Yoxas/statistical_literacy huggingface dataset:
The digital health divide for socioeconomic disadvantage describes a pattern in which patients considered socioeconomically disadvantaged, who are already marginalized through reduced access to face-to-face health care, are additionally hindered through less access to patient-initiated digital health. A comprehensive understanding of how patients with socioeconomic disadvantage access and experience digital health is essential for improving the digital health divide. Primary care patients, especially those with chronic disease, have experience of the stages of initial help seeking and self-management of their health, which renders them a key demographic for research on patient-initiated digital health access. This study aims to provide comprehensive primary mixed methods data on the patient experience of barriers to digital health access, with a focus on the digital health divide. We applied an exploratory mixed methods design to ensure that our survey was primarily shaped by the experiences of our interviewees. First, we qualitatively explored the experience of digital health for 19 patients with socioeconomic disadvantage and chronic disease and second, we quantitatively measured some of these findings by designing and administering a survey to 487 Australian general practice patients from 24 general practices. In our qualitative first phase, the key barriers found to accessing digital health included (1) strong patient preference for human-based health services; (2) low trust in digital health services; (3) high financial costs of necessary tools, maintenance, and repairs; (4) poor publicly available internet access options; (5) reduced capacity to engage due to increased life pressures; and (6) low self-efficacy and confidence in using digital health. In our quantitative second phase, 31% (151/487) of the survey participants were found to have never used a form of digital health, while 10.7% (52/487) were low- to medium-frequency users and 48.5% (236/487) were high-frequency users. High-frequency users were more likely to be interested in digital health and had higher self-efficacy. Low-frequency users were more likely to report difficulty affording the financial costs needed for digital access. While general digital interest, financial cost, and digital health literacy and empowerment are clear factors in digital health access in a broad primary care population, the digital health divide is also facilitated in part by a stepped series of complex and cumulative barriers. Genuinely improving digital health access for 1 cohort or even 1 person requires a series of multiple different interventions tailored to specific sequential barriers. Within primary care, patient-centered care that continues to recognize the complex individual needs of, and barriers facing, each patient should be part of addressing the digital health divide.
The digital revolution is reshaping various aspects of society, including having a profound impact on food security and the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study investigates the relationship between digital transformation, quantified through the components of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), and SDGs related to food (SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, and SDG10), along with the overall SDG Index score. The data used for investigation are sourced from reports issued by the European Commission concerning DESI, as well as the SDG reports for the period from 2017 to 2022. The paper elucidates how different components of digitalization, such as connectivity, digital skills, internet usage, and digital public services, influence the attainment of food security objectives and broader sustainable development targets using structural equation modeling and cluster analysis. The findings underscore the pivotal role of digital technologies in enhancing poverty alleviation, health and well-being, and, in particular, mitigating inequality. This study contributes to understanding the complex relationship between digital transformation and food security, offering insights for policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders aiming to leverage technology for advancing SDGs and fostering a more equitable and sustainable future.
The digital spread of misinformation is one of the leading threats to democracy, public health, and the global economy. Popular strategies for mitigating misinformation include crowdsourcing, machine learning, and media literacy programs that require social media users to classify news in binary terms as either true or false. However, research on peer influence suggests that framing decisions in binary terms can amplify judgment errors and limit social learning, whereas framing decisions in probabilistic terms can reliably improve judgments. In this preregistered experiment, we compare online peer networks that collaboratively evaluated the veracity of news by communicating either binary or probabilistic judgments. Exchanging probabilistic estimates of news veracity substantially improved individual and group judgments, with the effect of eliminating polarization in news evaluation. By contrast, exchanging binary classifications reduced social learning and maintained polarization. The benefits of probabilistic social learning are robust to participants' education, gender, race, income, religion, and partisanship.
