The effects of antidepressant drugs evaluated through the analysis of patients' tweet

Scientists have identified behavioural and linguistic changes in tweets in Spanish published by users suffering from depression and who are taking medication to treat this disease.

UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA - BARCELONA

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE POSSIBILITY OF ANALYSING MASSIVE DATA SHARED ON SOCIAL NETWORKS PROVIDES US WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE BEHAVIOUR OF THEIR USERS. view more 

CREDIT: SOURCE: UNSPLASH.

Researchers of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) from UPF and Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) in Barcelona, Spain, have identified behavioural and linguistic changes in tweets in Spanish published by users suffering from depression and who are taking medication to treat this disease.

Their work has been published in Journal of Medical Internet Research and was led by Ferran Sanz; with Angela Leis and Francesco Ronzano as first authors, who conducted the work together with Miguel Angel Mayer and Laura I Furlong, all from the Integrative Biomedical Informatics research group.

Depression is one of the most widespread mental illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, it affects more than 322 million people of all ages and is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide.

The possibility of analysing massive data shared on social networks provides us with new opportunities to better understand the behaviour of their users. In this study, using Big Data and text mining, the scientists analysed tweets by users who mentioned they were taking drugs for the treatment of depressive disorders. The main goal was to detect the effects of this medication through changes in the language used in their tweets or in the way these people used Twitter.

In a previous study, the team of researchers observed that users of Twitter who potentially suffer from depression display specific behavioural and linguistic features. This article focuses on the changes in the features of the messages that may be associated with treatment with antidepressant drugs.

The most notable results revealed that during periods in which users stated they were receiving antidepressant drug treatment their Twitter activity increased with longer messages but posting fewer messages at night. They also interacted more with other users (for example, through an increase in number of mentions per tweet, which may reflect an interest in interacting with other people) and also an increase in positive emotions, related to happiness and surprise. "We can state that the behavioural patterns of people who are in treatment with antidepressant drugs change and tend to resemble those of people who do not suffer from depression", Angela Leis details.

There are various types of antidepressant drugs, and this study focuses specifically on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are the most commonly prescribed drug for treating depression. First, they selected timelines of users mentioning SSRI antidepressants in their tweets. Then, "we analysed changes in behavioural and linguistic features in the tweets posted while users were in treatment, in comparison with tweets posted by the same users when it was less likely that they were taking these drugs", Francesco Ronzano explains. 186 users and their timelines with 668,842 tweets were finally included in the study.

"The use of techniques based on Big Data and text mining, which enable detecting changes in the way in which users interact in their social networks, such as Twitter, can provide us with new opportunities to follow up and monitor patients suffering from one of the most widespread, disabling health problems as is depression", concludes Ferran Sanz, full professor with the UPF Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) and director of the Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) of the IMIM and UPF.

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Reference article:

Leis A, Ronzano F, Mayer MA, Furlong LI, Sanz F. Evaluating Behavioral and Linguistic Changes During Drug Treatment for Depression Using Tweets in Spanish: Pairwise Comparison Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Dec. doi: 10.2196/20920.

NIH research funding to support surgeon scientists is rising

An analysis of the National Institutes of Health database reveals surgeon scientists have become more diverse in their research efforts, while still keeping a focus on basic science

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

 NEWS RELEASE 12-FEB-2021

Research News

 

CHICAGO (February 12, 2021): Since 2010, National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to support surgeon scientists has, remarkably, risen significantly while funding to support other non-surgeon physicians has significantly decreased. This growth has occurred despite an overall decrease in NIH funding and an increase in demand for clinical productivity. These findings are according to an "article in press" published on the website of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons ahead of print.

"Our findings challenge the notion that overall funding to support surgeon scientists has decreased; instead, it has dramatically increased," said Martha A. Zeiger, MD, FACS, Director of the Surgical Oncology Program, National Cancer Institute, NIH.

"When we looked at funding to support surgeons alone, we were surprised to find that funding has increased by 40 percent in terms of both numbers of surgeons being supported and the amount of funding. So, it's quite a remarkable and surprising finding."

About the study

Using an NIH portfolio database, study researchers were able to conduct a thorough analysis of funding to support all surgeons, including all surgical specialties and subspecialties in the U.S. Other studies have only captured funding patterns of entire surgical departments, certain institutions, or individual surgical specialties.

For this study, Dr. Zeiger and colleagues searched NIH databases for 2010 and 2020 to identify all active and awarded NIH grants to support surgeon scientists by surgical specialty, total costs, and whether the grant supported basic science, clinical outcomes, or clinical trials research.

The researchers also compared total funding to support surgeon scientists with funding granted to support non-physician scientists with PhDs and funding granted to support other non-surgeon physicians.

