ABSTRACT
In this interview with Anne Schulz, we discuss the media diet of populist citizens, namely citizens who show populist attitudes. In particular, Schulz describes what type of media they read and trust when it comes to obtaining political information. First, she explains that populist citizens trust public service news on average less than non-populist citizens, but at the same time, they might trust these outlets more than private broadcasters or social media. Second, contrary to commonly held beliefs, she argues that populist citizens express strong scepticism about Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as sources for news and information. Finally, Schulz discusses what the coronavirus pandemic has changed for populist parties and their followers. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Luca Manucci;individual chapters, the contributors.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to (expectant) mothers of infants in terms of family health protection. To meet these challenges in a health literate manner, COVID-19 protective measures must be considered important and must also be implemented appropriately in everyday life. To this end, N = 343 (expectant) mothers of infants indicated (a) how important they considered 21 COVID-19 infection prevention measures, and (b) how well they succeeded in implementing them in their daily life (20 measures). We performed data analysis using exploratory factor analysis for ordinal data and latent class analysis. One- and two-dimensional models (CFI = .960/.978;SRMR = .053/.039) proved to appropriately explain maternal importance ratings. The items on successfully applying COVID- 19 measures in daily life can be modeled by the 5 factors hygiene measures, contact with other people, public transportation, staying at home, and checking infection status (CFI = 0.977;SRMR = .036). Six latent classes can be distinguished. Despite the largest class (39%), classes are characterized by selective or general applicability problems. Classes reporting problems in the applicability of the measures rated them as generally less important (? = .582). Assessing and modelling importance and applicability of COVID-19 prevention measures allows for a psychometrically sound description of subjective perceptions and behaviors that are crucial for health literate practice in maternal daily life. © 2023 Hogrefe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Appropriate parental health literacy (HL) is essential to preventively maintain and promote child health. Understanding health information is assumed to be fundamental in HL models. We developed N = 67 items (multiple-choice format) based on information materials on early childhood allergy prevention (ECAP) and prevention of COVID-19 infections to assess the parental HL facet Understand. N = 343 pregnant women and mothers of infants completed the items in an online assessment. Using exploratory factor analysis for ordinal data (RML estimation) and item response models (1-pl and 2-pl model), we proved the psychometric homogeneity of the item pool. 57 items assess the latent dimension Understand according to the assumptions of the 1-pl model (weighted MNSQ < 1.2;separation reliability = .855). Person parameters of the latent trait Understand correlate specifically with subjective socioeconomic status (r = .27), school graduation (r = .46), allergy status (r = .11), and already infected with COVID-19 (r = .12). The calibrated item pool provides a psychometrically sound, construct-valid assessment of the HL facet Understand Health Information in the areas of ECAP and prevention of COVID-19 infections.
ABSTRACT
The health literacy (HL) facet Access to health information is measured in the European Health Literacy Survey (HLS-EU-047) by 12 items. To assess Access, we developed adapted item formulations for COVID-19 infection prevention (COVID-19-IP) and early childhood allergy prevention (ECAP) in addition to the original 12 items on General Health (GH). N = 343 (expectant) mothers of infants answered the items in an online assessment. Confirmatory structural analyses for ordinal data were adopted (WLSMV-algorithm). Women's item ratings varied significantly across domains (eta(2) = .017-.552). Bi-factor models exhibited the best data fit (GH /COVID-19-IP/ECAP: CFI = .964/.968/.977;SRMR: .062/.069 /.035): The general factor Access most strongly determined item information. Additionally, three subfactors contributed significantly (but rather weakly) to the item information in each domain. The overall score Access proved to be internally consistent (McDonald's omega(GH/COVID-19-IP/ECAP )= .874 /.883 / .897) and was associated with socioeconomic state (McArthur scale;r(GH/COVID-19-IP-ECAP) = .218/.210/.146). Access correlated not or only weakly with the other HL facets Understand. Appraise. and Apply. The health domains GH/COVID-19-IP, and ECAP moderated both the difficulty and the dimensional structure of the 12 Access items. This suggests that in the HLS-EU Access reflects not only the search competence but also the availability of health information.