The digital transformation of healthcare enables new ways of working in cancer care directing attention on the digital skills of healthcare professionals. This systematic review aims to identify existing evidence about digital skills among health care professionals in cancer care to identify the needs for future education and research. Database searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and ERIC to identify studies until March 2023. The inclusion criteria were digital skills of health care professionals in cancer care as described by themselves, other health care professionals, patients or significant others. The CASP tool was used for quality assessment of the studies. Data was analysed following inductive content analysis. The search produced 4563 records, of which 24 studies were included (12 qualitative, 10 quantitative, 1 mixed methods design and 1 strategy paper). Four main categories were identified describing HCPs' required skills, existing skills and development areas of digital skills in cancer care: Skills for information technology, Skills for ethical practice, Skills for creating a human-oriented relationship and Skills for digital education and support. In development areas, one more main category, Skills for implementing digital health, was identified. The digital skills of health care professionals in cancer care are multifaceted and fundamental for quality cancer care. The skills need to be assessed to provide education based on actual learning needs. The review findings can be used for education and research in this field.
The digitalisation of healthcare requires that healthcare professionals are equipped with adequate digital competencies to be able to deliver high-quality healthcare. Continuing professional education is needed to ensure these competencies. This systematic review aimed to identify and describe the educational interventions that have been developed to improve various aspects of the digital competence of healthcare professionals and the effects of these interventions. A systematic literature review following the Joanna Briggs Institute's guidelines for Evidence Synthesis was conducted. Five electronic databases (CINAHL, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus and Medic) up to November 2023 were searched for studies. Two researchers independently assessed the eligibility of the studies by title, abstract and full text and the methodological quality of the studies. Data tabulation and narrative synthesis analysis of study findings were performed. The PRISMA checklist guided the review process. This review included 20 studies reporting heterogeneous educational interventions to develop the digital competence of healthcare professionals. The participants were mainly nurses and interventions were conducted in various healthcare settings. The length of the education varied from a 20-minute session to a six-month period. Education was offered through traditional contact teaching, using a blended-learning approach and through videoconference. Learning was enhanced through lectures, slide presentations, group work, case studies, discussions and practical exercises or simulations. Educational interventions achieved statistically significant results regarding participants' knowledge, skills, attitudes, perception of resources, self-efficacy or confidence and output quality. The findings of this review suggest that digital competence education of nurses and allied health professionals would benefit from a multi-method approach. Training should provide knowledge as well as opportunities to interact with peers and instructors. Skills and confidence should be enhanced through practical training. Adequate organisational support, encouragement, and individual, needs-based guidance should be provided.
The digitalization of public and health sectors worldwide is fundamentally changing health systems. With the implementation of digital health services in health institutions, a focus on digital health literacy and the use of digital health services have become more evident. In Denmark, public institutions use digital tools for different purposes, aiming to create a universal public digital sector for everyone. However, this digitalization risks reducing equity in health and further marginalizing citizens who are disadvantaged. Therefore, more knowledge is needed regarding patients' digital practices and experiences with digital health services. This study aims to examine digital practices and experiences with public digital health services and digital tools from the perspective of patients in the neurology field and address the following research questions: (1) How do patients use digital services and digital tools? (2) How do they experience them? We used a qualitative design with a hermeneutic approach. We conducted 31 semistructured interviews with patients who were hospitalized or formerly hospitalized at the department of neurology in a hospital in Denmark. The interviews were audio recorded and subsequently transcribed. The text from each transcribed interview was analyzed using manifest content analysis. The analysis provided insights into 4 different categories regarding digital practices and experiences of using digital tools and services in health care systems: social resources as a digital lifeline, possessing the necessary capabilities, big feelings as facilitators or barriers, and life without digital tools. Our findings show that digital tools were experienced differently, and specific conditions were important for the possibility of engaging in digital practices, including having access to social resources; possessing physical, cognitive, and communicative capabilities; and feeling motivated, secure, and comfortable. These prerequisites were necessary for participants to have positive experiences using digital tools in the health care system. Those who did not have these prerequisites experienced challenges and, in some cases, felt left out. Experiences with digital practices and digital health services are complex and multifaceted. Engagement in digital practices for the examined population requires access to continuous assistance from their social network. If patients do not meet requirements, digital health services can be experienced as exclusionary and a source of concern. Physical, cognitive, and communicative difficulties might make it impossible to use digital tools or create more challenges. To ensure that digitalization does not create inequities in health, it is necessary for developers and institutions to be aware of the differences in digital health literacy, focus on simplifying communication with patients and next of kin, and find flexible solutions for citizens who are disadvantaged.
