Misinformation on COVID-19 origin and its relationship with perception and knowledge about social distancing: A cross-sectional study.

Despite the vast scientific evidence obtained from the genomic sequencing of COVID-19, controversy regarding its origin has been created in the mass media. This could potentially have a long-term influence on the behavior among individuals, such as failure to comply with proposed social distancing measures, leading to a consequent rise in the morbidity and mortality rates from COVID-19 infection. Several studies have collected information about knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding COVID-19; however, very little is known about the relationship of the perceptions of the individuals regarding the origin of the virus with the knowledge and perception about social distancing. This study aimed at ascertaining this relationship. For such purpose, a web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample population from five provinces of the Dominican Republic from June to July of 2020. The data collection instrument exploited in the study was a self-designed questionnaire distributed throughout different social media platforms. A purposive sampling strategy was implemented and a total of 1195 respondents completed the questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, stepwise multiple linear regression, and one-way multivariate analysis were implemented to test the hypotheses. The level of education was significantly associated (P = .017) with individuals' perception about the origin of COVID-19, whilst only age (P = .032) and education level (P < .001) statistically significantly predicted 'knowledge about social distancing'. Perception of COVID-19 origin was statistically significant associated (P = < .001) with the measures of the dependent variables (knowledge and perception on social distancing). The present study has established a possible link between the 'perception of COVID-19 origin' and 'the perception and knowledge about social distancing'.

Kleist para tempos de isolamento social: oralidade, corpo e pensamento / Kleist for isolation times: orality, body, and thought / Kleist para tiempos de aislamiento social: oralidad, cuerpo y pensamiento

O artigo apresenta e explora o texto de Heinrich von Kleist intitulado "Sobre a fabricação gradativa dos pensamentos enquanto se fala" (1805-1806). A tese central do ensaio articula oralidade, corpo e produção de pensamento: apartando-se da tradição metafísica, Kleist investiga a imbricação entre a fala, os estados atmosféricos do corpo e o ato de pensar, salientando as dimensões temporais necessárias à fabricação de ideias, não na mente, mas na prática viva dos falantes, em seus intercâmbios presenciais. O ensaio fornece pistas para que se vislumbrem possíveis efeitos sobre o pensamento no contexto de comunicações tecnologicamente mediadas por conta da pandemia da Covid-19, dissociando o falar da presença direta dos corpos. A metodologia adotada concerne à análise detalhada desse texto (pouco conhecido entre nós), remetendo a alguns conceitos de Deleuze e Guattari e visando a levantar possíveis problemas que o pensamento enfrenta na atual situação de distância entre os corpos.

The article presents and explores Heinrich von Kleist's essay "On the gradual construction of thoughts during speech" (1805-1806). Its main thesis articulates orality, body, and the gradual production of thought: against the metaphysical tradition, Kleist analyses the intertwining of speech, atmospherical states of the body and the act of thinking. He highlights the temporal dimensions necessary to the fabrication of ideas not inside the mind, but during the vivacious practice of speech. This text offers relevant clues to the discussion of possible effects on thinking caused by the social isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which segregates speech from the presence of the bodies. The methodology employed concerns a close reading of Kleist's essay, relating the thesis presented to some concepts and perspectives developed by Deleuze and Guattari, as well as to the present context of social isolation and expansion of mediated communications.

El artículo explora el texto de Heinrich von Kleist titulado "Sobre la fabricación gradual de los pensamientos mientras se habla" (1805-1806). La tesis central del ensayo articula oralidad, cuerpo y producción de pensamiento: apartándose de la tradición metafísica, Kleist investiga la imbricación entre el habla, los estados atmosféricos del cuerpo y el acto de pensar, subrayando las dimensiones temporales necesarias a la fabricación de ideas, no en la mente, sino en la práctica viva de los hablantes, en sus intercambios presenciales. En ese sentido, provee pistas para comenzar a vislumbrar posibles efectos sobre el pensamiento en el contexto de expansión de comunicaciones tecnológicamente mediadas debido a la pandemia de la Covid-19. La metodología utilizada concierne al análisis detallado del texto (poco conocido entre nosotros), remitiendo a algunos conceptos de Deleuze e Guattari y apuntando a evaluar posibles problemas que el pensamiento enfrenta en la actual situación de distancia entre los cuerpos.

A AIDS personificada no jornal Correio de Notícias (PR), 1987 a 1992 / AIDS personified in the newspaper Correio de Notícias (PR), 1987 to 1992 / Personificación del SIDA en el periódico Correio de Notícias (PR), 1987 a 1992

O artigo analisa as representações sociais sobre sujeitos identificados com sorologia positiva para HIV e/ou adoecidos pela aids veiculadas pelo periódico Correio de Notícias entre os anos de 1987 e 1992. Buscou-se perceber como um veículo de comunicação com circulação expressiva no estado do Paraná construiu uma determinada imagem encarnada do soropositivo para o HIV, em um período em que a AIDS era comumente considerada um vaticínio de morte e no qual a imprensa correntemente utilizava-se do termo 'aidético'. A partir dos dados obtidos, fez-se análise de conteúdo das matérias jornalísticas, com suporte na teoria das Representações Sociais. Identificou-se uma pluralidade de categorias temáticas, sobressaindo-se um conjunto de representações cujo significado mais imediato reforçou a estigmatização da pessoa com HIV e/ ou adoecida pela AIDS a partir de sua associação com crime, delito e contravenção.

