COVID discrimination experience: Chinese Canadians' social identities moderate the effect of personal and group discrimination on well-being.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians' negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. METHOD: A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. RESULTS: Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians' experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Public Health Messages About Face Masks Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perceptions of and Impacts on Canadians.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages around face mask use. As public health messaging plays a pivotal role in the provision of directives during a health crisis, this study examines Canadians' opinions on the early messaging they received regarding personal protection, especially around mask use, with the goal of identifying potential improvements to strengthen future health messaging. Nine online focus group interviews with 47 Canadians were conducted. These natural conversations focused on personal protective equipment (PPE) choices, mask-relevant public health information sources, and advice to Canadian authorities to improve public health messaging on mask use. Responses were imported into NVivo for thematic analysis. Four meta-themes of relevance were identified. Despite demonstrating trust in scientific evidence and public health authorities, the inconsistencies in public health messaging fostered confusion, and induced mistrust toward health professionals. Further, several information deficits were identified pertaining to the scientific efficacy, safe use, and disposal of masks. Rooted in loyalty to healthcare workers, these Canadians eschewed using medical grade masks during PPE shortages to ensure a sufficient supply for medical workers. The findings stress that consistency in public health messages should be prioritized, with necessary changes clearly justified and explained. More information should reach the public on the scientific benefits and proper use of masks. Public health recommendations should be evidence-based, simple, transparent, and realistic in the current circumstances to guide Canadians to make more informed personal protection choices in the rapidly evolving pandemic.

openEHR Archetype Use and Reuse Within Multilingual Clinical Data Sets: Case Study.

BACKGROUND: Despite electronic health records being in existence for over 50 years, our ability to exchange health data remains frustratingly limited. Commonly used clinical content standards, and the information models that underpin them, are primarily related to health data exchange, and so are usually document- or message-focused. In contrast, over the past 12 years, the Clinical Models program at openEHR International has gradually established a governed, coordinated, and coherent ecosystem of clinical information models, known as openEHR archetypes. Each archetype is designed as a maximal data set for a universal use-case, intended for reuse across various health data sets, known as openEHR templates. To date, only anecdotal evidence has been available to indicate if the hypothesis of archetype reuse across templates is feasible and scalable. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, between February and July 2020, 7 openEHR templates were independently created to represent COVID-19-related data sets for symptom screening, confirmed infection reporting, clinical decision support, and research. Each of the templates prioritized reuse of existing use-case agnostic archetypes found in openEHR International's online Clinical Knowledge Manager tool as much as possible. This study is the first opportunity to investigate archetype reuse within a range of diverse, multilingual openEHR templates. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the use and reuse of openEHR archetypes across the 7 openEHR templates as an initial investigation about the reuse of information models across data sets used for a variety of clinical purposes. METHODS: Analysis of both the number of occurrences of archetypes and patterns of occurrence within 7 discrete templates was carried out at the archetype or clinical concept level. RESULTS: Across all 7 templates collectively, 203 instances of 58 unique archetypes were used. The most frequently used archetype occurred 24 times across 4 of the 7 templates. Total data points per template ranged from 40 to 179. Archetype instances per template ranged from 10 to 62. Unique archetype occurrences ranged from 10 to 28. Existing archetype reuse of use-case agnostic archetypes ranged from 40% to 90%. Total reuse of use-case agnostic archetypes ranged from 40% to 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Investigation of the amount of archetype reuse across the 7 openEHR templates in this initial study has demonstrated significant reuse of archetypes, even across unanticipated, novel modeling challenges and multilingual deployments. While the trigger for the development of each of these templates was the COVID-19 pandemic, the templates represented a variety of types of data sets: symptom screening, infection report, clinical decision support for diagnosis and treatment, and secondary use or research. The findings support the openEHR hypothesis that it is possible to create a shared, public library of standards-based, vendor-neutral clinical information models that can be reused across a diverse range of health data sets.

