Affluenza Revisited: Casting Doubt on Cultivation Effects

The researchers use three secondary analyses to explore further the “affluenza” claims linking amount of television viewing with consumerist/materialist values and “affluenza symptoms” such as life dissatisfaction. Those links were generally supported by multiple regression analysis, though at low levels of explanatory power. Heavy news viewing ran in the opposite direction, with heavy TV news viewing correlated with less consumerist values. The authors also found that viewing by streaming on portable devices did not show affluenza correlations. These findings suggest that active audience program selectivity plays a broader role than that envisioned by cultivation theory.     

Factors Leading to Success in Diversified Occupation: A Livelihood Analysis in India

Purpose: Livelihood diversification is a sound alternative for higher economic growth and its success or failure is conditioned by the interplay of a multitude of factors. The study of the profile of the farmers in which they operate is important to highlight the factors leading to success in diversified livelihoods. Design/Methodology/Approach: A total of 160 households of farmers were selected randomly and were interviewed to collect primary data for the study. To measure the success of diversified occupation a success–failure scale was developed following the steps used by Singh et al., ‘t’ statistics was used to compare the two groups. Discriminant function analysis was used to identify the factors determining success and failure in diversified occupation. Findings: The study revealed that 53% of the diversifiers were successful in their diversified activities. Around 62.50% diversifiers under the high success category were adopted non-farming nature of diversification along with farm diversification. Number of livestock holding, resource mobilisation potentiality, contact with extension personnel, distance from market, share of non-farm income, credit-seeking behaviour and dependency ratio were major characters discriminating successful diversifiers from unsuccessful diversifiers. Practical Implications: The paper would be useful for the researchers and policy-makers to assess and compare the livelihood security of different rural communities in the country. Originality/Value: The study was originally conducted by the authors. Nothing similar has been previously published or is currently under consideration for publication by another journal.     

Review on COVID-19 Etiopathogenesis,Clinical Presentation and Treatment Available with Emphasis on ACE2

In December 2019, Wuhan city in the Hubei province of China reported for the first time a cluster of patients infected with a novel coronavirus, since then there has been an outburst of this disease across the globe affecting millions of human inhabitants. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a member of beta coronavirus family which upon exposure caused a highly infectious disease called novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19, a probably bat originated disease was declared by World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic in March 2020. Since then, despite rigorous global containment and quarantine efforts, the disease has affected nearly 56,261,952 laboratory confirmed human population and caused deaths of over 1,349,506 lives worldwide. Virus passes in majority through respiratory droplets and then enters lung epithelial cells by binding to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and there it undergoes replication and targeting host cells causing severe pathogenesis. Majority of human population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 having fully functional immune system undergo asymptomatic infection while 5–10% are symptomatic and only 1–2% are critically affected and requires ventilation support. Older people or people with co-morbidities are severely affected by COVID-19. These categories of patients also display cytokine storm due to dysfunctional immune response which brutally destroys the affected organs and may lead to death in some. Real time PCR is still considered as standard method of diagnosis along with other serology, radiological and biochemical investigations. Till date, no specific validated medication is available for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Thus, this review provides detailed knowledge about the different landscapes of disease incidence, etiopathogenesis, involvement of various organs, diagnostic criteria’s and treatment guidelines followed for management of COVID-19 infection since its inception. In conclusion, extensive research to recognize novel pathways and their cross talk to combat this virus in precarious settings is our future positive hope.     

Dissymmetry and asymmetry

In French science literature, the term dissymmetry appeared as early as in 1820, before Louis Pasteur. Pasteur, a French scientist, in his lecture ??Recherches sur la Dissymétrie Moléculaire des Produits Organiques Naturels?? in 1860 used the term dissymmetric which was translated in English as asymmetric. A methodical study of his work reveals that the choice of the word dissymmetry is ideal even in the context of present-day science. Strictly speaking, there should be no conflict between the two terms dissymmetry and asymmetry.     

Sex hormone binding globulin in breast cancer

The present study was undertaken to determine the significance of sex hormone binding globulin, the major and specific binding protein for testosterone and estradiol, in breast cancer. Among breast cancer patients, lower serum levels of Sex hormone binding globulin and higher levels of testosterone were observed. Sex hormone binding globulin showed an inverse relationship with testosterone and total cholesterol, and a direct relation with HDL-cholesterol. By the western blot analyses, Sex hormone binding globulin was detected in all biological samples that we examined. In the breast tumor tissue sections, immuno-staining for Sex hormone binding globulin was confined in cell cytoplasm and 29% cases were positive, which showed no association with the investigated prognostic markers of breast cancer such as ER and HER-2/neu over-expression. In this study, decreased circulating levels of Sex hormone binding globulin in breast cancer patients possibly indicate higher bioavailable estrogens.     

U.S. News Coverage of Global Terrorist Incidents

A slew of gruesome executions by terrorist groups in 2014–2015 renewed interest in the public relations strategies of terrorists. As a case in point, the Islamic State group’s escalating brutality reflects their efforts as a relatively nascent extremist group to ensure a high and sustained volume of media coverage, especially among Western outlets. But what characteristics of events actually prompt coverage from major U.S. news media? Using a rich data set of terrorist incidents and coverage from six major broadcast and cable U.S. networks, we model coverage of terrorist incidents as a function of event proximity from U.S. soil, target country affinity with the United States, number of total and U.S. casualties, and the characteristics of the terrorist group. Our findings largely corroborate expectations set forth by the literature on norms and routines of journalism and economics of news. When it comes to terrorism, coverage by U.S. major media outlets is largely dependent on proximity to and affinity with the United States, weapons of mass destruction, and the number of global and U.S. casualties.     

Executive functions and components of oral reading fluency through the lens of text complexity

Reading and Writing - As readers struggle to coordinate various reading- and language-related skills during oral reading fluency (ORF), miscues can emerge, especially when processing complex texts....