The discovery of the GFP-type dye DFHBI that becomes fluorescent upon binding to an RNA aptamer, termed Spinach, led to the development of a variety of fluorogenic RNA systems that enable genetic encoding of living cells. In view of increasing interest in small RNA aptamers and the scarcity of their photophysical characterisation, this paper is a model study on Baby Spinach, a truncated Spinach aptamer with half its sequence. Fluorescence and fluorescence excitation spectra of DFHBI complexes of Spinach and Baby Spinach are known to be similar. Surprisingly, a significant divergence between absorption and fluorescence excitation spectra of the DFHBI/RNA complex was observed on conditions of saturation at large excess of RNA over DFHBI. Since absorption spectra were not reported for any Spinach-type aptamer, this effect is new. Quantitative modelling of the absorption spectrum based on competing dark and fluorescent binding sites could explain it. However, following reasoning of fluorescence lifetimes of bound DFHBI, femtosecond-fluorescence lifetime profiles would be more supportive of the notion that the abnormal absorption spectrum is largely caused by trans-isomers formed  within the cis-bound DFHBI/RNA complex. Independent of the origin, the unexpected discrepancy between absorption and fluorescence excitation spectra allows for easily accessed screening and insight into the efficiency of a fluorogenic dye/RNA system.
The distribution of allelic effects on traits, along with their gene-by-gene and gene-by-environment interactions, contributes to the phenotypes available for selection and the trajectories of adaptive variants. Nonetheless, uncertainty persists regarding the effect sizes underlying adaptations and the importance of genetic interactions. Herein, we aimed to investigate the genetic architecture and the epistatic and environmental interactions involving loci that contribute to multiple adaptive traits using two new panels of Drosophila melanogaster recombinant inbred lines (RILs). To better fit our data, we re-implemented functions from R/qtl (Broman et al . 2003) using additive genetic models. We found 14 quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying melanism, wing size, song pattern, and ethanol resistance. By combining our mapping results with population genetic statistics, we identified potential new genes related to these traits. None of the detected QTLs showed clear evidence of epistasis, and our power analysis indicated that we should have seen at least one significant interaction if sign epistasis or strong positive epistasis played a pervasive role in trait evolution. In contrast, we did find roles for gene-by-environment interactions involving pigmentation traits. Overall, our data suggest that the genetic architecture of adaptive traits often involves alleles of detectable effect, that strong epistasis does not always play a role in adaptation, and that environmental interactions can modulate the effect size of adaptive alleles.
The distribution of geochemical species are typically either (log)normally distributed or follow power laws. Here we link these types of distributions to the dynamics of the system that generates these distributions, showing that power laws can emerge in dissipative systems far from equilibrium while (log)normal distributions are found for species for which the concentrations are close to equilibrium. We use observations of the chemical composition of river water from the sampling space in central Italy as well as discharge data to test this interpretation. We estimate the dissipation rate that results when groundwater drains into the river and the dissolved chemical species mix with the river water. We show that calcium (Ca2+) and bicarbonate (HCO3-) concentrations are close to saturation along most of the downstream length of the Arno river, with decreasing dissipation rates and a lognormal distribution, while sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) concentrations increase substantially downstream, show increased dissipation rates, and are power-law distributed. This supports our hypothesis that power law distributions appear to be indicative of dissipative systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium, while (log)normal distributions indicate weakly dissipative systems close to equilibrium. What this implies is that probability distributions are likely to be indicative of the thermodynamics of the system and the magnitude of disequilibrium constrains the range over which power-law scaling may be observed. This should help us to better identify the generalities and mechanisms that result in these common types of distributions and to better classify variability in systems according to how dissipative these are.
