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‘Digital Insight and Agency Scale’ (DIAS): A Novel Tool to Illuminate Young People's Agency in Mitigating the Negative Impact of Digital Activities on Their Mental Health
Get PDFABSTRACT Objectives Excessive time spent online is believed to negatively impact youth mental health; however, simplified screen‐time measures fail to consider young people's agency and digital activity management skills. We developed and validated a novel tool, the Digital Insight and Agency Scale (DIAS), to better understand different aspects of young people's online agency and explore their links to youth mental health. Methods Participants ( n = 383; age 16–25 years, mean = 19.0, SD = 1.7; 48.8% White, 30.2% South/East Asian, 8.6% Black) completed the DIAS questionnaire and standardised measures of anxiety, depression and wellbeing. The factor structure, reliability of the DIAS and associations with mental health were examined. Results Participants reported specific negative impacts of digital engagement on their daily functioning in the previous 2 weeks, especially less sleep. Seventy‐eight per cent were worried about the negative impact of digital activity, and 82% engaged in one or more risk management actions, including Enhancing Positive Engagement , Coping Actions , and/or Reducing Engagement . Higher levels of mental health problems were associated with more worries and increased efforts to manage digital activity. Conclusions Most young people displayed agency in managing their digital activity, suggesting that this could be leveraged in interventions, rather than focusing solely on reducing access and time spent online. </jats:sec
Nanoplastics Impair GnRH Neuron Migration and Neuroendocrine Function: Emerging Players in the Pathogenesis of Reproductive Disorders
Get PDFABSTRACT Nanoplastics (NPs) pose an emerging threat to environmental and human health. Still, the impacts of NPs on the endocrine control of reproduction remain poorly understood, despite increasing trends of infertility worldwide. In mammals, reproductive function relies on the hypothalamus‐pituitary‐gonadal axis, centrally regulated by gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons. Disruption in GnRH neuron development or function leads to GnRH deficiency (GD), a genetic condition presenting delayed puberty and infertility. Yet, genetic causes explain only ∼50% of GD cases, suggesting a role for environmental factors in disease etiology. Here, we investigate NP effects on GnRH neuron biology by applying two established in vitro models: hormone‐secreting GT1‐7 cells and migrating GN11 cells. We show that NPs enter cells via non‐classical endocytosis, alter neuroendocrine function in GT1‐7 cells, and impair migration in GN11 cells. Transcriptomic analysis of NP‐exposed GN11 cells reveals differential expression of key genes linked to GnRH neuron development. Moreover, integrating these findings with exome sequencing data from patients with GD identifies rare NPAS2 variants in two males with severe pubertal delay. These results suggest that PS‐NPs disrupt key physiological functions of GnRH neurons and may act as novel endocrine disruptors, contributing to the pathogenesis of reproductive disorders. </jats:p
Spin versus nonstabilizerness in gluon and graviton scattering
Get PDFThe quantum property of nonstabilizerness, also known as magic, plays a key role in designing quantum computing systems. How to produce, manipulate, and enhance magic remains mysterious, such that concrete examples of physical systems that manifest magic behavior are sought after. In this paper, we study two-particle scattering of gluons and gravitons in Yang-Mills theory and general relativity, as well as their supersymmetric extensions. This provides an interesting case of two-qubit systems, differing only in the physical spin of the qubits. We show that magic is generically produced in both theories, and also show that magic typically decreases as the spin of the qubits increases. The maximal magic in each case is found to be substantially less than the known upper bound. Differences in the profile of magic generation can be traced to the known physics of each theory, as manifested in relations between their respective scattering amplitudes. Our case study may provide useful insights into understanding magic in other systems
Nitrate availability modulates the temperature sensitivity of N₂O and N₂ production from denitrification
Get PDFNitrous oxide (N₂O) can be both produced and reduced to dinitrogen (N₂) during microbial denitrification, with the balance between these steps controlling the net flux of this potent climate gas. Here, we first used a meta-analysis of published studies to predict how warming may regulate N₂O and N₂ production in soils and sediments. However, as most of these former studies used nitrate at far higher than ambient concentrations, the applicability of these predictions to ambient conditions may be limited. In addition, few separated denitrification from other microbial pathways contributing to N₂O and N₂ production. To address these limitations, we used ¹⁵N-isotope labelling experiments in freshwater sediments to test how temperature sensitivity varies with limited (10 µM) and replete (100 µM) nitrate. Temperature affected N₂O and N₂ production only when nitrate was replete, where N₂ production increased but net N₂O production declined with warming, leading to a lower N₂O:N₂ production ratio at higher temperatures. These results show that substrate availability can outweigh temperature in controlling the balance between N₂O and N₂ production, indicating that temperature-based predictions of N₂O emissions alone may overestimate the effects of climate warming
