Consistent evidence of indirect effects of impulsive delay discounting and negative urgency between childhood adversity and adult substance use in two samples.

RATIONALE: Exposure to adverse life experiences (ACEs) is robustly associated with problematic alcohol and other drug use. In addition, both ACEs and substance use have been independently associated with impulsivity. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether impulsivity is implicated in the link between ACE and adult substance use in two samples. METHODS: The primary sample was a cohort of community adults (N = 1431) who completed a one-time in-person assessment. A second sample was crowdsourced using Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 3021). All participants were assessed for ACEs using the Adverse Childhood Experience Questionnaire and for current alcohol and other drug use. Given its multidimensional nature, impulsivity was assessed using the UPPS-P measure of impulsive personality traits, Go/NoGo (GNG) task (in-person community adult sample only), and delay discounting (Monetary Choice Questionnaire [MCQ] in the community adults and Effective Delay-50 [ED50] in the crowdsourced sample. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized indirect effects for the measures of impulsivity between ACEs and substance use. RESULTS: In the community adults, significant indirect effects were observed from ACEs to substance use via UPPS-Negative Urgency (ß = 0.07, SE = 0.02, 95% CI [0.04, 0.10]), and the MCQ (ß = 0.02 SE = .01, 95% CI [0.01, 0.03]). In the crowdsourced sample, significant indirect effects were observed from ACEs to substance use via UPPS-Negative Urgency (ß = 0.05, SE = .01, 95% CI [0.04, 0.07]), UPPS-Premeditation (ß = 0.04, SE = .01, 95% CI [0.02, 0.05), and the ED50 (ß = 0.02, SE = .01; 95% CI [0.01, 0.03]). CONCLUSION: These findings provide consistent evidence that decrements in regulation of negative emotions and overvaluation of immediate rewards indirectly link ACE and substance use. These robust cross-sectional findings support the need for elucidating the underlying neural substrates implicated and for longitudinal evaluations.

Current trends in and future potential of crowdfunding to finance R&D of treatments for neglected tropical diseases.

A serious lack of funding exists for the research and development (R&D) of therapeutics, diagnostics, and preventive measures for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Hence, crowdfunding to finance R&D for NTDs has high importance, because it is a new and alternate source of capital. This study explores current trends of crowdfunding for R&D for NTDs. Our study showed that, although the number of crowdfunding campaigns for NTDs has been increasing since 2010, crowdfunding overall has not reached its full potential. Several factors contributing positively to the success of crowdfunding campaigns were identified. These and the promotion of the crowdfunding ecosystem could aid the unlocking of its potential as a complementary financing source to conventional funding practices of R&D for NTDs.

Compromiso y capacitación en innovación docente del profesorado universitario en Ciencias de la Salud / Commitment and training in teaching innovation of university professors in Health Sciences

INTRODUCCIÓN: La Declaración de Bolonia y la convergencia hacia el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior supuso la adaptación de la enseñanza universitaria, lo que contribuyó a la aprobación del modelo pedagógico IKD de la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, actualmente, estrategia IKDi3, y al desarrollo de una formación docente específica. MÉTODOS: Análisis descriptivo semicuantitativo de la participación del profesorado de la Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería en la formación docente, ofrecida por el Servicio de Asesoramiento Educativo/Hezkuntzarako Laguntza Zerbitzua durante el período 2000-2020. Las variables fueron participación, acción formativa y unidad organizacional. RESULTADOS: Se observa participación en todos los programas. Destaca la actividad Formación del Profesorado Universitario sobre otras acciones formativas (92,9%). Hay diferencias en la participación de departamentos y destacan Enfermería I (21,3%), Biología Celular e Histología (17,27%), Fisiología (15,6%) y Neurociencias (14,81%). Existe un activo grupo de docentes comprometido con la capacitación en innovación docente, en mayor número mujeres (68,11%). Se observa diversidad de compromiso-capacitación en común. Destaca la trayectoria de algunas/os docentes, lo que sugiere garantía de cambio y asunción de nuevos retos. CONCLUSIÓN: Aun existiendo diferencias subrayables en la capacitación del profesorado por departamentos, el hallazgo principal es que un grupo muy nutrido de docentes, en mayor número mujeres, ha participado de forma activa en los programas de formación, contribuyendo a la innovación docente en las ramas sanitarias. Sin embargo, existe la necesidad de aunar esfuerzos de coordinación del profesorado para su formación e implementación eficaz y eficiente de la nueva estrategia IKDi3