The article analyzes the social representations of people with HIV and/or sick of AIDS that were published by the newspaper Correio de Notícias between 1987 and 1992. The main purpose of the analysis was to understand how a newspaper of significant circulation in the state of Paraná built a certain stereotypic image of people HIV-positive at a time when the disease was considered a death prediction. From the obtained data, a content analysis of the journalistic materials was made, with support from the theory of the Social Representations. The survey identified a plurality of thematic categories with a set of representations whose most immediate significance reinforced the stigmatization of the person with HIV and/or sick of AIDS with an association with crime and misdemeanor.

El artículo analiza las representaciones sociales de personas con VIH y/o enfermo de SIDA vehiculadas por el periódico Correio de Notícias entre 1987 y 1992. El propósito principal del análisis fue comprender cómo un periódico de circulación expresiva en el estado de Paraná construyó una determinada imagen encarnada del VIH positivo, en un período en que la enfermedad se consideraba una predicción de muerte. A partir de los datos obtenidos, se realizó un análisis de contenido de los materiales periodísticos, con el apoyo de la teoría de las Representaciones Sociales. El análisis identificó una pluralidad de categorías temáticas con un conjunto de representaciones cuyo significado más inmediato reforzó la estigmatización de la persona con VIH y/o con manifestación de estar enfermo de SIDA con una asociación con el crimen, el delito y otros desórdenes.

Asking the Question of Why.

Pioneering research from Mina Bissell established the "Dynamic-Reciprocity" view of biology in which there is a bidirectional interaction between cells and their microenvironment. Her revolutionary work showed that extracellular matrix signaling and microenvironment impact gene expression, taking cancer research beyond genetics. For these contributions, she is the recipient of the 2020 Canada Gairdner International Award. Growing up in a well-educated family in Iran, Mina liked to ask many "why" questions. She spoke with Cell editor Miao-Chih Tsai about how she tackles scientific questions and life challenges. Excerpts from this conversation are presented below, and the full conversation is available with the article online.

Effects of self- and partner's online disclosure on relationship intimacy and satisfaction.

Most research on the effects of disclosure on close relationships have been done using offline disclosure. However, disclosure done online has disparate features and thus its effects on relationships may also differ. In five studies and using primes emulating Facebook timelines and messages, we compared the effects of disclosure depth on intimacy and satisfaction in online vs. offline contexts, in romantic vs. friend relationships, and with differing content (self- vs. partner-focused). After demonstrating consistent differences, we examined one mechanism that accounted for the differential effects of online vs. offline disclosure in romantic relationships: perceived inclusivity of the recipients. Results revealed that greater disclosure was associated with higher relational intimacy and satisfaction when done offline (Studies 1 and 4), and lower intimacy and satisfaction when done online (Studies 1-4), in both the discloser (Study 1) and his or her partner (Studies 2-4). The negative association between online disclosure and intimacy was present in romantic relationships, but not in friendships (Study 1). Importantly, this effect only appeared when perceived inclusivity of recipients was high (Study 4). Focusing the online disclosure content on the partner/relationship dissipated its negative effects (Study 5). Together, these studies extend further knowledge on how the effects of disclosure are contextualized, and suggest that disclosure done publicly online may be detrimental to romantic relationships.

The evolution of stories: from mimesis to language, from fact to fiction.

Why a species as successful as Homo sapiens should spend so much time in fiction, in telling one another stories that neither side believes, at first seems an evolutionary riddle. Because of the advantages of tracking and recombining true information, capacities for event comprehension, memory, imagination, and communication evolved in a range of animal species-yet even chimpanzees cannot communicate beyond the here and now. By Homo erectus, our forebears had reached an increasing dependence on one another, not least in sharing information in mimetic, prelinguistic ways. As Daniel Dor shows, the pressure to pool ever more information, even beyond currently shared experience, led to the invention of language. Language in turn swiftly unlocked efficient forms of narrative, allowing early humans to learn much more about their kind than they could experience at first hand, so that they could cooperate and compete better through understanding one another more fully. This changed the payoff of sociality for individuals and groups. But true narrative was still limited to what had already happened. Once the strong existing predisposition to play combined with existing capacities for event comprehension, memory, imagination, language, and narrative, we could begin to invent fiction, and to explore the full range of human possibilities in concentrated, engaging, memorable forms. First language, then narrative, then fiction, created niches that altered selection pressures, and made us ever more deeply dependent on knowing more about our kind and our risks and opportunities than we could discover through direct experience. WIREs Cogn Sci 2018, 9:e1444. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1444 This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Linguistics > Evolution of Language Neuroscience > Cognition.

