Computer skills and internet use in adults aged 50-74 years: influence of hearing difficulties

BACKGROUND The use of personal computers (PCs) and the Internet to provide health care information and interventions has increased substantially over the past decade. Yet the effectiveness of such an approach is highly dependent upon whether the target population has both access and the skill set required to use this technology. This is particularly relevant in the delivery of hearing health care because most people with hearing loss are over 50 years (average age for initial hearing aid fitting is 74 years). Although PC skill and Internet use by demographic factors have been examined previously, data do not currently exist that examine the effects of hearing difficulties on PC skill or Internet use in older adults. OBJECTIVE To explore the effect that hearing difficulty has on PC skill and Internet use in an opportunistic sample of adults aged 50-74 years. METHODS Postal questionnaires about hearing difficulty, PC skill, and Internet use (n=3629) were distributed to adults aged 50-74 years through three family physician practices in Nottingham, United Kingdom. A subsample of 84 respondents completed a second detailed questionnaire on confidence in using a keyboard, mouse, and track pad. Summed scores were termed the "PC confidence index." The PC confidence index was used to verify the PC skill categories in the postal questionnaire (ie, never used a computer, beginner, and competent). RESULTS The postal questionnaire response rate was 36.78% (1298/3529) and 95.15% (1235/1298) of these contained complete information. There was a significant between-category difference for PC skill by PC confidence index (P<.001), thus verifying the three-category PC skill scale. PC and Internet use was greater in the younger respondents (50-62 years) than in the older respondents (63-74 years). The younger group's PC and Internet use was 81.0% and 60.9%, respectively; the older group's PC and Internet use was 54.0% and 29.8%, respectively. Those with slight hearing difficulties in the older group had significantly greater odds of PC use compared to those with no hearing difficulties (odds ratio [OR]=1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-2.30, P=.02). Those with moderate+ hearing difficulties had lower odds of PC use compared with those with no hearing difficulties, both overall (OR=0.58, 95% CI 0.39-0.87, P=.008) and in the younger group (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.86, P=.008). Similar results were demonstrated for Internet use by age group (older: OR=1.57, 95% CI 0.99-2.47, P=.05; younger: OR=0.32, 95% CI 0.16-0.62, P=.001). CONCLUSIONS Hearing health care is of particular relevance to older adults because of the prevalence of age-related hearing loss. Our data show that older adults experiencing slight hearing difficulty have increased odds of greater PC skill and Internet use than those reporting no difficulty. These findings suggest that PC and Internet delivery of hearing screening, information, and intervention is feasible for people between 50-74 years who have hearing loss, but who would not typically present to an audiologist

Cluster Lenses

Clusters of galaxies are the most recently assembled, massive, bound structures in the Universe. As predicted by General Relativity, given their masses, clusters strongly deform space-time in their vicinity. Clusters act as some of the most powerful gravitational lenses in the Universe. Light rays traversing through clusters from distant sources are hence deflected, and the resulting images of these distant objects therefore appear distorted and magnified. Lensing by clusters occurs in two regimes, each with unique observational signatures. The strong lensing regime is characterized by effects readily seen by eye, namely, the production of giant arcs, multiple-images, and arclets. The weak lensing regime is characterized by small deformations in the shapes of background galaxies only detectable statistically. Cluster lenses have been exploited successfully to address several important current questions in cosmology: (i) the study of the lens(es) - understanding cluster mass distributions and issues pertaining to cluster formation and evolution, as well as constraining the nature of dark matter; (ii) the study of the lensed objects - probing the properties of the background lensed galaxy population - which is statistically at higher redshifts and of lower intrinsic luminosity thus enabling the probing of galaxy formation at the earliest times right up to the Dark Ages; and (iii) the study of the geometry of the Universe - as the strength of lensing depends on the ratios of angular diameter distances between the lens, source and observer, lens deflections are sensitive to the value of cosmological parameters and offer a powerful geometric tool to probe Dark Energy. In this review, we present the basics of cluster lensing and provide a current status report of the field.Comment: About 120 pages - Published in Open Access at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/j183018170485723/ . arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:astro-ph/0504478 and arXiv:1003.3674 by other author