The analysis showed increases in both the number of surgeons and the amount of funding for each surgical specialty. The percentage of NIH-funded surgeons (compared with the total number of surgeons) increased by 40 percent. In contrast, the percentage of other NIH-funded physicians dropped by 27 percent.

Key findings

• In June 2010, 715 surgeon scientists were supported by 1,113 grants, totaling $614 million in NIH funding. In June of 2020, 1,031 surgeon scientists were supported by 1,453 grants, totaling $872 million in NIH funding.
• General surgery-based subspecialties topped the list, comprising one-quarter of the funded specialties and close to 40 percent of the total funding.
• Obstetrics/gynecology was the second most funded surgical specialty.
• Neurological surgery was third.

Surgical oncology funding remains strong

General surgeons with a sub-subspecialty in surgical oncology led the group of general surgery-trained surgeons in number of NIH-funded surgeons and total grant awards in both 2010 and 2020.

• In 2020, 27 percent of those trained in general surgery were surgical oncologists, holding about 44 percent of the total grant cost for all general surgeons.
• In 2010, surgical oncology also represented the majority of general surgery subspecialties, holding more than one-third of the funding for surgeons trained in general surgery.

Focus on basic science stable

"We also found that basic science has remained stable since 2010," Dr. Zeiger said. In fact, 70 percent of principal investigator-initiated grants are in basic science, and surgeons have maintained that percentage over the past 10 years."

From 2010 to 2020, the researchers also found an increase in cooperative research grants, underscoring the fact that surgeon scientists working in multidisciplinary team research is on the rise.

"Surgeons contribute a tremendous amount to science, and, historically, they always have. They are very challenged these days because obtaining NIH funding has become more competitive," Dr. Zeiger said. "We also have increasing administrative responsibilities because of the electronic medical record, and clinical productivity is emphasized more and more across the country, especially for surgical subspecialties."

"Overall, I think it's remarkable that surgeon scientists have not only maintained, but significantly increased the amount of NIH funding they are supported by over the past 10 years. Most important, they have also maintained a strong emphasis on basic science research," she concluded.

"Surgeon scientists have made outstanding gains in securing more NIH research funding. These exciting results show the dedication that they have to life-long learning and innovative research, along with a passion for science. Moreover, these findings show how committed surgeons are to seeking scientific pathways to continually improve the quality of surgical care for our patients, which is our highest priority," said ACS Executive Director David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, a study coauthor.

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Study coauthors are Lindsay A. Demblowski, Brad Busse, PhD, George Santangelo, PhD, Andrew M. Blakely, MD, and Patricia L. Turner, MD, FACS.

The opinions expressed by the authors are their own and this material should not be interpreted as representing the official viewpoint of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health or the National Cancer Institute.

"FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Citation: NIH Funding for Surgeon-Scientists in the US: What Is the Current Status?, Journal of the American College of Surgeons. DOI: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2020.12.015

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 82,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. For more information, visit http://www.facs.org (.)

Researchers propose that humidity from masks may lessen severity of COVID-19

NIH study compares how different face masks affect humidity inside the mask

NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES

Research News

 

IMAGE: NIDDK'S DR. JOSEPH COURTNEY BREATHES INTO SEALED BOX WHILE WEARING A MASK view more 

CREDIT: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETES AND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES

Masks help protect the people wearing them from getting or spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but now researchers from the National Institutes of Health have added evidence for yet another potential benefit for wearers: The humidity created inside the mask may help combat respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.

The study, led by researchers in the NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), found that face masks substantially increase the humidity in the air that the mask-wearer breathes in. This higher level of humidity in inhaled air, the researchers suggest, could help explain why wearing masks has been linked to lower disease severity in people infected with SARS-CoV-2, because hydration of the respiratory tract is known to benefit the immune system. The study published in the Biophysical Journal.

"We found that face masks strongly increase the humidity in inhaled air and propose that the resulting hydration of the respiratory tract could be responsible for the documented finding that links lower COVID-19 disease severity to wearing a mask," said the study's lead author, Adriaan Bax, Ph.D., NIH Distinguished Investigator. "High levels of humidity have been shown to mitigate severity of the flu, and it may be applicable to severity of COVID-19 through a similar mechanism."

High levels of humidity can limit the spread of a virus to the lungs by promoting mucociliary clearance (MCC), a defense mechanism that removes mucus ? and potentially harmful particles within the mucus ? from the lungs. High levels of humidity can also bolster the immune system by producing special proteins, called interferons, that fight against viruses ? a process known as the interferon response. Low levels of humidity have been shown to impair both MCC and the interferon response, which may be one reason why people are likelier to get respiratory infections in cold weather.

