In December 2013, the first locally-acquired chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infections in the Americas were reported in the Caribbean. As of May 16, 55,992 cases had been reported and the outbreak was ...still spreading. Identification of newly affected locations is paramount to intervention activities, but challenging due to limitations of current data on the outbreak and on CHIKV transmission. We developed models to make probabilistic predictions of spread based on current data considering these limitations.
Branching process models capturing travel patterns, local infection prevalence, climate dependent transmission factors, and associated uncertainty estimates were developed to predict probable locations for the arrival of CHIKV-infected travelers and for the initiation of local transmission. Many international cities and areas close to where transmission has already occurred were likely to have received infected travelers. Of the ten locations predicted to be the most likely locations for introduced CHIKV transmission in the first four months of the outbreak, eight had reported local cases by the end of April. Eight additional locations were likely to have had introduction leading to local transmission in April, but with substantial uncertainty.
Branching process models can characterize the risk of CHIKV introduction and spread during the ongoing outbreak. Local transmission of CHIKV is currently likely in several Caribbean locations and possible, though uncertain, for other locations in the continental United States, Central America, and South America. This modeling framework may also be useful for other outbreaks where the risk of pathogen spread over heterogeneous transportation networks must be rapidly assessed on the basis of limited information.
Amid the current “crisis” in the business and practice of journalism, entrepreneurial journalism has been offered as a solution. While the precise set of practices that constitute entrepreneurial ...journalism remain unclear, such discourse promotes a notion of the enterprising individual journalist forging a career for herself through practices of self-branding and self-employment and learning to be adaptable, flexible, and self-sufficient. This essay challenges the notion of entrepreneurial journalism, arguing that it emerges at a time of institutional crisis for journalism and uncertainty for journalists, intersecting with neoliberal enterprise culture and the spread of digital technologies to promote an ideology that masks the precarious nature of contemporary media work. The article considers the work of freelance journalists in historical context and argues that the discourse of entrepreneurial journalism closes the space required to envision alternative ways to organize the production of journalism and journalistic labor.
This paper examines some of the labor processes involved inthe expansion of digital journalism to comment on the nature and implications of transformations in journalistic work in a digital age. ...Specifically, I survey four practices that stand out as putting pressure on traditional journalism production: outsourcing, unpaid labor, metrics and measurement, and automation. Although these practices are unevenly incorporated into mainstream news production (and in some cases are still marginal), they demonstrate viable options for media corporations seeking to streamline production. Drawing on labor process theory, I emphasize that media corporations use strategies of efficiency and rationalization to lower labor costs. Unpaid labor, robot reporters, algorithms, and outsourcing demonstrate that changes in the media production process are not the inevitable results of technology but, as the long history of journalism and technological change demonstrates, strategies for lowering labor costs.
Self-employed media and cultural workers are key users of co-working spaces, where a growing number of independent workers share desks and office amenities, escape the isolation of working from home ...and seek contacts for paid work. Informed by interviews with coworking space operators and members, this article assesses coworking as a response to precarity. We argue that social and political ambivalence is intrinsic to the culture of coworking. First, we situate coworking in a political–economic context, claiming that coworking emerged as a worker-developed response to changing economic conditions but, in its current form, is increasingly commodified and ultimately reinforces labour flexibilization. Second, we survey meanings attached to coworking, highlighting tensions between coworking’s counter-corporate identity and its recapitulation of neoliberal norms. Third, we address subjectivity formation, proposing that coworking spaces are a stage for the performance of network sociality. We conclude by considering coworking’s political potential as a platform for collective action. This article forms part of the Special Issue ‘On the Move’, which marks the twentieth anniversary of European Journal of Cultural Studies.
This paper argues that Marxist political economy is a useful framework for understanding contemporary conditions of cultural work. Drawing on Karl Marx’s foundational concepts, labour process theory, ...and a case study of freelance writers, I argue that the debate over autonomy and control in cultural work ignores exploitation in labour-capital relationships, which is a crucial process shaping cultural work. To demonstrate the benefits of this approach, I discuss two methods media firms use to extract surplus value from freelance writers: exploitation of unpaid labour time and exploitation of intellectual property through aggressive copyright regimes. I argue that a Marxist perspective can uncover the dynamics that are transforming cultural industries and workers’ experiences. From this perspective, cultural work is understood as a site of struggle.
