The authors study the phenomenon of strategic group polarization, in which members take more extreme actions than their preferences. The analysis is relevant for a broad range of formal and informal ...group settings, including social media, online platforms, sales teams, corporate and academic committees, and political action committees. In the model, agents with private preferences choose a public action (voice opinions), and the mean of their actions represents the group’s realized outcome. The agents face a trade-off between influencing the group decision and truth-telling. In a simultaneous-move game, agents strategically shade their actions toward the extreme. The strategic group influence motive can create substantial polarization in actions and group decisions even when the preferences are relatively moderate. Compared with a simultaneous game, a randomized-sequential-actions game lowers polarization when agents’ preferences are relatively similar. Sequential actions can even lead to moderation if the later agents have moderate preferences. Endogenizing the order of moves (through a first-price sealed-bid auction) always increases polarization, but it is also welfare enhancing. These findings can help group leaders, firms, and platforms design mechanisms that moderate polarization, such as the choice of speaking order, the group size, and the knowledge members have of others’ preferences and actions.
We examine multilateral bargaining in vertical supply relationships that involve an upstream manufacturer who sells through two competing retailers. In these relationships the negotiations are ...interdependent, and bargaining externality may arise across the retailers. In addition, the timing by which the manufacturer negotiates with the retailers becomes important. In simultaneous bargaining the retailers negotiate without knowing if an agreement has been reached in the other retail channel, whereas in sequential bargaining the retailer in the second negotiation is able to observe whether an agreement was reached in the first negotiation. We show that simultaneous bargaining is optimal for the manufacturer when the retail prices (and profitability) are similar, and sequential bargaining is preferred when the dispersion in the retail prices is sufficiently large. As a result of ex post renegotiations, the manufacturer may strategically stock out the less profitable retailer who charged a relatively low retail price and exclusively supply only the retailer who charged a relatively high retail price and maintained high channel profitability. Moreover, ex post multilateral bargaining can buffer downstream competition and thus lead to positive retail profits even in markets that are close to perfect competition.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can occur after trauma. Although inflammatory markers such as cytokines are found altered in trauma and PTSD, there is no consensus ...regarding which can be considered as biomarkers. Studies from South Asia region is also rare. We studied cytokines among trauma affected patients and matched healthy controls. Fifty patients (cases) with trauma, visiting the University hospital in Kathmandu and thirty-nine healthy controls were selected, and the levels of cytokines were determined using a Luminex IS 200. We compared the levels of the cytokines in thirty-four age and gender matched pairs of case and control among three groups: healthy volunteers, cases diagnosed as PTSD, and cases without PTSD. Among the 34 pair-matched cases and controls, IL-6 was significantly higher in both PTSD positive cases 2.43 (0.00-14.54) pg/ml; p = 0.004 and PTSD negative cases 3.00 (0.92-3.86) pg/ml; p = 0.005, than in controls 0.39 (0.00-11.38) pg/ml. IL-1β was significantly higher in PTSD positive cases 0.17 (0.00-5.27) pg/ml; p = 0.011 than in controls 0.00 (0.00-0.12) pg/ml. Other cytokines did not show significant differences. IL-6 was higher in both the trauma affected groups and IL-1β was higher in the trauma affected group with PTSD when compared to healthy controls. This supports the immune system activation hypothesis after trauma.
Nepal, like many other low-income countries, has a great burden of mental health issues but few resources to meet them. In addition, Nepal has endured several traumatic events in recent decades but ...the impact on mental health has not been studied in clinical settings. This study explores trauma-related psychiatric disorders and their correlates. 100 patients with a history of trauma who visited the outpatient psychiatry clinic at a University hospital in Kathmandu were assessed. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1 (CIDI) was used to evaluate lifetime and current depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Current PTSD was evaluated using PSTD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). The median number of lifetime traumatic events was two. Natural disaster was the most common trauma type (84%) compared to other types of trauma. Rape was reported as the most traumatizing. Current PTSD was found in 15%, depression in 33% and GAD in 38% of the patients. The lifetime rates were PTSD 83%, depression 45% and GAD 40%. There was high comorbidity between the disorders. The 31 to 45 years age group, above high school education level and trauma types other than earthquake were independently associated with current PTSD. Marital status and upper socioeconomic status (SES) compared to upper-middle SES were independently associated with lifetime PTSD. Both lifetime and current depression rates were independently associated with the upper SES compared to upper-middle SES. Place of living, education above high school and lower-middle SES were significantly associated with lifetime and current GAD.
Decades of research on trauma patients have shown that a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis does not always cover the full spectrum of symptoms after severe trauma. Complex PTSD (CPTSD) ...was recently introduced in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision. There have been no published studies on CPTSD in the South Asian region to date. The objective of this study was to evaluate CPTSD in a sample of trauma patients in Nepal. We also examined quality of life (QOL) and mental health comorbidities and their association with CPTSD caseness. One hundred patients with a history of trauma who visited the outpatient psychiatry clinic at a hospital in Kathmandu from 2017 to 2018 were assessed. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview Version 2.1 was used to evaluate PTSD, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Disturbance of self-organization symptoms from the Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress (SIDES) together with the PTSD diagnosis was used to confirm CPTSD caseness. The World Health Organization (WHO) QOL Scale Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to assess QOL in four domains. Among the 83 patients who had PTSD, 42 also had CPTSD. CPTSD was significantly associated with major depressive disorder, GAD, female gender, and lower QOL in all four domains. CPTSD was prevalent among these patients. Having CPTSD was significantly associated with worse outcomes in terms of QOL and comorbid mental disorders, even with similar trauma. There is a need to explore CPTSD symptoms and to address trauma patients with CPTSD in this region.
