The Influence of the Digital Divide on Face Preferences in El Salvador: People without Internet Access Prefer More Feminine Men,More Masculine Women,and Women with Higher Adiposity

Previous studies on face preferences have found that online and laboratory experiments yield similar results with samples from developed countries, where the majority of the population has internet access. No study has yet explored whether the same holds true in developing countries, where the majority of the population does not have internet access. This gap in the literature has become increasingly important given that several online studies are now using cross-country comparisons. We therefore sought to determine if an online sample is representative of the population in the developing country of El Salvador. In studies of Hispanic men and women aged 18–25, we tested facial masculinity and adiposity preferences by collecting data in person as well as online. Our results showed that there were no differences in preferences between people who reported having internet access, whether they were tested online or in person. This provides evidence that testing style does not bias preferences among the same population. On the other hand, our results showed multiple differences in preferences between people who reported having internet access and people who reported not having internet access. More specifically, we found that people without internet access preferred more feminine men, more masculine women, and women with higher adiposity than people with internet access. We also found that people without internet access had fewer resources (e.g. running water) than people with internet access, suggesting that harshness in the environment may be influencing face preferences. These findings suggest that online studies may provide a distorted perspective of the populations in developing countries.     

The Power of the Web: A Systematic Review of Studies of the Influence of the Internet on Self-Harm and Suicide in Young People

Background

There is concern that the internet is playing an increasing role in self-harm and suicide. In this study we systematically review and analyse research literature to determine whether there is evidence that the internet influences the risk of self-harm or suicide in young people.

Methods

An electronic literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and CINAHL databases. Articles of interest were those that included empirical data on the internet, self-harm or suicide, and young people. The articles were initially screened based on titles and abstracts, then by review of the full publications, after which those included in the review were subjected to data extraction, thematic analysis and quality rating.

Results

Youth who self-harm or are suicidal often make use of the internet. It is most commonly used for constructive reasons such as seeking support and coping strategies, but may exert a negative influence, normalising self-harm and potentially discouraging disclosure or professional help-seeking. The internet has created channels of communication that can be misused to ‘cyber-bully’ peers; both cyber-bullying and general internet use have been found to correlate with increased risk of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and depression. Correlations have also been found between internet exposure and violent methods of self-harm.

Conclusions

Internet use may exert both positive and negative effects on young people at risk of self-harm or suicide. Careful high quality research is needed to better understand how internet media may exert negative influences and should also focus on how the internet might be utilised to intervene with vulnerable young people.     

Energy efficiency in cloud computing data center: a survey on hardware technologies

Cluster Computing - The internet is expanding its viewpoint into each conceivable part of the cutting-edge economy. Unshackled from our web programs today, the internet is characterizing our way of...     

ROCCIPI框架下互联网医疗发展的问题识别与分析

互联网医疗作为传统医疗服务和现代互联网信息技术的跨界融合,正如雨后春笋般的在当下互联网革命与社会变迁的浪潮中迅速崛起。目前国家政策导向、互联智能广泛应用、健康医疗市场需求、社会资本介入等齐为互联网医疗发展推波助澜。基于我国国情以及政策进程、公众认知差异等因素,冲破互联网医疗发展的藩篱依旧面临着重重困阻,运用ROCCIPI技术厘清我国互联网医疗发展遇到的阻碍和问题并进行分析。     

The Internet as a Mental Health Advisor in Germany—Results of a National Survey

The internet constitutes a popular source of health information. However, the use of the internet and other modern media in the domain of mental health remains widely unclear. This study aimed at exploring the readiness for seeking information online and making use of online counseling and media-assisted psychotherapy. A representative survey of N = 2411 Germans was conducted. Results indicated that more than one fourth of Germans would consider seeking help online in case of psychic strain. Participants reported that they would use the internet when needing to research about mental health topics and to communicate with persons concerned on internet forums. Only a small number of participants had already used psychological online-counseling. The majority of subjects reported not having known about the possibility of online counseling. However, the willingness to make use of this option in the future was in a medium range. Concerning the treatment of mental disorders, participants showed a clear preference toward conventional face-to-face treatment. Less than 10% of participants considered the use of treatment supported by mobile phones, the internet, or virtual realities as likely. Certainly, readiness was significantly higher in persons who were already using the relevant devices—mobile phones, computers, and the internet. In the future, there will presumably be an increasing demand for media-assisted psychological counseling and interventions. Members of the health care system should therefore prepare for current developments and help enlighten patients with regard to the possibilities, and also the potential risks of e-mental health.     