Development of an openEHR Template for COVID-19 Based on Clinical Guidelines.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was discovered in China in December 2019. It has developed into a threatening international public health emergency. With the exception of China, the number of cases continues to increase worldwide. A number of studies about disease diagnosis and treatment have been carried out, and many clinically proven effective results have been achieved. Although information technology can improve the transferring of such knowledge to clinical practice rapidly, data interoperability is still a challenge due to the heterogeneous nature of hospital information systems. This issue becomes even more serious if the knowledge for diagnosis and treatment is updated rapidly as is the case for COVID-19. An open, semantic-sharing, and collaborative-information modeling framework is needed to rapidly develop a shared data model for exchanging data among systems. openEHR is such a framework and is supported by many open software packages that help to promote information sharing and interoperability. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a shared data model based on the openEHR modeling approach to improve the interoperability among systems for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. METHODS: The latest Guideline of COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment in China was selected as the knowledge source for modeling. First, the guideline was analyzed and the data items used for diagnosis and treatment, and management were extracted. Second, the data items were classified and further organized into domain concepts with a mind map. Third, searching was executed in the international openEHR Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM) to find the existing archetypes that could represent the concepts. New archetypes were developed for those concepts that could not be found. Fourth, these archetypes were further organized into a template using Ocean Template Editor. Fifth, a test case of data exchanging between the clinical data repository and clinical decision support system based on the template was conducted to verify the feasibility of the study. RESULTS: A total of 203 data items were extracted from the guideline in China, and 16 domain concepts (16 leaf nodes in the mind map) were organized. There were 22 archetypes used to develop the template for all data items extracted from the guideline. All of them could be found in the CKM and reused directly. The archetypes and templates were reviewed and finally released in a public project within the CKM. The test case showed that the template can facilitate the data exchange and meet the requirements of decision support. CONCLUSIONS: This study has developed the openEHR template for COVID-19 based on the latest guideline from China using openEHR modeling methodology. It represented the capability of the methodology for rapidly modeling and sharing knowledge through reusing the existing archetypes, which is especially useful in a new and fast-changing area such as with COVID-19.

In vivo evidence supporting a metastasis suppressor role for Stard13 (Dlc2) in ErbB2 (Neu) oncogene induced mouse mammary tumors.

Overexpression of dominant oncogenes and the loss of tumor suppressor genes are basic genetic events in the acquisition of the malignant phenotype. The erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (ERBB-2) proto-oncogene is overexpressed in 20-30% of human breast cancers. The StAR related lipid transfer domain containing 13 gene (STARD13), also known as Deleted in Liver Cancer-2 (DLC-2), maps to chromosome band 13q12.3 and is frequently downregulated in human cancers, including 72% of breast cancers. It encodes a RhoGAP protein with sterile α motif (SAM) and StAR-related lipid transfer (START) domains. The objective of this study was to determine if loss of Stard13 plays a role in mammary tumor progression using transgenic mice expressing the activated ErbB-2 (Neu) oncogene and Cre recombinase (NIC) in mammary epithelium under transcriptional control of the murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter (MMTV-NIC). These mice were crossed with a conditional Stard13 knockout mouse (floxed exon 3), resulting in simultaneous Neu expression and Stard13 deletion, specifically in the mammary epithelium. We found that loss of Stard13 did not alter tumor growth nor significantly modify overall survival and tumor free survival. However, there was an increase in the total number of lung metastases in the Stard13 heterozygous or homozygous mice compared with the parental MMTV-NIC strain. Altogether our results indicate that Stard13 acts as a metastasis suppressor rather than a tumor suppressor gene, in Neu oncogene induced mammary tumorigenesis.

An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean.

The ocean plays a critical role in supporting human well-being, from providing food, livelihoods and recreational opportunities to regulating the global climate. Sustainable management aimed at maintaining the flow of a broad range of benefits from the ocean requires a comprehensive and quantitative method to measure and monitor the health of coupled human­ocean systems. We created an index comprising ten diverse public goals for a healthy coupled human­ocean system and calculated the index for every coastal country. Globally, the overall index score was 60 out of 100 (range 36­86), with developed countries generally performing better than developing countries, but with notable exceptions. Only 5% of countries scored higher than 70, whereas 32% scored lower than 50. The index provides a powerful tool to raise public awareness, direct resource management, improve policy and prioritize scientific research.

Operationalizing the social-ecological systems framework to assess sustainability.

Environmental governance is more effective when the scales of ecological processes are well matched with the human institutions charged with managing human-environment interactions. The social-ecological systems (SESs) framework provides guidance on how to assess the social and ecological dimensions that contribute to sustainable resource use and management, but rarely if ever has been operationalized for multiple localities in a spatially explicit, quantitative manner. Here, we use the case of small-scale fisheries in Baja California Sur, Mexico, to identify distinct SES regions and test key aspects of coupled SESs theory. Regions that exhibit greater potential for social-ecological sustainability in one dimension do not necessarily exhibit it in others, highlighting the importance of integrative, coupled system analyses when implementing spatial planning and other ecosystem-based strategies.

