Chemotherapy

Cisplatin is one of the most common chemotherapeutic drugs prescribed by doctors around the world, however among the drug’s many side effects is an increase of ROS levels in the body. This results in mitochondrial destruction which causes damage to the auditory system and hearing loss. However, Honokiol, a traditional Chinese drug with mitochondrial protection and anti-tumor properties has been shown to prevent hearing loss from Cisplatin. This study aims to identify the effects of Cisplatin and Honokiol on the auditory system through hearing tests and analysis of the inner ear on a cellular and subcellular level in order to determine the mechanisms and sites of action for these drugs. The X-Ray Fluorescence method is used as a mepping technique on a nanometer scale in order to achieve this goal. The research conducted in this study has also allowed us to gain a greater understanding of the parts of the auditory system and how it functions

Shifting Ontology in an Era of Acceleration and Quantified Humanity

The idea that we are swept along in unforeseen consequences of our capitalist ideals of continuous progress stands in stark contrast to Kelly’s (1966) consideration of the active role that human activity plays in human evolution. The cumulative change of humanity behaving differently, and divergent behaviour changing humanity, produce acceleration, and for Kelly this acceleration is ontological. In this paper I explore three moments of accelerated change, associated with the ontologies of object, relation and trace. Object ontology encouraged the dehumanised subject, relational ontology a calculated embodied subject and trace ontology the responsible subject.Currently we find ourselves somewhere between the calculated embodied and the responsible subject, cognitively related to others, but not yet prepared to experience the other as me differed and deferred from myself

Does diversification pay in the app market? Evidence from Apple's App Store and Google Play

In this paper we address the study of the effects of product line diversification on firm performance in the mobile application market. Specifically, we shed light on whether the distribution platform ecosystem where developers commercialize their apps influence the effect of product line diversification, i.e., diversification across different app categories, on developer sales performance. To these purposes, we compare the sales performance of diversified developers with that of category-specialized developers in the two major app stores (namely, Apple’s App Store and Google Play). Our results show that the diversification strategy has a positive impact on developer sales in Google Play, while no significant impact emerges in the Apple’s App Store. The cross-platform differences in consumer willingness to pay are the rationale behind the different effect of diversification on sales performance across platform ecosystems. Our results have an important implication for developers as they suggest that developers should factor in the app ecosystem where they operate when making the decision on whether to diversify or not

XDR-500 MO—Single-use fermentor for microbial processes

Single-use bioreactors are well-established in production of biopharmaceuticals in mammalian expression systems. However, a similar technology breakthrough for microbial/yeast-based productions is still awaiting due to the unique requirements associated with such high-cell density cultivations, including high oxygen transfer capacity and efficient heat removal. Here, we present the single-use Xcellerex™ XDR-500 MO stirred-tank fermentor system specifically designed for microbial/yeast applications. The performance of the fermentor was evaluated using an E. coli fed-batch process producing a domain antibody (dAb) as a model system. The process was originally developed for a lab-scale conventional stainless steel system. This work describes the transposition and scale-up strategy of the process to the XDR-500 MO system together with obtained results. Critical process parameters such as dissolved oxygen (DO) level, pH, and induction conditions were maintained as in the initially developed process, while parameters such as DO control, substrate feed strategies, as well as medium and feed preparations were adapted to the single-use technology. Results from the scaled-up process, using the XDR-500 MO system, revealed that cell growth and productivity were comparable across scales and the system performance was similar to conventional stainless steel systems. Additionally, an in silico study on the basis of the described E.coli dAb process was conducted, comparing process economy of the XDR-500 MO system with conventional fermentors. Results from the successful transfer of the dAb process to the XDR-500 MO system as well as data from the process economy comparison indicate that under defined conditions, single-use technology can be a feasible alternative to conventional stainless steel-based processes

Two dynamical crossovers in protein hydration water revealed by the NMR spin-spin relaxation time

Hydration water is essential in determining the optimal conditions for the development of the biological activity of biological systems. Indeed the physical properties of hydration water are responsible for and determine the region of biological stability of proteins. By means of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, we probe some thermodynamical properties of the first hydration shell of lysozyme from 200K to 360 K. In particular, we study the thermal behavior of the nuclear magnetization and of the apparent spin-spin relaxation time (T∗2). We find the existence of two thermal borders with two corresponding evident crossovers at low and high temperatures signaling the thresholds of the native state of lysozyme and therefore of its functionality

On the signaling effect of reward-based crowdfunding: (When) do later stage venture capitalists rely more on the crowd than their peers?

Venture capitalists (VCs) make only a small number of investments and are more likely to invest in ventures where other VCs have invested previously. As such, valuable opportunities may be forgone if they are not funded by VCs in the first place. We demonstrate how crowdfunding (CF) can remedy this concern. Using a sample of new technology-based ventures, we reveal that ventures initially funded through reward-based CF can be even more likely than those initially backed by VCs in attracting follow-up funds from VCs. This happens when ventures originally funded via reward-based CF complement the certification they derive from CF with patents and a founding team with a track record of success. In those cases, VCs rely on the crowd more than their peers. Overall, the results suggest that signal complementarity can at least equalize the effectiveness of an a priori inferior and an a priori superior signal