Internet-Based Data Collection: Promises and Realities

The use of Internet to aid research practice has become more popular in the recent years. In fact, some believe that Internet surveying and electronic data collection may revolutionize many disciplines by allowing for easier data collection, larger samples, and therefore more representative data. However, others are skeptical of its usability as well as its practical value. The paper highlights both positive and negative outcomes experienced in a number of e-research projects, focusing on several common mistakes and difficulties experienced by the authors. The discussion focuses on ethics and review board issues, recruitment and sampling techniques, technological issues and errors, and data collection, cleaning, and analysis

The Role of Tourism Impacts on Cultural Ecosystem Services

Parks and protected areas are recognized for the important ecosystem services, or benefits, they provide society. One emerging but understudied component is the cultural ecosystem services that parks and protected areas provide. These cultural ecosystem services include a variety of benefits, such as cultural heritage, spiritual value, recreation opportunities, and human health and well-being. However, many of these services can only be provided if people visit these parks and protected areas through tourism opportunities. However, with this tourism use comes a variety of inevitable resource impacts. This current research connects potential impacts from tourism in parks and protected areas to the health and well-being aspect of cultural ecosystem services. We used an MTurk sample to record affective responses across a range of resource conditions. Results demonstrate that as tourism-related ecological impacts increased, positive affect decreased. Decreases in positive affect were more severe for park and protected area scenes featuring informal and/or undesignated social trails when compared to scenes with increasing levels of trampling/vegetation loss. Collectively, the results show that managing tourism in parks and protected areas in a manner that reduces impact is essential to providing beneficial cultural ecosystem services related to human health and well-being

Positive Predictive Value of ICD-10 Diagnosis Codes for COVID-19

PURPOSE: To examine the positive predictive value (PPV) of International Classification version 10 (ICD-10) diagnosis codes for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Medical record review of all patients assigned a diagnosis code of COVID-19 (DB342A or DB972A) at six Danish departments of infectious diseases from February 27 through May 4, 2020. Confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis was defined as either: 1) definite, a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on a respiratory sample combined with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19: 2) probable, clinical presentation of COVID-19 without detection of SARS-CoV-2 and no alternative diagnoses considered more likely; or 3) possible, clinical presentation of COVID-19 without detection of SARS-CoV-2, and the patient was discharged or deceased before further investigations were carried out. We computed the PPV with 95% confidence intervals (CI) as the number of patients with confirmed (i.e., definite, probable, and possible) COVID-19 divided by the number of patients assigned a diagnosis code for COVID-19. RESULTS: The study included 710 patients with a median age of 61 years (interquartile range [IQR] 47–74) and 285/710 (40%) were female. COVID-19 was confirmed in 706/710 (99%) with 705/710 (99%) categorized as definite, 1/710 (0.1%) as probable, and 0 patients as possible COVID-19. The diagnosis was disproven in 4/710 (0.6%) patients who were hospitalized due to bacterial pneumonia (n = 2), influenza (n = 1), and urinary tract infection (n = 1). The overall PPV for COVID-19 was 99% (95% CI 99–100) and remained consistently high among all subgroups including sex, age groups, calendar period, and stratified by diagnosis code and department of infectious diseases (range 97–100%). CONCLUSION: The overall PPV of diagnosis codes for COVID-19 in Denmark was high and may be suitable for future registry-based prognosis studies of COVID-19

From wrongdoing to imprisonment: Test of a causal-moral model

The authors tested a causal–moral model of punishment in which (a) causal attribution and moral responsibility are distinct precursors of punishment, and (b) dispositional attribution leads to blame which, in turn, determines imprisonment. Specifically, whereas severity of outcome impacts punishment directly, circumstances of the crime and the culture of the observers impact punishment through causal attribution and blame, respectively. In an experiment, Singaporeans and Americans read about a crime that (a) was committed intentionally or under an extenuating circumstance and (b) had low or severe outcome for the victim. They made dispositional attribution to, assigned blame to, and recommended imprisonment for the offender. Results supported the hypotheses and the causal–moral path model that specified a direct effect of severity of outcome, an indirect effect of country via blame, and the indirect effects of circumstance via dispositional attribution to blame on imprisonment

Levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among fully vaccinated individuals with Delta or Omicron variant breakthrough infections

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have continuously evolved and may erode vaccine induced immunity. In this observational cohort study, we determine the risk of breakthrough infection in a fully vaccinated cohort. SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike IgG levels were measured before first SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and at day 21–28, 90 and 180, as well as after booster vaccination. Breakthrough infections were captured through the Danish National Microbiology database. incidence rate ratio (IRR) for breakthrough infection at time-updated anti-spike IgG levels was determined using Poisson regression. Among 6076 participants, 127 and 364 breakthrough infections due to Delta and Omicron variants were observed. IRR was 0.29 (95% CI 0.15–0.56) for breakthrough infection with the Delta variant, comparing the highest and lowest quintiles of anti-spike IgG. For Omicron, no significant differences in IRR were observed. These results suggest that quantitative level of anti-spike IgG have limited impact on the risk of breakthrough infection with Omicron

Characteristics Associated with Serological Covid-19 Vaccine Response and Durability in an Older Population with Significant Comorbidity:The Danish Nationwide ENFORCE Study

OBJECTIVES: To identify individual characteristics associated with serological COVID-19 vaccine responsiveness and durability of vaccine-induced antibodies. METHODS: Adults without history of SARS-CoV-2 infection from the Danish population scheduled for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were enrolled in this parallel group, phase IV study. SARS-CoV-2 Spike IgG and Spike-ACE2-receptor-blocking antibodies were measured at days 0, 21, 90 and 180. Vaccine responsiveness was categorized according to Spike IgG and Spike-ACE2-receptor-blocking levels at day 90 post-1(st) vaccination. Non-durable vaccine-response was defined as day 90 responders that no longer had significant responses by day 180. RESULTS: Of 6544 participants completing two vaccine doses (median age 64, interquartile range:54–75), 3654 (55.8%) received BTN162b2, 2472 (37.8%) mRNA-1273, and 418 (6.4%) ChAdOx1 followed by a mRNA vaccine. Levels of both types of antibodies increased from baseline to day 90 and then decreased to day 180. The decrease was more pronounced for levels of Spike-ACE2-receptor-blocking antibodies than for Spike IgG. Proportions with vaccine hypo-responsiveness and lack of durable response were 5.0% and 12.1% for Spike IgG; 12.7% and 39.6% for Spike-ACE2-receptor-blocking antibody levels, respectively. Male sex, vaccine type and number of co-morbidities were associated with all four outcomes. Additionally, age >=75y was associated with hypo-responsiveness for Spike-ACE2-receptor-blocking antibodies (adjusted odds-ratio:1.59, 95% confidence interval:1.25–2.01) but not for Spike IgG. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity, male sex and vaccine type were risk factors for hypo-responsiveness and non-durable response to COVID-19 vaccination. The functional activity of vaccine-induced antibodies declined with increasing age and had waned to pre-2(nd) vaccination levels for most individuals after 6 months