Digital Commons Network^™

How Can I Get Covid?: Understanding Diferences In American Heterosexual And Sexual Minority Men’S Risk Perception, Devon M. Price, Amanda N. Gesselman, Rachel A. Fikslin, Alison J. Goldberg, Omaima Pervez, Mora A. Reinka, Elissia Franklin

Publications and Research

Men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infections compared to women, but their risk perceptions around COVID-19 are persis - tently lower. Further, men often engage in less health promotion behavior because self-care in this capacity is seen as weak or less masculine. This combination has consequences for mortality; thus, a better understanding of men’s COVID-19 cognitions and individual diference factors is critical. In a web-based survey conducted during the beginning stages of the pandemic in the U.S., we collected risk perceptions of various sexual and non-sexual behaviors from heterosexual ( n = 137) and gay/bisexual men ( n = 108). …

Treatment Selection Using Prototyping In Latent-Space With Application To Depression Treatment, Akiva Kleinerman, Ariel Rosenfeld, David Benrimoh, Robert Fratila, Caitrin Armstrong, Joseph Mehltretter, Eliyahu Shneider, Amit Yaniv-Rosenfeld, Jordan Karp, Charles F. Reynolds, Gustavo Turecki, Adam Kapelner

Publications and Research

Machine-assisted treatment selection commonly follows one of two paradigms: a fully personalized paradigm which ignores any possible clustering of patients; or a sub-grouping paradigm which ignores personal differences within the identified groups. While both paradigms have shown promising results, each of them suffers from important limitations. In this article, we propose a novel deep learning-based treatment selection approach that is shown to strike a balance between the two paradigms using latent-space prototyping. Our approach is specifically tailored for domains in which effective prototypes and sub-groups of patients are assumed to exist, but groupings relevant to the training objective are not …

Changes In Utilization Of Birth Control And Prep During Covid‑19 In The Usa: A Mixed‑Method Analysis, Rachel A. Fikslin, Alison J. Goldberg, Amanda N. Gesselman, Mora A. Reinka, Omaima Pervez, Elissia T. Franklin, Olivia Ahn, Devon M. Price

Publications and Research

In the USA, the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges beyond the direct consequences of the infection. Because of shifting resources in response to need, many domains within the healthcare sector unrelated to COVID-19 have had inter - rupted abilities to provide care. In the current study, we focus on preventative sexual health care during the pandemic. In a sample of 511 (mean age = 27.7) people, we examined quantitative data regarding continuation and discontinuation of birth control and PrEP during the pandemic, along with qualitative data illustrating the underlying reasons for participants’ (dis) continuation. Results showed that most (92.5%) of …

The Effect Of Body Mass Index On Brain Volume And Cognitive Function In Relapsing – Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Combirx Secondary Analysis, Aliza Bitton Ben-Zacharia, Malvin N. Janal, Abraham A. Brody, Jerry Wolinsky, Fred Lublin, Gary Cutter

Publications and Research

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease leading to physical, emotional and cognitive disability. High body mass index (BMI) may impact cognitive function and brain volume in MS. Yet, there is paucity of evidence addressing the impact of BMI on cognitive function and brain volume in MS.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of BMI on normal appearing brain volume and cognitive function in patients with relapsing – remitting MS.

METHODS: A secondary data analysis of the NIH CombiRx study was conducted. Multivariate regression and mixed model analyses were executed to analyze …

Impact Of Forensic Medical Evaluations On Immigration Relief Grant Rates And Correlates Of Outcomes In The United States., Holly G. Atkinson, Katarzyna Wyka, Kathryn Hampton, Christian Seno, Elizabeth Yim, Deborah Ottenheimer, Nermeen Arastu

Publications and Research

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of forensic medical evaluations on grant rates for applicants seeking immigration relief in the United States (U.S.) and to identify significant correlates of grant success. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 2584 cases initiated by Physicians for Human Rights between 2008-2018 that included forensic medical evaluations, and found that 81.6% of applicants for various forms of immigration relief were granted relief, as compared to the national asylum grant rate of 42.4%. Among the study’s cohort, the majority (73.7%) of positive outcomes were grants of asylum. A multivariable regression analysis revealed …

An Examination Of Coping Strategies And Intent To Leave Child Welfare During The Covid 19 Pandemic, Francie J. Julien‑Chinn, Colleen C. Katz, Eden Wall

