Social Media Influence: Metrics Matter

It is imperative for companies to engage in social media marketing as consumers are often dependent on online information and electronic word-of-mouth. Past literature claims that consumers evaluate the influence of communications differently on social media than they would in a traditional environment because of the nature of the internet. This study aims to analyze user’s perceptions of social media marketing influence and determines if user’s perception of influence changes based on the number of social media metrics (likes, comments, and shares) that accompany a Facebook post. The study also investigates if perceptions of influence vary depending on a user’s level of involvement in the situation. A 2x2 factorial design is utilized to manipulate both level of involvement and amount of likes, comments, and shares that accompany a Facebook post. The results contend that a high number of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook leads to increased perceptions of source credibility and information usefulness. In particular, the results prove that a high number of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook leads to increased purchase intention in a low-involvement situation. These results are essential to marketers as they prove the importance of curating engaging content on company’s Facebook pages in order to generate high amounts of likes, comments, and shares. Increasing the amount of likes, comments, and shares on Facebook will make the post more influential to users

Reply to Jensen and Kowalik: Consideration of mixed infections is central to understanding HCMV intrahost diversity.

Kowalik and Jensen (1) have reported that intra-host variation in HCMV approaches levels similar to those of HCV, with fast mutation rates mooted as one explanation (2).While we discussed that HCMV mutation rates were postulated as an explanation for high diversity, the focus of our work is on observed inconsistencies in nucleotide diversity between and within patients (3). Kowalik and Jensen did calculate HCMV mutation rates to be similar to MCMV but maintained that this could underestimate the true levels (2). In contrast, our study showed that in the absence of mixed infections, HCMV is no more diverse than other DNA viruses, and considerably less so than chronic RNA viruses. This simple conclusion is different to that of Kowalik and Jensen and had not been stated prior to our publication.N

High Viral Diversity and Mixed Infections in Cerebral Spinal Fluid From Cases of Varicella Zoster Virus Encephalitis.

BACKGROUND: Varicella zoster virus (VZV) may cause encephalitis, both with and without rash. Here we investigate whether viruses recovered from the central nervous system (CNS; encephalitis or meningitis) differ genetically from those recovered from non-CNS samples. METHODS: Enrichment-based deep sequencing of 45 VZV genomes from cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and vesicles was carried out with samples collected from 34 patients with and without VZV infection of the CNS. RESULTS: Viral sequences from multiple sites in the same patient were identical at the consensus level. Virus from vesicle fluid and CSF in cases of meningitis showed low-level diversity. By contrast, plasma, BAL, and encephalitis had higher numbers of variant alleles. Two CSF-encephalitis samples had high genetic diversity, with variant frequency patterns typical of mixed infections with different clades. CONCLUSIONS: Low viral genetic diversity in vesicle fluid is compatible with previous observations that VZV skin lesions arise from single or low numbers of virions. A similar result was observed in VZV from cases of VZV meningitis, a generally self-limiting infection. CSF from cases of encephalitis had higher diversity with evidence for mixed clade infections in 2 cases. We hypothesize that reactivation from multiple neurons may contribute to the pathogenesis of VZV encephalitis.Action Medical research GN2424 This work was supported by a UK MRC New Investigator Award to D. P. D; UCL/UCLH BRC (J. B.); Action Medical Research (grant number GN2424 to C. J. H); Swedish Research Council (P. N. and T. B.). The work was also support by an NIHR Fellowship (grant number DRF-2013-06-168 to F. M.), the Meningitis Research Foundation (grant number 0904.0), an NIHR Programme Grant in Applied Research (grant number RP-PG-0108-10048 to T. S.), and the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, University of Liverpool

Human cytomegalovirus haplotype reconstruction reveals high diversity due to superinfection and evidence of within-host recombination.

Recent sequencing efforts have led to estimates of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genome-wide intrahost diversity that rival those of persistent RNA viruses [Renzette N, Bhattacharjee B, Jensen JD, Gibson L, Kowalik TF (2011) PLoS Pathog 7:e1001344]. Here, we deep sequence HCMV genomes recovered from single and longitudinally collected blood samples from immunocompromised children to show that the observations of high within-host HCMV nucleotide diversity are explained by the frequent occurrence of mixed infections caused by genetically distant strains. To confirm this finding, we reconstructed within-host viral haplotypes from short-read sequence data. We verify that within-host HCMV nucleotide diversity in unmixed infections is no greater than that of other DNA viruses analyzed by the same sequencing and bioinformatic methods and considerably less than that of human immunodeficiency and hepatitis C viruses. By resolving individual viral haplotypes within patients, we reconstruct the timing, likely origins, and natural history of superinfecting strains. We uncover evidence for within-host recombination between genetically distinct HCMV strains, observing the loss of the parental virus containing the nonrecombinant fragment. The data suggest selection for strains containing the recombinant fragment, generating testable hypotheses about HCMV evolution and pathogenesis. These results highlight that high HCMV diversity present in some samples is caused by coinfection with multiple distinct strains and provide reassurance that within the host diversity for single-strain HCMV infections is no greater than for other herpesviruses.D.P.D. was supported by a grant from the Medical Research Foundation. C.J.H. was supported by Action Medical Research Grant GN2424. The PATHSEEK consortium was funded by the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 304875

Use of Whole-Genome Sequencing of Adenovirus in Immunocompromised Pediatric Patients to Identify Nosocomial Transmission and Mixed-Genotype Infection.

BACKGROUND: Adenoviruses are significant pathogens for the immunocompromised, arising from primary infection or reinfection. Serotyping is insufficient to support nosocomial transmission investigations. We investigate whether whole-genome sequencing (WGS) provides clinically relevant information on transmission among patients in a pediatric tertiary hospital. METHODS: We developed a target-enriched adenovirus WGS technique for clinical samples and retrospectively sequenced 107 adenovirus-positive residual diagnostic samples, including viremias (>5 × 104 copies/mL), from 37 patients collected January 2011-March 2016. Whole-genome sequencing was used to determine genotype and for phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: Adenovirus sequences were recovered from 105 of 107 samples. Full genome sequences were recovered from all 20 nonspecies C samples and from 36 of 85 species C viruses, with partial genome sequences recovered from the rest. Whole-genome phylogenetic analysis suggested linkage of 3 genotype A31 cases and uncovered an unsuspected epidemiological link to an A31 infection first detected on the same ward 4 years earlier. In 9 samples from 1 patient who died, we identified a mixed genotype adenovirus infection. CONCLUSIONS: Adenovirus WGS from clinical samples is possible and useful for genotyping and molecular epidemiology. Whole-genome sequencing identified likely nosocomial transmission with greater resolution than conventional genotyping and distinguished between adenovirus disease due to single or multiple genotypes.National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust and University College London. Action Medical Research grant GN2424. MRF New Investigator Award. Reuben Foundation. NIHR UCL/UCLH Biomedical Research Centre