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Acculturative stress can be a big problem for international students. Among all the difficulties they may face, adjusting to new foods in a new environment is crucial to their well-being. Research related to food acculturation is limited but also hints at gender differences. Using the Bayesian analysis approach with the Hamiltonian MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) technique on a sample of 268 students from a Japanese international university, we found that female students are more likely to have perceived difficulties in the process of adjusting to new foods, but social connectedness lessens this effect. We also found no significant differences between domestic and international students regarding perceived difficulties on food adjustment in this highly multicultural study site. We suggest international universities provide better information about the food situations on campuses, especially for female students, and organize more cultural exchange events and food-related social activities to help students overcome barriers of food stress.

Digital healthcare has been greatly benefiting the public health system, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In digital healthcare, information communication through the Internet is crucial. The current study explores how patients' accessibility and trust in Internet information influence their decisions and ex-post assessment of healthcare providers by employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) on a dataset of 1,459 Vietnamese patients. We find that patients’ accessibility to Internet information positively affects the perceived sufficiency of information for choosing a healthcare provider, and their trust in the information intensifies this effect. Internet information accessibility is negatively associated with post-treatment assessment of healthcare providers, and trust also moderates this effect. Moreover, patients considering professional reputation important while making a decision are more likely to regard their choices as optimal, whereas patients considering services important have contradicting tendencies. Based on these findings, a concern about the risk of eroding trust toward Internet sources about healthcare information is raised. Thus, quality control and public trust-building measures need to be taken to improve the effectiveness of healthcare-related communication through the Internet and facilitate the implementation of digital healthcare.

In this work, the magnetic properties of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) submitted to an external magnetic field are studied using a Metropolis algorithm. The influence on the M(B) curves of the size distribution of the nanoparticles, of uniaxial anisotropy, and of dipolar interaction between the cores are examined, as well as the influence of drying the samples under a zero or non-zero magnetic field. It is shown that the anisotropy impacts the shape of the magnetization curves, which then deviate from a pure Langevin behaviour, whereas the dipolar interaction has no influence on the curves at 300 K for small particles (with a radius of 3 nm). The fitting of the magnetization curves of particles with magnetic anisotropy to a Langevin model (including a size distribution of the particles) can then lead to erroneous values of the distribution parameters. The simulation results are qualitatively compared to experimental results obtained for iron oxide nanoparticles (with a 3.21 nm median radius).

The recent outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus (named “COVID-2019”) has gained attention globally and has been recognized as a serious public health threat by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first case was detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China and since then, the disease has spread rapidly. As of February 28, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of COVID-2019 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) with 62 countries now reporting 85,176 confirmed cases (79,250 of which have been in mainland China) and 2,919 deaths to date. However, information about the health systems and health professionals’ preparedness for combating the 2019-nCoV is not known. Therefore, their awareness and preparedness in managing the 2019-nCoV infection are important to prevent the further spread of the disease. This is a multicenter multinational survey aiming to assess the level of preparedness of hospital staff and practices regarding COVID-2019 all over the world and their preparedness to deal with the outbreak. It will also measure the level of awareness of hospital staff about the crisis and how will they react to limit and prevent further transmission.

Currently, gaming is the world's favorite form of entertainment. Various studies have shown how games impact players' perceptions and behaviors, prompting opportunities for purposes beyond entertainment. This study uses Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH), a real-time life-simulation game, as a unique case study of how video games can affect humans' environmental perceptions. A dataset of 584 observations from a survey of ACNH players and the Hamiltonian MCMC technique has enabled us to explore the relationship between in-game behaviors and perceptions. The findings indicate a probabilistic trend towards exploiting the in-game environment despite players' perceptions, suggesting that the simplification of commercial game design may overlook opportunities to engage players in pro-environmental activities., 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