Publications and Research

Child welfare work is inherently difficult, and child welfare agencies are known to experience high rates of turnover. We sought to expand the existing literature on intention to leave one’s child welfare agency and commitment to child welfare work through examining the coping mechanisms of frontline workers. Having and utilizing healthy coping mechanisms has proved beneficial to child welfare workers in previous research. In this paper, we examine specific coping mechanisms identifed in the Comprehensive Organizational Health Assessment and how they were associated with child welfare workers’ intent to leave their agency and their commitment to remain in the field …

Connection Failure: War, Spiritualism And Communications Media In Violet Hunt's "Love's Last Leave.", Melissa Dinsman, Heather M. Robinson

Publications and Research

An overlooked figure of modernist circles, Violent Hunt was a suffragette, novelist, and author of ghost stories. In her second collection of haunted narratives, More Tales of The Uneasy (1925), Hunt explores the ghostliness of the Great War, both for those on the front and at home. In this essay, we focus on the third story in this volume, “Love’s Last Leave,” and argue that Hunt includes both ghost story tropes and communications media to articulate the real deadliness of the Great War. Communications technology and spiritualism share a similar historical evolution, and in “Love’s Last Leave” both types …

Health Inequality Analysis In Europe: Exploring The Potential Of The Eq-5d As Outcome, Inge Spronk, Juanita A. Haagsma, Erica I. Lubetkin, Suzanne Polinder, M F. Janssen, G J. Bonsel

Publications and Research

Objective: This study explored the additive value of the multi-item EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) as an outcome measure in health inequality analyses, relative to the single-item EuroQol visual analog scale (EQ VAS).

Methods: A sample comprising the general population from Italy, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom (UK) completed the EQ-5D-5L and the EQ VAS. The level of education was selected as a proxy for socio-economic status (SES). EQ-5D-5L level sum scores (LSS) were compared against EQ VAS scores. Stratified and multivariable analyses were used to study the associations between SES and the LSS/EQ VAS relative to the presence of chronic …

We Are Each Other’S Breath: Tracing Interdependency Through Critical Poetic Inquiry, Karen Zaino, Jordan Bell

Publications and Research

In this paper, we utilize poetic methods that seek to surface, but not overdetermine, the unanticipated relational excess produced through literacy practices. Karen, a queer white woman, and Jordan, a cis-gendered heterosexual Black man, wrote a series of letters to one another throughout the Spring 2020 semester. We turned to critical poetic inquiry to analyze the letters, interested in poetry’s capacity to highlight literacy’s critical power and its emergent potential. We found ourselves implicated in each other’s lives in new ways; we found our relationship both strengthened and tested. Such relational indeterminacy creates methodological challenges in literacy research. We found …

Psychosocial Factors Associated With Mask-Wearing Behavior During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cliff (Yung-Chi) Chen, Mengjia Lei

Publications and Research

Although increasing evidence has supported the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), inconsistent and noncompliant mask-wearing behavior has been observed among members of the society. Because mask-wearing is often considered a social contract, it is important to understand the psychosocial factors that influence people’s mask-wearing behavior in order to implement the necessary steps to respond to the pandemic. Based on the protection motivation theory (PMT), this study examined the cognitive factors (threat and coping appraisals) that contribute to mask-wearing behavior and the intention to engage in health protective behavior until the end of the pandemic. …

Dataset Of Concurrent Eeg, Ecg, And Behavior With Multiple Doses Of Transcranial Electrical Stimulation, Nigel Gebodh, Zeinab Esmaeilpour, Abhishek Datta, Marom Bikson

Publications and Research

We present a dataset combining human-participant high-density electroencephalography (EEG) with physiological and continuous behavioral metrics during transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). Data include within participant application of nine High-Definition tES (HD-tES) types, targeting three cortical regions (frontal, motor, parietal) with three stimulation waveforms (DC, 5 Hz, 30 Hz); more than 783 total stimulation trials over 62 sessions with EEG, physiological (ECG, EOG), and continuous behavioral vigilance/alertness metrics. Experiment 1 and 2 consisted of participants performing a continuous vigilance/alertness task over three 70-minute and two 70.5-minute sessions, respectively. Demographic data were collected, as well as self-reported wellness questionnaires before and after each …

Racial And Ethnic Data Reported For Peanut Allergy Epidemiology Do Little To Advance Its Cause, Treatment, Or Prevention, Nigel Mark Thomas

