scholarly journals Analysis of a Vaping-Associated Lung Injury Outbreak through Participatory Surveillance and Archival Internet Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8203
Author(s):  
Yulin Hswen ◽  
Elad Yom-Tov
Keyword(s):  
Lung Injury ◽  
Adverse Reactions ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Specific Product ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Participatory Surveillance

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted of a suspected outbreak of lung illness associated with using E-cigarette products in September 2019. At the time that the CDC published its alert little was known about the causes of the outbreak or who was at risk for it. Here we provide insights into the outbreak through analysis of passive reporting and participatory surveillance. We collected data about vaping habits and associated adverse reactions from four data sources pertaining to people in the USA: A participatory surveillance platform (YouVape), Reddit, Google Trends, and Bing. Data were analyzed to identify vaping behaviors and reported adverse events. These were correlated among sources and with prior reports. Data was obtained from 720 YouVape users, 4331 Reddit users, and over 1 million Bing users. Large geographic variation was observed across vaping products. Significant correlation was found among the data sources in reported adverse reactions. Models of participatory surveillance data found specific product and adverse reaction associations. Specifically, cannabidiol was found to be associated with fever, while tetrahydrocannabinol was found to be correlated with diarrhea. Our results demonstrate that utilization of different, complementary, online data sources provide a holistic view of vaping associated lung injury while augmenting traditional data sources.

scholarly journals Smouldering ashes: burning questions after the outbreak of electronic cigarette or vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI)

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (1141) ◽  
pp. 686-692
Author(s):  
Gabor Zoltan Xantus ◽  
Anna V Gyarmathy ◽  
Carole Ann Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Lung Injury ◽  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Vitamin E Acetate ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
The Usa ◽  
To Come ◽  
Counterfeit Products

In the summer of 2019, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared an emergency of electronic cigarettes and/or vaping (vaping)-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the USA. The outbreak abated by January 2020, which the CDC attributed to heightened public awareness, ‘user actions to reduce risk’ and potentially the removal of vitamin E acetate (VEA) from vaping products (VEA is an oily chemical cutting agent, strongly associated with the disease). Even though the EVALI outbreak appears to be over, numerous epidemiological and medical questions are left still open. First, why were there practically no cases outside the USA, which represents nearly a quarter of the global vaping market? Comparative studies to map the differences in device/fluids/user habits between countries might be needed urgently. Second, what is the pathomechanism that sickens vapers irrespective of VEA exposure? VEA was only confirmed in about half of the cases and the presumed toxicity is yet to be determined. Aetiology/epidemiology focused research is needed to investigate/interpret the broader context to explain the outbreak. Third, could any socioeconomic/environmental factors have influenced the course of the outbreak? Finally, what should we expect in the years to come? Was EVALI a serious but reversible emergency medicine condition or is vaping as detrimental to long-term health as smoking? Besides the complex legislative, regulatory, ethical aspects of EVALI, biomedical research is also difficult: in-vitro experiments have limited inferential value to real real-life vaping due to its complexity; user habits are self-reported and under-researched; there is an active black market pouring unknown quality counterfeit products and, in the USA, federal restrictions limit cannabis research. Vaping is a toxicological, multidimensional conundrum; therefore, stringent quality control, transparent legal/ethical boundaries, meticulous international research and user education are paramount to prevent potential future outbreaks and determine the parameters safe vaping (if these exist).

scholarly journals News coverage of the E-cigarette, or Vaping, product use Associated Lung Injury (EVALI) outbreak and internet searches for vaping cessation

2020 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2020-055755
Author(s):  
Eric C Leas ◽  
Alicia L Nobles ◽  
Theodore L Caputi ◽  
Mark Dredze ◽  
Shu-Hong Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pulmonary Disease ◽  
Prediction Interval ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Disease Outbreak ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Internet Searches ◽  
Media Monitoring

BackgroundIn the latter half of 2019, an outbreak of pulmonary disease in the USA resulted in 2807 hospitalisations and 68 deaths, as of 18 February 2020. Given the severity of the outbreak, we assessed whether articles during the outbreak era more frequently warned about the dangers of vaping and whether internet searches for vaping cessation increased.MethodsUsing Tobacco Watcher, a media monitoring platform that automatically identifies and categorises news articles from sources across the globe, we obtained all articles that (a) discussed the outbreak and (b) primarily warned about the dangers of vaping. We obtained internet search trends originating from the USA that mentioned ‘quit’ or ‘stop’ and ‘e cig(s),’ ‘ecig(s),’ ‘e-cig(s),’ ‘e cigarette(s),’ ‘e-cigarette(s),’ ‘electronic cigarette(s),’ ‘vape(s),’ ‘vaping’ or ‘vaper(s)’ from Google Trends (eg, ‘how do I quit vaping?’). All data were obtained from 1 January 2014 to 18 February 2020 and ARIMA models were used with historical trends to forecast the ratio of observed to expected search volumes during the outbreak era.ResultsNews of the vaping-induced pulmonary disease outbreak was first reported on 25 July 2019 with 195 articles, culminating in 44 512 articles by 18 February 2020. On average, news articles warning about the dangers of vaping were 130% (95% prediction interval (PI): −15 to 417) and searches for vaping cessation were 76% (95% PI: 28 to 182) higher than expected levels for the days during the period when the sources of the outbreak were unknown (25 July to 27 September 2019). News and searches stabilised just after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a primary source of the outbreak was an additive used in marijuana vapes on 27 September 2019. In sum, there were 12 286 articles archived in Tobacco Watcher primarily warning about the dangers of vaping and 1 025 000 cessation searches following the outbreak.ConclusionThe vaping-induced pulmonary disease outbreak spawned increased coverage about the dangers of vaping and internet searches for vaping cessation. Resources and strategies that respond to this elevated interest should become a priority among public health leaders.

