PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Social media strategy may increase public awareness about donor heart needs

Abstract 18386 (Hall A2, Core 5)

2014-11-18
(Press-News.org) Using social media to deliver both emotional and concise medical content as well as the need for heart transplants and organs resulted in a higher engagement with members, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014."

"Social media has not been used extensively in the healthcare industry, and if we can effectively bridge the gap between health education and medicine using social networks and peer influence, we can potentially have many beneficial applications to the healthcare system," said Mohammad Soroya, lead author of the study.

Researchers created a paid pilot campaign that ran for seven days on Facebook, followed by peer-to-peer influencers within their respective social network delivering content to their audiences for a month. Peer influencers work through parasocial "broad" or "within" networks. Parasocial influencers have the highest engagement with their members. They can be the people you follow most, have the most in common with or those whose postings affect people within their network and those that the general public follow - such as celebrity influencers and political figures who simply have a large audience that follow them.

Click-through rates showed that engagement increased: 23 percent during the initial paid campaign; 21.1 percent with emotionally driven content; 33.2 percent with infographics; 7.6 percent with short educational videos.

"Establishing a community on a social network before tailoring content resulted in the best engagement. Content delivered by peer influencers within each outlying network was also highly effective in engaging and stimulating a dialogue and potentially improving attitudes about organ donation, Soroya said."

INFORMATION:

Mohammad Soroya, undergraduate researcher, UCLA Health, Los Angeles, California

Additional Resources: Available multimedia resources (photos/videos/graphics) are available on the right column of the release link http://newsroom.heart.org/news/tuesday-news-tips-2775518?preview=0eb38c126a7e5f75deed47b4d56c2b14 For more news from AHA's Scientific Sessions, follow us on Twitter @HeartNews #AHA14

Statements and conclusions of study authors that are presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect association policy or position. The association makes no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

For Media Inquiries:

AHA News Media in Dallas: (214) 706-1173

AHA News Media Office, Nov. 15-19,

at the McCormick Place Convention Center: (312) 949-3400

For Public Inquiries: (800) AHA-USA1 (242-8721)

heart.org and strokeassociation.org

Life is why we fund scientific breakthroughs that save and improve lives.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Youths with a family history of substance use disorders have less efficient forebrain

2014-11-18
Youths with a family history of alcohol and other drug use disorders have a greater risk of developing substance-use disorders (SUDs) themselves than their peers with no such family histories. A new study examines forebrain activity in youths with and without a family history of SUDs. Findings indicate that youths with a family history have forebrain regions that function less efficiently. Researchers and clinicians know that youths with a family history of alcohol and other drug use disorders (FH+) have a greater risk of developing substance-use disorders (SUDs) ...

Chronic alcohol intake can damage white matter pathways across the entire brain

2014-11-18
Chronic misuse of alcohol results in measurable damage to the brain. A new study uses high-resolution structural magnetic resonance (MR) scans to compare the brains of individuals with a history of alcoholism versus those of healthy light drinkers. The abstinent alcoholics showed pronounced reductions in frontal and superior white matter tracts. Chronic misuse of alcohol results in measurable damage to the brain. Chronic drinking may be particularly damaging to the integrity of frontal white matter tracts, which can interfere with cognitive and inhibitory control ...

Childhood adversity hinders genetic protection against problem drinking in white men

2014-11-18
An alcohol metabolizing gene called ADH1B is strongly linked to risk for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The His allele (genetic variant) at ADHD1B-rs1229984 is considered protective against AUDs. Experiencing adverse events during childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse or witnessing violence, is a well-documented risk factor for alcohol problems. A study of the effects of both the ADH1B gene and childhood adversity has found that under conditions of childhood adversity, the ADH1B His allele does not exert its protective effects against problem drinking in European-American ...

Paramecia need Newton for navigation

2014-11-18
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- For such humble creatures, single-celled paramecia have remarkable sensory systems. Give them a sharp jab on the nose, they back up and swim away. Jab them in the behind, they speed up their swimming to escape. But according to new research, when paramecia encounter flat surfaces, they're at the mercy of the laws of physics. The findings, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, come from some surprising results in research performed in recent years by James Valles, professor and chair of physics at Brown University, and ...

Ancient New Zealand 'Dawn Whale' identified by Otago researchers

Ancient New Zealand Dawn Whale identified by Otago researchers
2014-11-18
University of Otago palaeontologists are rewriting the history of New Zealand's ancient whales by describing a previously unknown genus of fossil baleen whales and two species within it. Otago Department of Geology PhD student Robert Boessenecker and his supervisor Professor Ewan Fordyce have named the new genus Tohoraata, which translates as 'Dawn Whale' in Māori. The two whales, which lived between 27-25 million years ago, were preserved in a rock formation near Duntroon in North Otago. At that time the continent of Zealandia was largely or completely under ...

Scientists get to the heart of fool's gold as a solar material

Scientists get to the heart of fools gold as a solar material
2014-11-18
MADISON, Wis. - As the installation of photovoltaic solar cells continues to accelerate, scientists are looking for inexpensive materials beyond the traditional silicon that can efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. Theoretically, iron pyrite -- a cheap compound that makes a common mineral known as fool's gold -- could do the job, but when it works at all, the conversion efficiency remains frustratingly low. Now, a University of Wisconsin-Madison research team explains why that is, in a discovery that suggests how improvements in this promising material could ...

Vanderbilt study finds nationwide decline in one type of serious heart attack

2014-11-18
The most emergent form of heart attacks is decreasing nationwide, but this declining incidence could affect emergency departments' quality and timeliness of care. This is the key finding of a Vanderbilt University study released today in the American Journal of Cardiology and presented at the national American Heart Association meeting in Chicago this week. Using data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, the nation's largest database of information about emergency department visits, the researchers found that approximately 250,000 patients present in emergency ...

Why we need to fund newer blood-thinning agents to prevent strokes

2014-11-18
Philadelphia, PA, November 18, 2014 - Care gaps are emerging due to disharmony between healthcare reimbursement policies and evidence-based clinical guideline recommendations, cautions a group of Canadian physicians. Writing in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, they use the example of stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) to make a case for engaging with policy-makers to address the growing barriers to patients' access to optimal care. Stroke is a costly disease, imposing a significant human, societal, and economic burden. AF affects about one in eight people ...

Computerized cognitive training has modest benefits for cognitively healthy older adults

2014-11-18
Computerized cognitive training (CCT) has been widely promoted for older adults, but its effectiveness for cognitively health older adults has been unclear in systematic reviews to date. In a new systematic review and meta-analysis published in this week's issue of PLOS Medicine, Michael Valenzuela (Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) and colleagues evaluated 52 datasets in 51 studies and found a small overall effect of CCT (g = 0.22; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.29, where g END ...

Does 'brain training' work?

2014-11-18
Computer based 'brain training' can boost memory and thinking skills in older adults, but many programs promoted by the $1 billion brain training industry are ineffective, reveals new research by the University of Sydney. Published today in PLOS Medicine, the study shows that engaging older adults computer-based cognitive training (also known as brain training) can lead to improvements in memory, speed, and visuospatial skills. However, it has no impact on attention or executive functions such as impulse control, planning and problem solving. Brain degeneration ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

[Press-News.org] Social media strategy may increase public awareness about donor heart needs
Abstract 18386 (Hall A2, Core 5)