Background. The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was discovered September 2012 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The first US case of MERS-CoV was confirmed on 2 May 2014. ...Methods. We summarize the clinical symptoms and signs, laboratory and radiologic findings, and MERS-CoV–specific tests. Results. The patient is a 65-year-old physician who worked in a hospital in KSA where MERS-CoV patients were treated. His illness onset included malaise, myalgias, and low-grade fever. He flew to the United States on day of illness (DOI) 7. His first respiratory symptom, a dry cough, developed on DOI 10. On DOI 11, he presented to an Indiana hospital as dyspneic, hypoxic, and with a right lower lobe infiltrate on chest radiography. On DOI 12, his serum tested positive by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for MERS-CoV and showed high MERS-CoV antibody titers, whereas his nasopharyngeal swab was rRT-PCR negative. Expectorated sputum was rRT-PCR positive the following day, with a high viral load (5.31 × 106 copies/mL). He was treated with antibiotics, intravenous immunoglobulin, and oxygen by nasal cannula. He was discharged on DOI 22. The genome sequence was similar (>99%) to other known MERS-CoV sequences, clustering with those from KSA from June to July 2013. Conclusions. This patient had a prolonged nonspecific prodromal illness before developing respiratory symptoms. Both sera and sputum were rRT-PCR positive when nasopharyngeal specimens were negative. US clinicians must be vigilant for MERS-CoV in patients with febrile and/or respiratory illness with recent travel to the Arabian Peninsula, especially among healthcare workers.
MCL-1 is an antiapoptotic BCL-2 family protein that has emerged as a major pathogenic factor in human cancer. Like BCL-2, MCL-1 bears a surface groove whose function is to sequester the BH3 killer ...domains of proapoptotic BCL-2 family members, a mechanism harnessed by cancer cells to establish formidable apoptotic blockades. Although drugging the BH3-binding groove has been achieved for BCL-2, translating this approach to MCL-1 has been challenging. Here, we report an alternative mechanism for MCL-1 inhibition by small-molecule covalent modification of C286 at a new interaction site distant from the BH3-binding groove. Our structure-function analyses revealed that the BH3 binding capacity of MCL-1 and its suppression of BAX are impaired by molecular engagement, a phenomenon recapitulated by C286W mutagenic mimicry in vitro and in mouse cells. Thus, we characterize an allosteric mechanism for disrupting the antiapoptotic BH3 binding activity of MCL-1, informing a new strategy for disarming MCL-1 in cancer.
This article reports on job loss among Canadian journalists between 2012 and 2016. Building on Australian research on the aftermath of job loss in journalism, this article examines the experiences of ...197 journalists who were laid off or who took a buyout, voluntarily or not, due to corporate restructuring in Canadian media (both French and English). To date, no scholarly research in Canada has examined what happens to journalists after they are laid off, including the personal and professional experiences journalists undergo when they lose their job and seek a new one, or the implications of these experiences for Canadian journalism in general. Overall, in a result that mirrors laid-off Australian journalists' experiences of re-employment, we find a dramatic shift among journalists' employment status and a decline in incomes after job loss. The majority of our survey participants moved from full-time, secure, and well remunerated work to more precarious forms of employment in and out of journalism, including freelance, contract and part-time. This shift in employment status demonstrates underlying precariousness in Canadian journalism. We argue that job loss in journalism has implications for broader social life and for journalism as an institution vital for participation in democratic life.
Sexual minority women (SMW) participate in higher rates of psychotherapy than their heterosexual counterparts, but little is known about how depression and anxiety interventions can meet the unique ...needs of these populations. This systematic review identified ten articles that focused on testing, developing, or informing depression and anxiety treatments for SMW. Adaptations to meet the needs of SMW focused on sexual orientation, gender, minority stress, and co-occurring mental health problems. Four studies included empirical evaluations of at least some elements of interventions, with only one of these studies involving a randomized controlled trial with a control group. Six articles, including study protocols and guidelines for interventions, proposed intervention strategies that have not yet been subject to empirical evaluation. The strongest evidence emerged in support of cognitive-behavioral interventions to meet the needs of SMW. Future research should empirically evaluate proposed identity-focused adaptations for treating depression and anxiety among SMW.
LGBTQ (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) individuals experience increased risk for substance use disorders. Many LGBTQ individuals experience barriers to benefiting from substance ...use programs. A recent study suggests that SMART Recovery, a cognitive-behavioral mutual help group for addictive behaviors, may be a valuable resource for LGBTQ individuals experiencing substance use–related problems. Mental health service providers can play a valuable role in supporting LGBTQ clients in participating in SMART Recovery by introducing them to the program, supporting them in overcoming barriers to successful engagement, and helping clients to apply SMART Recovery tools to salient situations to promote recall and utilization, and teaching additional cognitive-behavioral tools to promote effective emotion regulation and coping with minority stressors.
PDF
