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2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2440
Author(s):  
Evangelia Charalampous ◽  
Birte Matthiessen ◽  
Ulrich Sommer

Phytoplankton cell size is important for a multitude of functional traits such as growth rates, storage capabilities, and resistance to grazing. Because these response traits are correlated, selective effects on mean community cell size of one environmental factor should impact the ability of phytoplankton to cope with other factors. Here, we experimentally apply expectations on the functional importance of phytoplankton cell size to the community level. We used a natural marine plankton community, and first altered the community’s cell size structure by exposing it to six different grazer densities. The size-shifted communities were then treated with a saturated nutrient pulse to test how the changes in community size structure influenced the mean community growth rate in the short-term (day 1–3) and nutrient storage capacity in the postbloom phase. Copepod grazing reduced the medium-sized phytoplankton and increased the share of the smallest (<10 µm3) and the largest (>100,000 µm3). Communities composed of on average small cells grew faster in response to the nutrient pulse, and thus confirmed the previously suggested growth advantage of small cells for the community level. In contrast, larger phytoplankton showed better storage capabilities, reflected in a slower post-bloom decline of communities that were on average composed of larger cells. Our findings underline that the easily measurable mean cell size of a taxonomically complex phytoplankton community can be used as an indicator trait to predict phytoplankton responses to sequential environmental changes.


Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Ran Lai ◽  
Kwek Yan Chong ◽  
Alex Thiam Koon Yee ◽  
Margaret M. Mayfield ◽  
Daniel B. Stouffer

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Yang ◽  
Na Ta ◽  
Kaiyu Li ◽  
Fang Jiao ◽  
Baijing Hu ◽  
...  

Background: Under the uncertainty led by the decentralized information on social media, people seek homogeneity in either opinions or affection to establish group identity to better understand the information. This also means they are easily polarized, not only ideologically but also in their actions. Affective polarization is the emotional tendency for people to show animosity toward opposing partisans while seeking homogeneity from fellow partisans. Much research into online affective polarization has focused on quantifying anxiety at an individual level while neglecting that on a collective basis. Therefore, this paper examined the polarization of collective anxiety in topic-based communities on Weibo.Methods: We aim to interpret correlations between collective anxiety online and topic characteristics, user competence, as well as the proportion of influencers of Weibo topic-based communities. Our neural networks model and statistical analysis were based on 200 communities with 403,380 personal accounts and 1,012,830 messages.Results: Collective anxiety levels are correlated to (1) the extent to which a topic captures public interest, (2) how community members articulate topics on social network platforms, and (3) the ratio of influencers in the community. Specifically, people’s conflicting perceptions and articulations of topics might increase collective anxiety, while the extent to which a topic is of the public interest and the number of influencers engaged in a topic account for any decline in its ranking. Furthermore, familiarity with a topic does not help predict collective anxiety levels. There are no significant links between community size or interactivity dynamics and the level of collective anxiety in the topic-based community. Our computational model has 85.00% precision and 87.00% recall.Conclusion: This study found the collective anxiety augment due to topic proximities to public interest and members’ lack of declarative knowledge on topics, while to decline with an increasing portion of online influencers. These findings indicate that collective anxiety is induced due to a lack of credibility. Also, the amount of conflicting information shared by different people places them in a state of flux. Therefore, a community with more influencers may be more likely to experience anxiety polarization, bringing forth the issue of layered information and inequality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Toppe ◽  
Roman Stengelin ◽  
Louisa S. Schmidt ◽  
Naiera Amini ◽  
Nils Schuhmacher

The coronavirus pandemic poses a substantial threat to people across the globe. In the first half of 2020, governments limited the spread of virus by imposing diverse regulations. These regulations had a particular impact on families as parents had to manage their occupational situation and childcare in parallel. Here, we examine a variation in parents' and children's stress during the lockdowns in the first half of 2020 and detect the correlates of families' stress. Between April and June 2020, we conducted an explorative online survey among n = 422 parents of 3- to 10-year-old children residing in 17 countries. Most participants came from Germany (n = 274), Iran (n = 70), UK (n = 23), and USA (n = 23). Parents estimated their own stress, the stress of their own children, and various information on potential correlates (e.g., accommodation, family constellation, education, community size, playtime for children, contact with peers, media consumption, and physical activity). Parents also stated personal values regarding openness to change, self-transcendence, self-enhancement, and conservation. The results indicate a substantial variation in the stress levels of families and their diverse reactions to regulations. Media consumption by children commonly increased in comparison to the time before the pandemic. Parents raising both pre-school- and school-aged children were at a particular risk of experiencing stress in response to regulations. Estimated stress and reactions varied with the age of children and the personal values of parents, suggesting that such variables need to be considered when implementing and evaluating regulations and supporting young families in the current and future pandemic.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2110359
Author(s):  
Kayla J. Elliott ◽  
Jeanne-Marie R. Stacciarini ◽  
Isidro A. Jimenez ◽  
Andrea P. Rangel ◽  
Dany Fanfan

