Coping with COVID-19: the role of religion in times of crisis

[Extract:] The most serious pandemic of the globalised age has had tremendous consequences, both physical and psychological, for the world’s population. Few people have remained unaffected, although it is undeniable that certain individuals and groups have suffered more than others. Many journalists and medical professionals have highlighted the disproportionately high mortality rates among ethnic minorities in several nations (Pareek et al., 2020), while others have decried the severity of the psychological impact that social distancing has had on individuals struggling with mental health issues (Yao et al., 2020). There can be no doubt that COVID-19 is everyone’s problem. Yet, it is vitally important to mitigate and leverage differences in vulnerability and resilience respectively if we are to minimise the total cost of this terrible illness

Using the literature to quantify the learning curve: a case study

Objective: To assess whether a literature review of a technology can allow a learning curve to be quantified. Methods: The literature for fibreoptic intubation was searched for studies reporting information relevant to the learning curve. The Cochrane Librar y, Medline, Embase and Science Citation index were searched. Studies that reported a procedure time were included. Data were abstracted on the three features of learning: initial level, rate of learning and asymptote level. Random effect meta-analysis was performed. Results: Only 21 studies gave explicit information concerning the previous experience of the operator(s). There were 32 different definitions of procedure time. From 4 studies of fibreoptic nasotracheal intubation, the mean starting level and time for the 10th procedure (95% confidence interval) was estimated to be 133s (113, 153) and 71s (62, 79) respectively. Conclusions: The review approach allowed learning to be quantified for our example technology. Poor and insufficient reporting constrained formal statistical estimation. Standardised reporting of non-drug techniques with adequate learning curve details is needed to inform trial design and costeffectiveness analysis

The interaction of hepatitis C virus and intracellular lipid metabolism

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis and cirrhosis over time. Whether liver damage is a consequence of viral infection or is due to an immune mediated response is not clear. Steatosis is a histopathological feature often found in HCV infected patients. Steatosis is the accumulation of intracytoplasmic lipid droplets within hepatocytes. It has been linked to the progression of fibrosis (Adinolfi et al., 2001). Steatosis was found significantly more frequently in patients infected with HCV genotype 3 than those infected with genotype 1 (Mihm et al., 1997). Currently there is no cell-based method of investigating the life cycle of HCV genotype 3 and transgenic mice studies have been restricted to genotype 1 proteins. Three chimpanzees experimentally infected with HCV showed differential regulation of genes encoding enzymes concerned with lipid metabolism. Treatment of HCV genotype 1b replicon containing cells with cerulenin, which inhibits fatty acid synthase, reduced replication of HCV RNA in a dose dependent manner (Su et al., 2002). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have recently been shown to inhibit replication of a genotype 1b sub-genomic replicon. PUFAs are essential and are known to down regulate lipogenic gene expression. However, the inhibitory effect of PUFAs on HCV RNA levels was thought to be independent of their inhibitory effect on fatty acid biosynthesis (Kapadia et al., 2005). To assess the effects of cerulenin and fatty acids on HCV genome replication we measured replication by northern blot analysis of total HCV RNA and using a replicon expressing luciferase. HCV protein production was measured by western blot using an antibody to the NS5A protein. To examine the effect on long chain fatty acid synthesis, we measured incorporation of 14C acetate into total cellular lipids. Toxicity was assayed using mitochondrial enzyme activity assays. Treating genotype 1b replicon cells with 30 μM cerulenin led to inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis and a corresponding inhibition of HCV RNA replication. However, at this level of cerulenin, only 60 % of cells were viable. Inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis was not observed at the lower non-toxic concentrations of 10 μM and 3 μM, although HCV replication was inhibited. These experiments were repeated using more frequent media changes and different suppliers of cerulenin. However, similar results were obtained. When a genotype 2a replicon expressing cell line (JFH1) was treated with cerulenin it was possible to inhibit both HCV RNA levels and fatty acid biosynthesis in a dose dependant manner. Furthermore cerulenin treatment of an alternative genotype 1b expressing cell line led to an inhibition of fatty acid synthesis in a dose dependent manner. We have studied the effects of the PUFAs, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on JFH1 replicon (genotype 2) replication using both constitutive and transiently expressing systems. For a control, we used oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. DHA and EPA administered from 3 to 100 μM concentration showed a dose responsive reduction in replication. Fatty acid biosynthesis was also inhibited; however at the higher concentrations there were reductions in cell viability. Oleic acid did not effectively inhibit JFH1 replication even though, at higher concentrations, there was a small reduction in 14C acetate incorporation. Initial immunofluorescence data indicated that NS5A foci were not disrupted by treatment of cells with PUFAs and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching data indicated that PUFAs did not increase ER membrane fluidity. A genotype 3 genome was amplified and sequenced using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from the serum of an HCV genotype 3ainfected patient. A majority sequence was assembled and amplification products were ligated into vectors, which were sequenced and mutated back to the majority sequence. The genotype 3 genome was modified by the exclusion of the structural genes and non-structural (NS) protein 2. A bicistronic replicon was created in which the HCV internal ribosome entry site (IRES) controlled expression of the selectable marker neomycin phosphotransferase and the encephalomyocarditis virus IRES controlled expression of the NS proteins. RNA replicons were transcribed and electroporated into HuH-7 cell lines. A transiently expressing replicon was made by replacing the neomycin gene with a firefly luciferase gene. Cells expressing neither the constitutively nor the transiently genotype 3 replicon sustained viral replication. In conclusion cerulenin inhibited HCV replication at levels, which did not inhibit fatty acid biosynthesis and were not toxic. There was toxicity at cerulenin concentrations, which inhibited fatty acid biosynthesis. Cerulenin inhibited replication but by a mechanism other than inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis. Cells with different passage histories were shown to behave differently to each other in their response to drugs. The PUFAs, DHA and EPA exert an inhibitory effect on HCV replicon replication and fatty acid biosynthesis at non-toxic levels. Oleic acid did not inhibit HCV replication at equivalent concentrations. The mechanism behind PUFA inhibition of HCV RNA levels is still unknown. An attempt to create genotype 3 constitutively and transiently expressing replicon HuH-7 cell lines failed

