Jim Macnamara is Distinguished Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technlogy Sydney. Prior to joining UTS in 2007, he had a successful 30-year career in professional communication practice spanning journalism, public relations, advertising, and media research. Immediatey prior to joining the academy, he was the founder and CEO of the Asia Pacific office of the global media research firm CARMA International, which he sold to Isentia (formerly Media Monitors) in 2006.
Jim is also a Visiting Professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science, Media and Communications Department, and a Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London, College of Communication.
He is internationally recognised for his research into evaluation of public communication including advertising, public relations, and government communication and his research into organisational listening has been described as "of major international significance".
In 2017 he was presented with The Pathfinder Award,"the highest academic honor" awarded by the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) in the US for his scholarly research, and The Don Bartholomew Award for "outstanding service to the communications industry" by the London-based International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC).
He is the author of more than 100 journal articles, paper and research reports and 16 books including, most recently, The 21st Century Media (R)evolution: Emergent Communication Practices (Peter Lang, New York, 2014); Organizational Listening: The Missing Link in Public Communication (Peter Lang, New York, 2016); and Evaluating Public Communication: New Models, Standards, and Best Practice (Routledge, UK, 2017).
Jim Macnamara is a Fellow of the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) headquartered in London and Chair of the AMEC Academic Advisory Group. He is also a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute (FAMI) and a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (FPRIA), and an elected Member of The Arthur Page Society in the US.
He has conducted research for and consulted to the UK Government Communication Service headquartered in The Cabinet Office, Whitehall; the European Commission Directorate-General for Communication; and the New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet on evaluation of public communication and listening and engagement.
* A dozen award-winning case studies of evaluation of public communication campaigns and projects.
Organizations including government departments and agencies, corporations, and non-government organizations claim they want and practice two-way communication, dialogue, and engagement with citizens, customers, employees, and other stakeholders and publics. But do they in reality? Voice—speaking up—is recognized as fundamental for democracy, representation, and social equity. But what if organizations are not listening? This book reports findings of a two-year, three-continent study that show that public and private sector organizations devote substantial and sometimes massive resources to construct an 'architecture of speaking' through advertising, PR and other public communication practices, but listen poorly, sporadically, and sometimes not all. Beyond identifying a 'crisis of listening', this landmark study proposes that organizations need to create an architecture of listening to regain trust and re-engage people whose voices are unheard or ignored. It presents a compelling case to show that organizational listening is essential for healthy democracy, organization legitimacy, business sustainability, and social equity and brings benefits to organizations, their stakeholders, and society.
This book examines the major changes taking place in media today, including the phenomenon of Web 2.0 and social media, and expertly synthesizes competing theories and the latest data, including international research from fast-growing markets such as China and Taiwan as well as the US, UK, Europe and Australia, to provide a comprehensive, holistic view of the twenty-first century media (r)evolution. The book identifies that the key changes are located in practices rather than technologies and that public communication practices are emergent in highly significant ways. After critical examining latest developments in digital and social media, it explores the implications for journalism, advertising, public relations and organisational and political communication.
The interrelationship between journalism and public relations (PR) is one of the most contentious in the field of media studies. Numerous studies have shown that 50-80 per cent of the content of mass media is significantly shaped by PR. But many editors, journalists and PR practitioners engage in a `discourse of denial', maintaining what critics call 'the dirty secret' of journalism and and PR. Others media practitioners engage in an accusatory `discourse of spin' and a `discourse of victimhood. On the other hand, PR practitioners say they help provide a voice for organizations, including those ignored by the media. Meanwhile, the growth of social media is providing a range of new opportunities for governments, corporations and organizations to create content and even their own media, increasing the channels and reach of PR. This book reviews 100 years of research into the interrelationship between journalism and PR and, based on in-depth interviews with senior editors, journalists and PR practitioners in several countries, presents new insights into the methods and extent of PR influence, its implications, and the need for transparency and change, making it a must read for researchers and students in media studies, journalism, public relations, politics, sociology and cultural studies.
Macnamara, J. 2012, Public Relations Theories, Practices, Critiques, First, Pearson Australia, Sydney.
A transtheoretical exploration of public relations drawing on systems orientated management theory which is the dominant US paradigm as well as psychological, semiotic, sociocultural, and critical perspectives, along with international case studies and applications, providing a comprehensive text for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying PR or related fields of public communication.
This book synthesizes competing theories and disciplinary viewpoints and integrates existing as well as new research to provide a comprehensive, holistic view of the 21st century (r)evolution in media and public communication. The book identifies how major changes are located in practices rather than technologies and identifies 'emergent' practices that will significantly shape the future of the public sphere, journalism, advertising, public relations and companies and organisations.
© J. R. Macnamara 2006. All rights reserved. This book presents a landmark in-depth study of how mass media contributes to the making and remaking of male identity. It concludes that, unless addressed, the effects of negative discourse on the self-identity and self-esteem of men, are potentially devastating and that the longer-term and wider social implications will also be costly.
A half-century of research has identified that mass media portrayals of women are influential in shaping their self-image and self-esteem, as well as men's and societies' views of women. Comparatively few studies have examined mass media portrayals of men and male identity, and gender studies have often assumed these to be unproblematic. But, in a post-industrial era of massive economic, technological and social change, research shows mass media are projecting and propagating new images of male identity from Atlas Syndrome workaholics and 'deadbeat dads' to 'metrosexuals' and men with "a feminine side" with potentially significant social implications.
While there is an important and growing body of research literature on listening, this is predominantly focused on interpersonal listening. Meanwhile, in contemporary industrial and post-industrial societies, organizations play a central role in society and the lives of citizens. People need to interact on a daily basis with government departments and agencies, corporations, and a plethora of non-government and non-profit organizations. Despite theorization of the disciplinary practices of public relations and corporate, organizational, government, and political communication as two-way communication involving dialogue and engagement with stakeholders and publics, a transdisciplinary literature review of these fields reveals that little attention is paid to listening. In addition to identifying this gap in the literature, this article reports empirical research that shows organizations listen sporadically, often poorly, and sometimes not at all. To address this socially and politically significant gap, this analysis makes recommendations as a contribution to a theory and practice of organizational listening.
After identification of 'stasis' in evaluation of strategic communication including public relations and corporate communication despite intensive focus for more than 40 years, recent initiatives in measurement and evaluation on three continents highlight a number of important advances in theory and practice. While studies have identified a lack of standards and a narrow focus on 'activities' and 'outputs' in traditional evaluation models and literature, a two-year international study, which examined a number of recently-developed evaluation frameworks and models and accompanying implementation guidelines, identifies several new concepts and dimensions in evaluation, along with some remaining gaps for further research. Based on content analysis of evaluation literature, interviews, and ethnography, this article reports four key findings of recent research and explains how these can contribute to theory-building and practice to transform the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public relations and corporate, government, organizational and marketing communication.
Organizations spend more on public communication today than ever before in history. Yet, in the past few years developed Western countries where investment in public communication is greatest have seen a collapse of trust in government, business and major institutions and landmark uprisings of citizens against the persuasion and promotional campaigns of governments, political parties and big business. Industrialized democratic societies cannot ignore events such as Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, 'hung parliaments' in several countries, and increasing challenges to businesses' social licence to operate. This paradox – declining public trust, support, and stability at a time when investment in public communication has never been higher – indicates that there is something wrong in the way organizations seek to engage with their stakeholders and publics today and that change is required. This paper presents a reflective critical analysis of public communication approaches today drawing on a body of recent research rather than a single study, particularly focussing on theories and practices in public relations and 'strategic communication', and compares them with contemporary concepts such as design thinking, emergent strategy, and Theory U to present an argument and a direction for transformation to address the paradox in public communication.
Management writer Tom Peters noted that what gets measured is what gets done in organizations. Therefore, measurement and evaluation models and approaches provide insights into strategy. Furthermore, the most widely used approaches to evaluation are based on program logic models that identify objectives, planning, and inputs, as well as seeking to track outputs, outcomes and impact, thus affording insights into the origins of strategy and strategic intent as well, as its implementation. Given increasing focus on emergent strategy and participatory or networked strategy in place of internally predetermined strategy that is unilaterally focussed on an organization' goals and objectives, this article critically reviews widely-used models for evaluation of communication to identify how well they support and enable broader contemporary approaches to organizational strategy and strategic communication. This analysis shows a narrow organization-centric focus on evaluating organizational messaging (one-way communication) directed at achieving organizational objectives in traditional evaluation models and calls for a more open, dynamic and expanded approach to facilitate two-way communication. Furthermore, in showing the important role of formative as well as summative evaluation, this analysis identifies a number of ways that evaluation of communication can inform organizational strategy and transform strategic communication.
With a number of Asia-Pacific countries among the fastest growing in the world, the requirements for public relations and communication management are also growing in terms of both demand and professionalism. It is essential that practitioners and academics keep pace with demand and achieve 'international best practice'. In 2015/16, the largest ever survey of PR and communication management in Asia-Pacific was launched as a biannual study, with the second survey undertaken in 2017/18. The survey is modelled on similar studies that have been conducted in Europe since 2007, in Latin American since 2014, and North America from 2018, allowing international comparison. This analysis examines key findings of the latest Asia-Pacific survey and compares results with the 2015/16 Asia-Pacific study as well as with international data to identify trends, areas of growth in professional practice, and gaps and shortcomings to be addressed. The findings are informative for educators, professional associations, and practitioners in terms of the design of undergraduate and graduate courses and ongoing training and professional development.
Knowledge, skills, and abilities, referred to as KSAs, as well as competencies, overall competency or competence and, most recently, capabilities, are major foci in human resource literature, particularly that related to recruitment and professional development. They also have increasingly become a focus of study in public relations and corporate, government, and organisational communication. A number of national and global studies have been undertaken to identify the KSAs, competencies, and capabilities required to effectively undertake PR and communication management roles today and in the future. Recently, the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management completed an extensive review of professional qualifications and educational standards to produce a Global Body of Knowledge (GBOK), and in 2016 commenced a further stage of this research to develop a Global Capabilities Framework. This paper reports findings of a study undertaken to inform a capabilities framework for public sector communication professionals that supports and adds to the findings of the Global Alliance study and provides specific insights into the capabilities required in government communication today and into the future.
A number of studies of the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs), competencies and capabilities of public relations and communication professionals have been carried out in the USA, UK and other countries. However, most have not engaged to any significant extent with literature in the human resource development field which specializes in defining and developing these characteristics. Also, few studies to date have related the KSAs, competencies and capabilities of practitioners to the key activities of public relations and communication management required for the future. This article presents findings and analysis from a regional survey conducted in 22 Asia-Pacific countries in 2017/18 that compared, for the first time, the capabilities of practitioners in relation to activities identified as the most important over the next three years. This data, and comparison with equivalent regional surveys in Europe and Latin America, confirm a gap in capabilities in relation to key communication activities and suggest a gap in theory as well as practice. The findings and conclusions present a challenge for higher education and professional development for public relations and communication management and point to potential future directions in theory building.
Health communication is identified as an important strategy in achieving health outcomes, particularly in supporting preventative approaches to combatting disease and ill-health. In Australia's multicultural society, health communication needs to address a number of CALD communities in order to achieve health objectives and social equity. While cross-cultural and intercultural communication have been widely studied, research shows that health communication often fails to achieve its objectives, particularly in CALD communities. This analysis examines a case study that highlights three key ingredients of effective health communication targeting CALD communities – in-depth qualitative formative research, a collaborative community-based approach, and cultural competency. The case study reveals how a culture-centred approach (CDA) and social ecology model of health communication achieved results that exceeded targets by up to 100% on a relatively small budget, but also revealed gaps in cultural competency that disadvantage some groups. This study contributes to health communication theory and practice, as well as public communication generally, by providing insights into ways to increase effectiveness as well as cost-efficiency, which in turn creates scalability and sustainability.
