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Misinformation about climate change is a consequential societal issue, causing polarization and reduced support for climate action. However, the seriousness of the problem does not preclude non-serious solutions. There are numerous potential benefits to humor as a strategy to counter misinformation, such as attracting attention and engaging disengaged audiences. This paper describes a humorous serious game--"Cranky Uncle"--developed in the U.S. to inoculate players against climate misinformation. The game combines psychological research into active inoculation, critical-thinking work on misleading rhetorical techniques, communication research into cartoon debunking, and gamification. The game's cartoon humor and the creative potential of active inoculation lends it to classroom applications; educators have thus used classroom activities to complement the game in order to improve students' climate literacy and critical-thinking abilities. We present several qualitative U.S.-based case studies, in formal English-speaking tertiary classrooms and informal public education settings, to illustrate the utility of a humorous, game-based approach to building resilience against climate misinformation. The approaches adopted in our case studies are offered as a model for other educators looking to use interactive games to teach critical thinking.

Aims We sought to characterize sex-related differences in cardiovascular magnetic resonance-based cardiovascular phenotypes and prognosis in patients with idiopathic non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). Methods and results Patients with NICM enrolled in the Cardiovascular Imaging Registry of Calgary (CIROC) between 2015 and 2021 were identified. Z -score values for chamber volumes and function were calculated as standard deviation from mean values of 157 sex-matched healthy volunteers, ensuring reported differences were independent of known sex-dependencies. Patients were followed for the composite outcome of all-cause mortality, heart failure admission, or ventricular arrhythmia. A total of 747 patients were studied, 531 (71%) males. By Z -score values, females showed significantly higher left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF; median difference 1 SD) and right ventricular (RV) EF (difference 0.6 SD) with greater LV mass (difference 2.1 SD; P < 0.01 for all) vs. males despite similar chamber volumes. Females had a significantly lower prevalence of mid-wall striae (MWS) fibrosis (22% vs. 34%; P < 0.001). Over a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 173 patients (23%) developed the composite outcome, with equal distribution in males and females. LV EF and MWS were significant independent predictors of the outcome (respective HR [95% CI] 0.97 [0.95–0.99] and 1.6 [1.2–2.3]; P = 0.003 and 0.005). There was no association of sex with the outcome. Conclusion In a large contemporary cohort, NICM was uniquely expressed in females vs. males. Despite similar chamber dilation, females demonstrated greater concentric remodelling, lower reductions in bi-ventricular function, and a lower burden of replacement fibrosis. Overall, their prognosis remained similar to male patients with NICM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inoculation theory, which applies the biological concept of vaccination to misinformation, provides a range of ways to effectively build resilience against misinformation. In this article, we define and organize the various types of inoculation, which includes three delivery mechanisms that can be useful in the classroom—passive, active, and experiential. In passive inoculations, students passively receive inoculating messages, whereas in active inoculations, students actively generate misinformation using misleading techniques. We introduce a new category of inoculation—experiential—which involves misleading students and then debriefing them on how they were misled. We then describe how these three techniques were implemented in a general education science class designed to teach critical thinking and science literacy. Through these activities, we illustrate how the different types of inoculation can be creatively combined to maximize student engagement and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Misinformation about climate change is a consequential societal issue, causing polarization and reduced support for climate action. However, the seriousness of the problem does not preclude non-serious solutions. There are numerous potential benefits to humor as a strategy to counter misinformation, such as attracting attention and engaging disengaged audiences. This paper describes a humorous serious game—"Cranky Uncle"—developed in the U.S. to inoculate players against climate misinformation. The game combines psychological research into active inoculation, critical-thinking work on misleading rhetorical techniques, communication research into cartoon debunking, and gamification. The game's cartoon humor and the creative potential of active inoculation lends it to classroom applications; educators have thus used classroom activities to complement the game in order to improve students' climate literacy and critical-thinking abilities. We present several qualitative U.S.