Finding the news and mapping the links: a case study of hypertextuality in Dutch-language health news websites

This study considers hyperlinks as digital navigational cues that can guide users through the increasingly complex and vast online health information landscape in order to examine how hypertextuality at both search engines and health news websites mediates access to further health-related information. This is important because online news media are frequently used and convenient sources for health information. The methodology unfolds in two steps. First, an environmental scan of search engine result pages for the term ‘health news’ was conducted. Second, an automated quantitative content analysis (N = 5428) of external hyperlinks found on three types of health news websites, i.e., net-native, mixed and legacy news brands, was performed. Most importantly, this study challenges the dominant internal-external distinction by introducing a systematic distinction between genuine external hyperlinks and pseudo-external hyperlinks when comparing various types of online health news. Net-native news websites provide more hyperlinks to thematically related information than legacy news websites with print origins. The latter often include pseudo-external hyperlinks to thematically unrelated, but organizationally affiliated websites, thus favoring financial relationships over thematic coherence as an incentive to link

The Role of PIK3CA Mutations in Gliomagenesis

Glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and malignant primary brain tumor, is currently incurable and the most recent advance in treatment yields a median survival of only 12-15 months. To account for GBM’s heterogeneity, molecular diagnostics may be used to enable mutation specific treatment and improve patient outcomes. Mutations in PIK3CA, the p110α subunit of phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), are important in pathogenesis of other cancers, and drugs targeting PI3K are in clinical development. In 12% of GBM, PIK3CA is mutated and recurrent mutations are distributed across three functional domains (adaptor-binding, helical, and kinase). As their role in GBM tumorigenesis is unknown, we examined six mutations known to occur in GBM, two per mutated domain, for activation of biochemical signaling through phosphorylation of downstream targets ATK and S6. These mutations were introduced into immortalized human astrocytes, with and without oncogenic RAS. We determined that the downstream signaling molecule AKT is activated by all of the mutations in human astrocytes, with the greatest increase caused by mutations in the helical and kinase domains. The presence of oncogenic RAS cooperated with the helical and kinase domain mutations to activate signaling. Mutations in the adaptor-binding domain appear to increase signaling independently of oncogenic RAS. Mutations in PIK3CA therefore differentially increase signaling, leading to differing phenotypes and possible differential response to PI3K inhibitors. By understanding the consequences of differing mutations, GBM diagnosis and treatment can be improved.Bachelor of Scienc

Tracing the sources : a comparative content analysis of Belgian health news

This article explores health journalists’ sourcing patterns in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium across a range of different media including newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online health news websites. A cross-sectional quantitative content analysis of health news items collected in February 2015 (N = 981) was established to examine the number and origin (e.g. industry, citizens, experts) of sources (N = 1998) mentioned in health news stories with particular attention paid to differences across various media types. Despite recent claims of media convergence, cross-media comparisons are scarce and, for a specialized beat such as health, nonexistent. The key findings of this study indicate that ordinary citizens and academic experts constitute the two largest source categories. The small share of industry-related sources confirms journalists’ skeptical attitude towards content provided by the industry. But on closer inspection, large differences can be observed across various media types. On the one hand, ordinary citizens occur with relatively high frequency on television but hardly make an appearance in online news items. Academic sources, on the other hand, are dominant online but nearly absent in television news items. In sum, this analysis demonstrates that health journalists’ source uses differ across various media platforms