From historical analysis of the early development of public relations evaluation (early 1980s to the early 2000s), this paper shows that public relations scholarship and practice have drawn heavily on media and communication studies in developing models and methods of evaluation, but have not significantly engaged with the large related body of knowledge on program evaluation. While communication and media studies are logical and formative disciplinary homes for public relations (PR), this paper argues that PR is a transdisciplinary field and that program evaluation is a mostly overlooked source of influence and heritage in relation to evaluation. This analysis presents evidence that a disciplinary 'home visit' to program evaluation, which nestles within program theory and theory of change, offers much to overcome the long-standing stasis in PR evaluation and to inform the search for standards.
The first comprehensive study of public relations (PR) and corporate communication practices across Asia-Pacific countries has found that, despite being an area of rapid growth, evaluation remains limited, is often not based on reliable research methods, and is focussed on outputs rather than the outcomes of communication. This reflects a worldwide stasis in evaluation of PR that has been identified as problematic by a number of authors. The Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor, a survey-based study conducted by a collaboration of 16 universities across 23 Asia-Pacific countries in 2015, also explored practitioners' skills, and found a significant lag that could account for this stasis. This article reports key findings of this study that contribute insights to address the lack of measurement and evaluation in the growing field of PR that remains a major concern in the academy and industry.
Compared with the burgeoning literature on social media use in business organisations, few studies have investigated how social media can aid non-profit organisations such as universities to achieve engagement objectives. Engagement and community building are important for universities in the context of student recruitment, retention, and satisfaction, as well as staff relations and public relations. To advance understanding of this under-studied area, this research examined the use of social media in a New Zealand university. Based on in-depth interviews and content analysis, this study explored the reported tension between the interactive participatory culture of social media and the promotional use for one-way information transmission and persuasion – in short, the shift from passive spectatorship to active co-production. Given the young and social media-savvy nature of universities' key audience – students – this analysis argues that social media can play a facilitative role in university engagement and community building, but that a participatory co-production approach must be used rather than running social media as a 'spectator sport' platform for all but professional content production.
It is well established that the internet, and particularly the unprecedented growth of social media, are changing the mediascape and media practices in advertising and marketing, public relations, and journalism. Some of these changes are leading to convergence of genre and practices as well as the much-discussed convergence of technologies of media. This analysis focuses on the first two of these types of convergence, drawing on data from the first Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor, a survey of 1,200 PR and communication practitioners in 23 Asia-Pacific countries. The findings reveal major shifts from the traditional paid, earned, shared, owned (PESO) model of media use by organizations to an emerging 'SOEP model' (shared, owned, earned, paid). This affords new opportunities for practitioners, but also poses practical and ethical dilemmas.
An extensive body of literature theorizes public relations as two-way communication, dialogue, and relationships between organizations and their publics. While there are alternative views including public relations as advocacy, most theories emphasize dialogue, co-orientation, and relationships incorporating satisfaction, trust, and control mutuality – even to the extent of symmetry. Critical perspectives propose a 'sociocultural turn' that further emphasizes stakeholders' and societal interests. This analysis draws on a three-country study that reveals a major theory-practice gap and proposes a significant expansion of public relations theory in relation to listening to realize normative notions of public relations and give effect to claims of dialogue and engagement.
A critical literature review followed by a two-year, three-country study of the public communication of 36 government, corporate, and non-government organisations in the UK, US, and Australia identified what this analysis calls two 'black holes' in public communication, as they lack illumination and can cause the implosion of organisation-public relationships. This study, which included in-depth interviews, document analysis, and field experiments, identifies this 'dark matter' in the organisation-public communication universe as (1) a lack of listening by organisations and (2) a narrow organisation-centric approach to strategy that focusses on serving the interests of organisations. This analysis proposes that organisations need to counter-balance the 'architecture of speaking' that characterises strategic communication today with an architecture of listening, which in turn will contribute to participatory, networked, or emergent strategy that realises the normative theories of two-way communication, dialogue, and engagement and which can provide tangible benefits to organisations and their stakeholders and publics.
The fields of business and management with which public relations interacts and in which it is often located are rife with concepts, models and theories on leadership, performance, and effectiveness. Recently these have turned attention to alleged multiple forms of intelligence, such as Howard Gardner's claims for eight types of intelligence, which have been expanded by others to as many as 150. Gardner also proposed that humans have five minds and claimed that application of these diverse intelligences and minds can enhance human interactions and relationships. This article critically reviews the potential of these concepts and theories to reconfigure PR, identifying some useful insights, but also raising fundamental theoretical questions.
The influence of public relations on media content has been shown to be substantial, and research indicates that it is growing through new media practices. However the interrelationship between journalism and PR remains obscured by paradoxical discourses and stereotypes such as 'spin doctors'. This article identifies gaps in the literature and current understandings, and reports findings from in-depth interviews with senior editors, journalists, and PR practitioners in three countries that provide new insights into how the fields of practice interact which debunk some myths, but also expose a need for improved transparency and standards to ensure ethical media practice.
Listening is extensively discussed in relation to interpersonal communication, in therapeutic contexts such as counselling and, to some extent, in the context of intra-organizational communication conducted as part of human resources management. However, listening is surprisingly and problematically overlooked in the large body of literature on organization-public communication including government, political, corporate, and marketing communication and related practices such as public relations. Based on critical analysis of relevant literature and primary research among 36 organizations in three countries, this analysis identifies a 'crisis of listening' in organization-public communication and proposes strategies to address gaps in theory and practice including attention to the work of listening and the creation of an architecture of listening in organizations, which can offer significant stakeholder, societal, and organizational benefits.
Communication has been identified as 'the organizing element of human life and the basis of human society by sociologists and communication theorists. However, human communication is widely conflated with voice and speaking, particularly in relation to public communication in its various forms including political, organizational, corporate, and marketing communication and cognate disciplinary fields such as public relations. The essential corollary of affording and exercising voice – listening – is extensively discussed in an interpersonal and intra-organizational context, but it is little examined in terms of organization-public interaction, which is a feature of industrialized societies. This article critically examines this gap in the literature and reports findings of a pilot study that identify an important direction for further research essential to enhancing democracy, social justice and equity, and the ethics of organization-public communication.
Communication has been identified as 'the organizing element of human life' and the basis of human society by sociologists and communication theorists. However, human communication is widely conflated with voice and speaking, particularly in relation to public communication in its various forms including political, organizational, corporate, and marketing communication and cognate disciplinary fields such as public relations. The essential corollary of affording and exercising voice – listening – is extensively discussed in an interpersonal and intra-organizational context, but it is little examined in terms of organization-public interaction, which is a feature of industrialized societies. This article critically examines this gap in the literature and reports findings of a pilot study that identify an important direction for further research essential to enhancing democracy, social justice and equity, and the ethics of organization-public communication.
When a bushfire ignited the Hazelwood coal mine in the Latrobe Valley 150 kilometers (95 miles) east of Melbourne, Australia in 2014 and burned for 45 days sending toxic smoke and ash over the adjoining town of Morwell, crisis communication was required by the mine company, health and environment authorities, and the local city council. What ensued exposed major failures in communication, which resulted in widespread community anger and a Board of Inquiry. This critical analysis examines public communication during the crisis and the subsequent clean-up, and reports several key findings that inform crisis communication theory and practice.
have much to say about how this can be done.
A critical analysis of international standards for measurement and evaluation of public relations and corporate communication, including the lack of rigorous methodology and a gap between scholarly research and practice.
Extensive research over the past 100 years has shown that the interrelationship between journalism and PR is tensioned and paradoxical, with negative perceptions of PR among journalists and trivialization and demonization of PR as 'spin' contrasted by claims of 'symbiosis' and evidence that 40-75 per cent of media content is significantly influenced by PR. However, studies have been predominantly quantitative and most predate the recent `crisis in journalism and rapid growth of new media formats. This article reports in-depth interviews with senior editors, journalists and PR practitioners in three countries that provide new insights into journalism-PR relations today and identify trajectories for future research, education and practice.
Report of a pilot study of public communication by organisations that shows allegedly communicative functions including public relations, involve considerable and often massive resources devoted to creating an architecture of speaking and doing the work of speaking on behalf of organisations including government departments and agencies, corporations, and institutions. However, this research raises serious questions about the extent to which organisations listen to those who seek to engage with them. Further, it suggests that organisations cannot effectively listen unless they have an architecture of listening or do the work of listening, and identifies cultural, structural, political and technological components to create this vital missing element in public communication and the public sphere.
An anlysis of organisational use of social media in the context of listening which identifies a lack of an architecture of listening and scant resources devoted to the work of listening in organisations, with most infrastructure and work devoted to speaking.
This article traces the development of public relations literature and scholarship in Australia from the 1950s to the present day, identifying key developments in local research, courses of teaching and publishing. It reports that, after an initial period of largely imported texts and scholarship, a substantial body of scholarship has developed locally with its own distinctive characteristics.
Macnamara, J. 2012, 'Presidential Campaign Communication: The Quest for the White House', DISCOURSE & COMMUNICATION, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 241-243.
A comparative study of social media use by private and public sector organisations in three highly developed European countries and three highly developed Australasian countries examining the main social media used, objectives and governance including staff policies and guidelines, training and monitoring. The study found a lack of governance and a focus on 'control' and the pursuit of organisational objectives, rather than dialogue and engagement with publics and stakeholders.
A mixed method analysis of public relations scholarship and practice in Australasia (Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia) drawing on autoethnographic observations over an extended period, supported by empirical analysis of the content of contemporary PR texts and reference books which shows the continuing existence of a dominant paradigm grounded in US functionalism and organisation-centric models.
Macnamara, J 2012, 'Review of C. Smith, Presidential Campaign Communication: The Quest for the White House', Discourse and Communication, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 241-243.
Purpose A number of scholars including Benno Signitzer and Jacquie L'Etang have proposed public diplomacy as an alternative model to describe and/or inform the practices of public relations. However, international relations and political science scholars claim major differences between public diplomacy and PR, and few studies have sought to reconcile these claims and counter-claims. The purpose of this paper is to report a comparative analysis of key concepts and principles of public diplomacy. Design/methodology/approach This article reports a comparative analysis of key concepts and principles of public diplomacy and the new diplomacy as described by Shaun Riordan and public relations (PR) as defined in Excellence theory and other contemporary models of PR to identify commonalties as well as divergences, and discusses how these can inform PR theory and practice. Findings This analysis shows similarities between these fields of practice, as well as six unique concepts and principles of public diplomacy and new diplomacy that inform corporate diplomacy and organisational diplomacy as an alternative paradigm to public relations.
An analysis of the influence of public relations on journalism and news media, reviewing 80 years of quantitative research and reporting an exploratory qualitative study of the ambiguous and sometimes vexed relationship between journalists and PR practitioners.
The status of Australia Day has long generated mixed responses - from patriotic flag-waving, to apathy, to outright hostility. Proponents of 26 January consequently have engaged in various public relations activities in order to promote Australia Day and to establish its credentials as the national day. From the early nineteenth century through to the present, local media outlets have had a dynamic relationship with Australia Day. Yet while they have been active proponents of Australia Day, their support was not unconditional. The emergence of various bodies with the specific aim of promoting Australia Day would alter this relationship, with the media becoming a potential adversary. As such, media relations assumed a more central function in the promotion of Australia Day. By charting the growth and development of media relations that have accompanied Australia Day celebrations, this study not only documents the evolution of media relations practice, but also reveals the extended history of public relations in Australia and its presence in everyday Australian life.