国际化学生态学文献、实验室网络资源评介

本文介绍了国际上化学生态学的文献和网络资源 ,包括重要著作简介、杂志的特点和网址、实验室的工作内容和网址 ,一些网络讨论组 ,以及主要的组织机构和会议等。     

Problematic Internet Usage and Immune Function

Problematic internet use has been associated with a variety of psychological comorbidities, but it relationship with physical illness has not received the same degree of investigation. The current study surveyed 505 participants online, and asked about their levels of problematic internet usage (Internet Addiction Test), depression and anxiety (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales), social isolation (UCLA Loneliness Questionnaire), sleep problems (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and their current health – General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and the Immune Function Questionnaire. The results demonstrated that around 30% of the sample displayed mild or worse levels of internet addiction, as measured by the IAT. Although there were differences in the purposes for which males and females used the internet, there were no differences in terms of levels of problematic usage between genders. The internet problems were strongly related to all of the other psychological variables such as depression, anxiety, social-isolation, and sleep problems. Internet addiction was also associated with reduced self-reported immune function, but not with the measure of general health (GHQ-28). This relationship between problematic internet use and reduced immune function was found to be independent of the impact of the co-morbidities. It is suggested that the negative relationship between level of problematic internet use and immune function may be mediated by levels of stress produced by such internet use, and subsequent sympathetic nervous activity, which related to immune-supressants, such as cortisol.     

互联网医疗与我国医事立法的断裂与弥合

我国医疗卫生资源分布不均衡与服务区域不相称,呼吁互联网医疗的介入并深度发展,这对于均衡资源配置和促进分级诊疗制度的形成均大有裨益。为此,国家出台了多项政策措施给予有力支持,进一步巩固医药卫生改革的成果。但是由于我国《执业医师法》、《医疗机构管理条例》等医事法律的立法理念和立法内容比较滞后,导致互联网医疗在医师执业注册、医师多点执业等方面与其形成断裂,亟需通过立法加以弥合,为互联网医疗的健康发展保驾护航。

     

Microstructure abnormalities in adolescents with internet addiction disorder

Background

Recent studies suggest that internet addiction disorder (IAD) is associated with structural abnormalities in brain gray matter. However, few studies have investigated the effects of internet addiction on the microstructural integrity of major neuronal fiber pathways, and almost no studies have assessed the microstructural changes with the duration of internet addiction.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We investigated the morphology of the brain in adolescents with IAD (N = 18) using an optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) technique, and studied the white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) changes using the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) method, linking these brain structural measures to the duration of IAD. We provided evidences demonstrating the multiple structural changes of the brain in IAD subjects. VBM results indicated the decreased gray matter volume in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the supplementary motor area (SMA), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the cerebellum and the left rostral ACC (rACC). DTI analysis revealed the enhanced FA value of the left posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC) and reduced FA value in the white matter within the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG). Gray matter volumes of the DLPFC, rACC, SMA, and white matter FA changes of the PLIC were significantly correlated with the duration of internet addiction in the adolescents with IAD.

Conclusions

Our results suggested that long-term internet addiction would result in brain structural alterations, which probably contributed to chronic dysfunction in subjects with IAD. The current study may shed further light on the potential brain effects of IAD.     