The distributive property plays a pivotal role in advancing students' understanding of multiplication, enabling the decomposition of problems and the acquisition of new facts. However, this property of multiplication is difficult for students to understand. We used two unique data sets to explore middle school students' use of the distributive property. Study 1 involved data from 1:1 structured interviews of students (N = 24) discussing worked examples and solving associated practice problems. We examined whether or not students used the distributive property to solve the problems and whether or not interviewers followed the recommended distributive property prompts or defaulted to more conventional methods. Despite exposure to worked examples using the distributive property and a protocol calling for attention to it, students and interviewers favored methods like PEMDAS (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction) or long multiplication. Study 2 used a data set with middle school students' (N = 131) item-level responses on Kirkland's (2022; doctoral dissertation, University of Notre Dame) Brief Assessment of Mature Number Sense along with several related measures of domain-general and domain-specific skills. We extracted problems involving the distributive property for analysis. Surprisingly, there was no evidence that students' use of the distributive property improved from sixth grade to eighth grade. However, both grade-level mathematics achievement and cognitive reflection uniquely predicted the correct use of the distributive property. Results suggest that middle school students who exhibit stronger reflective thinking tend to perform better on distributive property problems. Findings highlight cognitive reflection as a potentially important construct involved in the understanding and use of the distributive property.
The distrust, delay and refusal of vaccinations represent serious threats to global public health. As demonstrated by the dramatic worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate vaccine coverage against infectious diseases is essential towards the preservation and function of virtually every aspect of our society. While the determinants of vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern have been widely investigated, conflicting evidence exists with regards to their association with education levels and political views. This study aimed to investigate whether science literacy levels and standpoint on social and economic matters are associated with different levels of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern. An online survey was circulated amongst participants recruited via convenience sampling, and data were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. The survey (n = 389) highlighted that participants who studied Science at General Certificate of Secondary Education level have a lower vaccine confidence than those with both lower and higher levels of science education. Participants with neutral/centrist political views expressed lower confidence than those with a libertarian social stance or a left-wing economic stance. A higher concern with the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with lower levels of science education, libertarian social views, and left-wing economic views. The present study provides novel insight on the educational and political factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern within a British population sample.
The DNA repair protein O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is known to play a role in sensitivity to temozolomide. Promoter hypermethylation of MGMT is commonly used to predict low expression levels of MGMT in gliomas, despite observed discordance between promoter methylation and protein levels. Here, we investigated the functional role of gene body cytosine modification in regulating levels of MGMT gene expression and sensitivity to temozolomide. In 91 human glioblastoma samples, we observed significant variation in MGMT expression levels in patients with an unmethylated promoter, with higher levels of gene body cytosine modification correlating with higher gene expression levels. Furthermore, inducing hypomethylation across the MGMT gene body with decitabine corresponded with decreased levels of MGMT gene expression in lymphoblastoid and glioblastoma cell lines, indicating an important functional role for gene body cytosine modifications in maintaining gene expression. We reasoned that the decrease in MGMT expression induced by decitabine may render resistant glioblastoma cell lines more sensitive to temozolomide. Consistent with this reasoning, we found that the MGMT-expressing glioblastoma cell lines exhibiting an unmethylated MGMT promoter that were pretreated with decitabine became significantly more sensitive to temozolomide. Overall, our results suggest a functional role for gene body cytosine modification in regulating gene expression of MGMT and indicate that pretreating patients whose tumors have an unmethylated MGMT promoter with decitabine before temozolomide treatment may increase their response to therapy.
The doctor of chiropractic program (DCP) graduate must demonstrate competency in clinical research literacy (CRL), per accreditation standards. This study aimed to compare student CRL knowledge, confidence, and attitudes between the beginning and end of their DCP. We collected data on 245 matriculating students' CRL knowledge, confidence, and attitudes between 2017 and 2018. In 2021 and 2022, 78 of these students enrolled in a course with an extra credit assignment that was used to re-collect CRL data as they approached graduation. We assessed changes between entry and exit using statistical analyses in STATA17. Paired data were collected for 56 students. The mean CRL scores on a scale of 10 at the DCP beginning and end were 5.25 (SD 2.06) and 6.54 (SD 1.89), respectively (p = .0001). We observed statistically significant (p ≤ .05) positive changes in students' abilities to answer questions about Medical Subject Headings, the hierarchy of evidence, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and the limitations of abstracts. There was also a statistically significant increase in confidence, with over 80% of students nearing graduation reporting good or excellent abilities to find and judge health information for their patients. The proportion of students who envisioned searching a database to help manage a challenging clinical case decreased from 96% to 89% (p > .05). The proportion seeing themselves submitting a case report for publication declined from 16% to 4% (p ≤ .05). Students' self-perceived CRL abilities and knowledge improved between the beginning and end of their DCP; however, their attitudes toward applying these in practice declined.