Social media echo chambers and satisfaction with democracy among Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the 2016 US elections.

There is widespread evidence that individuals select information that supports their convictions and worldviews. This behavior yields the formation of echo chambers - environments in which an individual's own political beliefs are repeated and amplified and dissenting opinions are screened out. Recent research demonstrates that social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook or Twitter can facilitate this selection into homogenous networks. Using data from a representative nationwide online survey, we consider the degree to which respondents' social media networks resemble virtual echo chambers. We then analyze the effect of these social media echo chambers on satisfaction with democracy among Democrats and Republicans in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. elections. Our findings reveal that virtual echo chambers boost democratic satisfaction among Republicans but they do not have an effect on system support by self-identified Democrats. Our paper therefore adds to a growing literature linking online behaviors to mass attitudes about politics.

Interpersonal trust: An age-period-cohort analysis revisited.

Building on the previous work of Robinson and Jackson(1), this study addresses the extent to which interpersonal trust in America is changing due to age, period, or cohort effects (APC). The importance of APC in explaining variations in trust stems from the understanding that the specific source of change can have important - albeit different and possibly, negative - consequences on society. Moreover, 3years after the previous study concluded, the country experienced the largest concerted terrorist attacks on US soil. Little is known about how the attacks affected the dynamics of interpersonal trust relative to the processes of birth, aging, and historical change - such an investigation has important implications for our understanding of the sources and consequences of interpersonal trust. Two analysis techniques for disentangling APC effects are used: constrained generalized linear models and intrinsic estimator models. The results show that while period effects are an important contributor to declining trust, the attacks exert little influence over one's decision to trust others. Also, the investigation provides further confirmation that trust in others has fallen dramatically in the US with the scarcity being led by individuals coming of age in the late 1940s, after which, trust falls with each successive cohort. If this trend continues, through the process of cohort replacement, we will become a society of "distrusters".

Comparative sequence analysis of the distal one-third of the genomes of a systemic and an enteric ferret coronavirus.

Ferret systemic coronavirus (FRSCV) infection is associated with an emerging, highly fatal disease of ferrets. Enhanced macrophage tropism and the resulting induction of pyogranulomatous lesions are shared with feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) infection in cats, but are not features of ferret enteric coronavirus (FRECV) infection. Comparative sequence analysis of the distal one-third of the genomes of one FRSCV and one FRECV strain showed that these two ferret coronaviruses share >96% nucleotide sequence identities in the membrane (M), nucleocapsid (N) and non-structural protein genes (partial polymerase, open reading frames [ORFs] 3 and 7b). The envelope (E) protein gene showed a moderate nucleotide sequence similarity of 91.6%. In contrast, nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarities observed with the spike (S) protein were only 79.5 and 79.6%, respectively. Twenty-one amino acid differences within a 195-199-amino acid C-terminal portion of the S protein were conserved between 3 strains each of FRSCV and FRECV. Both systemic and enteric strains were found to carry a single ORF 3 gene with truncated proteins observed in two out of three FRSCV strains examined. The two enteric strains analyzed each contained an intact ORF 3 gene. Phylogenetically, FRSCV is more closely related to FRECV than to other group 1 coronaviruses.

Cloning and expression analysis of two novel paraflagellar rod domain genes found in Trypanosoma cruzi.

The eukaryotic flagellum is one of the most complex macromolecular structures found in cells, containing more than 250 proteins. One unique structure in the flagella of trypanomastids is the paraflagellar rod (PFR). The PFR constitutes a lattice of cytoskeletal filaments that lies alongside the axoneme in the flagella. This unique and complex structure is critical for cell motility, though little is known about its molecular assembly or its role in the lifecycle of trypanosomatids. These proteins are of particular importance in Trypanosoma cruzi, as purified or recombinant PFR proteins have been demonstrated to be immunogenic, protecting mice from a lethal challenge with the parasite. We have searched the T. cruzi databases and discovered two novel genes containing PFR domains. Both these genes are transcribed in vivo and are significantly larger than the previously described PFR genes identified in T. cruzi (>2 Kb). Real-time PCR was used to examine the relative expression levels of six PFR genes, including the two we describe here, in all three stages of T. cruzi's lifecycle. Database searches have further provided EST and genomic sequence support for the presence of these genes in two other pathogenic trypanosomatids, Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania spp. One of these genes, designated PFR5 contains a carboxy terminal SH3 domain not previously seen in PFR family genes. We propose that this proline-binding SH3 domain may play an important role in the assembly of the PFR.