'She sits all day in the attitude depicted in the photo': photography and the psychiatric patient in the late nineteenth century.

The links between mental state and art in all its various forms and media have long been of interest to historians, critics, artists, patients and doctors. Photographs of patients constitute an extensive but largely unexplored archive that can be used to recover patient experience in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The camera and the photograph became tools to communicate information about mental ill health between doctors, their patients and their colleagues. They were published in textbooks and journals, exhibited, exchanged and pasted into medical case books alongside case notes. But they were also used by patients to communicate their own experiences, identity and sense of self. This article uses published and case book photographs from c. 1885-1910 to examine the networks of communication between different stakeholders and discourses.

A long history of breakdowns: A historiographical review.

The introduction to this special issue argues that network breakdowns play an important and unacknowledged role in the shaping and emergence of scientific knowledge. It focuses on transnational scientific networks from the early modern Republic of Letters to 21st-century globalized science. It attempts to unite the disparate historiography of the early modern Republic of Letters, the literature on 20th-century globalization, and the scholarship on Actor-Network Theory. We can perceive two, seemingly contradictory, changes to scientific networks over the past four hundred years. At the level of individuals, networks have become increasing fragile, as developments in communication and transportation technologies, and the emergence of regimes of standardization and instrumentation, have made it easier both to create new constellations of people and materials, and to replace and rearrange them. But at the level of institutions, collaborations have become much more extensive and long-lived, with single projects routinely outlasting even the arc of a full scientific career. In the modern world, the strength of institutions and macro-networks often relies on ideological regimes of standardization and instrumentation that can flexibly replace elements and individuals at will.

The breakdown of Galileo's Roman network: Crisis and community, ca. 1633.

Rome has long been central to the story of Galileo's life and scientific work. Through an analysis of the metadata of Galileo's surviving letters, combined with a close reading of the letters themselves, we discuss how Galileo used correspondence to build a Roman network. Galileo initially assembled this network around the members of the Lincean Academy, a few carefully nurtured relationships with important ecclesiastics, and the expertise of well positioned Tuscan diplomats in the Eternal City. However, an analysis of Galileo's correspondence in the aftermath of the trial of 1633 provides us with a unique opportunity to interrogate how his altered circumstances transformed his social relations. Forced to confront the limitations on his activities imposed by Catholic censure and house arrest, Galileo experienced the effects of these restrictions in his relationships with others and especially in his plans for publication. In the years following 1633, Galileo turned his epistolary attention north to the Veneto and to Paris in order to publish his Two New Sciences. While Galileo's Lincean network and papal contacts in Rome were defunct after 1633, we see how Rome remained important to him as the site of a number of Roman disciples who would continue his intellectual project long after his own death.

The Truth about Truth-Telling in American Medicine: A Brief History.

Transparency has become an ethical cornerstone of American medicine. Today, patients have the right to know their health information, and physicians are obliged to provide it. It is expected that patients will be informed of their medical condition regardless of the severity or prognosis. This ethos of transparency is ingrained in modern trainees from the first day of medical school onward. However, for most of American history, the intentional withholding of information was the accepted norm in medical practice. It was not until 1979 that a majority of physicians reported disclosing cancer diagnoses to their patients. To appreciate the current state of the physician-patient relationship, it is important to understand how physician-patient communication has developed over time and the forces that led to these changes. In this article, we trace the ethics and associated practices of truth-telling during the past two centuries, and outline the many pressures that influenced physician behavior during that time period. We conclude that the history of disclosure is not yet finished, as physicians still struggle to find the best way to share difficult information without causing undue harm to their patients.

Patient-Physician Communication in the 21st Century.

In clinical practice, a successful patient-physician partnership can improve the outcome of treatment, especially in cases of chronic disease or cancer. To establish this partnership, physicians must explain treatment options and potential outcomes, but how to best do this when treatment is based on scientific principles and findings that the lay patient will not be familiar with? Here we present a paradigm for patient-physician communication using the immunotherapy of cancer as a model. In this context, we argue for the importance of incorporating techniques in communicating science with patients into the training of early career physicians.

Circles of Confidence in Correspondence: Modeling Confidentiality and Secrecy in Knowledge Exchange Networks of Letters and Drawings in the Early Modern Period.

Science in the early modern world depended on openness in scholarly communication. On the other hand, a web of commercial, political, and religious conflicts required broad measures of secrecy and confidentiality; similar measures were integral to scholarly rivalries and plagiarism. This paper analyzes confidentiality and secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchange via letters and drawings. We argue that existing approaches to understanding knowledge exchange in early modern Europe--which focus on the Republic of Letters as a unified entity of corresponding scholars--can be improved upon by analyzing multilayered networks of communication. We describe a data model to analyze circles of confidence and cultures of secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchanges. Finally, we discuss the outcomes of a first experiment focusing on the question of how personal and professional/official relationships interact with confidentiality and secrecy, based on a case study of the correspondence of Hugo Grotius.