Evidence of method effects in the authoritarianism-conservatism-traditionalism scales

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) is notoriously complex, multifaceted, and difficult to measure as a psychological construct. Recently, Duckitt et al. developed the ACT scales, offering theoretical refinement of the RWA construct. Although the validity of the ACT scales had been supported by a considerable body of research, shortcomings in previous analyses cannot rule out the existence of possible method effects. In the present research, we sought to test for the presence of such effects in a representative community sample of adults in Singapore (N = 738). We re-evaluated the factor structure of the ACT scales by assessing four separate models using an item-based approach in our confirmatory factor analyses. Results found significant method effects associated with both the pro-trait and con-trait items in the ACT scales. The implications of these results and possible strategies for controlling method effects in the ACT scales are discussed

Personality predicts words in favorite songs

Psychologists have long theorized that people actively create, select, or modify situations in order to fulfill their psychological needs. However, little is known about how people use forms of art and entertainment such as music to enhance the potential for need satisfaction in their environment. In this research, we propose that people like certain songs because the linguistic cues in their lyrics are congruent with personality and hence can satisfy personal needs. To test this hypothesis, we measured participants’ personality and the linguistic styles of their favorite songs, and identified associations between personality and word use in lyrics, while controlling for preferences for melodic attributes and uses of music. We observed significant associations between personality traits predict linguistic cues in favorite songs, such as extraverts tending to like songs expressing positive emotions and conscientious individuals tending to like songs with lyrics that display cognitive complexity. These associations between personality and lyrics were stronger for participants who generally liked a song because of its lyrics rather than melody. These results improve our understanding of how people use linguistic cues in language products to satisfy their needs, and provide a new framework for understanding the mechanisms of musical preferences. They also have important practical implications

A questionnaire elicitation of surgeons' belief about learning within a surgical trial

PMID: 23145113 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3493499 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

Otherwise Unstable Structures Self-Assemble in the Cavities of Cuboctahedral Coordination Cages.