Governments worldwide are increasingly attempting to use the internet to engage citizens. After an initial focus on delivery of information and services via what technologists call Web 1.0, strategies referred to as âGovernment 2.0â and e-democracy have turned attention to using interactive Web 2.0-based âsocial mediaâ to engage citizens in consultation and participation to redress a concerning âdemocratic deficitâ and reinvigorate the public sphere. Even in countries with compulsory voting, such as Australia, electoral enrolment, voter turnout and formal voting are declining. While much focus has been given to expedient political use of social media during election campaigns, an understudied area is how disengaged citizens and youth can be encouraged to engage or re-engage in democratic participation on an ongoing basis. This article reports analysis of initiatives by national, state and territory electoral commissions in Australia and New Zealand to use social media to engage citizens in political participation.
With the so-called 'Arab Spring' attributed at least in part to social media, communication scholars, sociologists, and political scientists concerned about a democratic deficit in many countries are looking optimistically to social media to reinvigorate the public sphere. However, research indicates that many claims in relation to social media are over-stated. This article reports critical analysis of five case studies of recent attempts by electoral management bodies in Australia and New Zealand to engage citizens in democratic participation that raises fundamental questions about the agonistic practices of social media and their relevance and role in representative and deliberative democracies.
Study of use of social media by Australian federal politicians in the 60 days immediately following the 2010 election.
A report of qualitative research examining the objectives, methods used, and learnings of online public consultation trials conducted by the Australian federal government in 2008 and early 2009 as part of its commitment to e-democracy or what others call government 2.0.
A critical analysis of media business models to sustain media in the 21st century raning from new forms of advertising and subscription to charging for content behind 'paywalls'.
An analysis of the use of social media in public relations, particularly focussing on interactive applications in a Web 2.0 and emerging Web 3.0 environment.
An analysis of the history of public relations in Australia through a case study of the creation and promotion of Australia Day which shows PR deeply involved in the historical, social, and cultural fabric of society.
An anlaysis of the emergence of new forms of media and how they are impacting public communication, emphasising changing practices as well as technologies.
An analysis of public relations practice through content analysis of 10 media spokesperson training programs, reporting evidence of a 'control paradigm' of communication, with focus on "control" and "managing" messages and the media, and lack of two-way interactive communication.
Internet media have come under increasing examination since the early 1990s within a number of theoretical frameworks, including their use and potential influence in the public sphere of political discourse. Increasing use of internet media was identified in the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections, with the latter being described as 'a critical turning point'. However, the development of what,some call 'new media' or 'social media' based on Web 2.0 internet technology has overtaken many Endings of previous research. Some of the most popular Web 2.0-based media currently in use were developed after 2004. These technological changes, coinciding with declining television viewing and newspaper readership, suggest that new forms of internet media need ongoing critical review. This paper analyses findings join a study of internet media use in the 2007 Australian federal election and explores their implications in relation to the public sphere.
Macnamara, J. 2008, 'Two-tier evaluation can help corporate', PRism OnLine PR Journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 1-7.
Macnamara, J. 2000, 'The 'Ad Value' of PR', Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 99-104.
Macnamara, J. 1999, 'Research in Public Relations: A review of the use of evaluation and formative research', Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 107-134.
Evaluation in various fields of strategic communication has focussed for some time on outputs rather than outcomes and impact, and researchers have lamented a 'stasis' and 'deadlock' in relation to evaluation in practices such as corporate communication (see iesc 0049), public relations (see iesc 0140), and some specialist fields such as health communication (see iesc 0082). However, a number of initiatives in the US, UK, and Europe have brought fresh focus to the importance of identifying and demonstrating the impact of communication – albeit questions including 'impact on whom' and 'for whose benefit' remain important matters for debate in the context of strategic communication as it is defined in this encyclopedia. This section summarizes recent progress in assessing and demonstrating the impact of communication as well key issues for further debate and research.
This chapter builds on discussions and themes in this handbook by turning focus to one further fundamental of engagement that has received far too little attention in corporate, marketing, organizational, government, and political communication and in public relations – that is, how and how well organizations listen to their stakeholders and publics. This chapter reports empirical evidence from a two-year, three-country study that shows many government, corporate, and non-government organizations listen infrequently and poorly and, when they do listen, it is mainly for instrumental organization-centric purposes. Noting that communication is defined as a two-way process built on dialogue rather than monologue, that dialogue is more than turn-taking at speaking, and definitions of engagement, this analysis argues that much greater attention needs to be paid to organizational listening and presents proposals for how this can be operationalized.
Because of the central role mass media and, more recently, social media play in contemporary literate societies, and particularly because of intensive interest in and often concern about the effects of media content on awareness, attitudes, and behaviour among media consumers, analysis of media content has become a widely-used research method among media and communication scholars and practitioners as well as sociologists, political scientists, and critical scholars. This chapter examines the history, uses and methods of media content analysis, including qualitative as well as quantitative approaches that draw on the techniques of textual, narrative and semiotic analysis; explains key steps such as sampling and coding; and discusses the benefits of conducting media content analysis.
Informs readers on how to apply social media in public relations practice.
This chapter contributes to critical thinking about public relations in two important ways. First, it reviews key literature and synthesizes the findings of several international research studies which reaffirm that claims made in the dominant paradigm of Excellence theory and other popular theories of PR and corporate communication for two-way interaction, dialogue, co-orientation, relationships, and even symmetry between organizations and their publics are largely illusory and require rethinking. Research involving a range or organizations shows that PR and 'strategic communication' are primarily implemented for dissemination of organization messages and persuasion and these approaches are continuing even in social media which explicitly advocate interactivity and sociality. Drawing on recent research and critical studies, this chapter calls for PR to facilitate the integration of organizations into society for mutual organization-public benefit, rather than contribute to power relations that privilege organizational interests.
Second, in advocating a social integration model of public relations, this chapter takes an important step towards praxis, which Hegel, Marx and other founders of critical analysis advocated as part of criticism, by exploring how such an alternative model of PR might be operationalized. In doing so, it offers some answers to the critics' critics by advancing critical thinking towards practice, as well as contributing to critical PR theory.
A compendium of 500 articles on the history and contemporary practice of media corporations, individuals, industries, audiences, policy, and regulation in relation to Australian media from publication of the first Australian newspaper in 1803 to contemporary media developments.
Broom, G.M. & Macnamara, J. 2009, 'Step Four: Evaluating the Program' in Broom, G.M. (ed), Cutlip & Center's Effective Public Relations - Tenth Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, United States, pp. 349-377.
Macnamara, J. 2008, 'Research for Planning and Evaluation' in Tymson, C., Lazar, P. & Lazar, R. (eds), The New Australian and New Zealand Public Relations Manual, Tymson Communications, Sydney, Australia, pp. 118-153.
The presence of a concerning and seemingly growing 'democratic deficit' in a number of democratic countries is widely acknowledged and discussed in political communication, sociology, and critical literature. In 2016 in the wake of the shock UK referendum vote to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit, the Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May, publicly acknowledged that many citizens feel that their voice is 'falling on deaf ears'. This article reports the findings of an intensive six-month ethnographic and participatory action research project working inside the UK government from June to December 2016 immediately following the Brexit vote that examined government communication and identified a number of serious failings in listening to and engagement with stakeholders and citizens. It argues that this 'listening deficit' is a significant contributor to the democratic deficit and identifies strategies necessary to improve listening to increase access to policy making and give voice value, which in turn can reinvigorate democracy, increase trust, and create social equity.
Despite cautionary analyses and critiques by some scholars, cyberoptimism and what Steve Woolgar calls cyberbole continue to characterise much discussion of social media in the context of democratic politics (e-democracy) and citizen engagement and participation, and is evident in claims of emergence of the 'social organisation' and 'social business'. This paper synthesises the findings of three recent research studies, which show that the allegedly democratising social interaction and dialogic affordances of Web 2.0 are not being realised in many applications. Key missing prerequisites for engagement, exchange and inclusion are identified and highlighted as issues for attention in research and practice.
While product placement and 'advertorial' have been used by advertising and public relations for the best part of a century to place sponsored messages in media content in covert ways, a raft of new techniques and formats for 'embedding' marketing and promotional messages in media content are emerging which take these practices to a whole new level and raise major questions about media transparency and ethics. These go by a range of names including sponsored content, integrated content, and native advertising. This paper presents a critical analysis informed by a case study of a state government agency that, in its search for more effective approaches to health communication, uncovered a lack of definitions, guidelines, and transparency in a number of emerging media practices that warrant close attention by researchers, industry regulators, and professional bodies.
Macnamara, J. & Zerfass, A. 2012, 'Social media communication in organisations: The challenges of balancing openness, strategy and management', Refereed Proceedings of the 62nd Annual International Communication Association Conference, 62nd Annual International Communication Association Conference, International Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ, pp. 1-23.
Report of a survey of social media use by organisations in four Australasian countries, compared with data from a similar survey in Europe, showing use mainly for transmission of organisational messages, with a lack of interactivity, dialogue and engagement.
Macnamara, J. 2011, 'Filling the gap at the centre of social media strategy and management: Qualitative insights from Australasia', 61st Annual International Communication Association conference, Public Relations Division Panel Session, International Communication Association, Boston.
Macnamara, J. 2010, 'Trends in social media use in Australian political communication', Double Vision: Biennial International Australian Studies Association (InASA) conference, Double Vision: Biennial International Australian Studies Association (InASA) conference, Australian Studies Association (InASA), Sydney, pp. 1-28.
A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the use of social media by Australian politicians and major political parties during the 2010 federal election.
Contemporary scholarship recognises the importance of diversity and open ongoing construction and reconstruction of knowledge to remain current and relevant. However, content analysis of fourteen contemporary public relations prescribed texts and reference books supports claims of a Western, and particularly a North American, dominant paradigm and identifies four problematic gaps in contemporary public relations scholarship. This article argues that these require significant shifts in epistemology as they are limiting the efficacy of practice in the Second Media Age of interactive social media and social networks, the social relevance of the practice, the education of future generations of practitioners, and potentially stifling theory-building. Addressing these four gaps will offer increased potential for public relations to expand its remit, influence, and reputation within organisations and societyalbeit in a reconfigured form responsive to the social, cultural and political environments in which it operates.
Macnamara, J. 2009, 'Media as practice 2.0: Towards a historical and integrated reconceptualisation of media', Australian Media Traditions 6th Biennial Conference: Internationalising Media History: From Australia to the World, University of Sydney, Sydney.
This paper argues that focusing on 'media as practice', as proposed by Nick Couldry (2004) reconceptualises media in a historical context and escapes the narrow framework of mass media theory which focuses on particular technologies of production and distribution, and accumulation and maintenance of mass audiences. Whereas other approaches to studying media focussed on political economy, media effects, texts, or audiences tend to narrowly examine either media production, distribution or consumption, a media as practice approach examines media as complex interrelated and integrated practices of production, distribution and consumption and affords understanding of media today which include citizen media and social media in which 'prosumers' or 'produsers' engage alongside traditional content producers and distributors.
After its landslide victory in the 2007 Australian Federal election which was widely described as the YouTube election, the Rudd Labor government launched a series of trial public consultation blogs in 2008 as part of a commitment to e-democracy through the use of interactive Web 2.0 communication applications. At the same time, Barack Obama swept into power in the United States aided by Web 2.0 media including text messaging, blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and social networks such as Facebook which gained unprecedented levels of online political engagement. While e-democracy and e-government have been emerging concepts in many countries over more than a decade, these two experiences provide new information on the successes and challenges of online citizenship. This paper reports key findings of research into the Australian governments 2008 and early 2009 e-democracy efforts and compares these with US e-democracy initiatives including the Barack Obama presidential campaign and recent international research findings.
Like the 2007-2008 US presidential primaries, the 2007 Australian federal election was described as 'the YouTube election' and an 'internet election' (Media Monitors, 2008). This followed studies of use of what are termed 'new media' for political communication in a number of campaigns including the 2000 US presidential election (Bentivegna, 2002, p. 50) and the 2004 US presidential election which was described as 'a critical turning point' (Xenos and Moy, 2007, p. 704). However, the development of web 2.01 internet media, expanding broadband, and other changes have overtaken many findings of previous research. Some of the most popular new media currently in use were 'invented' post-2004. The rapid rate of technological and social change makes new media research particularly time-bound and indicates that ongoing empirical studies and analysis are needed. This paper contributes to understanding of how new media are used in political communication and how they influence the public sphere (Habermas, 1989, 2006), particularly looking at public interaction and participation (Carpentier, 2007) which have been identified as key features of web 2.0 media and as requirements of an active public sphere, based on findings of a study conducted by the Australian Centre for Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney during the 2007 Australian federal election.