INTRODUCTION: The Bologna Declaration and the convergence towards the EHEA meant the adaptation of University Education, which contributed to the approval of the IKD pedagogical model of the UPV/EHU, currently the IKDi3 strategy and the development of specific teacher training. METHODS: Semi-quantitative descriptive analysis of the participation of teachers from the Faculty of Medicine and Nursing (FME) in teacher training offered by SAE-HELAZ during the period 200-2020. The variables were participation, training action and organizational unity. RESULTS: There is participation in all programs. The activity in FOPU stands out from other training actions (92.9%). There are differences in the participation of departments, highlighting Nursing I (21.30%), Cell Biology and Histology (17.27%), Physiology (15.60%) and Neurosciences (14.81%). We observe a diversity of common commitment and training. The trajectory of some teachers is noteworthy, which suggests that they guarantee change and take on new challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Although there are important differences in teacher training by department, the main finding is that a large group of teachers, more often women, have been active participants in the training programs. These teachers contribute to teaching innovation in the health branches. However, there is a need to join efforts in coordinating teachers for their training and effective and efficient implementation of the new IKDi3 strategy

Crowdfunding Cannabidiol (CBD) for Cancer: Hype and Misinformation on GoFundMe.

Objectives. To use crowdfunding campaigns to better understand how cannabidiol (CBD) is represented (and misrepresented) as cancer-related care.Methods. We analyzed CBD-related crowdfunding campaigns (n = 155) created between January 2017 and May 2019 in multiple countries on GoFundme.com.Results. More than 81.9% of campaigns fundraised CBD for curative or life-prolonging reasons, and 25.2% fundraised for pain management.Conclusions. Most campaigns seeking funds for CBD for cancer-related care on GoFundMe are for curative or life-prolonging purposes and present CBD definitively as an effective treatment option. In general, campaigners supported their funding requests with anecdotal claims of efficacy and referenced sources of information that were either not evidence-based or that misrepresented existing evidence.Public Health Implications. Misinformation around CBD for cancer is widespread on medical crowdfunding campaigns. Given the potential adverse impact, crowdfunding platforms, like GoFundMe, must take steps to address their role in enabling and spreading this misinformation.

A Comparison of Online Medical Crowdfunding in Canada, the UK, and the US.