ABSTRACT
Severe COVID-19 is linked to both dysfunctional immune response and unrestrained immunopathology, and it remains unclear whether T cells contribute to disease pathology. Here, we combined single-cell transcriptomics and single-cell proteomics with mechanistic studies to assess pathogenic T cell functions and inducing signals. We identified highly activated CD16(+) T cells with increased cytotoxic functions in severe COVID-19. CD16 expression enabled immune-complex-mediated, T cell receptor-independent degranulation and cytotoxicity not found in other diseases. CD16(+) T cells from COVID-19 patients promoted microvascular endothelial cell injury and release of neutrophil and monocyte chemoattractants. CD16(+) T cell clones persisted beyond acute disease maintaining their cytotoxic phenotype. Increased generation of C3a in severe COVID-19 induced activated CD16(+) cytotoxic T cells. Proportions of activated CD16(+) T cells and plasma levels of complement proteins upstream of C3a were associated with fatal outcome of COVID-19, supporting a pathological role of exacerbated cytotoxicity and complement activation in COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the ideas for the 2021 ImageCLEF lab that will be organized as part of the Conference and Labs of the Evaluation Forum—CLEF Labs 2021 in Bucharest, Romania. ImageCLEF is an ongoing evaluation initiative (active since 2003) that promotes the evaluation of technologies for annotation, indexing and retrieval of visual data with the aim of providing information access to large collections of images in various usage scenarios and domains. In 2021, the 19th edition of ImageCLEF will organize four main tasks: (i) a Medical task addressing visual question answering, a concept annotation and a tuberculosis classification task, (ii) a Coral task addressing the annotation and localisation of substrates in coral reef images, (iii) a DrawnUI task addressing the creation of websites from either a drawing or a screenshot by detecting the different elements present on the design and a new (iv) Aware task addressing the prediction of real-life consequences of online photo sharing. The strong participation in 2020, despite the COVID pandemic, with over 115 research groups registering and 40 submitting over 295 runs for the tasks shows an important interest in this benchmarking campaign. We expect the new tasks to attract at least as many researchers for 2021. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Reliable data on the course and treatment of pediatric COVID-19 ("corona virus disease 2019") in immunosuppressed patients with rheumatic diseases are missing. AIM: Delineation of individual strategies of the members of the Society for Pediatric Rheumatology (GKJR) in cases of COVID-19. METHODS: In May 2020 all GKJR members were invited to take part in an online survey. Opinion data regarding an approach using disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) in cases of COVID-19 as well as the readiness to use new therapeutic agents in patients in different stages of the disease were collected. RESULTS: A total of 71 respondents (27.3% of all contacted pediatric rheumatologists) took part in the survey. Of these 28.2% had treated patients with COVID-19. Over 95% of the respondents did not support a preventive adaptation of the anti-rheumatic treatment during the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. In the case of outpatients under immunosuppression with proven COVID-19 more than 50% of the respondents would refrain from administering intravenous high-dose steroids, cyclophosphamide, anti-CD20 antibodies as well as BAFF, CTLA4 and TNF-alpha blockades. Conversely, >70% of the respondents would continue the treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), oral steroids, mycophenolate, IL1 blockade and immunoglobulins (Ig). In the case of inpatients 74.6% of respondents would consider targeted COVID-19 treatment. In stable patients with oxygen treatment (stage I) HCQ (18.3%), azithromycin (16.9%) and Ig (9.9%) were most frequently used. In cases of early signs (stage II) or a manifest cytokine storm (stage III) anakinra (40.8% for stage II and 46.5% for stage III), tocilizumab (26.8% and 40.8%, respectively), steroids (25.4% and 33.8%, respectively) and remdesivir (29.6% and 38.0%, respectively) were most frequently used. The need for a personalized approach based on the current clinical situation was emphasized by many respondents. CONCLUSION: The currently low prevalence of COVID-19 in Germany limits the general clinical experience. Therefore, the presented results have to be interpreted with caution and mostly as hypothetical treatment considerations. It is to be expected that there will always be a limited amount of evidence on pediatric COVID-19; therefore, a continuous and critical exchange of expert opinions on the treatment strategies is important.