Information retrieval in biochemistry: some exercises to develop a fundamental skill

The volume of data available through the literature and databases on the internet is valuable to students as a resource, but it can also be overwhelming. It is necessary to teach students what is currently available and how to use these resources efficiently. Here an integrated approach to this problem is described that involves use of the library, literature and databases available through the internet. This programme has been employed successfully for three years and it has proved to be popular with both students and staff.     

Decreased Functional Brain Connectivity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction

Background

Internet addiction has become increasingly recognized as a mental disorder, though its neurobiological basis is unknown. This study used functional neuroimaging to investigate whole-brain functional connectivity in adolescents diagnosed with internet addiction. Based on neurobiological changes seen in other addiction related disorders, it was predicted that connectivity disruptions in adolescents with internet addiction would be most prominent in cortico-striatal circuitry.

Methods

Participants were 12 adolescents diagnosed with internet addiction and 11 healthy comparison subjects. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were acquired, and group differences in brain functional connectivity were analyzed using the network-based statistic. We also analyzed network topology, testing for between-group differences in key graph-based network measures.

Results

Adolescents with internet addiction showed reduced functional connectivity spanning a distributed network. The majority of impaired connections involved cortico-subcortical circuits (∼24% with prefrontal and ∼27% with parietal cortex). Bilateral putamen was the most extensively involved subcortical brain region. No between-group difference was observed in network topological measures, including the clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, or the small-worldness ratio.

Conclusions

Internet addiction is associated with a widespread and significant decrease of functional connectivity in cortico-striatal circuits, in the absence of global changes in brain functional network topology.     

Cyberkids in Metropolitan America

Children have learning and problem-solving powers at least equal to those of adults. But children are in general disempowered and treated as inferior to adults. The availability of home computers from around 1980, and of internet and e-mail facilities from around 1990, created a window of freedom for those children who were allowed unmonitored access to computers, e-mail and the internet. Children who learned computer skills while they were still children became more proficient at these skills than adults who only began to acquire the same skills as adults. For a period of time, scientists well advanced in such fields as physics and aeronautics had to rely upon adolescents to fill their programming needs. In addition, during the early days of home-computing, around 1980, computer-territory was still relatively rough and virgin. The internet was unknown, computer games were unknown, and anyone who entered computer territory had to learn programming in order to derive any benefits from this territory. By the late 1990's, commercial interests had gained a strong foothold in computer territory, and any child or adult with zero skills could enter this territory as a consumer and derive information and entertainment from this territory, without acquiring the kinds of skills necessary to exercise any degree of control over the computer-based landscape. Still, computer science remains a new frontier, in that any person who has the skills to act on this frontier may achieve success, regardless of that person's age, social status, et cetera. The two greatest barriers to success are limitations on access to computers and the internet, and English-language knowledge. The latter barrier is falling. Inasmuch as ability to navigate and alter the landscape of computer territory is a source of great power, and inasmuch as children acquire such skills more quickly than adults, may we consider a new empowerment of children to be in the offing? Or will adults co-opt the instruments of power, and will children remain as pets and slaves of adults for the indefinite future?     

我国酒店网络营销的发展趋势分析

从我国酒店经营发展的总体方向出发,结合我国经济发展和旅游业发展的现状与客观规律,分析预测我国酒店未来网络营销,将在原有营销网络的基础上发生服务理念的深化和革新,形成人性化、实时性的酒店网络营销服务体系,并向主导化、系统化、智能化、专业化和实时化方向发展的趋势。     

网络成瘾的生物学机制研究与展望

网络成瘾是指由于过度使用网络而导致社会及心理损害的现象,危害极大,故受到广泛关注。网络成瘾主要受生物学机制的调控。在脑神经机制方面,通过对成瘾者的自发脑电、事件相关电位以及成瘾者静息态BOLD-f MRI的分析,发现成瘾者脑功能区出现异常。同时,网络成瘾也受到自主神经功能的影响。另外,脑内奖赏系统和成瘾记忆模型也可能成为引发网络成瘾的脑神经机制。体内化学物质的失衡也能引发网络成瘾。鉴于此,一些治疗方法如药物干预、行为干预、认知干预以及综合干预疗法使得根治网络成瘾成为可能。本文拟从网络成瘾的概念、表现特点、不良影响及其发生的生物学机制等方面的研究进展进行阐述,以期为相关研究提供一些有价值的参考依据。     