Learn around others. There's a great wealth of knowledge, information, and motivation that comes from being in a gym setting with other trainers and with the workshops offered periodically. Take advantage of this!
Insurance is covered. No need to seek it on your own; most gyms will cover you.
Access to varied types of equipment and fitness classes.
It's a community! And it's so good to actively engage in a community with other members and professionals alike.
Easier to set your own schedule. There are less "extra" commitments like work meetings or events and because it's just you and your own time you can form it as you like more easily than in a gym setting.
Deeper one-on-one connections with clients since it's just you and them! You really get the chance to get to know your clients on a different level when working with them in their own homes, and I love that!
More flexibility. I'm able to craft my own workouts without the pressure of making sales and reaching funding goals, which was never my forte anyway. I love creating programs for people based on where they're at and emphasizing full-body workouts using unique pieces of equipment and bodyweight exercises. I also have the flexibility to travel and attend conferences and retreats with Mikey for his work that I've also become involved in without running it by anyone or feeling guilt over leaving.
Motivating others – I love this part of my work! I think I'm an encourager by nature and I have a blast rooting others on and seeing change in their lives.
People, people, people! – Being a personal trainer is people interaction 101; I'm always learning new things about people, especially as I train others in their own space at their home, and I appreciate them letting me into their lives and letting me in on their story.
Passions –> Work – If you know me, you know I could talk about fitness all day long. I love exploring new moves, checking out different programs, and combining knowledge with movement to give people good workouts. My job is wrapped up in something I'm already passionate about, which helps when I have to arrive on someone's door step, rain or shine (or most likely snow here!).
There are some things I'm not super excited about, though, and struggle with work-wise like everyone else does with their jobs. Some of the things that are hard to get back in the groove of after time off work?
Early wake-ups – This isn't so bad once I get into a routine, but I've noticed that I was able to get up easily while we were on the film tour, but since then it's like my body's been in recovery mode. I set my alarm for 7 am every day (for no *real* reason at this point) and just cannot get my body moving. I don't know how I used to run so early; it seems my whole body isn't awake until about 9 am! I'm trying to get my body going (I actually love mornings) and hope to change this by working soon!
Always "on" – With this job, as with others that are people-based, if I'm having a "bad" day or not feeling particularly cheerful, the people I'm training feel that and suffer from it. It's a role where I need to be "on" regardless of how I'm feeling – not to the extent that I'm "faking it" (I like to be real and honest with my clients) but there are times when I need to put myself aside and put on a smile. This makes for tiring days even without many clients, but at least it's a rewarding kind of tiredness.
Driving Ms. Bonnie – Because Calgary is so spread out, I end up driving around town a lot for the amount of time I'm training. This has caused some wear and tear on our car that's broken it down much faster than we first anticipated, and I've had to take my prices into account with that in mind this time around.
Tell me, what makes it hard to get up & go to work every day for you? What do you love about your job?
Off to work on my client bass and to fit in a workout – maybe a run? Maybe some weights? Gotta stay strong!
Wonderful post (as always). I'd love for you to be my trainer. 😉 I'd hire you in a minute, mostly cause you're hot.
I wish you lived here so you could personal train ME! I think it is amazing that you do what you love and love what you do. So rad.
I just started studying to be a certified ACSM personal trainer! Thanks for the tips on gym vs. self employment!