The study tested four common types of masks: an N95 mask, a three-ply disposable surgical mask, a two-ply cotton-polyester mask, and a heavy cotton mask. The researchers measured the level of humidity by having a volunteer breathe into a sealed steel box. When the person wore no mask, the water vapor of the exhaled breath filled the box, leading to a rapid increase in humidity inside the box.

When the person wore a mask, the buildup of humidity inside the box greatly decreased, due to most of the water vapor remaining in the mask, becoming condensed, and being re-inhaled. To ensure no leakage, the masks were tightly fitted against the volunteer's face using high-density foam rubber. Measurements were taken at three different air temperatures, ranging from about 46 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit.

The results showed that all four masks increased the level of humidity of inhaled air, but to varying degrees. At lower temperatures, the humidifying effects of all masks greatly increased. At all temperatures, the thick cotton mask led to the most increased level of humidity.

"The increased level of humidity is something most mask-wearers probably felt without being able to recognize, and without realizing that this humidity might actually be good for them," Bax said.

The researchers did not look at which masks are most effective against inhalation or transmission of the virus and defer to the CDC for guidance on choosing a mask. Earlier studies from Bax and his colleagues showed that any cloth mask can help block the thousands of saliva droplets that people release through simple speech ? droplets that, if released, can remain in the air for many minutes. While the current study did not examine respiratory droplets, it does offer more evidence as to why masks are essential to battling COVID-19.

"Even as more people nationwide begin to get vaccinated, we must remain vigilant about doing our part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19," said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. "This research supports the importance of mask-wearing as a simple, yet effective, way to protect the people around us and to protect ourselves from respiratory infection, especially during these winter months when susceptibility to these viruses increases."

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The research was supported by the NIDDK Intramural Research Program and the NIH Intramural Antiviral Target Program.

About the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): The NIDDK, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see http://www.niddk.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health

Courtney, JM and Bax, A. Hydrating the respiratory tract: An alternative explanation why masks lower severity of COVID-19 disease. Biophysical Journal. February 11, 2021.

NIH experts discuss SARS-CoV-2 viral variants

Editorial emphasizes need for global response

NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Research News

 

IMAGE: TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROGRAPH OF SARS-COV-2 VIRUS PARTICLES, ISOLATED FROM A PATIENT. view more 

CREDIT: NIAID

WHAT:

The rise of several significant variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has attracted the attention of health and science experts worldwide. In an editorial published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, experts from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, outline how these variants have arisen, concerns about whether vaccines currently authorized for use will continue to protect against new variants, and the need for a global approach to fighting SARS-CoV-2 as it spreads and acquires additional mutations.

The article was written by NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.; John R. Mascola, M.D., director of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center (VRC); and Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director of NIAID's VRC.

The authors note that the overlapping discovery of several SARS-CoV-2 variants has led to confusing terms used to name them. The appearance of SARS-CoV-2 variants is so recent that the World Health Organization and other groups are still developing appropriate nomenclature for the different variants.

Numerous SARS-CoV-2 variants have emerged over the last several months. The authors note that the variants known as B.1.1.7 (first identified in the United Kingdom) and B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) concern scientists because of emerging data suggesting their increased transmissibility.

Variants can carry several different mutations, but changes in the spike protein of the virus, used to enter cells and infect them, are especially concerning. Changes to this protein may cause a vaccine to be less effective against a particular variant. The authors note that the B.1.351 variant may be partially or fully resistant to certain SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies currently authorized for use as therapeutics in the United States.

The recognition of all new variants, including a novel emergent strain (20C/S:452R) in California, requires systematic evaluation, according to the authors. The rise of these variants is a reminder that as long as SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread, it has the potential to evolve into new variants, the authors stress. Therefore, the fight against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 will require robust surveillance, tracking, and vaccine deployment worldwide.

The authors also note the need for a pan-coronavirus vaccine. Once researchers know more about how the virus changes as it spreads, it may be possible to develop a vaccine that protects against most or all variants. While similar research programs are already in place for other diseases, such as influenza, the changing nature of SARS-CoV-2 indicates that they will be necessary for this virus.

ARTICLE:

JR Mascola et al. SARS-COV-2 Viral variants--Tackling a moving target. JAMA DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.2088 (2021).

WHO:

NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., John R. Mascola, M.D., director of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center (VRC); and Barney S. Graham, MD, PhD, Deputy Director of NIAID's VRC, are available for comment.

CONTACT:
To schedule interviews, please contact
Elizabeth Deatrick,
(301) 402-1663,
NIAIDNews@niaid.nih.gov.

