The Follow Back Problem in a Hyper-Partisan Environment

Many social media users try to obtain as many followers as possible in a social network to gain influence, a challenge that is often referred to as the follow back problem. In this work we study different strategies for this problem in the context of politically polarized social networks and study how political partisanship affect social media users' propensity to follow each other. We test how contact strategy (liking, following) interacts with partisan alignment when trying to induce users to follow back. To do so, we conduct a field experiment on Twitter where we target N=8,104 active users using bot accounts that present as human. We found that users were more than twice as likely to reciprocally follow back bots whose partisanship matched their own. Conversely, when the only form of contact between the bot and the user was the bot liking the user’s posts, the follow rate was extremely low regardless of partisan alignment – and liking a user’s content and following them led to no increase in follow-back relative to just following the user. Finally, we found no partisanship asymmetries, such that Democrats and Republicans preferentially followed co-partisans to the same extent. Our results demonstrate the important impact of following users and having shared partisanship – and the irrelevance of liking users’ content – on solving the follow back problem.

The profile of older adults seeking chiropractic care: a secondary analysis

Background Musculoskeletal conditions are the primary reason older adults seek general medical care, resulting in older adults as the highest consumers of health care services. While there is high use of chiropractic care by older adults, there is no recent, specific data on why older adults seek chiropractic care and how chiropractors manage conditions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the demographic characteristics of older adults seeking chiropractic care, and to report problems diagnosed by chiropractors and the treatment provided to older adults who seek chiropractic care. Methods A secondary data analysis from two, large cross-sectional observational studies conducted in Australia (COAST) and Canada (O-COAST). Patient encounter and diagnoses were classified using the International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd edition (ICPC-2), using the Australian ICPC-2 PLUS general practice terminology and the ICPC-2 PLUS Chiro terminology. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize chiropractor, patient and encounter characteristics. Encounter and patient characteristics were compared between younger (< 65 years old) and older (≥65 years old) adults using χ2 tests or t-tests, accounting for the clustering of patients and encounters within chiropractors. Results A total of 6781 chiropractor–adult patient encounters were recorded. Of these, 1067 encounters were for persons aged > 65 years (16%), from 897 unique older patients. The most common diagnosis within older adult encounters was a back problem (56%), followed by neck problems (10%). Soft tissue techniques were most frequently used for older patients (85 in every 100 encounters) and in 29 of every 100 encounters, chiropractors recommended exercise to older patients as a part of their treatment. Conclusions From 6781 chiropractor–adult patient encounters across two countries, one in seven adult chiropractic patients were > 65 years. Of these, nearly 60% presented with a back problem, with neck pain and lower limb problems the next most common presentation to chiropractors. Musculoskeletal conditions have a significant burden in terms of disability in older adults and are the most commonly treated conditions in chiropractic practice. Future research should explore the clinical course of back pain in older patients seeking chiropractic care and compare the provision of care to older adults across healthcare professions.

President John F Kennedy’s medical history: coeliac disease and autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2

President John F. Kennedy (JFK) had a complex medical history that is now thought to be an autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2 with Addison’s disease and hypothyroidism. He also had gastrointestinal symptoms from adolescence, which now fit well with coeliac disease. In addition, he had a chronic back problem, which contributed to a chronic pain syndrome. This review looks at JFK’s various diseases and focusses on the history of coeliac disease, as well as its presentation. JFK’s Irish ancestry supports the hypothesis of a coeliac disease started early in his youth.

Causes and effects of stress among working women in banking sector, Bangladesh

‘Stress’ word defined as psychological and physiological dimensions where it derived from physics and mechanics. The banking sector is one of the high stress creating sectors among the women workers. The objectives of this study are to determine the level of stress experienced by the working women and the factors cause stress and also an attempt was made to understand the phenomenon of various coping strategies adopted by working women in baking sector in Bangladesh. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study among 60 currently working women in different banks in Dhaka city, Bangladesh where purposive random sampling method was used to select sample size. It was estimated by this study that more than 43% of the working women faced high stress of the age group of 20-29 and those had bachelor degree only and also 62% had 1-5 years work experienced were faced high stress. 28% working women regularly felt stress in their profession in banking sector, workload was major factor of stress reported by 65% and 80% women reported that they felt stress due to low salary, job insecurity, transfer and lack of opportunity for growth and advancement; those were mostly responsible creating stress among the working women in banking sector. On the other hand, 55% participants of this study regularly felt anxiety and 33% participants felt throat pain, 47% felt body aches and pain, half felt tiredness, more than half felt anger and frustration, 47% felt back problem and 32% felt high absenteeism and sickness regularly due to stress but very few numbers of the women did yoga, physical exercise and meditation; those were effective to reduce stress. To reduce the stress level among the working women, seminars and workshops should be organized to deal with stress and women should not stay too long or unnecessarily at workplace, and they should avoid multiple tasks at a same time. Moreover, the government should also originate friendly and encouraging policies in favour of working women to encourage them; those will support them to work friendly without stressing.Mediscope Vol. 3, No. 1: January 2016, Pages 1-7