If you go to a reading or presentation at one of Jupiter historic or cultural sites sooner or later you will meet Jim Snyder. If you don't meet Jim during a local "reading" you might find him paddling his kayak on the upper reaches of his beloved Loxahatchee River.
Snyder was raised in Evanston, IL and grew up dreaming about a baseball career "until I realized that the Big Leagues had no interest in a 145-pound outfielder." In 1958 he graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Then it was off to the nation's capital where he began as Washington editor of a trade magazine while earning a master's degree in political science from The George Washington University.
In 1964, after a two-year interlude as a White House communications officer specializing in national security affairs, he formed an independent Washington news bureau to serve publishers of business and medical magazines. The firm, known then as Snyder Associates Inc., soon became the largest independent editorial organization in Washington, representing more than 40 national periodicals. Snyder also wrote for Parade, Smithsonian and The Harvard Business Review.
In 1985 the company was renamed Enterprise Communications Inc. and began publishing its own business magazines. In rapid succession, ECI launched Financial Product News, Employee Benefit News, Veterinary Product News, Environment Today and Corporate University Review. Conferences soon followed, and one of them, Benefits Management Forum & Expo, remains the nation's largest annual exposition for human resources and employee benefit managers. In 1997 ECI was acquired by Thomson Reuters Corp.
By then Snyder had already moved his family to Jupiter and had become a "long-distance commuter" to Washington. Says Jim: "Selling the company was a watershed event for me, because it freed me to resume my first love, which is writing."
His first two books were the culmination of decades-long research on early Christian history. The novel All God's Children (1999) and a history, The Faith and the Power (2002) illuminate the murky forty years following the crucifixion of Jesus by taking into account Roman, Jewish, Greek and Christian writings of the first century. The Faith and the Power was runner-up for the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best book on religion in 2003.
Meanwhile, Snyder had become active in local environmental work and curious at finding so little written about early life along the Loxahatchee. In 2002 he authored Life and Death on the Loxahatchee: The Story of Trapper Nelson, a book that has captivated South Florida and won the Silver Medal in the Florida Authors and Publisher's Association book-of-the-year awards. His fourth book, published in November 2003, is a pictorial history of Jupiter-Tequesta entitled Five Thousand Years on the Loxahatchee.
Black Gold and Silver Sands, A Pictorial History of Agriculture in Palm Beach County (2005). Published by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County, the book tells of the courage of farm families over 150 years as they braved frosts, floods, hurricanes and the Great Depression to create one of the nation's most thriving agribusiness counties.
A Light in the Wilderness: The Story of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the Southeast Florida Frontier (2006). It begins when no one at all lived in Jupiter and describes how a lone lighthouse became a magnet for settlers, a railroad link to Palm Beach, a U.S. Weather Bureau post and a flourishing steamboat trade.
A Visitor's Guide to Jonathan Dickinson State Park, (2009), a 96-page guide to the 11,600-acre park's history, flora, fauna and guest activities. Written on behalf of Friends of JDSP.
A Trip Down the Loxahatchee, (2015), a colorful coffee table book in which a fanciful boat trip from the river's headwaters to Jupiter Inlet is described through the works of 52 leading painters and photographers.
Today Snyder lives in Tequesta on the Loxahatchee River and is active in several organizations devoted to preserving its history, environment and unique character. He was board chairman of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum during its 150th year celebration. He served on the board of Friends of Jonathan Dickinson State Park for 20 years, has held a governor's appointment to the Florida Historical Commission and in 2012 was elected a commissioner of the Loxahatchee River Environmental Control District.
Jim's books are available at most local attractions such as JD State Park and the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, at local book stores and from online retailers such as Amazon. The books are also sold in Kindle and ebook formats.