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Identity Selection And The Social Construction Of Birthdays, Brett W. Pelham, Tracy Dehart, Mitsuru Shimizu, Curtis D. Hardin, H. Anna Han, William Von Hippel

Publications and Research

We argue that rather than being a wholly random event, birthdays are sometimes selected by parents. We further argue that such effects have changed over time and are the result of important psychological processes. Long ago, U.S. American parents greatly overclaimed holidays as their children’s birthdays. These effects were larger for more important holidays, and they grew smaller as births moved to hospitals and became officially documented. These effects were exaggerated for ethnic groups that deeply valued specific holidays. Parents also overclaimed well-liked calendar days and avoided disliked calendar days as their children’s birthdays. However, after birthday selection effects virtually …

Partisanship And The Politics Of Covid Vaccine Hesitancy, David Jones, Monika L. Mcdermott

Publications and Research

Has partisan polarization reached the stage that it now affects Americans’ decisions whether or not to get vaccinated against a pervasive and deadly virus such as COVID-19? To date, the evidence has largely been hypothetical—collected before the vaccine was widely available—superficial, or contradictory. Using two original surveys conducted at two different time periods after vaccines became available, this study represents one of the first efforts to systematically analyze the role of party affiliation in predicting vaccine hesitancy. We find that even after controlling for a host of demographic and attitudinal variables, Republicans are significantly less likely—and Democrats more likely—to be …

Ensuring Survey Research Data Integrity In The Era Of Internet Bots, Marybec Griffin, Richard J. Martino, Caleb Loschiavo, Camilla Comer-Carruthers, Kristen D. Krause, Christopher B. Stults, Perry N. Halkitis

Publications and Research

We used an internet-based survey platform to conduct a cross-sectional survey regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ + population in the United States. While this method of data collection was quick and inexpensive, the data collected required extensive cleaning due to the infiltration of bots. Based on this experience, we provide recommendations for ensuring data integrity. Recruitment conducted between May 7 and 8, 2020 resulted in an initial sample of 1251 responses. The Qualtrics survey was disseminated via social media and professional association listservs. After noticing data discrepancies, research staff developed a rigorous data cleaning protocol. A second …

“School Hard” And Traditional Education In The Buffyverse Alia R. Tyner-Mullings, Alia R. Tyner

Publications and Research

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was once heralded as a beacon of feminist power on television in a sea of one-dimensional wives, girlfriends, and supporting characters. Joss Whedon, its creator, has been hailed as a feminist icon and a lifesaver of kids and adults struggling with being different (Cochran). “Geeks love Joss Whedon” according to a 2012 Wired article: “His characters are smart and self-aware. He’s steeped in pop culture and has a clever way with twists and turns of science fiction tropes […] plus, he writes female character who kick ass, which makes him so rare as to be sui …

Addressing Structural Racism In The Health Workforce, Randl B. Dent, Anushree Vichare, Jaileessa Casimir

Publications and Research

One of the greatest challenges facing the United States are health inequities among racial/ethnic and other marginalized populations. The deep-rooted structural racism embedded in our social systems, including our health care system and health workforce, is a core cause of racial health inequities. 1 Among many definitions of institutionalized or structural racism, Dr Jones 2 best defines it as: “Differential access to goods, services and opportunities of society by race ... It is structural, having been codified in our institutions of custom, practice, and law, so there need not be an identifiable perpetrator.” Dr Jones further explains that to set …

"Writing Unspeakable Things: Speechlessness, Abjection, And The Ethics/Aesthetics Of (Not) Representing Sexual Violence In Three Korean American "Comfort Women' Novels", M Laura Barberan Reinares

Publications and Research

This article analyzes “comfort women” novels by the Korean American authors Therese Park, Nora Okja Keller, and Chang-rae Lee in terms of the ethics and aesthetics of representing sexual violence through language. I specifically look at these authors’ stylistic strategies to describe rape in writing and how they (more or less successfully) avoid voyeuristic portrayals of the “comfort women” by controlling the narrative point of view and relying on traumatic “speechlessness” and abjection. Building on relevant notions from the fields of photography, cinematography, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, this analysis suggests that in-progress representations of rape in language become a futile project …

Who Needs To Be “Burned-Out”? Time For A New Approach To Job-Related Distress, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Burnout is a popular indicator of job-related distress, notably in research on the ill-being of medical professionals. The burnout construct is, however, plagued by definitional and measurement problems. Often unnoticed, these problems undermine findings and conclusions emanating from burnout research. The definitional and measurement problems affecting the burnout construct hamper knowledge growth, waste resources, and impede our ability to make informed decisions and take effective action to support personnel. It is time for occupational health specialists to abandon the idea of burnout and focus on occupational depression.