Genome Surfing: Using Internet-Based Informatic Tools toward Functional Genetic Studies in Mouse and Humans

The wealth of databases containing genomic information and the easy access via the internet can be an invaluable tool in performing genetic studies and identifying important sequences. This article provides an overview and specific methods for using these resources in both positional cloning and identifying candidate genes for diseases and phenotypes. The ability to apply information across the mouse and human species is stressed. Useful internet sites and their contents are identified and described, and some understanding of their current limitations is provided. As additional genomic definition accelerates, the use of these tools will become more essential in cutting edge research linking sequence and function in whole mammalian organisms.     

Internet assisted learning of biochemistry in Japan

The successful development of the internet assisted learning of biochemistry on both sides of university students and the Japanese Biochemical Society is described.     

Risk Factors of Internet Addiction among Internet Users: An Online Questionnaire Survey

Backgrounds

Internet addiction (IA) has become a major public health issue worldwide and is closely linked to psychiatric disorders and suicide. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of IA and its associated psychosocial and psychopathological determinants among internet users across different age groups.

Methods

The study was a cross-sectional survey initiated by the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center. The participants were recruited from the general public who responded to the online questionnaire. They completed a series of self-reported measures, including Chen Internet Addiction Scale-revised (CIAS-R), Five-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5), Maudsley Personality Inventory (MPI), and questions about suicide and internet use habits.

Results

We enrolled 1100 respondents with a preponderance of female subjects (85.8%). Based on an optimal cutoff for CIAS-R (67/68), the prevalence rate of IA was 10.6%. People with higher scores of CIAS-R were characterized as: male, single, students, high neuroticism, life impairment due to internet use, time for internet use, online gaming, presence of psychiatric morbidity, recent suicide ideation and past suicide attempts. Multiple regression on IA showed that age, gender, neuroticism, life impairment, internet use time, and BSRS-5 score accounted for 31% of variance for CIAS-R score. Further, logistic regression showed that neuroticism, life impairment and internet use time were three main predictors for IA. Compared to those without IA, the internet addicts had higher rates of psychiatric morbidity (65.0%), suicide ideation in a week (47.0%), lifetime suicide attempts (23.1%), and suicide attempt in a year (5.1%).

Conclusion

Neurotic personality traits, psychopathology, time for internet use and its subsequent life impairment were important predictors for IA. Individuals with IA may have higher rates of psychiatric morbidity and suicide risks. The findings provide important information for further investigation and prevention of IA.     

Association between internet addiction and sleep quality among students: a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - Internet addiction has been a major behavioral disorder over the past decade. There remains a paucity of research to find the relationship between internet addictions...     

Creating your own medical Internet library

Many physicians struggle to keep up with new developments in their fields. The internet can provide a solution to this problem by allowing rapid access to a broad spectrum of reliable information. Becoming familiar with a few clinically relevant and freely available medical resources on the World Wide Web may enhance a physician''s efforts to provide evidence-based care on a daily basis. This article outlines a simple strategy for physicians to make the internet a useful tool.     

The internet as a research tool in the study of associative learning: an example from overshadowing

The present study aimed to replicate an associative learning effect, overshadowing, both in the traditional laboratory conditions and over the internet. The experimental task required participants to predict an outcome based on the presence of several cues. When a cue that was always trained together with a second cue was presented on isolation at test, the expectancy of the outcome was impaired, which revealed overshadowing. This experimental task was performed by undergraduate students (N=106) in the laboratory and by a different set of anonymous participants over the internet (N=91). Similar levels of overshadowing were obtained in both locations. These similarities show that web-delivered experiments can be used as a complement of traditional experiments.