Schoolchildren about STEM professions: General and gender-specific representations

The persistent gender imbalance in the labor market - both in Russia and globally - is largely formed during the school years as the period of the development of professional preferences and human capital. The article presents the views of schoolchildren on various aspects of the STEM school subjects, including their common interests, attitudes to the STEM teaching, their role in choosing a career related to STEM, and the ideas of schoolchildren about jobs related to STEM. The authors refer to the Soviet experience of overcoming gender inequality in the labor market, in particular, by helping women to get the industrial and specialized technical education. The results of the search study show that for the majority of girls, especially those not engaged in special education projects focused on STEM, school profile lessons do not contribute to changing gender representations of professions. The authors argue that to change these gender representations we need classes focused not on the academic achievements but on the practical features of professions that are in demand in the labor market. Such an experience is necessary for it is impossible to choose the most promising career if you do not know about it or if you are convinced that you would not cope with a particular job. At the same time, the schoolchildren should understand that some of todays professions have very short future, for instance, due to the inevitable consequences of automation. The schoolchildrens positioning of all professions as gender-neutral can be used for a positive study of career-related challenges and for designing career-guidance activities as taking into account those aspects that are essential for girls and boys, even if at the moment they are perceived negatively.

Sustaining allied health telehealth services beyond the rapid response to COVID-19: Learning from patient and staff experiences at a large quaternary hospital

The patient, clinician and administration staff perspectives of telehealth (specifically videoconferencing) services provided by Allied Health Professions (AHP) at a large quaternary hospital were explored. The purpose was to understand stakeholders’ perceptions of the service during initial COVID-19 restrictions and examine factors that influenced the implementation and sustained use of telehealth. A sequential mixed-methods approach was undertaken. Stage 1 involved surveys completed by patients (n = 109) and clinicians (n = 66) who received and provided care via telehealth, respectively, across six AHP departments. Stage 2 involved focus groups with clinicians (n = 24) and administrative staff (n = 13) to further examine implementation and sustainability factors. All participant groups confirmed that telehealth was a valid service model and valued the benefits it afforded, particularly during COVID-19 restrictions. Both patients and clinicians reported that not all AHP services could be delivered via telehealth and preferred a blended model of telehealth and in-person care. Increased administrative staff assistance was needed to support growing telehealth demand. Main factors to address are the need to expand AHP telehealth models and workforce/patient training, improve workflow processes and enhance technical support. Despite rapid implementation, telehealth experiences were overall positive. Study findings are being used to generate solutions to enhance and sustain AHP telehealth services.

Factors Related to Soil Transmitted Helminth Infection in Vegetable Farmers

Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infection can occur at all ages, from children to the elderly. Farmers are at risk of contracting STH infection because of their daily work which is in direct contact with the soil. The risk of STH infection is due to poor personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. The study aims to determine observe the factors associated with STH infection in vegetable farmers, using a cross-sectional approach. The research subjects were vegetable farmers in Batur Wetan Hamlet, Getasan, Semarang Regency. Data were collected using a questionnaire to determine the personal hygiene and sanitation hygiene of farmers when working in the garden. Worm identification used (reference,) based on the worm performance using the floating method. Worm identification were done by examining the stool using the floating method. The results of the study were processed using SPSS version 20. Data analysis using Chi-Square (α = 5%), found 3 positive study subjects infected with STH, consisting of 1 egg of Ascaris lubricoides and 2 eggs of Trichuris trichiura. Positive STH respondents, have a washing by water and soap habits before eating and defecating, without wearing gloves. There was a relationship between hand washing by water and soap habits before eating to worm infection, but no relationship between this habit after defecating and no wearing gloves to worm infection. Vegetable farmers are advised to change the daily habits and maintain personal hygiene after working. use personal protective equipment when working and maintain personal hygiene.

Danger or Dislike: Distinguishing Threat from Negative Valence as Sources of Automatic Anti-Black Bias

The Dual Implicit Process Model (March et al., 2018a) distinguishes the implicit processing of physical threat (i.e., “can it hurt or kill me?”) from valence (i.e., “do I dislike/like it?”). Five studies tested whether automatic anti-Black bias is due to White Americans associating Black men with threat, negative valence, or both. Studies 1 and 2 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether positive, negative, and threatening images were good versus bad when primed by Black versus White male-faces. Studies 3 and 4 assessed how early in the decision process White participants began deciding whether Black and White (and, in Study 3, Asian) male-faces displaying anger, sadness, happiness, or no emotion were, in Study 3, dangerous, depressed, cheerful, or calm or, in Study 4, dangerous, negative, or positive. Study 5 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether negative and threatening words were negative versus dangerous when primed by Black versus White male-names. All studies indicated that White Americans automatically associate Black men with physical threat. Study 3 indicated the association is unique to Black men and did not extend to Asian men as a general intergroup effect. Studies 3, 4, and 5, which simultaneously paired threat against negativity, indicated that the Black-threat association is stronger than a Black-negative association.

