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The ubiquity of social media platforms allows individuals to easily share and curate their personal lives with friends, family, and the world. The selective nature of sharing one’s personal life may reinforce the memories and details of the shared experiences while simultaneously inducing the forgetting of related, unshared memories/experiences. This is a well-established psychological phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF, Anderson et al.). To examine this phenomenon in the context of social media, two experiments were conducted using an adapted version of the RIF paradigm in which participants either shared experimenter-contrived (Study 1) or personal photographs (Study 2) on social media platforms. Study 1 revealed that participants had more accurate recall of the details surrounding the shared photographs as well as enhanced recognition of the shared photographs. Study 2 revealed that participants had more consistent recall of event details captured in the shared photographs than details captured or uncaptured in the unshared photographs. These results suggest that selectively sharing photographs on social media may specifically enhance the recollection of event details associated with the shared photographs. The novel and ecologically embedded methods provide fodder for future research to better understand the important role of social media in shaping how individuals remember their personal experiences.
Female patients using indwelling urinary catheters (IUCs) are disproportionately at risk for developing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) compared to males. Female external urine wicking devices (FEUWDs) have emerged as potential alternatives to IUCs for incontinence management.
Objectives:
To assess the clinical risks and benefits of FEUWDs as alternatives to IUCs.
Methods:
Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, CINAHL Complete, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from inception to July 10, 2023. Included studies used FEUWDs as an intervention and reported measures of urinary tract infections and secondary outcomes related to incontinence management.
Results:
Of 2,580 returned records, 50 were systematically reviewed. Meta-analyses assessed rates of indwelling CAUTIs and IUC utilization. Following FEUWD implementation, IUC utilization rates decreased 14% (RR = 0.86, 95% CI = [0.76, 0.97]) and indwelling CAUTI rates nonsignificantly decreased up to 32% (IRR = 0.68, 95% CI = [0.39, 1.17]). Limited only to studies that described protocols for implementation, the incidence rate of indwelling CAUTIs decreased significantly up to 54% (IRR = 0.46, 95% CI = [0.32, 0.66]). Secondary outcomes were reported less routinely.
Conclusions:
Overall, FEUWDs nonsignificantly reduced indwelling CAUTI rates, though reductions were significant among studies describing FEUWD implementation protocols. We recommend developing standard definitions for consistent reporting of non-indwelling CAUTI complications such as FEUWD-associated UTIs, skin injuries, and mobility-related complications.
Identifying individuals at the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) would enable development and study of interventions prior to onset of symptoms. However, differentiating age-related cognitive changes from subtle pathological changes remains a challenge in the field. Methods that would enable earlier detection of AD in elders with no subjective or objective cognitive concerns (i.e., individuals in the preclinical stage) would be of great interest. Community detection, a metric founded in graph theory, offers an alternative approach for characterizing subtle heterogeneity within aging samples and has the potential to inform cognitive variability in aging.
Participants and Methods:
Using a hierarchical community detection, we examined whether cognitive subtypes could be identified in 226 cognitively normal older adults (from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative [ADNI] study). Cognitive profiles of each community were characterized first using MANOVAs to examine the relationship between community membership and 12 age-, gender-, and education-corrected neuropsychological variables. Pair-wise comparisons were examined for significant main effects. We then examined whether these subtypes were related to biomarkers (cortical volumes, fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) hypometabolism) or clinical progression. All p values were corrected for multiple comparisons.
Results:
Three communities (i.e., cognitive subtypes) were identified within the healthy aging sample. The first and largest community identified (N = 106) was characterized by a relative weakness on a single measure visuospatial executive function. Both the second (N = 76) and third community (N = 44) scored significantly lower on immediate, delayed, and recognition memory relative to the first community. The third community was characterized by a relative weakness in category fluency and speeded visual sequencing as well (p < .000). The three communities did not differ on age, gender, education, race, or ethnicity. Community membership was associated with entorhinal volume (with the second and third communities having significantly smaller entorhinal volumes than the first community), though community membership was not significantly associated with other biomarkers examined. Conversion rate reached trend level significance at 12 month follow up (more converters in the third community).