PIERRE, S.D. – In 1804, legend had it that Spirit Mound, near present day Vermillion, was inhabited by evil spirits in human form. Reportedly, these "little devils" were 18 inches high and armed with arrows.
Today, visitors may stand exactly where Lewis and Clark stood more than 200 years ago. A hiking trail, roughly three-quarters of a mile long, leads from the parking lot to the top of the mound, with interpretive signs along the trail that tell of the legend.
Spirit Mound is located eight miles north of Vermillion on SD Hwy 19. For more information on visitor activities, visit www.sdgfp.info.


text:
Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.
COVID-19 and the endocrine system: exploring the unexplored | SpringerLink
COVID-19 and the endocrine system: exploring the unexplored
R. Pal1 &
M. Banerjee2
Journal of Endocrinological Investigation volume 43, pages1027–1031(2020)Cite this article
A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has affected over 2.3 million people, claiming more than 160000 lives in over 200 countries worldwide. Although COVID-19 can be asymptomatic, the primary presentation in symptomatic patients is in the form of viral pneumonia, sometimes complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome and/or sepsis. In addition, myocarditis and acute kidney injury have also been described in COVID-19. On the contrary, endocrinological manifestations have not yet been reported in patients with COVID-19.
The pathogenesis of COVID-19 entails entry of SARS-CoV-2 via the respiratory system and lodgement in the lung parenchyma. Thereafter, it uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor for ingress into host pneumocytes. In addition, the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) has also been detected in the plasma or serum of COVID-19 patients, suggestive of viremia [1]. This implies that apart from pneumocytes, the virus is freely available to interact with ACE2 expressed in other tissues. As a matter of fact, a number of endocrine organs do express ACE2, namely pancreas, thyroid, testis, ovary, adrenal glands and pituitary [2]. Even though one could expect endocrine repercussions due to interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with ACE2 expressed on these organs, there are no clinical/pre-clinical data as of yet. However, based on observations drawn partly from studies pertaining to the prior SARS outbreak (in 2003) and partly from animal models, we aim to explore the possible effects of COVID-19 on the endocrine system.
COVID-19 and endocrine pancreas
ACE2 is expressed in pancreas with mRNA levels being higher in pancreas than in the lungs. The expression is seen on the exocrine pancreas as well as on the islets. Exocrine pancreatic injury is manifested as elevated serum amylase and/or lipase in 1–2% and 17% of patients with non-severe and severe COVID-19, respectively [2]. Although any major illness can be associated with stress-related hyperglycemia, Yang et al. had reported that patients with SARS (caused by SARS-CoV, the 'cousin' of SARS-CoV-2) who had never received glucocorticoids had significantly higher fasting plasma glucose levels as compared to patients with non-SARS pneumonia [3]. In another study, SARS-CoV-mediated damage of the pancreatic β-cells was proposed as the plausible mechanism behind the development of 'acute diabetes' in patients with SARS [4]. In fact, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization have identified SARS-CoV in the pancreas of patients who died of SARS [5]. Thus, although coronavirus does not feature in the list of viruses implicated in the etiopathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), SARS-CoV (and perhaps SARS-CoV-2) could be potential environmental triggers for the development of T1DM. Apart from direct β-cell damage, alterations in self-antigens and subsequent immune-mediated destruction of β-cells could be implicated. In addition, infection of the surrounding exocrine pancreas by SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 might cause a bystander β-cell death via release of mediators such as tumor-necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and interferon-γ [6]. A systemic pro-inflammatory milieu, as evident by high amounts of interleukin-1β, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and inducible protein-10 even in patients with mild COVID-19 might play an additional role to accentuate the process.
COVID-19 could also lead to worsening of insulin resistance in patients with pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Apart from inducing a plethora of cytokines, SARS-CoV increases serum levels of fetuin A, a glycoprotein that has been linked with impaired insulin sensitivity [7]. Lopinavir–ritonavir used for the treatment of COVID-19 could lead to lipodystrophy and subsequent insulin resistance. Moreover, COVID-19 is often associated with hypokalemia; this has been attributed to downregulation of pulmonary ACE2, reduced angiotension-II degradation and subsequent increased aldosterone secretion [8]. Hypokalemia, in turn, can worsen glucose control in patients with pre-existing T1DM and T2DM.
The presence of diabetes mellitus in patients with COVID-19 is associated with severe disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and increased mortality. Possible explanations include compromised innate immunity and downregulated ACE2 levels in people with diabetes mellitus [8]. In addition, serum levels of inflammation-related biomarkers (interleukin-6, serum ferritin, C-reactive protein) and coagulation parameter (D-dimer) are higher in COVID-19 patients with underlying diabetes mellitus compared with those without, suggesting that people with diabetes are more susceptible to cytokine storm ultimately leading to ARDS and rapid deterioration [9]. Hitherto available studies do not make any distinction between T1DM and T2DM and it is likely that the COVID-19-related risks holds true for both the disease entities [10]. Nevertheless, it is imperative that people with diabetes mellitus (T1DM and T2DM) take extra precautions and stringently implement social distancing and hand hygiene amid this pandemic. In addition, good glycemic control should be ensured. Certain anti-diabetic drugs like pioglitazone (via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ activation) and liraglutide (via glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor activation) have been shown to upregulate ACE2 in animal models [11, 12]; however, the current evidence does not support any change in the ongoing medications [13]. Similarly, international organizations recommend patients on ACEi/ARBs to carry on with their medications.
Obesity has also been found to be associated with severe disease in COVID-19. Adipose tissue express ACE2; with higher adipose tissue, more would be the overall ACE2 expression that would act as receptors for SARS-CoV-2 [14]. As in diabetes mellitus, even in basal state, obese patients have a higher concentration of several pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα, IL-6 and MCP-1, produced by visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue [15]. This could again predispose an obese individual to an exaggerated cytokine response in the presence of SARS-CoV-2, manifesting as severe disease and ARDS. In addition, obesity is associated with subclinical hypothyroidism and functional hypogonadism that, at least in part, is mediated by cytokines [16, 17]. These could be aggravated amid a pro-inflammatory milieu induced by COVID-19.
COVID-19 and gonads
A high level of ACE2 expression is seen in the testes; in fact, the mRNA and protein expression of ACE2 in the testis is almost the highest in the human body. Moreover, the Leydig cells, Sertoli cells and the spermatogonia all express ACE2. Nevertheless, serum testosterone levels in COVID-19 needs to be interpreted cautiously, as any acute critical illness can lead to suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis, biochemically manifesting as low luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone. However, a recent study in 81 men with COVID-19 showed that serum total testosterone (T) was lower (although not statistically significant), while serum LH was significantly higher as compared to 100 age-matched healthy men. Serum T:LH ratio was also significantly lower in COVID-19 patients and was negatively associated with disease severity [18]. Elevated serum LH in men with COVID-19 negates the possibility of suppression of the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis and hints toward primary Leydig cell damage. In accordance with this observation, it is to be noted that orchitis was indeed a known complication of SARS [19]. In addition, SARS-CoV infection was shown to significantly reduce serum testosterone in male mice [20]. Nevertheless, data on female gonadal function in women with COVID-19 (or SARS) is not available.
COVID-19 and adrenal gland
One of the primary immunoinvasive strategy utilized by the SARS-CoV, like the influenza virus, is to knock down the host's cortisol stress response. A very interesting hypothesis that had been proposed is the expression of certain amino acid sequences by the SARS-CoV that are molecular mimics of the host adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This form of molecular mimicry can indeed blunt the stress-induced cortisol rise, as antibodies produced against the viral particles will inadvertently destroy the circulating ACTH [21]. The fact that most of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins are highly homologous (95–100%) to the proteins of the original SARS-CoV makes us wonder whether SARS-CoV-2 might be employing the same strategy of molecular mimicry as well [22]. Therefore, patients with severe COVID-19 may be more prone to develop critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI). Data on cortisol dynamics in patients with COVID-19 are however not yet available. Nevertheless, clinicians must be vigilant about the possibility of an underlying relative cortisol deficiency in patients with COVID-19. Notably, indiscriminate use of short-duration, high-dose glucocorticoids during the SARS outbreak was questioned and not found to be universally useful. One recent study in 31 patients with COVID-19 showed that corticosteroid treatment was not associated with virus clearance time, length of hospital stay or duration of symptoms [23]. Another clinical trial on the efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in COVID-19 is currently underway (NCT04273321). Nevertheless, patients with underlying primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) are at a high risk of lower-respiratory tract infections and hence should take extra precautions amid the ongoing pandemic. They should be aware of sick-day guidelines and increase the dose of corticosteroids by themselves whenever suspected of having COVID-19 to avoid an impending adrenal crisis. PAI patients developing COVID-19 may require parenteral glucocorticoid support; serum potassium should be strictly monitored in such patients, as hypokalemia has been reported in patients with COVID-19 [8].
COVID-19 and the hypothalamus–pituitary