Importance: Despite major differences in their health care systems, medical crowdfunding is increasingly used to finance personal health care costs in Canada, the UK, and the US. However, little is known about the campaigns designed to raise monetary donations for medical expenses, the individuals who turn to crowdfunding, and their fundraising intent. Objective: To examine the demographic characteristics of medical crowdfunding beneficiaries, campaign characteristics, and their association with funding success in Canada, the UK, and the US. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study extracted and manually reviewed data from GoFundMe campaigns discoverable between February 2018 and March 2019. All available campaigns on each country domain's GoFundMe medical discovery webpage that benefitted a unique patient(s) were included from Canada, the UK, and the US. Data analysis was performed from March to December 2019. Exposures: Campaign and beneficiary characteristics. Main Outcomes and Measures: Log-transformed amount raised in US dollars. Results: This study examined 3396 campaigns including 1091 in Canada, 1082 in the UK, and 1223 in the US. Campaigns in the US (median [IQR], $38 204 [$31 200 to $52 123]) raised more funds than campaigns in Canada ($12 662 [$9377 to $19 251]) and the UK ($6285 [$4028 to $12 348]). In the overall cohort per campaign, Black individuals raised 11.5% less (95% CI, -19.0% to -3.2%; P = .006) than non-Black individuals, and male individuals raised 5.9% more (95% CI, 2.2% to 9.7%; P = .002) than female individuals. Female (39.4% of campaigns vs 50.8% of US population; difference, 11.3%; 95% CI, 8.6% to 14.1%; P < .001) and Black (5.3% of campaigns vs 13.4% of US population; difference, 8.1%; 95% CI, 6.8% to 9.3%; P < .001) beneficiaries were underrepresented among US campaigns. Campaigns primarily for routine treatment expenses were approximately 3 times more common in the US (77.9% [272 of 349 campaigns]) than in Canada (21.9% [55 of 251 campaigns]; difference, 56.0%; 95% CI, 49.3-62.7%; P < .001) or the UK (26.6% [127 of 478 campaigns]; difference, 51.4%; 95% CI, 45.5%-57.3%; P < .001). However, campaigns for routine care were less successful overall. Approved, inaccessible care and experimental care raised 35.7% (95% CI, 25.6% to 46.7%; P < .001) and 20.9% (95% CI, 13.3% to 29.1%; P < .001), respectively, more per campaign than routine care. Campaigns primarily for alternative treatment expenses (16.1% [174 of 1079 campaigns]) were nearly 4-fold more common for cancer (23.5% [144 of 614 campaigns]) vs noncancer (6.5% [30 of 465 campaigns]) diagnoses. Conclusions and Relevance: Important differences were observed in the reasons individuals turn to medical crowdfunding in the 3 countries examined that suggest racial and gender disparities in fundraising success. More work is needed to understand the underpinnings of these findings and their implications on health care provision in the countries examined.

Schrödinger's pipeline and the outsourcing of pharmaceutical innovation.

In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008) cheaper, softer money flooded the worldwide markets. Faced with historically low capital costs, the pharmaceutical industry chose to pay down debt through share buybacks rather than invest in research and development (R&D). Instead, the industry explored new R&D models for open innovation, such as open-sourcing, crowd-sourcing, public-private partnerships, innovation centres, Science Parks, and the wholesale outsourcing of pharmaceutical R&D. However, economic Greater Fool Theory suggests that outsourcing R&D was never likely to increase innovation. Ten years on, the period of cheaper and softer money is coming to an end. So how are things looking? And what happens next?

Advancing computational biology and bioinformatics research through open innovation competitions.

Open data science and algorithm development competitions offer a unique avenue for rapid discovery of better computational strategies. We highlight three examples in computational biology and bioinformatics research in which the use of competitions has yielded significant performance gains over established algorithms. These include algorithms for antibody clustering, imputing gene expression data, and querying the Connectivity Map (CMap). Performance gains are evaluated quantitatively using realistic, albeit sanitized, data sets. The solutions produced through these competitions are then examined with respect to their utility and the prospects for implementation in the field. We present the decision process and competition design considerations that lead to these successful outcomes as a model for researchers who want to use competitions and non-domain crowds as collaborators to further their research.

Legal and ethical issues surrounding the use of crowdsourcing among healthcare providers.

As the pace of medical discovery widens the knowledge-to-practice gap, technologies that enable peer-to-peer crowdsourcing have become increasingly common. Crowdsourcing has the potential to help medical providers collaborate to solve patient-specific problems in real time. We recently conducted the first trial of a mobile, medical crowdsourcing application among healthcare providers in a university hospital setting. In addition to acknowledging the benefits, our participants also raised concerns regarding the potential negative consequences of this emerging technology. In this commentary, we consider the legal and ethical implications of the major findings identified in our previous trial including compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, patient protections, healthcare provider liability, data collection, data retention, distracted doctoring, and multi-directional anonymous posting. We believe the commentary and recommendations raised here will provide a frame of reference for individual providers, provider groups, and institutions to explore the salient legal and ethical issues before they implement these systems into their workflow.

Crowdsourcing architectural beauty: Online photo frequency predicts building aesthetic ratings.