Conclusions:
Hierarchical community detection is an alternative method for characterizing neuropsychological variation and it appears sensitive to relatively small differences that may be observed in a normal aging sample. While the sample size was relatively small, this approach shows promise for potentially leading to earlier detection of cognitive decline among individuals classified to be aging normally (e.g., community 3).
The putative host galaxy of FRB 20171020A was first identified as ESO 601-G036 in 2018, but as no repeat bursts have been detected, direct confirmation of the host remains elusive. In light of recent developments in the field, we re-examine this host and determine a new association confidence level of 98%. At 37 Mpc, this makes ESO 601-G036 the third closest FRB host galaxy to be identified to date and the closest to host an apparently non-repeating FRB (with an estimated repetition rate limit of $<$$0.011$ bursts per day above $10^{39}$ erg). Due to its close distance, we are able to perform detailed multi-wavelength analysis on the ESO 601-G036 system. Follow-up observations confirm ESO 601-G036 to be a typical star-forming galaxy with H i and stellar masses of $\log_{10}\!(M_{\rm{H\,{\small I}}} / M_\odot) \sim 9.2$ and $\log_{10}\!(M_\star / M_\odot) = 8.64^{+0.03}_{-0.15}$, and a star formation rate of $\text{SFR} = 0.09 \pm 0.01\,{\rm M}_\odot\,\text{yr}^{-1}$. We detect, for the first time, a diffuse gaseous tail ($\log_{10}\!(M_{\rm{H\,{\small I}}} / M_\odot) \sim 8.3$) extending to the south-west that suggests recent interactions, likely with the confirmed nearby companion ESO 601-G037. ESO 601-G037 is a stellar shred located to the south of ESO 601-G036 that has an arc-like morphology, is about an order of magnitude less massive, and has a lower gas metallicity that is indicative of a younger stellar population. The properties of the ESO 601-G036 system indicate an ongoing minor merger event, which is affecting the overall gaseous component of the system and the stars within ESO 601-G037. Such activity is consistent with current FRB progenitor models involving magnetars and the signs of recent interactions in other nearby FRB host galaxies.
While conservation practices promote soil health and reduce the negative environmental effects from agricultural production, their adoption rates are generally low. To facilitate farmer adoption, we carried out a survey to identify potential challenges faced by farmers regarding conservation tillage and cover crop adoption in the western margin of the US Corn Belt. We found farmers' top two concerns regarding conservation tillage were delayed planting, caused by slow soil warming in spring, and increased dependence on herbicide and fungicides. Narrow planting window and lack of time/labor were perceived by farmers as the two primary challenges for cover crop adoption. Some sense of place factors, including the commonly included dimensions of attachment, identity and dependence, played a role in farmers' perceived challenges. For example, respondents more economically dependent on farming perceived greater challenges. We found that farmers' challenge perceptions regarding reduced yield and lack of time/labor significantly decreased as years of usage increased, implying that time and experience could dilute some challenges faced by farmers. Our findings indicate that social network use, technical guidance and economic subsidies are likely to address the concerns of farmers and facilitate their adoption of conservation practices.
Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs in parents of infants with CHD, contributing to psychological distress with detrimental effects on family functioning and well-being. We sought to determine the prevalence and factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in parents whose infants underwent staged palliation for single ventricle heart disease.
Materials and methods:
A large longitudinal multi-centre cohort study evaluated 215 mothers and fathers for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder at three timepoints, including post-Norwood, post-Stage II, and a final study timepoint when the child reached approximately 16 months of age, using the self-report questionnaire Impact of Event Scale – Revised.
Results:
The prevalence of probable post-traumatic stress disorder post-Norwood surgery was 50% of mothers and 39% of fathers, decreasing to 27% of mothers and 24% of fathers by final follow-up. Intrusive symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares and hyperarousal symptoms such as poor concentration, irritability, and sudden physical symptoms of racing heart and difficulty breathing were particularly elevated in parents. Higher levels of anxiety, reduced coping, and decreased satisfaction with parenting were significantly associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in parents. Demographic and clinical variables such as parent education, pre-natal diagnosis, medical complications, and length of hospital stay(s) were not significantly associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Discussion:
Parents whose infants underwent staged palliation for single ventricle heart disease often reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms persisted over time and routine screening might help identify parents at-risk and prompt referral to appropriate supports.