Neurological manifestations do occur in patients with COVID-19 and include, among others, hyposmia. Expression of ACE2 by the olfactory epithelial supporting cells could explain much of these olfactory symptoms [24]. The portal of entry of the virus into the central nervous system (CNS) remains uncertain and could be via hematogenous route or directly thorough the cribriform plate. Hypothalamic and pituitary tissues do express ACE2 and can theoretically be the viral targets. In fact, on autopsy studies, edema and neuronal degeneration along with identification of SARS genome have been shown in the hypothalamus. Biochemical evidence of hypothalamo-pituitary involvement in SARS was first reported by Leow et al. in 2005. Sixty-one survivors of SARS were evaluated at 3 months post-recovery and thereafter periodically. Forty percent of patients had evidence of central hypocortisolism, the majority of which (62.5%) resolved within a year. Of note, 87.5% of those with central hypocortisolism had experienced fatigue and/or postural dizziness at the time of initial recruitment. A small percentage of patients (5%) also had central hypothyroidism. The authors had proposed the possibility of a reversible hypophysitis or a direct hypothalamic damage that could have led to a state of hypothalamo-pituitary dysfunction [25]. Currently, we do not have any such data with regard to patients with COVID-19; however, considering the high frequency of neurological symptoms, one can assume that SARS-CoV-2 may affect the hypothalamus–pituitary as well, directly or via immune-mediated hypophysitis. Accordingly, clinicians should have a low threshold to suspect central hypocortisolism in COVID-19 survivors, especially those complaining of unexplained fatigue, lassitude, malaise, orthostatic dizziness, anorexia and apathy. Patients with pituitary–hypothalamic disorders often have underlying diabetes insipidus (DI); COVID-19 in patients with DI can lead to insensible water loss due to fever and tachypnea ultimately resulting in hypernatremia [26]. Hence, the patient and the treating physician need to be cautious in this regard.
COVID-19 and thyroid
Data on thyroid involvement by coronavirus is most scarce. A study conducted during the SARS outbreak in 2003 had reported that serum T3 and T4 levels were lower in patients with SARS as compared to controls both during the acute and convalescent phases. This could simply imply an underlying sick-euthyroid syndrome. Intensive care patients with sick-euthyroid syndrome tend to have lower mean thyroid weight as a result of reduction in thyroid follicular size associated with depletion of colloid [27]. However, an autopsy study in five patients with SARS has shown marked destruction of the follicular and parafollicular cells of thyroid [28]. Destruction of follicular cells would manifest as low T3 and T4; parafollicular cell damage would theoretically lead to low levels of serum calcitonin. This has been proposed as a plausible mechanism of osteonecrosis of femoral head seen in recovered patients with SARS; calcitonin deficiency leads to disinhibition of osteoclasts leading to osteonecrosis [28]. Data on thyroid function or thyroid pathology are yet not available in COVID-19. The British Thyroid Association and the Society for Endocrinology (BTA/SfE) have issued a consensus statement regarding issues specific to thyroid dysfunction during COVID-19 pandemic. Patients with underlying hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism are advised to continue their prescribed medications as usual. However, patients on anti-thyroid drugs (ATDs) are at a risk of agranulocytosis, albeit rarely. Symptoms of agranulocytosis often overlap with those of COVID-19, hence, often making it difficult to differentiate one from the other clinically. Hence, it is recommended that patients on ATDs who develop symptoms suggestive of agranulocytosis should immediately discontinue the drug and get a full blood count done at the earliest.
Amid the ongoing pandemic, endocrine involvement with COVID-19 remains largely unexplored. The aforementioned data pertaining to COVID-19 and the endocrine system are mostly conjectural and factual at this point of time. Validated conclusions must not be drawn based on the presented data, as much of the observations are based on prior experience with SARS and on recent literature derived from small-scale studies. However, the data do provide ample scope for future research. As premature as it may sound, endocrinologists need to be aware of these possibilities in clinical practice, especially while dealing with COVID-19 survivors.
Chang L, Yan Y, Wang L (2020) Coronavirus disease 2019: coronaviruses and blood safety. Transfus Med Rev [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 1]; Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0887796320300146. Accessed 1 Apr 2020
Liu F, Long X, Zou W, Fang M, Wu W, Li W, et al. (2020) Highly ACE2 expression in pancreas may cause pancreas damage after SARS-CoV-2 infection [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 1]. Available from: https://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029181. Accessed 1 Apr 2020
Yang JK, Feng Y, Yuan MY, Yuan SY, Fu HJ, Wu BY et al (2006) Plasma glucose levels and diabetes are independent predictors for mortality and morbidity in patients with SARS. Diabet Med 23:623–628
Yang J-K, Lin S-S, Ji X-J, Guo L-M (2010) Binding of SARS coronavirus to its receptor damages islets and causes acute diabetes. Acta Diabetol 47:193–199
Ding Y, He L, Zhang Q, Huang Z, Che X, Hou J et al (2004) Organ distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) associated coronavirus(SARS-CoV) in SARS patients: implications for pathogenesis and virus transmission pathways. J Pathol 203:622–630
Jaeckel E, Manns M, Herrath M (2006) Viruses and diabetes. Ann N Y Acad Sci 958:7–25
Wan J, Sun W, Li X, Ying W, Dai J, Kuai X et al (2006) Inflammation inhibitors were remarkably up-regulated in plasma of severe acute respiratory syndrome patients at progressive phase. Proteomics 6:2886–2894
Pal R, Bhansali A (2020) COVID-19, diabetes mellitus and ACE2: the conundrum. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 162:108132
Guo W, Li M, Dong Y, Zhou H, Zhang Z, Tian C et al (2020) Diabetes is a risk factor for the progression and prognosis of COVID-19. Diabetes Metab Res Rev 7:e3319
Coronavirus COVID-19 FAQ | ADA. Accessed April 21, 2020. [Internet]. Available from: https://www.diabetes.org/covid-19-faq. Accessed 21 Apr 2020
Zhang W, Xu Y-Z, Liu B, Wu R, Yang Y-Y, Xiao X-Q et al (2014) Pioglitazone upregulates angiotensin converting enzyme 2 expression in insulin-sensitive tissues in rats with high-fat diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Sci World J 2014:1–7
Romaní-Pérez M, Outeiriño-Iglesias V, Moya CM, Santisteban P, González-Matías LC, Vigo E et al (2015) Activation of the GLP-1 receptor by liraglutide increases ACE2 expression, reversing right ventricle hypertrophy, and improving the production of SP-A and SP-B in the lungs of type 1 diabetes rats. Endocrinology 156:3559–3569
Pal R, Bhadada SK (2020) Should anti-diabetic medications be reconsidered amid COVID-19 pandemic? Diabetes Res Clin Pract 163:108146
Kassir R (2020) Risk of COVID-19 for patients with obesity. Obes Rev [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 22]; Available from: https://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/obr.13034. Accessed 22 Apr 2020
Richard C, Wadowski M, Goruk S, Cameron L, Sharma AM, Field CJ (2017) Individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes have additional immune dysfunction compared with obese individuals who are metabolically healthy. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care 5:e000379
Sanyal D, Raychaudhuri M (2016) Hypothyroidism and obesity: an intriguing link. Indian J Endocrinol Metab 20:554
Fernandez CJ, Chacko EC, Pappachan JM (2019) Male obesity-related secondary hypogonadism—pathophysiology. Clinical Implications and Management. Eur Endocrinol 15:83
Ma L, Xie W, Li D, Shi L, Mao Y, Xiong Y, et al. (2020) Effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection upon male gonadal function: a single center-based study [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 2]. Available from: https://medrxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2020.03.21.20037267. Accessed 2 Apr 2020
Xu J, Qi L, Chi X, Yang J, Wei X, Gong E et al (2006) Orchitis: a complication of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)1. Biol Reprod 74:410–416
Channappanavar R, Fett C, Mack M, Ten Eyck PP, Meyerholz DK, Perlman S (2017) Sex-based differences in susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection. J Immunol 198:4046–4053
Wheatland R (2004) Molecular mimicry of ACTH in SARS—implications for corticosteroid treatment and prophylaxis. Med Hypotheses 63:855–862
Xu J, Zhao S, Teng T, Abdalla AE, Zhu W, Xie L et al (2020) Systematic comparison of two animal-to-human transmitted human coronaviruses: SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. Viruses 12:244
Zha L, Li S, Pan L, Tefsen B, Li Y, French N, et al. (2020) Corticosteroid treatment of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Med J Aust [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 22]; Available from: https://doi.wiley.com/10.5694/mja2.50577. Accessed 22 Apr 2020
Brann DH, Tsukahara T, Weinreb C, Logan DW, Datta SR (2020) Non-neural expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory epithelium suggests mechanisms underlying anosmia in COVID-19 patients [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 2]. Available from: https://biorxiv.org/lookup/doi/10.1101/2020.03.25.009084. Accessed 2 Apr 2020
Leow MK-S, Kwek DS-K, Ng AW-K, Ong K-C, Kaw GJ-L, Lee LS-U (2005) Hypocortisolism in survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 63:197–202
Kaiser UB, Mirmira RG, Stewart PM (2020) Our Response to COVID-19 as Endocrinologists and Diabetologists. J Clin Endocrinol Metab [Internet] [cited 2020 Apr 16];105. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/doi/10.1210/clinem/dgaa148/5814115. Accessed 16 Apr 2020
De Jongh F, Jobsis A, Elte J (2001) Thyroid morphology in lethal non-thyroidal illness: a post-mortem study. Eur J Endocrinol 144:221–226
Wei L, Sun S, Xu C, Zhang J, Xu Y, Zhu H et al (2007) Pathology of the thyroid in severe acute respiratory syndrome. Hum Pathol 38:95–102
Department of Endocrinology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, 160012, India
R. Pal
Department of Endocrinology, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER), Kolkata, 700007, India
M. Banerjee
RP is the primary author. MB helped in literature search. Both RP and MB approved the final version of the manuscript.
Correspondence to R. Pal.
None to declare.
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
For this type of study formal consent is not required.
Pal, R., Banerjee, M. COVID-19 and the endocrine system: exploring the unexplored. J Endocrinol Invest 43, 1027–1031 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-020-01276-8
Issue Date: July 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Spiffy YA thriller about a literally invisible teenage girl — in this particular dystopia, many people are "gifted," possessing some strange power or other — who decides she no longer wants to work in her father's crime syndicate, and flees, while not expecting much help from her mother or her two brothers. The protagonist here is very well drawn and utterly believable; I am reminded of the short-lived 1980s television series Misfits of Science, except that the Misfits never had writing this good. This is Natalie Whipple's first published novel; I await her second enthusiastically.