The Deleted in Liver Cancer 1 (Dlc1) tumor suppressor is haploinsufficient for mammary gland development and epithelial cell polarity.

BACKGROUND: Deleted in Liver Cancer 1 (Dlc1) is a tumor suppressor gene, which maps to human chromosome 8p21-22 and is found frequently deleted in many cancers including breast cancer. The promoter of the remaining allele is often found methylated. The Dlc1 gene encodes a RhoGAP protein that regulates cell proliferation, migration and inhibits cell growth and invasion when restored in Dlc1 deficient tumor cell lines. This study focuses on determining the role of Dlc1 in normal mammary gland development and epithelial cell polarity in a Dlc1 gene trapped (gt) mouse. METHODS: Mammary gland whole mount preparations from 10-week virgin heterozygous Dlc1(gt/+) gene-trapped mice were compared with age-matched wild type (WT) controls. Hematoxylin-Eosin (H&E) and Masson's Trichrome staining of histological sections were carried out. Mammary glands from Dlc1(gt/+) mice and WT controls were enzymatically digested with collagenase and dispase and then cultured overnight to deplete hematopoietic and endothelial cells. The single cell suspensions were then cultured in Matrigel for 12 days. To knockdown Dlc1 expression, primary WT mammary epithelial cells were infected with short hairpin (sh) RNA expressing lentivirus or with a scrambled shRNA control. RESULTS: Dlc1(gt/+) mice showed anomalies in the mammary gland that included increased ductal branching and deformities in terminal end buds and branch points. Compared to the WT controls, Masson's Trichrome staining showed a thickened stromal layer with increased collagen deposition in mammary glands from Dlc1(gt/+) mice. Dlc1(gt/+) primary mammary epithelial cells formed increased solid acinar spheres in contrast with WT and scrambled shRNA control cells, which mostly formed hollow acinar structures when plated in 3D Matrigel cultures. These solid acinar structures were similar to the acinar structures formed when Dlc1 gene expression was knocked down in WT mammary cells by shRNA lentiviral transduction. The solid acinar structures were not due to a defect in apoptosis as determined by a lack of detectible cleaved caspase 3 antibody staining. Primary mammary cells from Dlc1(gt/+) mice showed increased RhoA activity compared with WT cells. CONCLUSIONS: The results illustrate that decreased Dlc1 expression can disrupt the normal cell polarization and mammary ductal branching. Altogether this study suggests that Dlc1 plays a role in maintaining normal mammary epithelial cell polarity and that Dlc1 is haploinsufficient.

Flowering and biomass allocation in U.S. Atlantic coast Spartina alterniflora.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Salt marshes are highly productive and valuable ecosystems, providing many services on which people depend. Spartina alterniflora Loisel (Poaceae) is a foundation species that builds and maintains salt marshes. Despite this species' importance, much of its basic reproductive biology is not well understood, including flowering phenology, seed production, and the effects of flowering on growth and biomass allocation. We sought to better understand these life history traits and use that knowledge to consider how this species may be affected by climate change. METHODS: We examined temporal and spatial patterns in flowering and seed production in S. alterniflora at a latitudinal scale (along the U.S. Atlantic coast), regional scale (within New England), and local scale (among subhabitats within marshes) and determined the impact of flowering on growth allocation using field and greenhouse studies. KEY RESULTS: Flowering stem density did not vary along a latitudinal gradient, while at the local scale plants in the less submerged panne subhabitats produced fewer flowers and seeds than those in more frequently submerged subhabitats. We also found that a shift in biomass allocation from above to belowground was temporally related to flowering phenology. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that environmental change will affect seed production and that the phenological relationship with flowering will result in limitations to belowground production and thus affect marsh elevation gain. Salt marshes provide an excellent model system for exploring the interactions between plant ecology and ecosystem functioning, enabling better predictions of climate change impacts.

Evidence of market-driven size-selective fishing and the mediating effects of biological and institutional factors.