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NIAID conducts and supports research--at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®

The Lancet: COVID-19 vaccination potential will not be achieved without increased production, affordable pricing, global availability, and successful rollout

SOCIALISE BIG PHARMA UNDER WORKER SELF MANAGEMENT

To ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, vaccines need to be produced at scale, priced affordably, and allocated globally so that they are available where needed, and successfully rolled out.

THE LANCET

Peer-reviewed / Review, Survey and Opinion piece

To ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, vaccines need to be produced at scale, priced affordably, and allocated globally so that they are available where needed, and successfully rolled out.
Review of evidence includes a comparison of 26 leading vaccines on their potential contribution to achieving global vaccine immunity, and a new survey of COVID-19 vaccine confidence in 32 countries.

Having new COVID-19 vaccines will mean little if people around the world are unable to get vaccinated in a timely manner. Vaccines have to be affordable and available to all countries, and governments must have the administrative and political capacities to deliver them locally to ensure an effective global immunisation strategy against COVID-19, say the authors of a Health Policy piece published in The Lancet.

Global distribution of safe vaccines is imperative for spurring economic recovery, protecting lives, achieving herd immunity, and minimising the risk of new variants emerging against which existing vaccines are less effective.

The seven authors, who are leading experts in vaccines, health policy, and infectious disease, discuss potential challenges to production, affordability, allocation, and roll-out of an effective global vaccination strategy against COVID-19, and score the 26 leading vaccines using a traffic light system to indicate their potential contribution to achieving global vaccine immunity (figure 2).

Dr Olivier Wouters, lead author from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, says: "Several manufacturers have successfully developed COVID-19 vaccines in under 12 months, an extraordinary achievement. But the stark reality is that the world now needs more doses of COVID-19 vaccines than any other vaccine in history in order to immunise enough people to achieve global vaccine immunity. Unless vaccines are distributed more equitably, it could be years before the coronavirus is brought under control at a global level. The questions now are when these vaccines will become available, and at what price." [1]

Overcoming production challenges

Scaling up vaccine production to meet global demand is a monumental challenge. Most countries still lack the domestic capacity to rapidly produce COVID-19 vaccines on their own, and the sheer number of vaccines that are needed places huge pressure on global supply chains for materials like glass vials and syringes.

With vaccine manufacturing capabilities limited to a handful of global regions and by the relationships agreed between specific vaccine developers and manufacturers, the authors say that developers should share knowledge, technology, and data with a wider group of manufacturers to produce more COVID-19 vaccines. They note that some vaccine developers are collaborating with manufacturers in other regions [2], but the terms of these agreements are not clear about who decides where the vaccine manufactured in that region will be supplied to (ie, it may be shipped to another location, rather than being used in the country where it was manufactured).

The authors also point out that there have been several initiatives to facilitate the scale-up of global production. For instance, the WHO has called on member states and manufacturers to commit to sharing knowledge, intellectual property, and data on COVID-19 vaccines, but responses to this initiative have been limited.

With large amounts of public funding being invested into COVID-19 vaccines, the authors argue that funders should encourage vaccine developers to share their expertise to help expand global production. Governments and non-profit groups have committed unprecedented sums of money to the development of COVID-19 vaccines and the infrastructure to produce them at scale--with the top five vaccine manufacturers receiving between $957 million and $2.1 billion.

Achieving timely, universal access

Scarce supply, coupled with advanced orders by the world's richest nations for billions of vaccine doses--enough to protect some populations several times over--creates challenges to achieving timely, universal access. COVAX (the global initiative to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries) was set up to avoid this, but vaccine nationalism could leave COVAX with limited supplies.

"Securing large quantities of vaccines in this way amounts to countries placing widespread vaccination of their own populations ahead of the vaccination of health-care workers and high-risk populations in poorer countries", says co-author Professor Mark Jit from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. "Based on known deals, governments in high-income countries representing 16% of the global population have secured at least 70% of doses available in 2021 from five leading vaccine candidates." [1]

COVAX says it will need a further US$6.8 billion in funding to fulfil its aim to secure 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, including 1 billion vaccine doses for 92 LMICs. "With additional funding, COVAX could compete better in the global scramble for vaccines", explains Dr Wouters. "Vaccines developed by Chinese, Indian, and Russian manufacturers may also offer a lifeline for the lowest-income nations if they show good results in phase 3 trials, allowing them to procure abundant doses of vaccines that have not yet been authorised in most high-income countries. Once authorised by WHO, these vaccines could also potentially contribute to the COVAX portfolio." [1]

A COVID-19 vaccine should be affordable to everyone

Affordability also remains a major concern, with some vaccine manufacturers setting prices for COVID-19 vaccines that are among the highest ever charged for a vaccine (figure 3). Without price controls, low-income countries are unlikely to be able to afford or access enough vaccines to protect their populations--with the lowest prices developers have offered to any country or purchasing bloc ranging from US$5 to US$62 per course (see the table in the Article).