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Understanding and using comparative healthcare information; the effect of the amount of information and consumer characteristics and skills

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Consumers are increasingly exposed to comparative healthcare information (information about the quality of different healthcare providers). Partly because of its complexity, the use of this information has been limited. The objective of this study was to examine how the amount of presented information influences the comprehension and use of comparative healthcare information when important consumer characteristics and skills are taken into account.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this randomized controlled experiment, comparative information on total hip or knee surgery was used as a test case. An online survey was distributed among 800 members of the NIVEL Insurants Panel and 76 hip- or knee surgery patients. Participants were assigned to one of four subgroups, who were shown 3, 7, 11 or 15 quality aspects of three hospitals. We conducted Kruskall-Wallis tests, Chi-square tests and hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses to examine relationships between the amount of information and consumer characteristics and skills (literacy, numeracy, active choice behaviour) on one hand, and outcome measures related to effectively using information (comprehension, perceived usefulness of information, hospital choice, ease of making a choice) on the other hand.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>414 people (47%) participated. Regression analysis showed that the amount of information slightly influenced the comprehension and the perceived usefulness of comparative healthcare information. It did not affect consumers’ hospital choice and ease of making this choice. Consumer characteristics (especially age) and skills (especially literacy) were the most important factors affecting the comprehension of information and the ease of making a hospital choice. For the perceived usefulness of comparative information, active choice behaviour was the most influencing factor.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The effects of the amount of information were not unambiguous. It remains unclear what the ideal amount of quality information to be presented would be. Reducing the amount of information will probably not automatically result in more effective use of comparative healthcare information by consumers. More important, consumer characteristics and skills appeared to be more influential factors contributing to information comprehension and use. Consequently, we would suggest that more emphasis on improving consumers’ skills is needed to enhance the use of comparative healthcare information.</p

Risk Factors of Streptococcus suis Infection in Vietnam. A Case-Control Study

Background: Streptococcus suis infection, an emerging zoonosis, is an increasing public health problem across South East Asia and the most common cause of acute bacterial meningitis in adults in Vietnam. Little is known of the risk factors underlying the disease. Methods and Findings: A case-control study with appropriate hospital and matched community controls for each patient was conducted between May 2006 and June 2009. Potential risk factors were assessed using a standardized questionnaire and investigation of throat and rectal S. suis carriage in cases, controls and their pigs, using real-time PCR and culture of swab samples. We recruited 101 cases of S. suis meningitis, 303 hospital controls and 300 community controls. By multivariate analysis, risk factors identified for S. suis infection as compared to either control group included eating "high risk" dishes, including such dishes as undercooked pig blood and pig intestine (OR1 = 2.22; 95% CI = [1.15-4.28] and OR2 = 4.44; 95% CI = [2.15-9.15]), occupations related to pigs (OR1 = 3.84; 95% CI = [1.32-11.11] and OR2 = 5.52; 95% CI = [1.49-20.39]), and exposures to pigs or pork in the presence of skin injuries (OR1 = 7.48; 95% CI = [1.97-28.44] and OR2 = 15.96; 95% CI = [2.97-85.72]). S. suis specific DNA was detected in rectal and throat swabs of 6 patients and was cultured from 2 rectal samples, but was not detected in such samples of 1522 healthy individuals or patients without S. suis infection. Conclusions: This case control study, the largest prospective epidemiological assessment of this disease, has identified the most important risk factors associated with S. suis bacterial meningitis to be eating 'high risk' dishes popular in parts of Asia, occupational exposure to pigs and pig products, and preparation of pork in the presence of skin lesions. These risk factors can be addressed in public health campaigns aimed at preventing S. suis infectio

WWOX sensitises ovarian cancer cells to paclitaxel via modulation of the ER stress response