scholarly journals Use of daily Internet search query data improves real-time projections of influenza epidemics

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (147) ◽  
pp. 20180220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Zimmer ◽  
Sequoia I. Leuba ◽  
Reza Yaesoubi ◽  
Ted Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
Forecasting Performance ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Influenza Activity ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Substantial Interest

Seasonal influenza causes millions of illnesses and tens of thousands of deaths per year in the USA alone. While the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza is substantial each year, the timing and magnitude of epidemics are highly variable which complicates efforts to anticipate demands on the healthcare system. Better methods to forecast influenza activity would help policymakers anticipate such stressors. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recognized the importance of improving influenza forecasting and hosts an annual challenge for predicting influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in the USA. The CDC data serve as the reference for ILI in the USA, but this information is aggregated by epidemiological week and reported after a one-week delay (and may be subject to correction even after this reporting lag). Therefore, there has been substantial interest in whether real-time Internet search data, such as Google, Twitter or Wikipedia could be used to improve influenza forecasting. In this study, we combine a previously developed calibration and prediction framework with an established humidity-based transmission dynamic model to forecast influenza. We then compare predictions based on only CDC ILI data with predictions that leverage the earlier availability and finer temporal resolution of Wikipedia search data. We find that both the earlier availability and the finer temporal resolution are important for increasing forecasting performance. Using daily Wikipedia search data leads to a marked improvement in prediction performance compared to weekly data especially for a three- to four-week forecasting horizon.

Cross-cultural perspective of situated learning and coping: understanding psychological closeness as mediator

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mousumi Bose ◽  
Lei Ye
Keyword(s):  
Situated Learning ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Chinese Consumers ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Usa ◽  
And Coping

Purpose Extant consumer behavior research has alluded to consumer learning; however, little research exists regarding situated learning and its relation to coping with respect to stressful consumption experiences. The purpose of this research is to study situated or in situ learning in two cultural contexts – that of the USA and China. Design/methodology/approach Online data were collected from non-students in both the USA and China, and structural equations modeling was used to analyze data. Findings Results demonstrated that situated learning helped cope better with stressful episodes for both cultures. Psychological closeness to the problem mediated the relationship between the antecedents and situated learning for US consumers more than for Chinese consumers. Research limitations/implications Since US consumers tend to be psychologically close to the stressor during the consumption process, firms should preemptively inform and educate them about potential stressors to help them learn and cope. However, as Chinese consumers tend not to be psychologically close to the problem, they need to be dealt differently. Originality/value This research provides a holistic view of situated learning and coping as a process involving consumers, firms and situations and examines their underlying factors in stressful consumption encounters. It establishes the mediating role of psychological closeness between antecedents and consumers’ situated learning and explores the differences of psychological closeness in two different cultures, that of the USA and China.

scholarly journals Network relationships of U.S. government health agencies in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seungil Yum ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
World Health ◽  
Online Networks ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health Organization

Introduction. Government institutes, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services, play important but different roles dealing with COVID-19 in the USA. Method. This study used NodeXL between June 7 and June 8 to visualise the social networks of the Centers and the Department by collecting 5,166 (the Centers) and 2,940 tweets (the Department). Analysis. Examined the characteristics of centrality of the two networks and used cluster analysis to identify communication groups. Results. Findings confirmed that the Centers demonstrate characteristics of people-based online networks, whereas the Department appears as an institutes-based online networks. Second, offline social networks play an essential role in online social networks. Third, the Centers had a greater impact on the networks in the Department network than the effect the Department had on the Centers. Fourth, some key players, such as the World Health Organization, play a pivotal role in both networks. Conclusions. Governments should explore the different types of health information of government institutes to effectively cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Measurement Invariance of a Universal Behavioral Screener Across Samples From the USA and Germany

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gino Casale ◽  
Robert J. Volpe ◽  
Brian Daniels ◽  
Thomas Hennemann ◽  
Amy M. Briesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Student Behavior ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cross Cultural Comparison ◽  
School Based ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Universal Screener ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa

Abstract. The current study examines the item and scalar equivalence of an abbreviated school-based universal screener that was cross-culturally translated and adapted from English into German. The instrument was designed to assess student behavior problems that impact classroom learning. Participants were 1,346 K-6 grade students from the US (n = 390, Mage = 9.23, 38.5% female) and Germany (n = 956, Mage = 8.04, 40.1% female). Measurement invariance was tested by multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) across students from the US and Germany. Results support full scalar invariance between students from the US and Germany (df = 266, χ2 = 790.141, Δχ2 = 6.9, p < .001, CFI = 0.976, ΔCFI = 0.000, RMSEA = 0.052, ΔRMSEA = −0.003) indicating that the factor structure, the factor loadings, and the item thresholds are comparable across samples. This finding implies that a full cross-cultural comparison including latent factor means and structural coefficients between the US and the German version of the abbreviated screener is possible. Therefore, the tool can be used in German schools as well as for cross-cultural research purposes between the US and Germany.