OR THEY COULD NATIONALIZE THEM

"The extensive involvement of public funders in COVID-19 vaccine development provides an opportunity to make these vaccines globally available and affordable. Governments can insist that, as a condition of getting public funding, companies engage in sufficient licensing to enable widespread global production, and they must set affordable prices", says co-author Professor Kenneth Shadlen from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. [1]

The need for varied vaccine options

Many LMICs also face substantial logistical and administrative barriers to delivering vaccination programmes, including infrastructure, vaccination registries, and cold storage. The review highlights important trade-offs between the leading 26 COVID-19 vaccines that can help governments decide which vaccines best suit their needs (figure 2). For instance, while many multi-dose, ultra-cold storage vaccines are highly efficacious, resource-constrained countries might be better to use single-dose vaccines which only have to be kept refrigerated, and are in late stages of clinical development.

The distinct characteristics of leading COVID-19 vaccines generate trade-offs, which mean that a range of vaccines will be needed to bring the global pandemic under control.

Inspiring public confidence and trust to optimise uptake

Successful roll-out can also be hampered by vaccination hesitancy. New findings from a 32-country survey of potential acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines (involving almost 27,000 adults), conducted by the authors between October 2020 and December 2020, suggest that Vietnam (98%), India, China (both 91%), Denmark and South Korea (both 87%) had the highest proportion of respondents who said they would "definitely" or "probably" get vaccinated when a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available; while Serbia (38%), Croatia (41%), France, Lebanon (both 44%), and Paraguay (51%) reported the highest proportion of people saying they would "probably not" or "definitely not" be vaccinated (figure 4) [3].

"To overcome challenges in vaccine hesitancy and ensure that vaccines are administered to as many people as possible, governments need to do much better at building public trust in the safety of vaccines and to combat misinformation and rumours around COVID-19", says Professor Heidi Larson, co-author from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. "This will require increasing vaccination knowledge and awareness, promoting community engagement, and making vaccines available in convenient and accessible locations. Vaccine manufacturers should aim for maximum transparency and scrutiny of their clinical trial data, and post-marketing safety surveillance with compensation schemes for severe adverse events in resource poor countries with poor consumer protection. These factors are vital to build confidence during vaccine roll-out." [1]

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NOTES TO EDITORS

The study received no funding. It was conducted by researchers from London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK; University of Oxford, UK; University of Washington, USA; Ministry of Public Health, Thailand; and the National University of Singapore, Singapore. A full declaration of interests for all authors is provided in the paper.

[1] Quotes direct from authors and cannot be found in the text of the Article.

[2] Some of the lead developers of COVID-19 vaccines have collaboration agreements with manufacturers in middle-income countries--for example, AstraZeneca with the Serum Institute (India), Fiocruz (Brazil), mAbxience Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Siam Bioscience (Thailand); Johnson & Johnson with Aspen (South Africa); and Novavax with the Serum Institute (India)--although the terms of these partnerships, including the extent to which the licensed manufacturers can negotiate their own supply arrangements with countries, are unclear.

[3] Samples were random and nationally representative of the adult population in 30 of 32 countries. In Ecuador and Vietnam interviews were only done in the main cities. Survey weight were applied to compensate for over- or under-sampling by sex, age, and sub-national region The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com

 

Which conspiracy theory do you believe in?

People are vulnerable to believing what they think is right, especially when it involves identity

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

Joe Biden is the new president of the United States, although half of the country's Republicans believe he stole the election. A lot of people believe conspiracy theories on the other side of the Atlantic. But they aren't only found there.

Conspiracy theories are not exclusive to people who storm the U.S. Capitol.

"Everyone believes at least one conspiracy theory," says Asbjørn Dyrendal, a professor in NTNU's Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies who specializes in conspiracy theories.

The more conspiracy theories you bring up, the more people answer yes to one of them.

That fact leads American conspiracy researcher Joseph Uscinski at the University of Miami to posit that all people believe in at least one conspiracy theory. Dyrendal basically agrees, but he modifies Uscinski's statement slightly, saying all people believe some conspiracy theory "a little."

Maybe you don't think that the Earth is flat or that the Moon landings were faked and kept under wraps by all 400 000 individuals involved. Maybe you don't believe that vaccines cause autism and that the authorities are doing this on purpose, or that 5G is messing up your head, even if you're not exactly alone in that case.

