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Recommendation algorithms profoundly shape users attention and information consumption on social media platforms. This study introduces a computational intervention aimed at mitigating two key biases in algorithms by influencing the recommendation process. We tackle interest bias, or algorithms creating narrow nonnews and entertainment information diets, and ideological bias, or algorithms directing the more strongly partisan users to like-minded content. Employing a sock-puppet experiment ( n = 8,600 sock puppets) alongside a month-long randomized experiment involving 2,142 frequent YouTube users, we investigate if nudging the algorithm by playing videos from verified and ideologically balanced news channels in the background increases recommendations to and consumption of news. We additionally test if providing balanced news input to the algorithm promotes diverse and cross-cutting news recommendations and consumption. We find that nudging the algorithm significantly and sustainably increases both recommendations to and consumption of news and also minimizes ideological biases in recommendations and consumption, particularly among conservative users. In fact, recommendations have stronger effects on users exposure than users exposure has on subsequent recommendations. In contrast, nudging the users has no observable effects on news consumption. Increased news consumption has no effects on a range of survey outcomes (i.e. political participation, belief accuracy, perceived and affective polarization, and support for democratic norms), adding to the growing evidence of limited attitudinal effects of on-platform exposure. The intervention does not adversely affect user engagement on YouTube, showcasing its potential for real-world implementation. These findings underscore the influence wielded by platform recommender algorithms on users attention and information exposure.

Algorithms of social media platforms are often criticized for recommending ideologically congenial and radical content to their users. Despite these concerns, evidence on such filter bubbles and rabbit holes of radicalization is inconclusive. We conduct an audit of the platform using 100,000 sock puppets that allow us to systematically and at scale isolate the influence of the algorithm in recommendations. We test 1) whether recommended videos are congenial with regard to users ideology, especially deeper in the watch trail and whether 2) recommendations deeper in the trail become progressively more extreme and come from problematic channels. We find that YouTubes algorithm recommends congenial content to its partisan users, although some moderate and cross-cutting exposure is possible and that congenial recommendations increase deeper in the trail for right-leaning users. We do not find meaningful increases in ideological extremity of recommendations deeper in the trail, yet we show that a growing proportion of recommendations comes from channels categorized as problematic (e.g., IDW, Alt-right, Conspiracy, and QAnon), with this increase being most pronounced among the very-right users. Although the proportion of these problematic recommendations is low (max of 2.5%), they are still encountered by over 36.1% of users and up to 40% in the case of very-right users.

Objective: To compare the predictive utility of serum Apo B/Apo A ratio with serum lipid profile in evaluation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Research was done at Department of Chemical Pathology & Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2022. Materials and Methods: A total of 204 patients were enrolled from a tertiary care hospital admitted for recent cardiac events and were compared with 96 healthy individuals. A serum sample was taken from all the members of both groups. Their lipid profile, Apo A, and Apo B were analyzed. Apo B/ Apo A ratio was calculated. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: Means of patient group for total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and Apo B/Apo A ratio were 4.18±1.21, 2.52±1.06, 0.83±0.34, 0.71±0.31, 1.66±0.86, 0.96±0.60 respectively, whereas means for control group were 3.99±0.54, 2.31±0.56, 1.00±0.31, 0.59±0.15, 1.22±0.33 and 0.70±0.18 respectively. Independent t-test was applied to compare means between two groups, which showed statistically significant difference between Apo B/Apo A ratio, HDL, and TG (p value

Objective: To determine the variation in neonatal Serum 17 – hydroxyprogesterone levels in newborns in accordance with the birth weight and gestational age. Study Design:It was an analytical cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Rawalpindi. The duration of study was 6 months i.e., 17 Nov, 2021 – 17 May, 2022 after the approval from Institutional Review Board (FC-CHP21-12/Read-IRB/22/845). Materials and Methods: A sum of 210 individuals were included by convenient non-probability sampling technique and divided into 3 groups. Group I included 70 neonates which were delivered at full term (38 – 40) weeks of gestation) with birth weight of 2500 – 4000 g as healthy controls. Group II included 70 neonates delivered at 32 - 37 weeks of gestation with birth weight of 1500 – 2500 g. Group III included 70 neonates delivered at 28 – 32 weeks of gestation with less than 1500 g weight at the time of birth. Results: The gender-wise distribution of patients, was with males accounting for 65% and females for 35%. The mean value of Serum 17 hydroxyprogesterone (17 – OHP) exhibited a significant increase in Group III (118+8.05 nmol/l), followed by Group II (58+15.66 nmol/l), while Group I had normal levels (21+8.08 U/l) as shown in Figure II. After conducting a one-way ANOVA, post-hoc Tukey analysis was performed to compare three study groups. The Tukey HSD q statistics revealed significant differences between Group I and Group II (72.86), Group I and Group III (180.8), and Group II and Group III (107.95), all with a p-value of < 0.01. Significance in terms of statistics was determined by considering a Tukey HSD p-value below 0.05. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 23. Conclusion: Neonatal Serum 17 – hydroxyprogesterone levels vary in accordance with the birth weight and gestational age. False-positive newborn-screening rates are disproportionately increased in prematurity and low birth weight. The optimal cut of levels adjusted to birth weight and gestational age of Serum 17 –hydroxyprogesterone should be established for screening of patients of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.