We obtained 24 air samples in 8 general wards temporarily converted into negative-pressure wards admitting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) omicron variant BA.2.2 in Hong Kong. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in 19 (79.2%) of 24 samples despite enhanced indoor air dilution. It is difficult to prevent airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in hospitals.
Psychiatric disorders are highly polygenic and show patterns of partner resemblance. Partner resemblance has direct population-level genetic implications if it is caused by assortative mating, but not if it is caused by convergence or social homogamy. Using genetics may help distinguish these different mechanisms. Here, we investigated whether partner resemblance for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is influenced by assortative mating using polygenic risk scores (PRSs).
Methods
PRSs from The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study—VIA 7 were compared between parents in three subsamples: population-based control parent pairs (N=198), parent pairs where at least one parent had schizophrenia (N=193), and parent pairs where at least one parent had bipolar disorder (N=115).
Results
The PRS for schizophrenia was predictive of schizophrenia in the full sample and showed a significant correlation between parent pairs (r=0.121, p=0.0440), indicative of assortative mating. The PRS for bipolar disorder was also correlated between parent pairs (r=0.162, p=0.0067), but it was not predictive of bipolar disorder in the full sample, limiting the interpretation.
Conclusions
Our study provides genetic evidence for assortative mating for schizophrenia, with important implications for our understanding of the genetics of schizophrenia.
Many people who have self-harmed prefer informal sources of support or support from those with lived experience. However, little is known about whether peer support improves outcomes for people who have self-harmed or about the risks of peer support interventions in non-clinical settings.
Aims
The aims of this review were to examine the effectiveness, acceptability and potential risks of peer support for self-harm, and how these risks might be mitigated.
Method
We searched bibliographic databases and grey literature for papers published since 2000. We included peer support for self-harm that occurred in voluntary-sector organisations providing one-to-one or group support, or via moderated online peer support forums.
Results
Eight of the ten papers included focused on peer support that was delivered through online media. No study compared peer support with other treatments or a control group, so limited conclusions could be made about its effectiveness. Peer support for self-harm was found to be acceptable and was viewed as having a range of benefits including a sense of community, empowerment, and access to information and support. The most commonly perceived risk associated with peer support was the potential for triggering self-harm.
Conclusions
Our findings highlighted a range of benefits of being part of a group with very specific shared experiences. Mitigations for potential risks include organisations using professional facilitators for groups, trigger warnings for online forums, and providing regular supervision and training so that peers are prepared and feel confident to support vulnerable people while maintaining their own emotional health.
This study uses location-specific data to investigate the role of spatially mediated peer effects in farmers’ adoption of conservation agriculture practices. The literature has shown that farmers trust other farmers and one way to increase conservation practice adoption is through identifying feasible conservation practices in neighboring fields. Estimating this effect can help improve our understanding of what influences the adoption and could play a role in improving federal and local conservation program design. The study finds that although spatial peer effects are important in the adoption of conservation tillage and diverse crop rotation, the scale of peer effects are not substantial.
Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating, grain-size analysis and magnetic susceptibility measurements were conducted on the Fanjiaping loess section, from the western Chinese Loess Plateau. The results confirm that last glacial high-frequency climatic shifts were documented in mid-latitude continental archives. The grain-size record indicated that coarse-grained sediments with horizontal bedding and channel-fill structures were only deposited in several short intervals, equivalent to the beginning of marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 4 and the early to middle MIS 3. This probably implies brief rainfall intensification of the Asian summer monsoon, and its disappearance since the late MIS 3 to MIS 2 may have been a response to significant glacial cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Previous investigations revealed high sea-surface temperatures at high latitudes at the start of MIS 4, and the early to middle MIS 3 intensification of summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere, implying evident climate amelioration. Climate improvement favors boreal forest recovery, enhancing both winter and summer air temperatures. The resultant smaller equator-polar temperature gradient probably helped the moisture-laden summer monsoon to penetrate northward. This study thus provides new significant information about the response of terrestrial loessic palaeoenvironments to millennial-timescale climatic fluctuations during the last glacial period.