We are all more vulnerable to believing what we think is right, especially when our identity is at stake and emotions are strong. It can be a bit like the emotions associated with football.

These examples activate the same mechanisms that come into play when our thoughts build on themselves and turn into more entrenched conspiracy beliefs.

"Maybe you think the referee is out to get your football team, especially when one of your team's players gets fouled in the box and no penalty is called," says Dyrendal.

Maybe you even think a lot of referees are against your team, especially if you believe you're seeing a pattern, like your team never or only rarely getting a penalty kick.

This thinking doesn't usually amount to a conspiracy theory in and of itself. But the same mechanisms come into play when thoughts build on themselves and turn into more entrenched conspiracy beliefs.

People can have degrees of conspiracy thinking as well. There's a difference between yelling at the ref in a heated moment and believing that the Earth is flat.

You can find people who believe in the most unusual conspiracy theories everywhere, perhaps even in your own mirror.

"But several common characteristics recur," says Dyrendal.

Conspiracy theorists typically:

• tend to have a little less education.
• more often live in societies that have less successful democracies, which influences trust in others and in the authorities.
• belong to groups that feel they should have more power and influence.
• belong to special political organizations or religious groups a little more often.
• more often use intuition - their "gut feeling" - when making decisions.
• see connections more often than most people do, also where such connections do not exist, and they are more likely to see intention as the cause of events.
• are a little more narcissistic and paranoid than others.
• more often obtain their information from social media.

"We've noticed that conspiracy theorists are somewhat more likely to find their news sources on social media," says Dyrendal.

This has a bit to do with how social media works.

Social media can create echo chambers. The media is structured in such a way that you mostly hear from friends and other sources that you already agree with. "Likes" and posts that you click on influence what you see later. This makes it easy to confirm suspicions and perceptions that you already have. And you'll always find a community of other individuals who feel and think a little like you do.

However, just blaming Twitter and Facebook for this phenomenon is a gross oversimplification. It may seem as if more people than ever before believe in the strangest conspiracy theories, but in fact we don't know if this is true.

You may think that men are conspiracy theorists more often than women, but that's actually not true.

"When we look at a large number of different conspiracy theories, we find no reliable gender differences in the average scores," says Dyrendal.

But who believes in which theories can be different, although the differences don't necessarily revolve exclusively around gender. They may have more to do with dominance.

"People who dislike equality and prefer hierarchy see themselves and their group as superior to others and believe more in conspiracy theories that are specifically about social out-groups," Dyrendal says.

This kind of preference for clear social ranking expresses itself in general prejudices against groups that are seen as lower in the social hierarchy or which are perceived as a threat to the social hierarchy.

"These individuals tend to believe more easily in conspiracies like immigration, Jewish dominance, Muslims or the like, and this preference is a little stronger in men," Dyrendal says.

The most prominent characteristic of conspiracy theorists is that they are often part of various groups that distrust the government and the way most of us live today.

"If you belong to a group that already believes in doomsday scenarios and a future saviour, it's probably easier to believe in some of the conspiracy theories," Dyrendal says.

Evangelical Christians in the United States, for example, will find it easier to adopt conspiracy theories that fit with their other beliefs. If you're convinced that the world as we know it will soon end with the battle between good and evil at Armageddon, it's not that big a jump to believe that politicians in recent decades are actually emissaries of Satan himself.

Among people who stormed the U.S. Capitol were members of QAnon. This is a group that believes Donald Trump has been fighting a secret war against a powerful group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, which includes Hillary Clinton.

But the followers of QAnon aren't as numerous as many people some media might suggest, at least in proportion to the population of the United States. QAnon may seem widespread because many of the conspiracy theories adopted by QAnon were already well established and far more popular before.

"But in a country with 330 million inhabitants, numbers quickly grow to a good size anyway," Dyrendal says.

Conspiracy researcher Uscinski in Miami has studied QAnon for a long time and believes the group hasn't grown in recent years. He should know, since he's been asking people about it since about the group's beginnings.

But most of the individuals who stormed the Capitol were completely different people. And when half of the Republicans allege electoral fraud that was overwhelmingly rejected by election officials, we're not exactly talking about belonging to some extremist group.

These aren't just poor people who believe the powers-that-be and the rich are looking to oppress them, either. The connections are tangled.

"Conspiracy beliefs are also about a lot of people wanting more. Trump supporters may be less educated than the average population, but they have higher salaries," says Dyrendal.

The media often portray most Trump supporters as slightly backward, disadvantaged people from rural areas, but this is simply not true.