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, and other gender diverse (LGBTQ+) adolescents face daunting hardships within the rural contexts they navigate (e.g., community, school), and these onerous demands make it difficult for them to maintain optimal mental well-being. This scoping review described the psychosocial protective and risk factors that shape mental well-being for rural LGBTQ+ adolescents and identified the mental health issues commonly reported by them. About 30 articles published between 2005 and 2020 were examined. A myriad of factors indicated protection of or risks to LGBTQ+ rural adolescents’ mental well-being through the social-ecological levels: individual (e.g., pressure to conform to gender norms, sexual exploration, coming out), interpersonal (e.g., connectedness, fear of rejection, religious beliefs), institutional/school (e.g., bullying victimization, social exclusion, peer/teacher intervention), and rural community (e.g., community size, local ties, social isolation). More research is needed to better understand and address rural mental health disparities for this vulnerable group.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e001144
Author(s):  
Julia Fashner ◽  
Anthony Espinoza ◽  
Arch G Mainous III

ObjectiveThis research project examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the required curriculum in graduate medical education for family medicine residencies.DesignOur questions were part of a larger omnibus survey conducted by the Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance. Data were collected from 23 September to 16 October 2020.SettingThis study was set in the USA.ParticipantsEmails were sent to 664 family medicine programme directors in the USA. Of the 312 surveys returned, 35 did not answer our questions and were excluded, a total of 277 responses (44%) were analysed.ResultsThe level of disruption varied by discipline and region. Geriatrics had the highest reported disruption (median=4 on a 5-point scale) and intensive care unit had the lowest (median=1 on a 5-point scale). There were no significant differences for disruption by type of programme or community size.ConclusionProgramme directors reported moderate disruption in family medicine resident education in geriatrics, gynaecology, surgery, musculoskeletal medicine, paediatrics and family medicine site during the pandemic. We are limited in generalisations about how region, type of programme, community size or number of residents influenced the level of disruption, as less than 50% of programme directors completed the survey.


Author(s):  
Glade L. Topham ◽  
Isaac J. Washburn ◽  
Laura Hubbs-Tait ◽  
Tay S. Kennedy ◽  
Julie M. Rutledge ◽  
...  

This cluster randomized controlled trial aimed at overweight and obese children compared three treatments. Two psychoeducation interventions for parents and children were conducted: Family Lifestyle (FL) focused on food and physical activity; Family Dynamics (FD) added parenting and healthy emotion management. A third Peer Group (PG) intervention taught social acceptance to children. Crossing interventions yielded four conditions: FL, FL + PG, FL + FD, and FL + FD + PG—compared with the control. Longitudinal BMI data were collected to determine if family- and peer-based psychosocial components enhanced the Family Lifestyle approach. Participants were 1st graders with BMI%ile >75 (n = 538: 278 boys, 260 girls). Schools were randomly assigned to condition after stratifying for community size and percent American Indian. Anthropometric data were collected pre- and post-intervention in 1st grade and annually through 4th grade. Using a two-level random intercept growth model, intervention status predicted differences in growth in BMI or BMI-M% over three years. Children with obesity who received the FL + FD + PG intervention had lower BMI gains compared to controls for both raw BMI (B = −0.05) and BMI-M% (B = −2.36). Interventions to simultaneously improve parent, child, and peer-group behaviors related to physical and socioemotional health offer promise for long-term positive impact on child obesity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Breslau ◽  
Beth Dana ◽  
Harold Pincus ◽  
Marcela Horvitz-Lennon ◽  
Luke Matthews

Abstract Background Policies target networks of providers who treat people with mental illnesses, but little is known about the empirical structures of these networks and related variation in patient care. The goal of this paper is to describe networks of providers who treat adults with mental illness in a multi-payer database based medical claims data in a U.S. state. Methods Provider networks were identified and characterized using paid inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy claims related to care for people with a mental health diagnosis from an all-payer claims dataset that covers both public and private payers. Results Three nested levels of network structures were identified: an overall network, which included 21% of providers (N = 8256) and 97% of patients (N = 476,802), five communities and 24 sub-communities. Sub-communities were characterized by size, provider composition, continuity-of-care (CoC), and network structure measures including mean number of connections per provider (degree) and average number of connections who were connected to each other (transitivity). Sub-community size was positively associated with number of connections (r = .37) and the proportion of psychiatrists (r = .41) and uncorrelated with network transitivity (r = −.02) and continuity of care (r = .00). Network transitivity was not associated with CoC after adjustment for provider type, number of patients, and average connection CoC (p = .85). Conclusions These exploratory analyses suggest that network analysis can provide information about the networks of providers that treat people with mental illness that is not captured in traditional measures and may be useful in designing, implementing, and studying interventions to improve systems of care. Though initial results are promising, additional empirical work is needed to develop network-based measures and tools for policymakers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 3460
Author(s):  
Jordan L. Wilkes ◽  
Jessica N. Montalban ◽  
Brian D. Pringle ◽  
Devin Monroe ◽  
Adela Miller ◽  
...  

Background: The opioid epidemic is a complex national crisis in the United States with a 400% increase in related deaths over the past two decades with no signs of slowing. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of opioid use, based on the geographic and population characteristics. Methods: The opioid-related hospital inpatient stays and emergency department visits obtained from the 2010 to 2018 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and demographic confounders, including age, race, education, and income gathered from US Census data were analyzed through generalized linear mixed models and reported by community size and region. Results: Opioid use varies among population center sizes and the region analyzed. In general, opioid visits in the southwest region were greatest across the majority of population center sizes. Rural usage was greatest in the northeast, southeast, and southwest. Unemployment and diverse ethnicities were commonly associated with opioid use in the metro areas studied but these associations were not seen in rural areas. Conclusion: Opioid use remains significant among diverse populations across the United States. Understanding the unique dynamics associated with opioid usage in populations within the regions studied is important in guiding future interventions to fight this crisis.


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