The aesthetic quality of the built environment is of paramount importance to the quality of life of an increasingly urbanizing population. However, a lack of data has hindered the development of comprehensive measures of perceived architectural beauty. In this paper, we demonstrate that the local frequency of geotagged photos posted by internet users in two photo-sharing websites strongly predict the beauty ratings of buildings. We conduct an independent beauty survey with respondents rating proprietary stock photos of 1,000 buildings across the United States. Buildings with higher ratings were found more likely to be geotagged with user-uploaded photos in both Google Maps and Flickr. This correlation also holds for the beauty rankings of raters who seldom upload materials to the internet. Objective architectural characteristics that predict higher average beauty ratings of buildings also positively covary with their internet photo frequency. These results validate the use of localized user-generated image uploads in photo-sharing sites to measure the aesthetic appeal of the urban environment in the study of architecture, real estate, urbanism, planning, and environmental psychology.

Crowdfunding for cardiovascular research.

The competition for public cardiovascular research grants has recently increased. Independent researchers are facing increasing competition for public research grant support and ultimately may need to seek alternative funding sources. Crowdfunding, a financing method of raising funds online by pooling together small donations from the online community to support a specific initiative, seems to have significant potential. However, the feasibility of crowdfunding for cardiovascular research remains unknown. Here, we performed exploratory data analysis of the feasibility of online crowdfunding in cardiovascular research.

Proceso y puesta en práctica de intervenciones de ergonomía participativa: una revisión sistemática / Process and implementation of participatory ergonomic interventions: a systematic review

Las intervenciones de ergonomía participativa (EP) pueden variar en su forma de realización. Se llevó a cabo una revisión sistemática para conocer la evidencia disponible en relación al contexto, las barreras y los facilitadores para la realización de intervenciones de EP en los lugares de trabajo. En total, se realizaron búsquedas en 17 bases de datos electrónicas. Los datos sobre el proceso de EP y su puesta en práctica fueron obtenidos de documentos que cumplían con los criterios de contenido y calidad y luego fueron sintetizados. La búsqueda produjo 2.151 referencias. De ellas, se obtuvieron 190 documentos relevantes, de los que 52 cumplían los criterios de contenido y calidad. Los documentos describían diversos equipos/grupos de trabajo ergonómicos, así como variedad en el tipo, la duración y el contenido de la formación ergonómica. Las intervenciones tenían como resultado cambios técnicos y de los procesos de trabajo y se informaba de los impactos positivos de estas intervenciones. Las barreras y facilitadores descritos se referían a los recursos disponibles, el apoyo a los programas, la formación en ergonomía, la formación organizacional y la comunicación. Las intervenciones de éxito en EP requieren la implicación de las personas adecuadas, una formación en ergonomía y responsabilidades claras. Resulta primordial abordar los principales facilitadores y obstáculos, como el apoyo a los programas, los recursos y la comunicación. Recopilación y análisis de datos: Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica sistemática en la que se utilizaron bases de datos electrónicas, libros de resúmenes de conferencias y listados de referencias. Se contactó con expertos que pudieran facilitar artículos de prensa, artículos aceptados para publicación y documentos de literatura gris. El equipo de revisión desarrolló una herramienta de evaluación de contenido y calidad aplicable a los diferentes tipos de documentos. Dos revisores, trabajando de forma independiente, recopilaron información sobre contexto, estructura organizativa, procedimiento, formación ergonómica, barreras y facilitadores y efectividad de la intervención. Resultados: Se obtuvieron 2.151 referencias, 44% de revisión por pares, 51% de literatura gris y 5% con ambas clasificaciones o inclasificables. Finalmente se consideraron 190 documentos para revisión de contenido y calidad, de los que 126 (36 de revisión por pares y 90 de literatura gris) no cumplían con los criterios de contenido y otros 12 (4 de revisión por pares y 8 de literatura gris) no cumplían los criterios de calidad. La síntesis se realizó sobre 52 documentos (33 de revisión por pares y 19 de literatura gris). En cuanto a los resultados cabe destacar lo siguiente: los factores contextuales eran muy variables. Sin embargo, las razones principales para una intervención de EP fueron similares: reducir las lesiones (o costes asociados) o los factores de riesgo de las lesiones. Las características más sobresalientes de los programas de EP fueron: - La creación de equipos de trabajo con los miembros adecuados. - Involucrar a las personas adecuadas en el proceso ergonómico: los actores clave parecen ser los trabajadores, supervisores y los especialistas o asesores (internos o externos a la empresa). Esta variedad de participantes representa la combinación adecuada de habilidades y conocimiento para progresar a través del proceso de EP. El especialista en ergonomía participa, en la mayoría de los procesos, orientando y guiando la acción - Definir las responsabilidades de los participantes: identificación de problemas, desarrollo de soluciones, implementación de los cambios. - Toma de decisiones mediante consulta: las consultas de grupo fueron el método más frecuente de toma de decisiones. - Proporcionar formación en ergonomía: impartida por un ergónomo u otro profesional y dirigida a los trabajadores, equipos de EP y supervisores. La naturaleza de la formación es flexible y puede adaptarse a los riesgos específicos del lugar de trabajo. - Abordar los facilitadores/barreras clave: el conocimiento de los posibles facilitadores y barreras es extremadamente importante en la iniciación, en el curso del proceso y en la implementación de las soluciones. Los más frecuentemente descritos son: el apoyo a la intervención, los recursos disponibles, la formación/conocimiento ergonómico, la creación del equipo apropiado, la comunicación y la formación/conocimiento de la organización. sin embargo, en la literatura se observan algunas lagunas de información relativas a, por ejemplo, si la intervención tiene un carácter puntual o se mantiene en el tiempo, el tipo de factores de riesgo abordados y el tipo de trabajadores involucrados, duración y frecuencia de las reuniones y de las sesiones formativas, etc. Conclusiones de los autores: Los resultados actuales indican que no existe una única manera de implementar un programa de ergonomía participativa, ni siquiera una que pueda definirse como la mejor. Precisamente, una de las fortalezas de los enfoques participativos es su adaptabilidad al contexto y a las necesidades del centro de trabajo y de los trabajadores. Sin embargo, en esta revisión ha sido posible sintetizar algunos aspectos comunes del proceso. Atendiendo a estos elementos comunes, los facilitadores y las barreras pueden ayudar a promover intervenciones sostenibles de EP