Most of us aren't as far out as the strangest few are. Ninety-six per cent of Norwegians vaccinate their children.

Dyrendal admits he hasn't yet forgiven the referee in the match between Leeds and Bayern Munich in 1975.

Bayern Munich won the European Cup final 2-0 after the referee disallowed Peter Lorimer's goal, when he ruled Billy Bremner offside and twice failed to call a penalty against Bayern Munich.

French judges. They hate British teams, everyone knows that. And they're really easy to bribe, right?

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More reading:

Anastasiya Astapova, Eirikur Bergmann, Asbjørn Dyrendal, Annika Rabo, Kasper Grotle Rasmussen, Hulda Thórisdóttir, Andreas Önnerfors. Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries.

Asbjørn Dyrendal, Leif Edward Ottesen Kennair, Mons Bendixen. Predictors of belief in conspiracy theory: The role of individual differences in schizotypal traits, paranormal beliefs, social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism and conspiracy mentality. Personality and Individual Differences Volume 173, April 2021, 110645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110645

LGBT+ workers experience higher levels of conflict at work, shows new report

The CIPD report reveals lower levels of psychological safety and lower job satisfaction for LGBT+ workers

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

 The CIPD is today launching a new research report, co-authored by the University of Bath's Dr Luke Fletcher, to highlight how LGBT+ workers tend to have a more negative experience of work.

'Inclusion at work: Perspectives on LGBT+ working lives' draws on data from the CIPD's UK Working Lives Survey and a separate survey of trans workers to explore their perspectives on working life, hence the intentional use of LGB+ rather than LGBT, in the research findings:

• Over 40% of LGB+ workers experienced a conflict at work over a twelve-month period, compared with 29% of heterosexual workers. Conflicts typically involve being undermined/ humiliated or discriminatory behaviour aimed at a protected characteristic.
• More than half (55%) of trans workers surveyed said they had experienced conflict over a twelve-month period and at least 50% of these conflicts were unresolved. 12% of trans workers said they have experienced unwanted sexual attention at work and 2% have experienced sexual assault.
• Trans workers were least likely to feel psychologically safe (able to be accepted, valued, and able to voice concerns) at work. Almost 1 in 5 (18%) said they felt psychologically unsafe at work compared with 16% of LGB+ workers and 10% of heterosexual workers.
• LGB+ and heterosexual workers reported similar job satisfaction levels with around 66% of both groups saying they felt somewhat to very satisfied at work. However, a slightly higher proportion of LGB+ workers felt somewhat to very dissatisfied with their job, compared with heterosexual workers (19% vs 15%). Just over 50% of trans workers reported feeling somewhat to very satisfied with their job and a third (33%) said they felt somewhat to very dissatisfied.

Melanie Green, research adviser for the CIPD, said: "Our research suggests that many LGB+ and trans workers don't feel safe to express themselves and be accepted at work. This can have a negative impact on their working relationships, wellbeing and overall job satisfaction.

"It's particularly concerning to see how many LGBT+ workers have experienced conflict and that more often than not, these conflicts are not resolved. This must stop. Everyone has the right to feel safe, to be themselves and to flourish at work. Employers must do more to support these groups and create inclusive cultures that have zero tolerance of bullying and harassment of any kind.

"When creating inclusive practices employers must recognise the unique challenges faced by LGBT+ workers. For instance, recognising that a lesbian will face very different challenges to a trans person at work. Employers must treat people as individuals rather than assuming that any general measures to address LGBT+ as a homogenous group will sufficiently meet a spectrum of diverse needs. If we are to truly celebrate and support individuality we must start with the individual."

The CIPD's report suggests that much more needs to be done at an organisational level to protect, support and include LGBT+ workers, and trans workers in particular. It recommends that employers:

• Ensure that LGBT+ staff have voice mechanisms and feel safe using them to highlight problems and provide solutions on the issue of inclusion.

• Lead by example with strong buy-in from senior executives and senior sponsorship of employee resource groups.

• Encourage companywide learning and conversations on inclusion.

• Train line managers to understand particular concerns and challenges faced by LGBT+ workers, with a focus on raising awareness of support needed by different groups.

• Create safe spaces and employee resource groups where minority groups can come together, with allies, to support each other. The CIPD's research found that only 40% of trans respondents said their organisation had an LGBT+ staff network and just 50% of trans workers said they actively attend and participate in meetings and socials connected with the network. This highlights the importance of providing support that is specific to trans workers beyond broader inclusion and LGBT+ efforts.

Dr Luke Fletcher, Associate Professor at the University of Bath's School of Management, and co-author of the report said: "The report highlights the different challenges and needs that groups in the LGBT+ spectrum have. During the pandemic we've seen a lot of blanket changes come into place to protect employee wellbeing but businesses must also think about how best to adapt broader policies and practices to specific minority groups such as those within the LGBT+ spectrum.