Market demand is often ignored or assumed to lead uniformly to the decline of resources. Yet little is known about how market demand influences natural resources in particular contexts, or the mediating effects of biological or institutional factors. Here, we investigate this problem by examining the Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru) fishery around La Paz, Mexico, where medium or "plate-sized" fish are sold to restaurants at a premium price. If higher demand for plate-sized fish increases the relative abundance of the smallest (recruit size class) and largest (most fecund) fish, this may be a market mechanism to increase stocks and fishermen's revenues. We tested this hypothesis by estimating the effect of prices on the distribution of catch across size classes using daily records of prices and catch. We linked predictions from this economic choice model to a staged-based model of the fishery to estimate the effects on the stock and revenues from harvest. We found that the supply of plate-sized fish increased by 6%, while the supply of large fish decreased by 4% as a result of a 13% price premium for plate-sized fish. This market-driven size selection increased revenues (14%) but decreased total fish biomass (-3%). However, when market-driven size selection was combined with limited institutional constraints, both fish biomass (28%) and fishermen's revenue (22%) increased. These results show that the direction and magnitude of the effects of market demand on biological populations and human behavior can depend on both biological attributes and institutional constraints. Fisheries management may capitalize on these conditional effects by implementing size-based regulations when economic and institutional incentives will enhance compliance, as in the case we describe here, or by creating compliance enhancing conditions for existing regulations.

Spontaneous Regression and Separation of Idiopathic Epiretinal Membranes.

Epiretinal membranes (ERMs) typically remain stable or progressively worsen. Here, we report two rare cases of spontaneous ERM regression and one case of ERM separation. This is a case series of three patients. The patients' clinical data were collected and ERMs were evaluated with serial optical coherence tomographies (OCTs). Cases one and two were female patients presenting with floaters. Mild-to-moderate idiopathic ERM was diagnosed which spontaneously regressed over the following years without intervention and evidence of separation. Patients' vision was slightly decreased or remained stable, respectively. Case three was a female patient presenting with blurry vision. A mild ERM was diagnosed with vitreomacular traction (VMT) and a tiny macular hole. Over the following three months, ERM separation along with VMT release was evidenced on OCT. The macular hole healed simultaneously. Her vision improved from 20/70 to 20/30. The possibility of spontaneous regression of idiopathic ERMs should be a factor to consider in management. Further research must be done to determine the mechanism of this phenomenon.

Quantification of polyethylene terephthalate micro- and nanoplastics in domestic wastewater using a simple three-step method.

Concerns about impact of small plastic particles, known as microplastics (<5 mm) and nanoplastics (<1 µm), together abbreviated as MNP, on the environment and on human health have increased in recent years. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics have been detected previously in different environmental samples including freshwater and wastewater sludge. In the present study, we target all small plastic particles of PET with a diameter smaller than 5 mm ('PET MNP'). A simple three-step method of drying, (in matrix) PET depolymerization in ethylene glycol and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis, was applied for the quantification of PET MNP in influents and effluents collected from ten Dutch wastewater treatment plants. The PET recovery was 98 % in the wastewater matrix. The limits of detection (LOD) for PET in influents and effluents were 2.0 µg/L and 1.2 µg/L, respectively. PET MNP was detected in all the influents (ranging from 24.9 µg/L to 680 µg/L) and most of the effluents (ranging from

Challenges to interdisciplinary research in ecosystem-based management.

Despite its necessity, integration of natural and social sciences to inform conservation efforts has been difficult. We examined the views of 63 scientists and practitioners involved in marine management in Mexico's Gulf of California, the central California coast, and the western Pacific on the challenges associated with integrating social science into research efforts that support ecosystem-based management (EBM) in marine systems. We used a semistructured interview format. Questions focused on how EBM was developed for these sites and how contextual factors affected its development and outcomes. Many of the traditional challenges linked with interdisciplinary research were present in the EBM projects we studied. However, a number of contextual elements affected how mandates to include social science were interpreted and implemented as well as how easily challenges could be addressed. For example, a common challenge is that conservation organizations are often dominated by natural scientists, but for some projects it was easier to address this imbalance than for others. We also found that the management and institutional histories that came before EBM in specific cases were important features of local context. Because challenges differed among cases, we believe resolving challenges to interdisciplinary research should be context specific.

13-Week oral toxicity study of oil derived from squid (Todarodes pacificus) in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Recommendations to increase the consumption of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are challenged by the global problem of declining fish stocks. Non-traditional and more sustainable sources of the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids are needed. Squid (Todarodes pacificus) represents a uniquely sustainable source of these fatty acids. A 13-week oral toxicity study was conducted in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats administered either 0, 250, 500, or 1000µl/kg body weight (bw)/day of a refined squid oil. All of the rats survived through to the end of the study. All of the rats grew normally and had normal clinical and ophthalmic observations. No signs of toxicity were evident from clinical chemistry, hematology, and urinalysis data measured. No abnormal findings attributable to exposure to purified squid oil were observed following the necropsy of male and female rats and the histopathological examination of the organs. The no-observed-adverse-effect level for refined squid oil was determined to be 1000µl/kg bw/day, the highest dose tested.