There are clear gaps in our understanding of genes and pathways through which cancer cells facilitate survival strategies as they become chemoresistant. Paclitaxel is used in the treatment of many cancers, but development of drug resistance is common. Along with being an antimitotic agent paclitaxel also activates endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Here, we examine the role of WWOX (WW domain containing oxidoreductase), a gene frequently lost in several cancers, in mediating paclitaxel response. We examine the ER stress-mediated apoptotic response to paclitaxel in WWOX-transfected epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells and following siRNA knockdown of WWOX. We show that WWOX-induced apoptosis following exposure of EOC cells to paclitaxel is related to ER stress and independent of the antimitotic action of taxanes. The apoptotic response to ER stress induced by WWOX re-expression could be reversed by WWOX siRNA in EOC cells. We report that paclitaxel treatment activates both the IRE-1 and PERK kinases and that the increase in paclitaxel-mediated cell death through WWOX is dependent on active ER stress pathway. Log-rank analysis of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in two prominent EOC microarray data sets (Tothill and The Cancer Genome Atlas), encompassing ~800 patients in total, confirmed clinical relevance to our findings. High WWOX mRNA expression predicted longer OS and PFS in patients treated with paclitaxel, but not in patients who were treated with only cisplatin. The association of WWOX and survival was dependent on the expression level of glucose-related protein 78 (GRP78), a key ER stress marker in paclitaxel-treated patients. We conclude that WWOX sensitises EOC to paclitaxel via ER stress-induced apoptosis, and predicts clinical outcome in patients. Thus, ER stress response mechanisms could be targeted to overcome chemoresistance in cancer

The Terminal Immunoglobulin-Like Repeats of LigA and LigB of Leptospira Enhance Their Binding to Gelatin Binding Domain of Fibronectin and Host Cells

Leptospira spp. are pathogenic spirochetes that cause the zoonotic disease leptospirosis. Leptospiral immunoglobulin (Ig)-like protein B (LigB) contributes to the binding of Leptospira to extracellular matrix proteins such as fibronectin, fibrinogen, laminin, elastin, tropoelastin and collagen. A high-affinity Fn-binding region of LigB has been localized to LigBCen2, which contains the partial 11th and full 12th Ig-like repeats (LigBCen2R) and 47 amino acids of the non-repeat region (LigBCen2NR) of LigB. In this study, the gelatin binding domain of fibronectin was shown to interact with LigBCen2R (KD = 1.91±0.40 µM). Not only LigBCen2R but also other Ig-like domains of Lig proteins including LigAVar7'-8, LigAVar10, LigAVar11, LigAVar12, LigAVar13, LigBCen7'-8, and LigBCen9 bind to GBD. Interestingly, a large gain in affinity was achieved through an avidity effect, with the terminal domains, 13th (LigA) or 12th (LigB) Ig-like repeat of Lig protein (LigAVar7'-13 and LigBCen7'-12) enhancing binding affinity approximately 51 and 28 fold, respectively, compared to recombinant proteins without this terminal repeat. In addition, the inhibited effect on MDCKs cells can also be promoted by Lig proteins with terminal domains, but these two domains are not required for gelatin binding domain binding and cell adhesion. Interestingly, Lig proteins with the terminal domains could form compact structures with a round shape mediated by multidomain interaction. This is the first report about the interaction of gelatin binding domain of Fn and Lig proteins and provides an example of Lig-gelatin binding domain binding mediating bacterial-host interaction

Molecular architecture of the Nup84–Nup145C–Sec13 edge element in the nuclear pore complex lattice

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) facilitate all nucleocytoplasmic transport. These massive protein assemblies are modular, with a stable structural scaffold supporting more dynamically attached components. The scaffold is made from multiple copies of the heptameric Y complex and the heteromeric Nic96 complex. We previously showed that members of these core subcomplexes specifically share an ACE1 fold with Sec31 of the COPII vesicle coat, and we proposed a lattice model for the NPC based on this commonality. Here we present the crystal structure of the heterotrimeric 134-kDa complex of Nup84–Nup145C–Sec13 of the Y complex. The heterotypic ACE1 interaction of Nup84 and Nup145C is analogous to the homotypic ACE1 interaction of Sec31 that forms COPII lattice edge elements and is inconsistent with the alternative 'fence-like' NPC model. We construct a molecular model of the Y complex and compare the architectural principles of COPII and NPC lattices.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant GM77537)Pew Charitable Trusts (Scholar Award