Reports And Commands: Deciphering A Health Exhibition Using The Speaking Mnemonic, David H. Lee

Publications and Research

The Amazing You exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Science and Industry had over 400 different multimedia health exhibits. Visitors walked through life stages, from conception through death, the exhibits at first showcasing developmental milestones, then diseases and chronic conditions associated with ageing. Museum executives described the exhibition as a public health intervention that stressed disease prevention, screening and behaviour change. This piece considers the question: What makes an exhibition be a health intervention? To describe complexities of the communication environment I use a mnemonic device called SPEAKING, an acronym for ‘Scene/Setting, Participants, Ends, Act Sequence, Key, Instrumentalites, Norms and …

Active Learning With Silent Participation, A.E. Dreyfuss

Publications and Research

Silence by participants in peer-led learning sessions is often viewed as lack of engagement and interpreted as lack of participation or interest. This paper addresses facets of silence, suggesting linguistic, cultural, and other reasons for quietude, and provides methods of facilitation that incorporate silence to give voice to noiseless participation as a bridge to learning.

Deism Defined And Defended, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Peer Leading Small Group Discussion During Covid-19, A. E. Dreyfuss, Ana Fraiman, Milka O. Montes, Reagan Hudson, Fernando Montalvillo Ortega, Jonathan Muniz, Franziska Piefke, Mikayla Rodriguez, Meinar Sheila, Keyshla Vargas, Nicky Vu

Publications and Research

Peer-led workshops in General Chemistry at the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) were affected by COVID-19 restrictions during the 2020-2021 academic year. Most Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) workshops were conducted in person, but with the difference that protocols of distancing had to be observed, and a few were conducted online, so adjustments were necessary to prepare Peer Leaders to conduct their workshops in both types of settings. The facets of the modified PLTL program were supported by the online preparation for facilitation and chemistry content.

The results of an examination of critical incidents are shared here. This qualitative examination …

Factors Influencing The Relationship Between Work-Related Stress And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Working Black Adults In The United States, Paul C. Archibald

Publications and Research

Introduction: Work-related stress (WRS) and posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) is higher among Black adults relative to their White counterparts. Trauma exposure is not the only connection to increased risk for PTSD as WRS is highly associated with risk for PTSD. However, the factors that link WRS and PTSD among working Black adults is not well understood. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional data from the National Survey of American Life was used to examine the relationship between WRS and PTSD among 2,139 working Black adults and to determine whether there are influencing factors. Results: Logistic regression analyses revealed that working …

Hostile, Quick-Tempered, And Exposed To Dangerous Environments: Exploring The Link Between Temperament And Street Code Adherence, Kevin T. Wolff, Sharron Spriggs, Jonathan Intravia, Michael T. Baglivio, Matt Delisi

Publications and Research

Although Elijah Anderson’s (1999) code of the street thesis has received a great deal of scholarly attention, fewer studies have examined the characteristics associated with its adoption. Existing evidence is supportive of Anderson’s initial observations, however, less is known about the association between personality and emotional characteristics and adopting street code norms. The current study assesses the role of Delisi and Vaughn’s difficult temperament index in the adoption of the street code among a sample of juvenile justice-involved youth. Results indicated youth with more difficult temperaments, characterized by lower levels of effortful control and higher levels of negative emotionality, were …

Crowd Salience Heightens Tolerance To Healthy Facial Features, Mitch Brown, Ryan E. Tracy, Steven G. Young, Donald F. Sacco

Publications and Research

Objective: Recent findings suggest crowd salience heightens pathogen-avoidant motives, serving to reduce individuals’ infection risk through interpersonal contact. Such experiences may similarly facilitate the identification, and avoidance, of diseased conspecifics. The current experiment sought to replicate and extend previous crowding research.

Methods: In this experiment, we primed participants at two universities with either a crowding or control experience before having them evaluate faces manipulated to appear healthy or diseased by indicating the degree to which they would want to interact with them.

