This study aimed to investigate the experiences of people with intellectual disability (ID) using information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the ways these technologies foster social ...connectedness. In partnership with a community mental health organization, this qualitative descriptive study explored the experiences of 10 people with ID using ICTs. Participants described how ICTs Opened the Door to Possibilities in their life – ICTs provided an avenue for connecting with other people, a means to pursue personal interests and a tool for organizing everyday life. Opening the door to possibilities was further understood as movement towards digital inclusion for people with ID, conceptualized as the fit between social opportunity and personal skills. We have identified the prominent role social supports play in creating (and constraining) opportunities for digital inclusion, and that digital inclusion has the potential to enable social connectedness and the development of agency. Consideration of the complex interaction between social opportunity and personal skills, and the mediating influence of supports, will enhance the inclusion of people with ID.
In this article, we test a dynamic intracommunication process looking at the relationships between interpersonal discussion, perceived credibility of partisan media, and partisan media use. Using the ...theoretical foundation of hostile media perceptions, with a specific focus on relative hostile media, we examine whether interpersonal communication affects perceived credibility of liberal and conservative media outlets and whether these effects translate into increased use or avoidance of partisan media outlets. Using data collected during the 2016 U.S. election, we find that supportive interpersonal discussion is associated with greater perceived credibility of liberal media outlets (e.g., MSNBC) among liberals, which results in increased use of liberal leaning news outlets. In addition, we find that discussion with those who hold opposing views is associated with increased perceived credibility of conservative media outlets (e.g., Fox News) among conservatives, which translates into greater use of conservative leaning outlets. Similarly, talking to those who hold opposing views decreases perceived credibility of liberal media outlets (e.g., MSNBC) among conservatives, resulting in decreased use of liberal leaning outlets.
Oral microbiome dysbiosis has been associated with various local and systemic human diseases such as dental caries, periodontal disease, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Bacterial composition may ...be affected by age, oral health, diet, and geography, although information about the natural variation found in the general public is still lacking. In this study, citizen-scientists used a crowdsourcing model to obtain oral bacterial composition data from guests at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science to determine if previously suspected oral microbiome associations with an individual's demographics, lifestyle, and/or genetics are robust and generalizable enough to be detected within a general population. Consistent with past research, we found bacterial composition to be more diverse in youth microbiomes when compared to adults. Adult oral microbiomes were predominantly impacted by oral health habits, while youth microbiomes were impacted by biological sex and weight status. The oral pathogen Treponema was detected more commonly in adults without recent dentist visits and in obese youth. Additionally, oral microbiomes from participants of the same family were more similar to each other than to oral microbiomes from non-related individuals. These results suggest that previously reported oral microbiome associations are observable in a human population containing the natural variation commonly found in the general public. Furthermore, these results support the use of crowdsourced data as a valid methodology to obtain community-based microbiome data.
ABSTRACT
Galaxy environment plays an important role in driving the transformation of galaxies from blue and star forming to red and quenched. Recent works have focused on the role of cosmic web ...filaments in galaxy evolution and have suggested that stellar mass segregation, quenching of star formation, and gas-stripping may occur within filaments. We study the relationship between distance to filament and the stellar mass, colour, and H i gas content of galaxies using data from the REsolved Spectroscopy of a Local VolumE survey and Environmental COntext (ECO) catalogue, two overlapping census-style, volume-complete surveys. We use the Discrete Persistence Structures Extractor to identify cosmic web filaments over the full ECO area. We find that galaxies close to filaments have higher stellar masses, in agreement with previous results. Controlling for stellar mass, we find that galaxies also have redder colours and are more gas poor closer to filaments. When accounting for group membership and halo mass, we find that these trends in colour and gas content are dominated by the increasing prevalence of galaxy group environments close to filaments, particularly for high-halo mass and low-stellar mass galaxies. Filaments have an additional small effect on the gas content of galaxies in low-mass haloes, possibly due to cosmic web stripping.