-based case studies, in formal English-speaking tertiary classrooms and informal public education settings, to illustrate the utility of a humorous, game-based approach to building resilience against climate misinformation. The approaches adopted in our case studies are offered as a model for other educators looking to use interactive games to teach critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Direct comparisons of paediatric hospitalizations for acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) can inform health system planning. We describe the absolute and relative hospital burden of acute paediatric COVID-19 and MIS-C in Canada. Methods: This national prospective study was conducted via the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program from March 2020-May 2021. Children younger than 18 years old and hospitalized for acute COVID-19 or MIS-C were included in the analysis. Outcomes included supplemental oxygen (low-flow oxygen or high-flow nasal cannula), ventilation (non-invasive or conventional mechanical), vasopressors, paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission, or death. Adjusted risk differences (aRD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to identify factors associated with each diagnosis. Results: Overall, we identified 330 children hospitalized for acute COVID-19 (including five deaths) and 208 hospitalized for MIS-C (including zero deaths); PICU admission was required for 49.5% of MIS-C hospitalizations versus 18.2% of acute COVID-19 hospitalizations (aRD 20.3; 95% CI, 9.9-30.8). Resource use differed by age, with children younger than one year hospitalized more often for acute COVID-19 (aRD 43.4% versus MIS-C; 95% CI, 37.7-49.1) and more children 5-11 years hospitalized for MIS-C (aRD 38.9% vs. acute COVID-19; 95% CI, 31.0-46.9). Conclusion: While there were more hospitalizations and deaths from acute paediatric COVID-19, MIS-C cases were more severe, requiring more intensive care and vasopressor support. Our findings suggest that both acute COVID-19 and MIS-C should be considered when assessing the overall burden of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in hospitalized children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last couple of years have brought a rise in the number of institutional repositories throughout the world and within UK Higher Education institutions, with the majority of these repositories being devoted to research output. Repositories containing teaching and learning material are less common and the workflows and business processes surrounding these types of repositories were unclear. The user motivations to contributing to and downloading from repositories were also unknown. This article reports on two studies: a widescale survey carried out with HE staff to identify barriers and incentives to contributing to teaching material repositories; and interviews carried out as part of a workflow study at Loughborough University, to identify existing practice in the creation and sharing of teaching material. Confusion is reported with regard to the difference between a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and a repository. However, many different purposes of a teaching and learning material repository are highlighted. This article discusses how repositories could successfully interoperate with other institutional applications and highlights the benefits of teaching material repositories to the user, through scenarios. Recommendations relating to the key aspects of the design and implementation of a repository service are outlined. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Although officer proximity to a grade 2 (non-emergency) incident is the primary metric used by dispatchers to allocate officers from deployment, other (informal) factors may influence the decision. The purpose of this research was to identify additional metrics that could be used to better match officer attributes to incident characteristics. Using a form of grounded theory, interviews with dispatchers in a single constabulary were used to identify 14 additional metrics that could be used in a formal decision-making process implemented through software assistance. The metrics broadly fell into the three categories of response time, officer attributes, and incident attributes. Dispatchers generally considered the introduction of a greater range of metrics implemented as software assistance to be beneficial but considered software decision-making tools to be unacceptable. We conclude that the weighting attached to each new metric relative to others should be tailored to the constabulary and operation group with which the dispatcher works. Overall, it is considered desirable to introduce a wider range of metrics through which dispatch of officers to non-emergency incidents may be managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2014-2015 epidemic of Ebola virus disease in West Africa primarily affected Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Several countries, including Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, experienced Ebola importations. Realizing the importance of a trained field epidemiology workforce in neighboring countries to respond to Ebola importations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Field Epidemiology Training Program unit implemented the Surveillance Training for Ebola Preparedness (STEP) initiative. STEP was a mentored, competency-based initiative to rapidly build up surveillance capacity along the borders of the at-risk neighboring countries Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. The target audience was district surveillance officers. STEP was delivered to 185 participants from 72 health units (districts or regions). Timeliness of reporting and the quality of surveillance analyses improved 3 months after training. STEP demonstrated that mentored, competency-based training, where learners attain competencies while delivering essential public health services, can be successfully implemented in an emergency response setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]