Results: Crowding-primed participants reported a more heightened preferences for healthy faces than control-primed participants. Additionally, crowd salience reduced …

Police Officers’ Best Friend?: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Effect Of Service Dogs On Perceived Organizational Support In Policing, Kenneth M. Quick, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

This study explored the effectiveness of a novel technique for police departments to support their officers and promote wellness: the use of service dogs. We evaluated officer perceptions in two mid-sized, municipal police departments that have wellness programs with a service dog that is permanently assigned to a full-time police officer handler: Groton and Naugatuck, Connecticut. We assessed 6 factors believed to influence police officer wellness including: operational and organizational stress using the Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006); topical stressors including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, police use of force and community relations, and police reform efforts; …

During Natural Viewing, Neural Processing Of Visual Targets Continues Throughout Saccades, Atanas D. Stankov, Jonathan Touryan, Stephen Gordon, Anthony J. Ries, Jason Ki, Lucas C. Parra

Publications and Research

Relatively little is known about visual processing during free-viewing visual search in realistic dynamic environments. Free-viewing is characterized by frequent saccades. During saccades, visual processing is thought to be suppressed, yet we know that the presaccadic visual content can modulate postsaccadic processing. To better understand these processes in a realistic setting, we study here saccades and neural responses elicited by the appearance of visual targets in a realistic virtual environment. While subjects were being driven through a 3D virtual town, they were asked to discriminate between targets that appear on the road. Using a system identification approach, we separated overlapping …

The Naked Truth: A Comprehensive Clarification And Classification Of Current ‘Myths’ In Naked Mole‐Rat Biology, Rochelle Buffenstein, Vincent Amoroso, Blazej Andziak, Stanislav Avdieiev, Jorge Azpurua, Alison J. Barker, Nigel C. Bennett, Miguel A. Brieño‐Enríquez, Gary N. Bronner, Clive Coen, Martha A. Delaney, Christine M. Dengler‐Crish, Yael H. Edrey, Chris G. Faulkes, Daniel Frankel, Gerard Friedlander, Patrick A. Gibney, Vera Gorbunova, Christopher Hine, Melissa M. Holmes, Jennifer U. M. Jarvis, Yoshimi Kawamura, Nobuyuki Kutsukake, Cynthia Kenyon, Walid T. Khaled, Takefumi Kikusui, Joseph Kissil, Samantha Lagestee, John Larson, Amanda Lauer, Leonid A. Lavrenchenko, Angela Lee, Jonathan B. Levitt, Gary R. Lewin, Kaitlyn N. Lewis Hardell, Tzuhua D. Lin, Matthew J. Mason, Dan Mccloskey, Mary Mcmahon, Kyoko Miura, Kazutaka Mogi, Vikram Narayan, Timothy P. O'Connor, Kazuo Okanoya, M. Justin O'Riain, Thomas J. Park, Ned J. Place, Katie Podshivalova, Matthew E. Pamenter, Sonja J. Pyott, Jane Reznick, J. Graham Ruby, Adam B. Salmon, Joseph Santos‐Sacchi, Diana K. Sarko, Andrei Seluanov, Alyssa Shepard, Megan Smith, Kenneth B. Storey, Xiao Tian, Emily N. Vice, Mélanie Viltard, Akiyuki Watarai, Ewa Wywial, Masanori Yamakawa, Elena D. Zemlemerova, Michael Zions, Ewan St. John Smith

Publications and Research

The naked mole‐rat (Heterocephalus glaber) has fascinated zoologists for at least half a century. It has also generated considerable biomedical interest not only because of its extraordinary longevity, but also because of unusual protective features (e.g. its tolerance of variable oxygen availability), which may be pertinent to several human disease states, including ischemia/reperfusion injury and neurodegeneration. A recent article entitled ‘Surprisingly long survival of premature conclusions about naked mole‐rat biology’ described 28 ‘myths’ which, those authors claimed, are a ‘perpetuation of beautiful, but falsified, hypotheses’ and impede our understanding of this enigmatic mammal. Here, we re‐examine each of …

Psilocybin Newspaper Coverage – Sentiment And Frequency (1989-2020), Dax Oliver

Publications and Research

A growing body of medical research has focused on the chemical compound psilocybin in recent years. However, this research is not merely a scientific issue but also a social and political one. In the 1960s, psilocybin and other psychedelics were often ingested outside of research settings. This alarmed many people, resulting in severe legal restrictions on psilocybin research. Today, many psilocybin advocates hope that it will avoid the negative public sentiment of the 1960s. To help gauge public sentiment about other psychoactive compounds, some studies have examined newspaper coverage. The present study hoped to build a similar gauge with newspaper …