The high Antarctic plateau provides exceptional conditions for infrared observations on account of the cold, dry and stable atmosphere above the ice surface. This paper describes the scientific goals behind the first program to examine the time-varying universe in the infrared from Antarctica — the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS). This will employ a 50cm telescope to monitor the southern skies in the 2.4μmKdark window from China's Kunlun station at Dome A, on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, through the uninterrupted 4-month period of winter darkness. An earlier paper discussed optimisation of the Kdark filter for sensitivity (Li et al. 2016). This paper examines the scientific program for KISS. We calculate the sensitivity of the camera for the extrema of observing conditions that will be encountered. We present the parameters for sample surveys that could then be carried out for a range of cadences and sensitivities. We then discuss several science programs that could be conducted with these capabilities, involving star formation, brown dwarfs and hot Jupiters, exoplanets around M dwarfs, the terminal phases of stellar evolution, fast transients, embedded supernova searches, reverberation mapping of AGN, gamma ray bursts and the detection of the cosmic infrared background.
The Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey will be the first comprehensive exploration of the time varying Universe in the infrared. A key feature in optimising the scientific yield of this ambitious research programme is the choice of the survey passband. In particular, the survey aims to maximally exploit the unique thermal and atmospheric conditions pertaining to the high Antarctic site. By simulating the expected signal-to-noise for varying filter properties within the so-called ‘K DARK’ 2.4 μm window, filter performance can be tuned and best-case designs are given covering a range of conditions.
The Bovine Respiratory Disease Coordinated Agricultural Project (BRD CAP) is a 5-year project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with an overriding objective to use the tools of modern genomics to identify cattle that are less susceptible to BRD. To do this, two large genome wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using a case:control design on preweaned Holstein dairy heifers and beef feedlot cattle. A health scoring system was used to identify BRD cases and controls. Heritability estimates for BRD susceptibility ranged from 19 to 21% in dairy calves to 29.2% in beef cattle when using numerical scores as a semi-quantitative definition of BRD. A GWAS analysis conducted on the dairy calf data showed that single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) effects explained 20% of the variation in BRD incidence and 17–20% of the variation in clinical signs. These results represent a preliminary analysis of ongoing work to identify loci associated with BRD. Future work includes validation of the chromosomal regions and SNPs that have been identified as important for BRD susceptibility, fine mapping of chromosomes to identify causal SNPs, and integration of predictive markers for BRD susceptibility into genetic tests and national cattle genetic evaluations.
The need for replacement organs and tissue substitutes is on the rise. At present, there is an insufficient amount of tissue replacements for failed or damaged organs, due to the lack of donors. In the USA alone, over twenty million patients per year suffer from some form of tissue- and/or organ-related malady, and are awaiting a replacement. The financial cost of health care for these patients has been estimated to be over $400 billion annually [1, 2]. Computer-aided tissue engineered substitutes are one of the most promising applications of tissue replacements to address this issue. These tissue arrays are fabricated using techniques from a variety of science and engineering disciplines to create the optimum tissue replacement (in terms of the targeted functionality). Additionally, these tissue constructs play a vital role as pre-formed extracellular matrices to which cells can readily attach, whereupon they can rapidly multiply and form new tissue [3, 4]. In recent decades, scientists have proven that these fields are evolving into one of the most promising therapeutic approaches in regenerative medicine [5–9].
Three-dimensional tissue scaffolds are designed with a preferred internal architecture, wherein porosity and material connectivity provide the required structural integrity, mass transport, and comprehensive microenvironment for cell and tissue growth. A literature survey has shown that cell survival and proliferation within the tissue scaffold are dependent on oxygen, vital molecules, and the micro-architecture of the scaffolds [10, 11]. The complexity of tissue scaffolds requires novel approaches and computational algorithms to match the desired criteria for internal architecture, permeability, pore size, and connectivity. The dynamics of a tissue scaffold is governed by its structural and topological configuration defined by porosity, pore interconnectivity, tortuosity, and scaffold material permeability and diffusivity [12–14]. The scaffold tortuosity characterizes the diffusion path length of fluid molecules through the scaffold, which shapes the internal architecture of the scaffold and plays a major role in tissue growth and proliferation [15–19]. Many cells respond more favorably to a three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment (than to a two-dimensional (2D) microenvironment) with intricate intracellular architectures where the cell’s morphological shape, behavior, and gene expression are richer, more robust, and more similar to in-vivo responses [20–22].