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When Brain Beats Behavior: Neuroforecasting Crowdfunding Outcomes.

Although traditional economic and psychological theories imply that individual choice best scales to aggregate choice, primary components of choice reflected in neural activity may support even more generalizable forecasts. Crowdfunding represents a significant and growing platform for funding new and unique projects, causes, and products. To test whether neural activity could forecast market-level crowdfunding outcomes weeks later, 30 human subjects (14 female) decided whether to fund proposed projects described on an Internet crowdfunding website while undergoing scanning with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although activity in both the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and medial prefrontal cortex predicted individual choices to fund on a trial-to-trial basis in the neuroimaging sample, only NAcc activity generalized to forecast market funding outcomes weeks later on the Internet. Behavioral measures from the neuroimaging sample, however, did not forecast market funding outcomes. This pattern of associations was replicated in a second study. These findings demonstrate that a subset of the neural predictors of individual choice can generalize to forecast market-level crowdfunding outcomes-even better than choice itself.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Forecasting aggregate behavior with individual neural data has proven elusive; even when successful, neural forecasts have not historically supplanted behavioral forecasts. In the current research, we find that neural responses can forecast market-level choice and outperform behavioral measures in a novel Internet crowdfunding context. Targeted as well as model-free analyses convergently indicated that nucleus accumbens activity can support aggregate forecasts. Beyond providing initial evidence for neuropsychological processes implicated in crowdfunding choices, these findings highlight the ability of neural features to forecast aggregate choice, which could inform applications relevant to business and policy.

Producing a worthy illness: Personal crowdfunding amidst financial crisis.

