County-level political group density, partisan polarization, and individual-level mortality among adults in the United States: A lagged multilevel study.

Objective: To investigate the associations between county-level political group density, partisan polarization, and individual-level mortality from all causes and from coronary heart disease (CHD) in the United States.

Methods: Using data from five survey waves (1998-2006) of the General Social Survey-National Death Index dataset and the County Presidential Election Return 2000 dataset, we fit weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the associations between (1) political group density and (2) partisan polarization measured at the county level in 2000 (n = 313 counties) categorized into quartiles with individual-level mortality (n = 14,983 participants) from all causes and CHD, controlling for individual- and county-level factors. Maximum follow-up was from one year after the survey up until 2014.

Why People Stayed Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Health Communication Across Four Countries.

Staying at home substantially reduces the spread of COVID-19. Moreover, understanding why people stayed at home by addressing its social cognitive determinants can help create more effective communication to change behaviors. This study analyzed this outcome through an extended model of the theory of planned behavior based on risk perception and personal norms in four countries: the United States, Japan, Brazil, and Taiwan.

Putting a Price on Nature: Ecosystem Service Value and Ecological Risk in the Dongting Lake Area, China.

Understanding the relationship between ecosystem service value and ecological risk evolutions holds great theoretical and practical significance, as it helps to ensure the quality management of ecosystems and the sustainable development of human-land system interactions. We analyzed this relationship in the Dongting Lake area in China from 1995 to 2020 using data from remote sensing-interpreted land use with ArcGIS and Geoda. We used the equivalent factor method to estimate the ecosystem service value, constructed a landscape ecological risk index to quantitatively describe the ecological risk of Dongting Lake, and analyzed their correlation.

The harmful effects of partisan polarization on health.

Partisan polarization significantly drives stress and anxiety among Americans, and recent aggregate-level studies suggest polarization may be shaping their health. This individual-level study uses a new representative dataset of 2,752 US residents surveyed between December 2019 and January 2020, some US residents report more days of poor physical and mental health per month than others. Using negative binomial models, zero inflated models, and visualizations, we find evidence that polarization is linked to declines in physical health: the more distant an individual feels politically from the average voter in their state, the worse health outcomes he or she reports.

Uneven paths: Soft Policy's benefits to recovery in Louisiana Parishes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Factors driving community recovery trajectories after disaster are not well understood. We assess why some communities show stronger recoveries from disaster than others, examining the role of four policy toolkits that U.S.

Social capital building interventions and self-reported post-disaster recovery in Ofunato, Japan.

Evidence shows that communal resources, cohesion, and social infrastructure can mitigate shocks and enhance resilience. However, we know less about how specific social capital building interventions facilitate recovery in post-disaster environments. Using a survey of over 1000 residents of Ofunato, Japan after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, this study demonstrates that the individuals who actively participated in a community center-created for and led by neighborhood elders-reported higher levels of family and neighborhood recovery than similar individuals who did not participate.

A predictive model towards understanding the effect of reinforcement agglomeration on the stiffness of nanocomposites.

Nanocomposite technologies can be significantly enhanced through a careful exploration of the effects of agglomerates on mechanical properties. Existing models are either overly simplified (e.g.

Social capital's impact on COVID-19 outcomes at local levels.

Over the past thirty years, disaster scholars have highlighted that communities with stronger social infrastructure-including social ties that enable trust, mutual aid, and collective action-tend to respond to and recover better from crises. However, comprehensive measurements of social capital across communities have been rare. This study adapts Kyne and Aldrich's (Risk Hazards Crisis Public Policy 11, 61-86, 2020) county-level social capital index to the census-tract level, generating social capital indices from 2011 to 2018 at the census-tract, zipcode, and county subdivision levels.

Social-capital-based mental health interventions for refugees: A systematic review.

With over 80 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, providing safe, healthy, and supportive places for refugees has become an imperative for national governments, aid organizations, and host communities. While much has been written about the needs of these displaced people, organizations and practitioners tend to focus on essential material needs, medical care, and food and water provisioning. Yet a growing body of evidence points to the potential role of social capital - the bonding, bridging, and linking social ties that connect us to one another - as a critical resource for these refugees.

Opposing views: associations of political polarization, political party affiliation, and social trust with COVID-19 vaccination intent and receipt.

Introduction: Political polarization has increased in the USA within recent years. Studies have shown Republicans are less likely to accept COVID-19 vaccinations than Democrats; however, little is known regarding the association between COVID-19 vaccination acceptance and political polarization.

Methods: We used data from a nationally-representative survey of 1427 participants conducted between 9 February 2021 and 17 February 2021.

Bowling alone or distancing together? The role of social capital in excess death rates from COVID19.

Much attention on the spread and impact of the ongoing pandemic has focused on institutional factors such as government capacity along with population-level characteristics such as race, income, and age. This paper draws on a growing body of evidence that bonding, bridging, and linking social capital - the horizontal and vertical ties that bind societies together - impact public health to explain why some U.S.

