Finding influential users of online health communities: a new metric based on sentiment influence

OBJECTIVE

Online health communities (OHCs) have become a major source of support for people with health problems. This research tries to improve our understanding of social influence and to identify influential users in OHCs. The outcome can facilitate OHC management, improve community sustainability, and eventually benefit OHC users.

METHODS

Through text mining and sentiment analysis of users' online interactions, the research revealed sentiment dynamics in threaded discussions. A novel metric--the number of influential responding replies--was proposed to directly measure a user's ability to affect the sentiment of others.

RESULTS

Using the dataset from a popular OHC, the research demonstrated that the proposed metric is highly effective in identifying influential users. In addition, combining the metric with other traditional measures further improves the identification of influential users.

Theory-based evaluation of an online cancer fatigue class

Fatigue is a common problem faced by cancer patients and survivors, yet is often overlooked. An online fatigue class is evaluated using measures based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). A sample of 26 survivors and seven caregivers completed pre-class and post-class surveys and a facilitated discussion. Statistically significant improvements were detected in both the fatigue knowledge (p < 0.001) and belief (p < 0.001) scores. Participants reported that the content was accessible and useful. The class had a positive impact on their knowledge and beliefs about cancer fatigue. This suggests that HBM may be an appropriate framework for the evaluation of Internet-based educational interventions.

Cancer-related communication between female patients and male partners scale: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

The study's objective was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Cancer-Related Communication Problems within Couples Scale (CRCP), a measure to assess whether patients and their partners have difficulty talking about cancer with each other.

METHODS

The CRCP Scale included 18 items concerning open communication/emotional support, treatment-specific issues, self-protection, and protective buffering. Patients and partners responded through the American Cancer Society's website and mailed questionnaires through Y-ME. The CRCP's validity was tested using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS, marital relationship).

RESULTS

189 female patients and 135 male partners participated in the survey. Three items were deleted based on lack of clarity or an item not being applicable to many respondents, resulting in a 15 item scale. The number of CRCP problems' internal consistency in the 15 item scale was good for both patients and partners (alpha coefficient = 0.87, 0.81, respectively). The number of patients' CRCP problems correlated with the DAS (p < 0.0001), and the number of partners' CRCP problems correlated with the HADS (p < 0.0001) and the DAS (p < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Analyses supported the CRCP Scale's reliability and validity for female cancer patients and male partners.

The value of forecasting BYDV in autumn sown cereals

Crop Food Research has developed a model to forecast the occurrence of severe barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) incidence in autumnsown wheat crops in Canterbury based on alate aphid flights This information is potentially valuable to growers in Canterbury who can modify their inputs each year according to the risk of BYDV This paper uses expected gross margins to estimate the financial benefit of the Crop Food Research BYDV Forecast Service to arable growers in Canterbury Results suggest that the value of the BYDV Forecast Service is positive but varies greatly depending upon forecast accuracy and adoption rate

Lymphocyte subset analysis for the diagnosis of rejection and infection in recipients of liver transplants

We retrospectively investigated the predictive value of lymphocyte subset changes in the peripheral blood of 37 consecutive liver transplant recipients for rejection and infection, both bacterial and cytomegalovirus, during a period of 2 years. Total lymphocyte count correlated with biopsy-proven rejection. There was moderate elevation of CD16+ count during the course of bacterial infection.

Cameroon: an African model for final stages of guinea worm eradication

The Cameroon Guinea worm eradication program initiated case containment activities in 1991 in the Mayo-Sava Division, the only endemic region in the country. These activities differed from the Pakistan program, the only other operational model for dracunculiasis case containment, in two important ways. In Cameroon, next-level supervisors received reports of new cases from village health workers during routine weekly visits to endemic villages. The Pakistan program established a faster case reporting scheme that allowed higher level personnel (sector supervisors and regional managers) to confirm cases within one week of worm emergence. Second, in Cameroon case containment activities were extended only to villages reporting five or more cases the previous transmission season and villages with recent confirmed cases. In Pakistan, all villages reporting cases during the previous year were included in the program. A village-by-village case search one year after initiation of case containment in the Mayo-Sava indicated decreases of 60% in the number of cases and 51% in the number of villages reporting cases. Based on the apparent success of the efforts in Cameroon, we propose a two-stage scheme for implementation of case containment. Both stages are based on rapid detection and containment of cases, within 24 hr of worm emergence, by village-based health workers. In stage 1, cases are reported and confirmed during routine weekly visits to the endemic villages by next-level supervisors. Weekly reporting should be extended to all villages with recent confirmed cases and to as many villages reporting cases during the previous transmission season as logistically possible.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Towards dracunculosis eradication in Cameroon?]

Dracunculiasis is endemic in the Mayo-Sava region, Province of Extreme North, Cameroon. Its incidence has been reduced by half (from 778 cases in 1990 to 394 cases in 1991) thanks to the national eradication program (wells, distribution of filters, use of temephos to treat water collections, sanitary education, cases containment).

Olfactory function in essential tremor

Olfactory function, assessed by the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test, was normal in essential tremor (ET) patients and significantly reduced in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). This finding further supports a lack of association between ET and PD.

Embolism during caesarean section

We investigated the occurrence of gas embolism during Caesarean section using a Doppler ultrasound probe and found that it occurs between uterine incision and delivery. Embolism is less common during general anaesthesia than has been reported during regional anaesthesia. Both ruptured membranes and a protracted uterine incision to delivery interval predispose to embolism.

Incidence of sperm antibodies before and after vasectomy

Sperm-agglutinating antibodies were present in three (2-6%) of 117 fertile men and in 19 (33-9%) of 56 men who had been vasectomized. Twenty-four of the 56 vasectomized men had been studied before vasectomy; sperm-agglutinating antibodies were present in one (4-3%) compared with eight (33-3%) after vasectomy. No sperm-immobilizing antibodies were detected before vasectomy but were present in 10 (17-9%) of the 56 men after vasectomy.