For Americans experiencing illnesses and disabilities, crowdfunding has become a popular strategy for addressing the extraordinary costs of health care. The political, social, and health consequences of austerity--along with fallout from the 2008 financial collapse and the shortcomings of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)--are made evident in websites like GoFundMe. Here, patients and caregivers create campaigns to solicit donations for medical care, hoping that they will spread widely through social networks. As competition increases among campaigns, patients and their loved ones are obliged to produce compelling and sophisticated appeals. Despite the growing popularity of crowdfunding, little research has explored the usage, impacts, or consequences of the increasing reliance on it for health in the U.S. or abroad. This paper analyzes data from a mixed-methods study conducted from March-September 2016 of 200 GoFundMe campaigns, identified through randomized selection. In addition to presenting exploratory quantitative data on the characteristics and relative success of these campaigns, a more in-depth textual analysis examines how crowdfunders construct narratives about illness and financial need, and attempt to demonstrate their own deservingness. Concerns with the financial burdens of illness, combined with a high proportion of campaigns in states without ACA Medicaid expansion, underscored the importance of crowdfunding as a response to contexts of austerity. Successful crowdfunding requires that campaigners master medical and media literacies; as such, we argue that crowdfunding has the potential to deepen social and health inequities in the U.S. by promoting forms of individualized charity that rely on unequally-distributed literacies to demonstrate deservingness and worth. Crowdfunding narratives also distract from crises of healthcare funding and gaping holes in the social safety net by encouraging hyper-individualized accounts of suffering on media platforms where precarity is portrayed as the result of inadequate self-marketing, rather than the inevitable consequences of structural conditions of austerity.

Globalizing and crowdsourcing biomedical research.

INTRODUCTION OR BACKGROUND: Crowdfunding and crowdsourcing of medical research has emerged as a novel paradigm for many biomedical disciplines to rapidly collect, process and interpret data from high-throughput and high-dimensional experiments. The novelty and promise of these approaches have led to fundamental discoveries about RNA mechanisms, microbiome dynamics and even patient interpretation of test results. However, these methods require robust training protocols, uniform sampling methods and experimental rigor in order to be useful for subsequent research efforts. Executed correctly, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing can leverage public resources and engagement to generate support for scientific endeavors that would otherwise be impossible due to funding constraints and or the large number of participants needed for data collection. SOURCES OF DATA: We conducted a comprehensive literature review of scientific studies that utilized crowdsourcing and crowdfunding to generate data. We also discuss our own experiences conducting citizen-science research initiatives (MetaSUB and PathoMap) in ensuring data robustness, educational outreach and public engagement. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: We demonstrate the efficacy of crowdsourcing mechanisms for revolutionizing microbiome and metagenomic research to better elucidate the microbial and genetic dynamics of cities around the world (as well as non-urban areas). Crowdsourced studies have been able to create an improved and unprecedented ability to monitor, design and measure changes at the microbial and macroscopic scale. Thus, the use of crowdsourcing strategies has dramatically altered certain genomics research to create global citizen-science initiatives that reveal new discoveries about the world's genetic dynamics. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: The effectiveness of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing is largely dependent on the study design and methodology. One point of contention for the present discussion is the validity and scientific rigor of data that are generated by non-scientists. Selection bias, limited sample sizes and limitations for scientists in enforcing standardized protocols are all challenges for those who engage in citizen-science initiatives. GROWING POINTS: Despite the aforementioned concerns, crowdsourced data allow for greater inroads into the field of personalized medicine, whereby community members take an active role in generating data about their personal and environmental health. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: Crowdsourced viral and metagenomic studies are the next step in elucidating the genomic and epigenomic characterization of urban population health.

Expanding the Immunology Toolbox: Embracing Public-Data Reuse and Crowdsourcing.

New technologies have been propelling dramatic increases in the volume and diversity of large-scale public data, which can potentially be reused to answer questions beyond those originally envisioned. However, this often requires computational and statistical skills beyond the reach of most bench scientists. The development of educational and accessible computational tools is thus critical, as are crowdsourcing efforts that utilize the community's expertise to curate public data for hypothesis generation and testing. Here we review the history of public-data reuse and argue for greater incorporation of computational and statistical sciences into the biomedical education curriculum and the development of biologist-friendly crowdsourcing tools. Finally, we provide a resource list for the reuse of public data and highlight an illustrative crowdsourcing exercise to explore public gene-expression data of human autoimmune diseases and corresponding mouse models. Through education, tool development, and community engagement, immunologists will be poised to transform public data into biological insights.