On average, one person dies by suicide every 40 s. However, extant studies have largely focused on the risk factors for suicidal behaviors, not so much on the formation of suicidal thoughts. Therefore, we attempt to explain how suicidal thoughts arise and persist inside one’s mind using a multifiltering information mechanism called Mindsponge. Bayesian analysis with Hamiltonian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique was run on a dataset of multinational students (N = 268) of an international university in Japan. Item 9 in the PHQ-9 was used to survey suicidal ideation. The associations among four main variables, namely, (i) suicidal ideation, (ii) help-seeking willingness (informal and formal sources), (iii) sense of connectedness, and (iv) information inaccessibility (represented by being international students), were tested in four models. Sense of connectedness is negatively associated with suicidal ideation, but its effect becomes less impactful when interacting with international students. The impact of a sense of connectedness on informal help-seeking willingness (toward family members) among international students is also lessened. Informal help-seeking is negatively associated with suicidal ideation, whereas formal help is positive. The findings support our assumption on three fundamental conditions for preventing suicidal thoughts: (i) a high degree of belongingness, (ii) accessibility to help-related information, and (iii) healthy perceived cultural responses towards mental health. Therefore, systematically coordinated programs are necessary to effectively tackle suicidal ideation.

As COVID-19 threatens the food security of vulnerable populations across the globe, there is an increasing need to identify places that are affected most in order to target aid. We propose a two-step approach to predict changes in food insecurity risk caused by income shocks at a locality level only using existing household-level data and external information about income shocks. Using national household survey data between 2010 and 2018, we find that a 10% decrease in income leads to a 3.5% increase in food insecurity. We use the 2019 national Labor Force Survey to predict changes in food insecurity risk caused by the income shocks during the pandemic for 702 districts in Vietnam. We find that the small, predicted change in food insecurity at the national level masks substantial variation at the district level, and changes in food insecurity risk are higher among young children. Food relief policies, therefore, should prioritize a small number of districts predicted to be severely affected.

Background: Severe dengue is characterized by shock, organ dysfunction, and coagulopathy, driven by an excessive host inflammatory response. We investigated the role of hyperinflammation/macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) in dengue pathogenesis including MAS biomarkers, Natural Killer (NK) cell function and genetic polymorphisms. Methods: Samples were included from patients recruited into an observational study in Vietnam and divided into three severity grades (plasma leak severity grades 0,1 and 2). MAS biomarkers, were measured at 4 time-points. The frequencies, activation status and cytotoxic potential of NK cells were analysed by flow cytometry. RNA was extracted from sorted CD56+ NK cells and libraries prepared using SMART-Seq Stranded Kit and sequenced using HiSeq3000 (Illumina). Results: 70 hospitalized dengue patients were included. Patients with severe plasma leakage (grade 2 leakage) had higher MAS biomarkers than patients without plasma leakage, including a higher proportion had ferritin levels of >2000 ng/ml (83.3% vs 45.2%) and H scores (148.5 vs.105.5). Activated CD69+ total NK and CD56 dim cells were decreased in patients with severe leakage compared to grade 1. Perforin expression was reduced in NK CD56 dim and CD56 bright cells in grade 2 patients compared to grade 1, and granzyme B MFI levels were reduced in total NK cells and CD56 dim NK cells. RNA sequencing analysis revealed three previously unreported SNPs in the genes involved in NK cell function to be associated with more severe disease; two in the NK cell lectin-like receptor K1 gene (KLRK1) and one in the PRF1 gene, encoding perforin 1. Conclusions: Features of MAS/hyperinflammation are associated with dengue disease severity, including higher MAS biomarkers, impaired NK cell activation/cytotoxicity and specific SNPs in genes involved in NK cell cytolytic function (KLRK1 and PRF-1). Clinical trials of targeted therapeutic immunomodulation for patients with dengue-associated MAS are warranted. Funding Information: Young Investigator Research Grant: NMRC/ OFYIRG17may066 awarded to S Yacoub; Open Fund - Individual Research Grant, National Medical Research Council, Singapore NMRC/OFIRG/0049/2017 awarded to L.Rivino. OM Sessions was supported by the Singapore Ministry of Education (https://www.moe.gov.sg) with a Startup grant. Declaration of Interests: The authors report no COI. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval was obtained from the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee and the Ethics review Committee at NHTD. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. Experimental work on PBMCs was performed at Duke-NUS Medical School after approval by the Singapore-NUS Institutional Review Board.