Are you having a good day? What is making it a good day? These are some of the questions Gen Kelsang asks and they are particularly poignant when understanding how to become happy. Most people think that our happiness is based on what 'happens' to us, what the circumstances in our lives are like, but living like this puts us at the mercy of the random events that take place in our lives. There is a better way!
Some people might be put off by the fact that the speaker is a buddist monk, but actually she's just teaching fundamental principles that are true to life, and are also very biblical. If you don't know how to 'make yourself' happy, then this is for you. To your happiness!!


text:
package app;

import app.action.Action;
import app.action.ActionEvent;
import app.action.Drop;
import app.shipper.BasicShipper;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Observable;
import java.util.Observer;

/**
 * Created by Benjamin on 03/02/2016.
 */
public class ShippingTrackerObserver implements Observer {
	List<String> achievedDeliveries = new ArrayList<>();

	@Override
	public void update(Observable o, Object arg) {
		ActionEvent actionEvent = (ActionEvent) arg;

		if(o instanceof Drop && actionEvent.equals(ActionEvent.ENDED)) {

			Drop action = (Drop) o;
			System.out.printf("\n\t[DELIVERY DONE] %s has performed package %s\n", action.getTarget().getName(), action.getTarget().getPack());
			achievedDeliveries.add(action.getTarget().getPack());
		}
	}

	public void sendToServer(String packageDelivered) {
		// TODO: 03/02/2016 do http call
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Visa Water Polo International was the test event for the Water Polo Arena for the 2012 Summer Olympics. It took place from 3–6 May 2012.

Four women's international water polo teams were invited to participate: Great Britain, Australia, the United States, and Hungary. There were two rounds. In the preliminary round, each of the teams will play each other once. All teams will then progress to the final round, where the first- and second-placed teams from the preliminary round play off for the gold medal, and the third- and fourth-placed teams for the bronze medal.

Preliminary round
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Final round
All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Final ranking

References
Official website

Test Event
2012
Qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
New 12-Inch Retina MacBook Unboxing in Space Grey [VIDEO]
Last Friday, while everybody was preordering their Apple Watch online (and refreshing Apple's online store and iOS app and like addicts), Apple's new 12-inch Retina MacBook kicked off sales too.
While we've seen some first unofficial unboxing videos in Vietnamese and a comparison to the 11-inch MacBook Air, YouTuber iTwe4kz has performed an unboxing of the new 12-inch MacBook in Space Grey, ordered from Apple. The video provides an overview of what comes in the box and his first impressions:
The first wave of press reviews praised the notebook as being futuristic and also insanely thin, but expensive. Earlier today, iFixit published their complete teardown of the new MacBook. Are you going to buy the new 12-inch MacBook?
Other articles in the category: Mac
Download WhatsApp for macOS Beta and Chat with iPhone Offline
If you want a native macOS version of WhatsApp, an open beta version is now widely available for download on the messaging app's website for all, instead of being just available for limited TestFlight testers before. According to WABetaInfo, the macOS Catalyst app is now available to download and test. Mac Catalyst allows developers to […]
You Can Now Buy Apple's M2 MacBook Pro and M2 Mac mini in Canada
Apple has launched sales of its new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max, its most powerful Apple Silicon to date, along with the refreshed Mac mini with M2, plus M2 Pro for the first time. These new Macs were announced last week. "The new MacBook Pro and Mac mini are […]
2023 M2 Mac mini Reviews Roundup [VIDEOS]
Image via @JustinTse Apple last week refreshed its 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with M2 Max and M2 Pro chips, while also updating the Mac mini as well with M2. The Mac mini gains M2 plus the M2 Pro for the first time. On Monday morning, the first M2 Mac mini "reviews" hit the […]


Please use your headphones to be able to enjoy 3d ringtones and sounds. Your phone's single speaker will not be able to perform as well!
– Those that only widen the stereo image by modifying phase information.
– Those that can place sounds outside the stereo basis.
– Those that include a complete 3D simulation.


A great knit look technical men`s fleece jacket, the Logan is manufactured in TCZ 200 fleece fabric for warmth without weight and quick drying, breathable performance. Features include a zipped chest pocket, 2 zipped hip pockets, and drawcord hem adjustment. A great stand alone fleece jacket or mid layer for colder conditions.


The "Little Lebowski Urban Achiever" release party and tap takeover, featuring the Big Lebowski film sponsored by Bohemian Brewery & Grill. We will be releasing our new Brewer's Stache beer "The Little Lebulski" (This beer really ties the room together) and offering all Bohemian beers for $3/pint.
Dress up like the Dude or one of your favorite characters from the movie for fun prizes and giveaways, including gift certs to Bonwood Bowling Alley, Lebowski T-shirts, DVDs, CDs, Beer Swag and more.