Is divisive politics making Americans sick? Associations of perceived partisan polarization with physical and mental health outcomes among adults in the United States.

Objectives: To investigate whether changes in perceived partisan polarization since the 2016 US presidential election and current perceptions of polarization are associated with the onset of physical and mental health conditions in adults.

Methods: We surveyed a nationally-representative sample (n = 2752) of US adults between December 2019 and January 2020. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate associations between perceived polarization and the incidence of hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and anxiety, depressive, and sleep disorders in or after 2016 and current self-rated health.

Combined Use of Aspirin and Statin is Associated With a Decreased Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer and cancer-related mortality worldwide. Studies have suggested that aspirin (ASA) and statins may be associated with a decrease in incident HCC.

Goals: We aimed to evaluate the effect of ASA and statin use on the incidence of HCC in a prospective cohort of patients with liver cirrhosis and to identify if there was an increased risk of esophageal variceal hemorrhage (VH) in patients with ASA use.

Attracting altruists: explaining volunteer turnout during natural hazard events in Japan.

Volunteers play a crucial role in post-disaster situations, providing resources, emotional support, and labour when local and national government capacity may be diminished. The number of volunteers who assist can range from dozens to more than one million. Yet, little is known about the broader conditions that result in more (or fewer) of them heading to disaster sites.

Complete genome sequence of ornithogalum virus 3.

Ornithogalum thyrsoides, a widely cultivated bulbous ornamental plant endemic to South Africa, has significant commercial value as a pot plant and for the production of cut flowers. However, infection by viruses threatens the success of commercial cultivation, as symptoms negatively affect the appearance of the plant and flowers. To date, four Ornithogalum-infecting viruses have been reported.

The dual effect of social ties on COVID-19 spread in Japan.

We investigate why some communities experience worse COVID-19 outcomes than others. Past studies have linked the resilience of communities against crisis to social vulnerability and the capacity of local governments to provide public goods and services like health care. Disaster studies, which frequently examine the effect of social ties and mobility, may better help illuminate the current spread of COVID-19.

In the hands of a few: Disaster recovery committee networks.

When disaster strikes, urban planners often rely on feedback and guidance from committees of officials, residents, and interest groups when crafting reconstruction policy. Focusing on recovery planning committees after Japan's 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters, we compile and analyze a dataset on committee membership patterns across 39 committees with 657 members. Using descriptive statistics and social network analysis, we examine 1) how community representation through membership varied among committees, and 2) in what ways did committees share members, interlinking members from certain interests groups.

Substitute or complement? How social capital, age and socioeconomic status interacted to impact mortality in Japan's 3/11 tsunami.

Background: Research underscoring the critical nature of social capital and collective action during crises often overlooks the ways that social ties interact with vulnerability factors such as age and socioeconomic status.

Methods: We use three different data structures and five types of regression models to study mortality rates across 542 inundated neighborhoods from nearly 40 cities, towns, and villages in Japan's Tohoku region which was flooded by the 11 March 2011 tsunami.

Results: Controlling for factors thought important in past studies - including geographic administrative, and demographic conditions - we find that social capital interacts with age and socioeconomic status to strongly correlate with mortality at the neighborhood level.

Social capital's role in recovery: evidence from communities affected by the 2010 Pakistan floods.

Pakistan suffered large-scale flooding in summer 2010 that caused damage amounting to approximately USD 43 billion, claimed the lives of at least 1,700 people, and negatively affected some 20 million others. Observers have debated the degree to which social capital plays a role in recovery after a catastrophe of this magnitude. Using new survey data on 450 residents impacted by the disaster, this study found that, controlling for various confounding factors, the social capital levels of victims serve as robust correlates of life recovery.

Creating Community Resilience Through Elder-Led Physical and Social Infrastructure.

Objective: Natural disasters and rapidly aging populations are chronic problems for societies worldwide. We investigated the effects of an intervention in Japan known as Ibasho, which embeds elderly residents in vulnerable areas within larger social networks and encourages them to participate in leadership activities. This project sought to deepen the connections of these elderly residents to society and to build elderly leadership and community capacity for future crises.

Correlational Study of Diabetic Retinopathy and Hearing Loss.

Purpose: Our research goal was to complete a retrospective chart review to determine if there is a correlation between the level of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic neurosensory hearing loss.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 175 Department of Veterans Affairs Computerized Patient Record System charts was completed at the VA Portland Health Care System. Subjects were classified by degree of diabetic retinopathy as follows: no diabetic retinopathy (n = 80), mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (n = 51), moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (n = 25), and combined severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (n = 17).

Harbin: a quantitation PCR analysis tool.

Objectives: To enable analysis and comparisons of different relative quantitation experiments, a web-browser application called Harbin was created that uses a quantile-based scoring system for the comparison of samples at different time points and between experiments.

Results: Harbin uses the standard curve method for relative quantitation to calculate concentration ratios (CRs). To evaluate if different datasets can be combined the Harbin quantile bootstrap test is proposed.