La multidimensionalidad de un laboratorio europeo periodístico : Euronews

El canal europeo de noticias Euronews es un caso modélico en el que se ponen de manifiesto los avances básicos de la industria de los medios de comunicación en Europa: la integración de compañías del área de los servicios y redes de comunicación, la creciente racionalización de la actividad editorial y, con ello, la disminución de la primacía del contenido periodístico así como la internacionalización y la estandarización del mensaje. Sin embargo, como televisión creadora de una identidad cultural europea, Euronews ha fracasado. Un análisis del producto periodístico internacional revela diferencias básicas de los métodos periodísticos de trabajo en los distintos niveles de la producción. A pesar de todo, el «Euronews estándar» tiene futuro: en este momento en que la frecuencia de la emisión ya no es un bien escaso y precioso, todo depende de que se proporcionen los programas y los servicios de comunicación necesarios, para rellenar los numerosos canales. Euronews produce estos materiales y como consecuencia de ello influye a largo plazo en los contenidos y métodos de trabajo periodísticos.The European news station Euronews serves as a suitable case study for exemplifying the fundamental developments in the media industry in Europe: the integration of companies from the areas communication services and networks, increasing rationalization of editorial operations with the resultant departure from the primacy of journalistic content as well as the internationalization and standardization of journalistic content. In terms of the aim of providing a European cultural area with identity-bestowing television, Euronews is to be deemed a failure. An analysis of the multinational journalistic product reveals fundamental differences in the journalistic working methods at the various levels of production. Nevertheless, the Euronews standard has got a future: at a time when the transmission frequency is no longer a scarce, and therefore expensive commodity, there is a need for programmes and communication services with which to fill the numerous channels. Euronews produces such contents and, as a result, will have a long-term influence on journalistic working methods and contents