Reimagining Data Work: Participatory Annotation Workshops as Feminist Practice
Get PDFAI systems depend on the invisible and undervalued labor of data workers, who are often treated as interchangeable units rather than collaborators with meaningful expertise. Critical scholars and practitioners have proposed alternative principles for data work, but few empirical studies examine how to enact them in practice. This paper bridges this gap through a case study of multilingual, iterative, and participatory data annotation processes with journalists and activists focused on news narratives of gender-related violence. We offer two methodological contributions. First, we demonstrate how workshops rooted in feminist epistemology can foster dialogue, build community, and disrupt knowledge hierarchies in data annotation. Second, drawing insights from practice, we deepen analysis of existing feminist and participatory principles. We show that prioritizing context and pluralism in practice may require “bounding” context and working towards what we describe as a “tactical consensus.” We also explore tensions around materially acknowledging labor while resisting transactional researcher-participant dynamics. Through this work, we contribute to growing efforts to reimagine data and AI development as relational and political spaces for understanding difference, enacting care, and building solidarity across shared struggles
The Use of a Digital Social Forum in a Parkinson’s Disease Risk Cohort: A Thematic Analysis of Forum Messages
Get PDF Background Reduced social engagement is associated with increased risk of incident Parkinson’s disease (PD). Online peer support provides opportunities to develop new social connections. A digital social forum was recently embedded within PREDICT‐PD, an online UK cohort study that stratifies participants for risk of future PD, to explore the feasibility of digital social engagement as an intervention to modify PD risk. Objective This study reports on the content of messages exchanged on the forum to better understand how this was used and experienced. Methods 364 public posts from 218 distinct users were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Members created a sense of community through disclosing personal information and reaching out to others. Experiences were shared in relation to symptom appraisal, emotional impacts and routes to diagnosis. Practical advice, resources and information were exchanged to aid symptom management and proactive lifestyle changes. Users discussed their aspirations for timely diagnosis and treatment within healthcare, further research funding to aid prevention and treatment, and greater awareness of PD within society. Technical issues with the forum were reported, and accessibility was viewed as a potential barrier. Conclusions The online forum provided a peer support environment for people with similar health experiences to connect, exchange information and emotional support, and engage in discussions around political and social issues unique to PD. This highlights the potential of leveraging online peer support to promote social engagement in prodromal PD. Further research is needed to examine the effect on PD risk and develop accessible technologies. </jats:sec
Collagen-1 content as predictor for recurrence in clinically non-functioning pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (NF-PitNETs)
No full textTranscriptomic profiling and machine learning uncover gene signatures of psoriasis endotypes and disease severity.
No full textBACKGROUND: Despite increased understanding of psoriasis pathogenesis, molecular classification of clinical phenotypes and disease severity is poorly defined. Knowledge gaps include whether molecular endotypes of psoriasis underlie distinct clinical phenotypes and the positive and negative molecular regulators of disease severity across tissue compartments. METHODS: We performed comprehensive RNA sequencing of skin and blood (n = 718) from prospectively-recruited, deeply-phenotyped discovery and replication cohorts of 146 subjects with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis initiating TNF-inhibitor (adalimumab) or IL-12/23-inhibitor (ustekinumab) therapy. RESULTS: Here we show, using two complementary dimensionality reduction methods, that co-expressed gene modules and factors within skin and blood are significantly associated with psoriasis phenotypes and disease severity. We identify a 14-gene signature negatively associated with BMI in nonlesional skin and with disease severity in lesional skin. Genotype integration reveals that HLA-DQA1*01 and HLA-DRB1*15 genotypes are positively associated with baseline psoriasis severity. Using explainable machine learning models, we define two disease severity-associated gene modules in lesional skin - one positive, one negatively-associated - and a 9-gene signature in lesional skin predictive of disease severity. Disease severity signatures in blood are only seen following adalimumab exposure, suggesting greater systemic impact of adalimumab compared to ustekinumab, in line with its side effect profile. In contrast, a gene signature in blood linked to HLA-C*06:02 status is independent of disease severity or drug. CONCLUSIONS: These findings delineate gene-environmental and genetic effects on the psoriasis transcriptome linked to disease severity