Sanctions of the USA and the Policy of Bank of Russia:double Blow to the National Economy

2014 ◽  
pp. 13-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Glazyev
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Capital Flight ◽  
Practical Advice ◽  
The Us ◽  
Monetary Authorities ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Simultaneous Adoption ◽  
The Eu

This article examines fundamental questions of monetary policy in the context of challenges to the national security of Russia in connection with the imposition of economic sanctions by the US and the EU. It is proved that the policy of the Russian monetary authorities, particularly the Central Bank, artificially limiting the money supply in the domestic market and pandering to the export of capital, compounds the effects of economic sanctions and plunges the economy into depression. The article presents practical advice on the transition from external to domestic sources of long-term credit with the simultaneous adoption of measures to prevent capital flight.

Possibility of Using in Russia the Experience of LED Lighting Application at the USA Airfields

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-77
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Vorozhikhin ◽  
Eugenia L. Moreva ◽  
Vladimir G. Starovoytov ◽  
Igor G. Tyutyunnik
Keyword(s):  
Air Transportation ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Led Lighting ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Quality And Reliability ◽  
Lighting Application

The purpose of this paper is an investigation of LEDs illumination experience at US-based aerodromes with an assessment of its feasibility and its necessity in Russia. The following methods were used: the analysis of aerodrome lighting requirements; the review and the analysis of development features in aerodrome LEDs illumination; the experience analysis of LEDs illumination of US-based aerodromes; the deductive analysis and the assessment synthesis of feasibility and necessity of US experience in LEDs illumination at Russian-based aerodromes. The following results were achieved: – The analysis of issues and opportunities was conducted for development of LEDs illumination at US-based aerodromes and of American experts’ recommendations for its use; – The cases were taken for use and assessment of development in LEDs illumination at US-based aerodromes; – The review and the analysis were conducted in relation to a developing market of LEDs illumination at Russian-based aerodromes. The main conclusion is that the US experience will improve quality and reliability of service provided in air transportation, comfort, and safety of Russian flights, as well as competitiveness of Russian- based airports and airlines (indirectly).

Interaction of Ukrainian Diaspora and the USA Government Regarding Celebration of Ukrainian Independence Day on January 22

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (47) ◽  
pp. 136-145
Author(s):  
Halyna Shchyhelska
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
The United States ◽  
100Th Anniversary ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Us Congress ◽  
The Us ◽  
Public Consciousness ◽  
The Usa

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of Ukrainian independence. OnJanuary 22, 1918, the Ukrainian People’s Republic proclaimed its independence by adopting the IV Universal of the Ukrainian Central Rada, although this significant event was «wiped out» from the public consciousness on the territory of Ukraine during the years of the Soviet totalitarian regime. At the same time, January 22 was a crucial event for the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA. This article examines how American Ukrainians interacted with the USA Government institutions regarding the celebration and recognition of the Ukrainian Independence day on January 22. The attention is focused on the activities of ethnic Ukrainians in the United States, directed at the organization of the special celebration of the Ukrainian Independence anniversaries in the US Congress and cities. Drawing from the diaspora press and Congressional Records, this article argues that many members of Congress participated in the observed celebration and expressed kind feelings to the Ukrainian people, recognised their fight for freedom, during the House of Representatives and Senate sessions. Several Congressmen submitted the resolutions in the US Congress urging the President of United States to designate January 22 as «Ukrainian lndependence Day». January 22 was proclaimed Ukrainian Day by the governors of fifteen States and mayors of many cities. Keywords: January 22, Ukrainian independence day, Ukrainian diaspora, USA, interaction, Congress

Collaboration platforms in water management

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Hidaka ◽  
H. R. Kolar ◽  
R. P. Williams ◽  
P. G. Hartswick ◽  
S. B. Foong
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
The World ◽  
Technical Architecture ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Collaboration Platforms

In many parts of the world, management of water resources and infrastructures is fragmented between agencies at multiple levels – state, provincial, and local – and sometimes between functions within individual agencies. Consequently it is often impossible to take a holistic view of the issues at hand to enable effective management of the resource or infrastructure – either because of the overhead of managing the coordination required, and/or because of politics between the different stakeholders. In their work for IBM, the authors created a concept of an information technology (IT)-enabled “collaboration platform” that integrates different water data sources with IT tools to enable multiple entities to maintain and share a “common operating picture.” This greatly assists with coordination and reduces politics to manageable levels. In this paper, the authors describe the collaboration platform and its benefits by reference to examples of such platforms in use, and propose a reference technical architecture for creating collaboration platforms.

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