Hepatopathie bei COVID-19 in Abhängigkeit von Risikofaktoren

Seit Dezember 2019 ist das neuartige, pandemische Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 als Auslöser der Krankheit COVID-19 bekannt, die sich initial mit respiratorischen Symptomen präsentiert. Bei einer Minderheit infizierter Personen führt sie zur Entwicklung eines akuten Atemnotsyndroms, das die Hauptursache des Versterbens von COVID-19-Patienten darstellt. Aufgrund von multiplen extrapulmonalen Manifestationsorten lässt sich auf eine systemische Infektion schließen, deren Symptome und Verlauf stark variieren. Eine Hepatopathie tritt häufig bei COVID-19-Patienten auf und ist meist von milder Natur, sodass ein Großteil der Infizierten vollständig genesen kann. Sie ist jedoch häufiger bei schwer verlaufenden Fällen, deren Ursache bis dato nicht gefunden werden konnte. Die Variabilität des Krankheitsverlaufs gibt Grund zur Annahme, dass dieser von Eigenschaften des infizierten Menschen determiniert sein kann. Etablierte Risikofaktoren sind u.a. erhöhtes Alter, männliches Geschlecht, erhöhter BMI und kardio-pulmonale Vorerkrankungen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, ein genaueres Verständnis der Leberbeteiligung bei Patienten mit einer SARS-CoV-2-Infektion zu erlangen und mögliche Faktoren zu finden, die zu einem höheren Risiko einer Leberbeteiligung und/oder einem letalen Verlauf führen können. Bei 61 Patienten mit einer SARS-CoV-2-Infektion wurden Korrelationen zwischen dem zeitlichen Verlauf laborchemischer Leberparameter, dem klinischen Outcome und Einzelnukleotid-Polymorphismen bestimmter Gene geprüft. Das Outcome wurde definiert als Notwendigkeit intensivmedizinischer Behandlung bei COVID-19-Pneumonie, invasiver Beatmung, ECMO-Therapie und Tod. Die molekulargenetischen Analysen mittels Allelischer Diskriminierung oder Sanger-Sequenzierung fokussierten auf die Detektion von Einzelnukleotid-Polymorphismen, die zu einem α-1-Antitrypsin-Mangel, einer Steatose oder einem Vitamin-D-Mangel führen können oder eine AB0-Blutgruppe definieren. 72% der Patienten zeigten bei Aufnahme und 85% im Gesamtverlauf ihres jeweiligen Krankenhausaufenthaltes mindestens einen pathologischen Leberparameter, der mit den dokumentierten Entzündungsmarkern CRP, LDH und IL-6 korreliert. Die Hypothese, dass sich Leberparameter und das Outcome bei Vorliegen der Risikofaktoren oder bei Zugehörigkeit einer Blutgruppe des AB0-Systems verschlechtern, konnte bei Vorliegen eines Vitamin D-Mangels, des MBOAT7-Risikoallels rs641738 und der Blutgruppe A statistisch signifikant bestätigt werden. Patienten mit einem Vitamin D-Mangel während ihres Krankenhausaufenthaltes wiesen höhere γ-GT- und CRP-Konzentrationen auf, während Träger des MBOAT7-Risikoallels erhöhte Werte von ALT, AP, γ-GT und Bilirubin sowie erniedrigte Albumin-Konzentrationen im Serum präsentierten. Außerdem konnte ein signifikanter Anstieg der Maximalwerte der Cholestasemarker γ-GT und AP mit der summierten Anzahl der Steatose-Risikoallele MBOAT7, PNPLA3 und TM6SF2 beobachtet werden. Bei Patienten mit Blutgruppe A waren die Konzentrationen der Surrogatmarker für Leberschädigung und systemische Entzündung erhöht. Mit diesem Wissen könnten Prognosemarker bei Aufnahme als auch im Krankheitsverlauf etabliert werden, um eine mögliche dauerhafte Leberschädigung nicht zu übersehen.Since December 2019, the novel pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has been known to cause COVID-19 disease, which initially presents with respiratory symptoms. In a minority of infected individuals, it leads to the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome, which is the leading cause of death in COVID-19 patients. Multiple extrapulmonary sites of manifestation suggest a systemic infection, of which the symptoms and course vary widely. Hepatopathy is common in COVID-19 patients and is usually mild, allowing a large proportion of infected individuals to recover completely. However, it is more common in severe cases, the cause of which has not yet been found. The variability of the development of the disease gives reason to believe that it may be determined by characteristics of the infected person. Established risk factors include increased age, male gender, increased BMI and previous cardio-pulmonary disease. The aim of this work is to gain a more detailed understanding of liver involvement in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and to find possible factors that may lead to a higher risk of liver involve-ment and/or a lethal course. In 61 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, correlations between the time course of laboratory liver parameters, clinical outcome and single nucleotide polymorphisms of specific genes were tested. Outcome was defined as the need for intensive care treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia, invasive ventilation, ECMO therapy and death. Molecular genetic analyses by allelic discrimination or Sanger-sequencing focused on the detection of single nucleotide poly-morphisms that may lead to α-1-antitrypsin deficiency, steatosis or vitamin D deficiency, or define an AB0 blood group. 72% of the patients showed at least one pathological liver parameter on admission and 85% in the overall course of their hospital stay, which correlate with the documented inflammatory markers CRP, LDH and IL-6. The hypothesis that liver parameters and outcome are worsened in the presence of risk factors or if a blood group of the AB0 system is present, could be statistically significantly confirmed in the presence of vitamin D deficiency, the MBOAT7 risk allele rs641738 and the blood group A. Patients with vitamin D deficiency during their hospital stay had higher γ-GT and CRP concentrations, while carriers of the MBOAT7 risk allele presented increased levels of ALT, AP, γ-GT and bilirubin as well as decreased serum albumin concentrations. In addition, a significant increase in the maximum values of the cholestasis markers γ-GT and AP was ob-served with the summed number of the steatosis risk alleles MBOAT7, PNPLA3 and TM6SF2. In patients with blood group A, the concentrations of surrogate markers of liver injury and systemic inflammation were elevated. With this knowledge, prognostic markers could be established on ad-mission as well as in the course of the disease in order not to overlook possible permanent liver damage

Hepatic consequences of COVID-19 infection. Lapping or biting?

