Exploring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine Hesitancy on Twitter Using Sentiment Analysis and Natural Language Processing Algorithms.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination can help control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic but is undermined by vaccine hesitancy. Social media disseminates information and misinformation regarding vaccination. Tracking and analyzing social media vaccine sentiment could better prepare health professionals for vaccination conversations and campaigns. METHODS: A real-time big data analytics framework was developed using natural language processing sentiment analysis, a form of artificial intelligence. The framework ingests, processes, and analyzes tweets for sentiment and content themes, such as natural health or personal freedom, in real time. A later dataset evaluated the relationship between Twitter sentiment scores and vaccination rates in the United States. RESULTS: The real-time analytics framework showed a widening gap in sentiment with more negative sentiment after vaccine rollout. After rollout, using a static dataset, an increase in positive sentiment was followed by an increase in vaccination. Lag cross-correlation analysis across US regions showed evidence that once all adults were eligible for vaccination, the sentiment score consistently correlated with vaccination rate with a lag of around 1 week. The Granger causality test further demonstrated that tweet sentiment scores may help predict vaccination rates. CONCLUSIONS: Social media has influenced the COVID-19 response through valuable information and misinformation and distrust. This tool was used to collect and analyze tweets at scale in real time to study sentiment and key terms of interest. Separate tweet analysis showed that vaccination rates tracked regionally with Twitter vaccine sentiment and might forecast changes in vaccine uptake and/or guide targeted social media and vaccination strategies. Further work is needed to analyze the interplay between specific populations, vaccine sentiment, and vaccination rates.

Optical analysis of Müller glia cells as light transporters through the retina.

One and half decades ago, Müller glia cells of the retina became subjects of extended research as optical waveguides. It was demonstrated that outside the fovea, these cells are capable of providing light transmission through the thicker parts of the retina from the vitreous surface to the photoreceptor cells. We combined optical modeling of the eye's optical system with numerical methods that describe light guiding within Müller cells to analyze efficiency of light capture and guidance at different peripheral positions. We show that higher order guided modes play an important role, especially in the case of higher incidence angles and extended geometry of the electromagnetic field distributions predicted by the eye's optical model. We analyze the mode structure excited at different retinal peripheral positions and show that actual construction of these cells optimizes light guiding. Our results refine previously published modeling results regarding Müller cells as waveguides and provide extension to the whole area of the retina.

Excessive pediatric fasciitis necrotisans due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection successfully treated with negative pressure wound therapy.

The case of a 10-year old female child is described with a history of myeloproliferative disorder having skin, bone and visceral involvement. Bone marrow biopsy revealed histiocytosis X. During chemotherapy necrotizing fasciitis of the lower abdominal wall was diagnosed. Multiple microbiological cultures taken from the wound base revealed Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Surgical necrectomy and application of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) was started together with intensive care treatment for sepsis. As both wound and general condition of the patient improved, autologous split thickness skin grafting was carried out in two sitting under continuing NPWT application. The applied skin grafts showed excellent take, the perilesional subcutaneous recesses resolved and complete healing was achieved after 28 days of NPWT treatment. Proper dermatological diagnosis and immediate escharectomy complemented with application of NPWT can be life-saving in the treatment of necrotizing fasciitis.

Glycoprotein IIIA gene (PlA) polymorphism and aspirin resistance: is there any correlation?

BACKGROUND: Platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptors play an inevitable role in platelet aggregation. The GP IIIa gene is polymorphic (PlA1/PlA2) and the presence of a PlA2 allele might be associated with an increased risk for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of the PlA2 allele in patients with ACS and in subjects with or without aspirin resistance. METHODS: The prevalence of the PlA2 allele was assessed in 158 patients with ACS and PlA2 compared with its prevalence in 199 healthy volunteers. The antiplatelet efficacy of aspirin was examined in all patients with ACS, as well as in 69 individuals who had suffered ischemic stroke and in 58 high-risk subjects without any known ischemic vascular events. RESULTS: PlA2 prevalence was significantly higher in patients with ACS (59/158) than in the control group (51/199; p < 0.05). Carriers of the PlA2 allele had a significantly higher risk of developing ACS, even after an adjustment to the risk factors (OR 5.74; 95% CI 1.75 to 18.8; p = 0.004). The occurrence of the PlA2 allele was significantly higher among patients with aspirin resistance than in subjects who demonstrated an appropriate response to the drug (allele frequencies, 0.21 vs 0.14; p < 0.05). All patients homozygous for the PlA2 allele had an inadequate platelet response to aspirin. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the hypothesis that carriers of the PlA2 allele might have an increased risk for ACS. PlA2 homozygosity was associated with an inadequate response to aspirin therapy. Our data further suggest that patients with PlA2 allele homozygosity might benefit from antiplatelet therapy based on adenosine diphosphate antagonists throughout secondary treatment for prevention of ACS.

[Chromium (III)-ion enhances the utilization of glucose in type-2 diabetes mellitus]. / A króm(III)ion fokozza a glukóz hasznosulását 2-es típusú diabetes mellitusban.

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of the type 2 diabetes mellitus is still growing. Although the occurrence of insulin resistance is quite frequent in the whole population, diabetes not always develops because for a time the compensating mechanism avoids it. In a frequent variation of type-2 diabetes the disease is not the result of an alteration in the insulin receptor or the glucose transporter, but a genetically determined defect of the postreceptorial intracellular signaling mechanism plays a role in its occurrence. There have been investigations for decades to find out more about the role of chromium (III) ions in glucose metabolism and in the prevention of type-2 diabetes. It has also been investigated if chromium substitution can prevent or treat those forms of diabetes where chromium deficiency is suspected to be in the background of the disorder. AIM: The aim of our present investigation is to test the role of chromium (III) compounds in glucose metabolism that are known from literature. The authors examined the effect of oral chromium supplementation on antidiabetic treatment. Chromium supplementation was applied for 6 months. METHODS: Before, through and after the investigation changes in the patient's carbohydrate and lipid metabolism were followed by laboratory tests. RESULTS: At the end of our examination the cholesterin level significantly, the HbA1c level close to the significant value decreased. Due to their results the authors presume that chromium (III) compounds may be effective in the treatment of patients' with decreased glucose tolerance or type-2 diabetes mellitus as a supplement to their therapy.