Clinical and histopathological impact of biofilm in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Presence of biofilms in sinus mucosa of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) remains controversial. Literature shows that biofilms may contribute to the recalcitrant nature of CRS and unfavourable outcome following surgery. This study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of biofilm and its clinical and histopathological impact in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP)</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> 41 patients of CRSwNP (study group) were included. SNOT-20(sinonasal outcome test-20) score, radiological and endoscopic findings of these patients were evaluated preoperatively. Sinonasal polypoidal tissues removed during surgery were studied for the presence of biofilm and evaluated histopathologically. Postoperatively SNOT-20 score and endoscopic finding were recorded. 41 patients undergoing septoplasty for deviated nasal septum (control group) were also included in the study. Sinonasal mucosal samples of these patients were analysed for the presence of biofilm. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> 29 out of 41 (70.73%) samples in study group and 9 out of 41 (21.9%) samples in control group were positive for biofilm. We found a significant impact in preoperative SNOT-20 symptom scores in biofilm positive study group. But there is no significant impact in preoprerative endoscopic scores, radiological scores and postoperative SNOT-20 scores and endoscopic scores in study group patients irrespective of biofilm status.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Prevalence of biofilm in patients with CRSwNP was higher than normal population. Biofilms plays a major role in preoperative symptomatology. But biofilms have no endoscopic, radiological, and histopathological impact in CRSwNP. It was concluded that apart from biofilms, host and other environmental factors plays a major role in the pathogenesis of CRSwNP.</p>

Associations Between Caffeine Consumption, Cognitive Decline, and Dementia: A Systematic Review

Background: Epidemiologic studies have provided inconclusive evidence for a protective effect of caffeine consumption on risk of dementia and cognitive decline. Objective: To summarize literature on the association between caffeine and 1) the risk of dementia and/or cognitive decline, and 2) cognitive performance in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, and 3) to examine the effect of study characteristics by categorizing studies based on caffeine source, quantity and other possible confounders. Methods: We performed a systematic review of caffeine effects by assessing overall study outcomes; positive, negative or no effect. Our literature search identified 61 eligible studies performed between 1990 and 2020. Results: For studies analyzing the association between caffeine and the risk of dementia and/or cognitive decline, 16/57 (28%) studies including a total of 40,707/153,070 (27%) subjects reported positive study outcomes, and 30/57 (53%) studies including 71,219/153,070 (47%) subjects showed positive results that were dependent on study characteristics. Caffeine effects were more often positive when consumed in moderate quantities (100–400 mg/d), consumed in coffee or green tea, and in women. Furthermore, four studies evaluated the relationship between caffeine consumption and cognitive function in cognitively impaired individuals and the majority (3/4 [75% ]) of studies including 272/289 subjects (94%) reported positive outcomes. Conclusion: This review suggests that caffeine consumption, especially moderate quantities consumed through coffee or green tea and in women, may reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, and may ameliorate cognitive decline in cognitively impaired individuals.

The use of cannabinoids in epilepsy as an example: medical, social, and legal aspects

The review provides historical information on the medical use of cannabinoids from antiquity to the present day. It presents the most common indications for their use in neurology, oncology, and psychiatry for the treatment of social diseases, such as epilepsy, pain syndromes, spasticity, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, depression, schizophrenia, dementia, etc. There are data of the largest-scale and evidence-based studies using cannabinoids to treat epilepsy. The paper depicts the main mechanisms of action of these drugs and gives information about their efficacy and safety, as well as possible adverse events. Limitations and legal aspects are discussed. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that today there have been sufficient positive study results worldwide, indicating the validity of the medical use of cannabinoids. At the same time, experimental and clinical studies are needed to further investigate the mechanisms of action of cannabinoids, the characteristics of their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, efficacy and safety for many severe and disabling diseases.

Beyond the Emoticon: Are There Unintentional Cues of Emotion in Email?

Email and text-based communication have become ubiquitous. Although recent findings indicate emotional equivalence between face-to-face and email communication, there is limited evidence of nonverbal behaviors in text-based communication, especially the kinds of unintentional displays central to emotion perception in face-to-face interactions. We investigate whether unintentional emotion cues occur in text-based communication by proposing that communication mistakes (e.g., typos) influence emotion perception. Across six studies, we show that communication errors amplify perceptions of email sender’s emotions—both negative (Studies 1A–2, 4, 5) and positive (Study 3). Furthermore, by contrasting perceptions of message senders who make mistakes in emotional versus unemotional contexts (Study 5), we show that people partially excuse message sender communication errors in emotional (versus unemotional) contexts, attributing such mistakes to the sender’s emotional state rather than solely their intelligence level. These studies suggest that nonverbal behavior in text-based and face-to-face communication may be more comparable than previously thought.