"Being proactive on inclusion sends a clear message to current and future employees on the values that your organisation has regarding how it supports its people."

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The report is available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/inclusion-perspectives-LGBT

Gender gap: Women represent two-thirds of doctorates, only one-third of academic jobs

Study reveals persistent gender gap in hiring, especially for women with Canadian PhDs in archaeology

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Research News

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IMAGE: ARCHAEOLOGISTS DOING FIELDWORK. view more 

CREDIT: LISA OVERHOLTZER

Women today represent two-thirds of all Canadian doctorates in archaeology, but only one-third of Canadian tenure-stream faculty. While men with Canadian PhDs have done well in securing tenure-track jobs in Canada over the past 15 years, women have not, according to a new study from McGill University. The current COVID-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate these existing inequalities.

Published in American Antiquity, the study is the first to follow archaeologists from graduate school to faculty positions to determine when women are exiting the academic track. It's also the first to explore grant applications and the success rates of women in Canadian archaeology.

"A 'chilly climate' exists for women in academia. Subtle practices that stereotype, exclude, and devalue women, as well as inhospitable working environments, particularly for primary caregivers, are just some of the factors that could be contributing to attrition rates," says co-author Lisa Overholtzer, an Assistant Professor and William Dawson Scholar in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University.

According to the researchers, most women are exiting the academic track after significant investments of time and money in their doctoral training and before landing a tenure-track position. Over the last 10 years, women have earned 64 percent of the PhD degrees in archaeology in Canada but make up only 46 percent of assistant professors today.

"We might think that 46 percent sounds good - it's near 50 percent after all, but our expectations for gender ratios shouldn't be 50/50. They should reflect the proportions in candidate pools," says co-author Catherine Jalbert, an archaeologist with the Texas Historical Commission.

CAPTION

Archaeologists doing fieldwork.

CREDIT

Lisa Overholtzer

Gender gap in Canadian hiring

A significant drop in hiring coupled with the end of mandatory retirement has translated into fewer jobs at precisely the moment when women became most of the PhD recipients. Still, this does little to explain why women fill proportionately fewer of those jobs, say the researchers.

The situation looks even bleaker when tracing paths of Canadian doctorates compared to foreign doctorates into Canada. "While most of the men hired here have Canadian PhDs, most women hired in Canada are trained internationally," says Professor Overholtzer.

Only 4 out of 28 (14 percent) of assistant professor positions are currently filled by women who were trained in Canada. Of men who earned their PhDs in archaeology between 2003 and 2017, 36% are Canadian faculty members today, while that's true for only 12% of the women who trained alongside them.

In the United States, women with Canadian PhDs are hired at higher rates - even higher than men. However, the researchers note that the numbers don't make up for the gender gap in Canadian hiring. Neither does it appear that women archaeologists are choosing to work in other career tracks within the field in greater proportions.

Problems with academic research grants

The researchers found that women are just as likely to apply for federal research grants at each level. However, there are small but persistent gender gaps in success rates across all levels, from doctoral student to faculty member. This could be due to unequal mentorship or to a devaluing of the methods and research questions typically explored by women.

"Our findings have some direct implications for federal policy, like the eligibility of dependent care during fieldwork funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council," says Professor Overholtzer. Currently, childcare expenses are only eligible if a child is nursing or if a mother is a single parent. "We think that archaeology and other disciplines would be able to better retain women if they were able to cover childcare costs during fieldwork, regardless of the age of their children or their marital status," she says.

Potential solutions

Increased hiring will be essential in curbing gender inequality. But this will be a challenge post-COVID as many universities face hiring freezes and budget constraints. However, another potential avenue could be boosting the Canada Research Chairs program with high targets for women scientists, say the researchers.

"The onus is on us to scrutinize how we train and prepare women in the field. We also need to scrutinize our hiring practices to find out why women are hired less often, especially in Canada," Professor Overholtzer concludes.

The authors note that their analysis was limited to gender, but other inequities likely exist along intersecting factors of identity, including race, class, and parental status. As next steps, they plan to explore these, and assess the impact of the pandemic on career advancement, research productivity, and well-being among Canadian archaeologists.

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About this study

"A "Leaky" Pipeline and Chilly Climate in Archaeology in Canada," by Lisa Overholtzer and Catherine L. Jalbert was published in American Antiquity. Three McGill University undergraduates, Stephanie Frenette, Sophie Manfredi, and Marina Martin also contributed to the research.

DOI: http://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2020.107