Preclinical models of human disease provide powerful tools for therapeutic discovery but have limitations. This problem is especially apparent in the field of acute kidney injury (AKI), in which ...clinical trial failures have been attributed to inaccurate modelling performed largely in rodents. Multidisciplinary efforts such as the Kidney Precision Medicine Project are now starting to identify molecular subtypes of human AKI. In addition, over the past decade, there have been developments in human pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids as well as zebrafish, rodent and large animal models of AKI. These organoid and AKI models are being deployed at different stages of preclinical therapeutic development. However, the traditionally siloed, preclinical investigator-driven approaches that have been used to evaluate AKI therapeutics to date rarely account for the limitations of the model systems used and have given rise to false expectations of clinical efficacy in patients with different AKI pathophysiologies. To address this problem, there is a need to develop more flexible and integrated approaches, involving teams of investigators with expertise in a range of different model systems, working closely with clinical investigators, to develop robust preclinical evidence to support more focused interventions in patients with AKI.
An association between central venous pressure and acute kidney injury (AKI) has been observed following cardiac surgery, but it is unknown whether this reflects intravascular volume status or ...impaired right ventricular (RV) myocardial performance. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that decreased RV peak longitudinal strain (PLSS), as measured by 2-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography, is associated with AKI following cardiac surgery.
Retrospective observational cohort study.
Cardiovascular intensive care unit in a 576-bed referral hospital.
Adult patients having undergone cardiac surgery in whom a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) was performed within 48 hours after chest closure.
This was a retrospective study. Urine output and serum creatinine values were recorded at baseline and for 48 hours after surgery. Statistical analysis was performed to identify differences in baseline demographic and echo-derived values between patients with and without postoperative AKI criteria.
One hundred ninety-nine subjects had postprocessing of TTE performed. AKI was observed in 87% of patients (173 of 199). Age, body mass index, and preoperative serum creatinine were higher in the AKI group. The mean PLSS was -17.2% ± 4.3% versus -17.1% ± 3.7% in patients with AKI versus those without (p = 0.95). The calculated RV systolic pressure was elevated in the AKI group compared to the non-AKI group (38.9 ± 9.9 v 34.6 ± 7.9 mmHg, p = 0.02).
In this cohort of cardiac surgery patients, speckle-tracking analysis of RV myocardial performance was feasible. Elevated RV systolic pressure associated with AKI, while speckle tracking-derived echocardiography measurements did not.
The Fourth Circuit - covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland - recently held that substitute trustees, including attorneys acting in connection with a ...foreclosure, can be debt collectors under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and are therefore potentially liable for FDCPA violations. In Wilson vs. Draper and Goldberg, the borrower sued a law firm and the individual firm member who had initiated foreclosure proceedings on the lender's behalf, specifically alleging that the law firm failed to verify the debt, continued collection efforts after the debt was disputed and communicated directly with the borrower when the law firm had been advised tha the borrower was represented by counsel.
Abstract
In the local universe, OH megamasers (OHMs) are detected almost exclusively in infrared-luminous galaxies, with a prevalence that increases with IR luminosity, suggesting that they trace ...gas-rich galaxy mergers. Given the proximity of the rest frequencies of OH and the hyperfine transition of neutral atomic hydrogen (H
i
), radio surveys to probe the cosmic evolution of H
i
in galaxies also offer exciting prospects for exploiting OHMs to probe the cosmic history of gas-rich mergers. Using observations for the Looking At the Distant Universe with the MeerKAT Array (LADUMA) deep H
i
survey, we report the first untargeted detection of an OHM at
z
> 0.5, LADUMA J033046.20−275518.1 (nicknamed “Nkalakatha”). The host system, WISEA J033046.26−275518.3, is an infrared-luminous radio galaxy whose optical redshift
z
≈ 0.52 confirms the MeerKAT emission-line detection as OH at a redshift
z
OH
= 0.5225 ± 0.0001 rather than H
i
at lower redshift. The detected spectral line has 18.4
σ
peak significance, a width of 459 ± 59 km s
−1
, and an integrated luminosity of (6.31 ± 0.18 statistical ± 0.31 systematic) × 10
3
L
⊙
, placing it among the most luminous OHMs known. The galaxy’s far-infrared luminosity
L
FIR
= (1.576 ±0.013) × 10
12
L
⊙
marks it as an ultraluminous infrared galaxy; its ratio of OH and infrared luminosities is similar to those for lower-redshift OHMs. A comparison between optical and OH redshifts offers a slight indication of an OH outflow. This detection represents the first step toward a systematic exploitation of OHMs as a tracer of galaxy growth at high redshifts.
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