Background: Data on breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant infections are limited. Methods: We studied breakthrough infections among healthcare workers of a major infectious diseases hospital in Vietnam. We collected demographics, vaccination history and results of PCR diagnosis alongside clinical data. We measured SARS-CoV-2 (neutralizing) antibodies at diagnosis, and at week 1, 2 and 3 after diagnosis. We sequenced the viruses using ARTIC protocol. Findings: Between 11th–25th June 2021 (week 7–8 after dose 2), 69 healthcare workers were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 62 participated in the clinical study. 49 were (pre)symptomatic with one requiring oxygen supplementation. All recovered uneventfully. 23 complete-genome sequences were obtained. They all belonged to the Delta variant, and were phylogenetically distinct from the contemporary Delta variant sequences obtained from community transmission cases, suggestive of ongoing transmission between the workers. Viral loads of breakthrough Delta variant infection cases were 251 times higher than those of cases infected with old strains detected between March-April 2020. Time from diagnosis to PCR negative was 8–33 days (median: 21). Neutralizing antibody levels after vaccination and at diagnosis of the cases were lower than those in the matched uninfected controls. There was no correlation between vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody levels and viral loads or the development of symptoms. Interpretation: Breakthrough Delta variant infections are associated with high viral loads, prolonged PCR positivity, and low levels of vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies, explaining the transmission between the vaccinated people. Physical distancing measures remain critical to reduce SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant transmission. Funding: Wellcome (106680/B/14/Z and 204904/Z/16/Z). Declaration of Interest: None to declare. Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of HTD and the Oxford Tropical Research Ethics Committee, University of Oxford, UK.

Human resource management technologies have moved from biometric surveillance to emotional artificial intelligence (AI) that monitor employees’ engagement and productivity, analyze video interviews and CVs of job applicants. The rise of the US$20 billion emotional AI industry will transform the future workplace. Yet, besides no international consensus on the principles or standards for such technologies, there is a lack of cross-cultural research on future job seekers’ attitude toward such use of AI technologies. This study collects a cross-sectional dataset of 1,015 survey responses of international students from 48 countries and 8 regions worldwide. A majority of the respondents (52%) are concerned about being managed by AI. Following the hypothetico-deductivist philosophy of science, we use the MCMC Hamiltonian approach and conduct a detailed comparison of 10 Bayesian network models with the PSIS-LOO method. We consistently find having a higher income, being male, majoring in business, and/or self-rated familiarity with AI correlate with a more positive view of emotional AI in the workplace. There is also a stark cross-cultural and cross-regional difference. Our analysis shows people from economically less developed regions (Africa, Oceania, Central Asia) tend to exhibit less concern for AI managers. And for East Asian countries, 64% of the Japanese, 56% of the South Korean, and 42% of the Chinese professed the trusting attitude. In contrast, an overwhelming majority of 75% of the European and Northern American possesses the worrying/neutral attitude toward being managed by AI. Regarding religion, Muslim students correlate with the most concern toward emotional AI in the workplace (β_Islam_Attitude’s mean =-0.16, sd =0.10; β_Buddhism_Attitude’s mean =-0.05, sd =0.07; β_Christian_Attitude ‘s mean = -0.10, sd= 0.09). When religiosity is higher, the correlation becomes stronger for Muslim and Buddhist students. This paper adds a cross-cultural perspective to the literature, which is currently skewed toward country-specific and profession-specific samples.