Quantification of polyethylene terephthalate microplastics and nanoplastics in sands, indoor dust and sludge using a simplified in-matrix depolymerization method.

An effective 3-step method for the quantification of mass of polyethylene terephthalate microplastics and nanoplastics (PET MNPs) in complex environmental matrices was developed based on a simplified in-matrix depolymerization. Liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with ultraviolet (UV) detection was used for detection and quantification. Recoveries for PET-spiked sand samples were 99 ± 2% (1 mg/L) and 93 ± 7% (30 mg/L). The limit of quantification (LOQ) for PET was 0.4 µg/g for sand, 1 mg/g for indoor dust and 0.2 µg/g for wet sludge. This method was applied to seven beach sand samples, 20 indoor dust samples and one sewage sludge sample. PET MNPs levels in sand samples were all below the limit of detection (LOD) of LC-UV (0.1 µg/g). The concentrations of PET MNPs in indoor dust samples ranged from 1.2 to 305 mg/g and the PET MNPs in liquid sludge was 1.5 mg/L.

Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood.

Plastic particles are ubiquitous pollutants in the living environment and food chain but no study to date has reported on the internal exposure of plastic particles in human blood. This study's goal was to develop a robust and sensitive sampling and analytical method with double shot pyrolysis - gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and apply it to measure plastic particles ≥700 nm in human whole blood from 22 healthy volunteers. Four high production volume polymers applied in plastic were identified and quantified for the first time in blood. Polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene and polymers of styrene (a sum parameter of polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, acetonitrile butadiene styrene etc.) were the most widely encountered, followed by poly(methyl methacrylate). Polypropylene was analysed but values were under the limits of quantification. In this study of a small set of donors, the mean of the sum quantifiable concentration of plastic particles in blood was 1.6 µg/ml, showing a first measurement of the mass concentration of the polymeric component of plastic in human blood. This pioneering human biomonitoring study demonstrated that plastic particles are bioavailable for uptake into the human bloodstream. An understanding of the exposure of these substances in humans and the associated hazard of such exposure is needed to determine whether or not plastic particle exposure is a public health risk.

"Responsible" or "Strange?" Differences in Face Mask Attitudes and Use Between Chinese and Non-East Asian Canadians During COVID-19's First Wave.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists and scholars noted differences between Asians and North Americans in their support for public mask use. These differences were primarily assumed to be due d to variations in ethnocultural norms and practices. To better ascertain people's motives for wearing masks and potential cultural differences in these rationales, this comparative, mixed-methods research examines Chinese and non-East Asian Canadians' mask use attitudes utilizing online group interviews (Study 1) and a nation-wide survey (Study 2) Study 1, conducted in the early stages of the pandemic, captured an ambivalent, yet evolving attitude toward public mask use among the non-East Asian Canadians, which differed from their Chinese counterparts who more uniformly perceived mask use favorably. Study 2, conducted 2 months later, suggests that both groups primarily wore masks for disease protection- and prevention-related reasons. However, age and education appeared to influence the mask wearing frequency of the non-East Asian Canadians, for whom public mask use was less prevalent and normative. The attitudinal differences in public mask use call for targeted strategies to support mask wearing for different ethnocultural groups, which may be achieved partially through enhancing interethnic understanding on the diversified use of and opinions about masks. The findings suggest that favorable social norms, along with evidence-based information campaigns involving personal appeals may encourage greater mask use by the non-East Asian population.

Substrate size mediates thermal stress in the rocky intertidal.

Variation in physical factors, such as slope, orientation, and wind exposure, shapes thermal conditions. Variation in substrate size is common in many habitats, but its thermal consequences for organisms are not well characterized. Larger substrates should remain more thermally stable and act as thermal refuges for associated organisms during short, thermally stressful periods such as midday temperature peaks or tidal exposure. In observations and a transplant and thermal integration experiment, we found that larger rock substrates stayed cooler and facilitated greater survival of the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides in the high intertidal relative to small substrates during the hot summer months in southern New England, USA. However, in thermally benign northern New England, rock substrate size had no effect on barnacle distributions, indicating that the thermal effects of substrate size are mediated by regional climate.