Vaccine hesitancy and monetary incentives Iyer, Ganesh; Nandur, Vivek; Soberman, David
Humanities & social sciences communications,
12/2022, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
Vaccine hesitancy is a significant barrier to reaching herd immunity and exiting the Covid-19 pandemic. This study examines the potential effectiveness of monetary incentives in conjunction ...with informational treatments about vaccine efficacy, lack of side effects, and zero costs. We elicit monetary valuations (both positive and negative) for the coronavirus vaccine by conducting an online randomized experiment on a representative sample of 2461 individuals across the US. The study elicits vaccination uptake, then participants’ valuations (willingness to pay (WTP) or the willingness to accept (WTA)) for the vaccine based upon the stated choice of participants to accept or reject the vaccine. We find that a $1000 incentive increases vaccination uptake up to 86.9%. We identify two distinct segments among the vaccine hesitants—“Reluctants” and “Unwillings”. Reluctants can be persuaded to vaccinate for some level of monetary incentive, whereas Unwillings indicate that no amount of monetary incentive will persuade them to vaccinate. The Unwillings are more likely to (a) think that the disease is insufficiently severe, (b) have less faith in the public health system, (c) be older, compared to the Reluctants.
Well-curated sets of pathology image features will be critical to clinical studies that aim to evaluate and predict treatment responses. Researchers require information synthesized across multiple ...biological scales, from the patient to the molecular scale, to more effectively study cancer. This article describes a suite of services and web applications that allow users to select regions of interest in whole slide tissue images, run a segmentation pipeline on the selected regions to extract nuclei and compute shape, size, intensity, and texture features, store and index images and analysis results, and visualize and explore images and computed features. All the services are deployed as containers and the user-facing interfaces as web-based applications. The set of containers and web applications presented in this article is used in cancer research studies of morphologic characteristics of tumor tissues. The software is free and open source.
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Endovascular renal denervation reduces blood pressure in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension, but its efficacy in patients with true resistant hypertension has not been shown. We aimed to ...assess the efficacy and safety of endovascular ultrasound renal denervation in patients with hypertension resistant to three or more antihypertensive medications.
In a randomised, international, multicentre, single-blind, sham-controlled trial done at 28 tertiary centres in the USA and 25 in Europe, we included patients aged 18–75 years with office blood pressure of at least 140/90 mm Hg despite three or more antihypertensive medications including a diuretic. Eligible patients were switched to a once daily, fixed-dose, single-pill combination of a calcium channel blocker, an angiotensin receptor blocker, and a thiazide diuretic. After 4 weeks of standardised therapy, patients with daytime ambulatory blood pressure of at least 135/85 mm Hg were randomly assigned (1:1) by computer (stratified by centres) to ultrasound renal denervation or a sham procedure. Patients and outcome assessors were masked to randomisation. Addition of antihypertensive medications was allowed if specified blood pressure thresholds were exceeded. The primary endpoint was the change in daytime ambulatory systolic blood pressure at 2 months in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was also assessed in the intention-to-treat population. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02649426.
Between March 11, 2016, and March 13, 2020, 989 participants were enrolled and 136 were randomly assigned to renal denervation (n=69) or a sham procedure (n=67). Full adherence to the combination medications at 2 months among patients with urine samples was similar in both groups (42 82% of 51 in the renal denervation group vs 47 82% of 57 in the sham procedure group; p=0·99). Renal denervation reduced daytime ambulatory systolic blood pressure more than the sham procedure (−8·0 mm Hg IQR –16·4 to 0·0 vs –3·0 mm Hg –10·3 to 1·8; median between-group difference –4·5 mm Hg 95% CI –8·5 to –0·3; adjusted p=0·022); the median between-group difference was –5·8 mm Hg (95% CI –9·7 to –1·6; adjusted p=0·0051) among patients with complete ambulatory blood pressure data. There were no differences in safety outcomes between the two groups.
Compared with a sham procedure, ultrasound renal denervation reduced blood pressure at 2 months in patients with hypertension resistant to a standardised triple combination pill. If the blood pressure lowering effect and safety of renal denervation are maintained in the long term, renal denervation might be an alternative to the addition of further antihypertensive medications in patients with resistant hypertension.
ReCor Medical.
Background: There is a lack of clinical studies that focus on different psychiatric disorders after trauma and the relationship with migration status.
Purpose: To examine differences in psychiatric ...morbidity in traumatized patients referred to psychiatric treatment in Southern Oslo.
Materials and methods: Hundred and ten patients with trauma background attending an outpatient clinic in Southern Oslo were studied. Forty-four of the participants (40%) were ethnic Norwegians, 25 (22.7%) had refugee background and 41 (37.3%) were first- or second-generation immigrants without refugee background. Thorough diagnostic assessment was done by experienced psychiatrists through several structured clinical interviews and self-report questionnaires.
Results: Ninety-eight patients (89%) were diagnosed with at least one Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) disorder. There was a clear difference in the presentation of certain psychiatric disorders between the groups. Ethnic Norwegian patients were more likely to have anxiety disorders: agoraphobia, social phobia and panic disorder than non-refugee immigrant patients. They also had higher rates of alcohol abuse/dependence. Somatoform pain disorder was more common in both the refugee and other-immigrant groups than among the ethnic Norwegian patients. The refugee patients had significantly more major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and both co-occurring.
Conclusion: Trauma is frequently associated with depression, anxiety disorders, somatoform pain disorder and PTSD in a clinical population. The clinical presentation and comorbidity of these disorders seem to vary significantly between traumatized patients with Norwegian, refugee and non-refugee immigrant backgrounds. After a major trauma, refugees may be at greater risk for both PTSD and depression than other immigrants and the native population.
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