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) starting last December in China placed emphasis on liver involvement during infection. This review discusses the underlying mechanisms linking COVID-19 to liver dysfunction, according to recent available information, while waiting further studies. The manifestations of liver damage are usually mild (moderately elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase activities), and generally asymptomatic. Few patients can still develop severe liver problems, and therapeutic options can be limited. Liver dysfunction may affect about one-third of the patients, with prevalence greater in men than women, and in elderly. Mechanisms of damage are complex and include direct cholangiocyte damage and other coexisting conditions such as the use of antiviral drugs, systemic inflammatory response, respiratory distress syndrome-induced hypoxia, sepsis, and multiple organ dysfunction. During new COVID-19 infections, liver injury may be observed. If liver involvement appears during COVID-19 infection, however, attention is required. This is particularly true if patients are older or have a pre-existing history of liver diseases. During COVID-19 infection, the onset of liver damage impairs the prognosis, and hospital stay is longer

The Structure of the EU Mediasphere

Background. A trend towards automation of scientific research has recently resulted in what has been termed “data-driven inquiry” in various disciplines, including physics and biology. The automation of many tasks has been identified as a possible future also for the humanities and the social sciences, particularly in those disciplines concerned with the analysis of text, due to the recent availability of millions of books and news articles in digital format. In the social sciences, the analysis of news media is done largely by hand and in a hypothesis-driven fashion: the scholar needs to formulate a very specific assumption about the patterns that might be in the data, and then set out to verify if they are present or not. Methodology/Principal Findings. In this study, we report what we think is the first large scale content-analysis of cross-linguistic text in the social sciences, by using various artificial intelligence techniques. We analyse 1.3 M news articles in 22 languages detecting a clear structure in the choice of stories covered by the various outlets. This is significantly affected by objective national, geographic, economic and cultural relations among outlets and countries, e.g., outlets from countries sharing strong economic ties are more likely to cover the same stories. We also show that the deviation from average content is significantly correlated with membership to the eurozone, as well as with the year of accession to the EU. Conclusions/Significance. While independently making a multitude of small editorial decisions, the leading media of the 27 EU countries, over a period of six months, shaped the contents of the EU mediasphere in a way that reflects its deep geographic, economic and cultural relations. Detecting these subtle signals in a statistically rigorous way would be out of the reach of traditional methods. This analysis demonstrates the power of the available methods for significant automation of media content analysis

Media Reporting of Health Interventions: Signs of Improvement, but Major Problems Persist

Background: Studies have persistently shown deficiencies in medical reporting by the mainstream media. We have been monitoring the accuracy and comprehensiveness of medical news reporting in Australia since mid 2004. This analysis of more than 1200 stories in the Australian media compares different types of media outlets and examines reporting trends over time. Methods and Findings: Between March 2004 and June 2008 1230 news stories were rated on a national medical news monitoring web site, Media Doctor Australia. These covered a variety of health interventions ranging from drugs, diagnostic tests and surgery to dietary and complementary therapies. Each story was independently assessed by two reviewers using ten criteria. Scores were expressed as percentages of total assessable items deemed satisfactory according to a coding guide. Analysis of variance was used to compare mean scores and Fishers exact test to compare proportions. Trends over time were analysed using un-weighted linear regression analysis. Broadsheet newspapers had the highest average satisfactory scores: 58% (95% CI 56–60%), compared with tabloid newspapers and online news outlets, 48% (95% CI 44–52) and 48% (95% CI 46–50) respectively. The lowest scores were assigned to stories broadcast by human interest/current affairs television programmes (average score 33% (95% CI 28–38)). While there was a non- significant increase in average scores for all outlets, a significant improvement was seen in the online news media: a rise of 5.1% (95%CI 1.32, 8.97; P 0.009). Statistically significant improvements were seen in coverage of the potential harms of interventions, the availability of treatment or diagnostic options, and accurate quantification of benefits. Conclusion: Although the overall quality of medical reporting in the general media remains poor, this study showed modest improvements in some areas. However, the most striking finding was the continuing very poor coverage of health news by commercial current affairs television programs