We present a method for the directed self-assembly of interlocked structures and coordination complexes in a set of metal-organic hosts. New homo- and heteroleptic metal complexes-species that cannot be prepared outside-form within the cavities of cuboctahedral coordination cages. When linear bidentate guests and macrocycles are sequentially introduced to the host, a rotaxane is threaded internally; the resulting ternary host-guest complex is a new kind of molecular gyroscope. Tetradentate guests segregate the cavities of these cages into distinct spaces, promoting new stoichiometries and modes of ligand binding to metal ions. The behaviors of bound complexes were observed to alter markedly as a result of confinement: In situ oxidations and spin transitions, neither of which occur ex situ, were both observed to proceed. By providing a tailored space for new modes of coordination-driven self-assembly, the inner phases of cuboctahedral coordination cages provide a new medium for synthetic coordination chemistry.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC EP/P027067/1) and the European Research Council (ERC 695009)

HepSEQ: International Public Health Repository for Hepatitis B

HepSEQ is a repository for an extensive library of public health and molecular data relating to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection collected from international sources. It is hosted by the Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency (HPA), England, United Kingdom. This repository has been developed as a web-enabled, quality-controlled database to act as a tool for surveillance, HBV case management and for research. The web front-end for the database system can be accessed from . The format of the database system allows for comprehensive molecular, clinical and epidemiological data to be deposited into a functional database, to search and manipulate the stored data and to extract and visualize the information on epidemiological, virological, clinical, nucleotide sequence and mutational aspects of HBV infection through web front-end. Specific tools, built into the database, can be utilized to analyse deposited data and provide information on HBV genotype, identify mutations with known clinical significance (e.g. vaccine escape, precore and antiviral-resistant mutations) and carry out sequence homology searches against other deposited strains. Further mechanisms are also in place to allow specific tailored searches of the database to be undertaken

Recruitment to publicly funded trials - are surgical trials really different?

Good recruitment is integral to the conduct of a high-quality randomised controlled trial. It has been suggested that recruitment is particularly difficult for evaluations of surgical interventions, a field in which there is a dearth of evidence from randomised comparisons. While there is anecdotal speculation to support the inference that recruitment to surgical trials is more challenging than for medical trials we are unaware of any formal assessment of this. In this paper, we compare recruitment to surgical and medical trials using a cohort of publicly funded trials. Data: Overall recruitment to trials was assessed using of a cohort of publicly funded trials (n = 114). Comparisons were made by using the Recruitment Index, a simple measure of recruitment activity for multicentre randomised controlled trials. Recruitment at the centre level was also investigated through three example surgical trials. Results: The Recruitment Index was found to be higher, though not statistically significantly, in the surgical group (n = 18, median = 38.0 IQR (10.7, 77.4)) versus (n = 81, median = 34.8 IQR (11.7, 98.0)) days per recruit for the medical group (median difference 1.7 (− 19.2, 25.1); p = 0.828). For the trials where the comparison was between a surgical and a medical intervention, the Recruitment Index was substantially higher (n = 6, 68.3 (23.5, 294.8)) versus (n = 93, 34.6 (11.7, 90.0); median difference 25.9 (− 35.5, 221.8); p = 0.291) for the other trials. Conclusions: There was no clear evidence that surgical trials differ from medical trials in terms of recruitment activity. There was, however, support for the inference that medical versus surgical trials are more difficult to recruit to. Formal exploration of the recruitment data through a modelling approach may go some way to tease out where important differences exist.The first author was supported by a Medical Research Council UK Fellowship.Peer reviewedAuthor versio

Need for achievement moderates the effect of motive-relevant challenge on salivary cortisol changes

The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis plays a key role in the physiological response to stress, preparing the organism for appropriate action. While some research has examined universally relevant threats, other research has suggested that individual differences may moderate the relationship between stress and cortisol release, such that some individuals exhibit modified reactivity to personally relevant stressors or challenges. In the present study we investigated whether one individual difference—the implicit need for achievement—moderates the effect of motive-relevant challenge on salivary cortisol. Participants’ salivary cortisol and felt affect were measured before and after engagement in an achievement task. In the positive- and no-feedback conditions, individuals high in implicit achievement motivation demonstrated increased cortisol response to the task, whereas in the negative feedback condition, individuals high in implicit achievement motivation demonstrated a dampened cortisol response. Furthermore, changes in cortisol were accompanied by changes in felt affect in the same direction, specifically hedonic tone. These results suggest that the HPA axis also responds to non-social-evaluative challenge in a personality-contingent manner