Relevant Categories Research Articles

International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) Consensus Conference on Current Issues in Bladder Cancer. Working Group 1: Comparison of Bladder Cancer Grading System Performance.

Grade is a key prognostic factor in determining progression in nonmuscle invasive papillary urothelial carcinomas. The 2 most common grading methods in use worldwide are the World Health Organization (WHO) 2004 and 1973 schemes. The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) organized the 2022 consensus conference in Basel, Switzerland on current issues in bladder cancer and tasked working group 1 to make recommendations for future iterations of bladder cancer grading. For this purpose, the ISUP developed in collaboration with the European Association of Urology a 10-question survey for their memberships to understand the current use of grading schemes by pathologists and urologists and to ascertain the areas of potential improvements. An additional survey was circulated to the ISUP membership for their opinion on interobserver variability in grading, reporting of urine cytology, and challenges encountered in grade assignment. Comprehensive literature reviews were performed on bladder cancer grading prognosis and interobserver variability along with The Paris System for urine cytology. There are notable differences in practice patterns between North American and European pathologists in terms of used grading scheme and diagnosis of papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential. Areas of common ground include difficulty in grade assignment, a desire to improve grading criteria, and a move towards subclassifying high-grade urothelial carcinomas. The surveys and in-person voting demonstrated a strong preference to refine current grading into a 3-tier scheme with the division of WHO 2004 high grade into clinically relevant categories. More variable opinions were voiced regarding the use of papillary urothelial carcinoma with low malignant potential.

Anti-Muslim tribalism: a new framework for analysing Islamophobia in contemporary times

ABSTRACT One of the leading interpretations of Islamophobia in Europe is anti-Muslim racism. Scholars who conceptualize Islamophobia as a form of racism typically draw on the theoretical framework of cultural racism to contend that Muslims in Europe are discriminated against not only on the basis of religion and culture, but also on the basis of physical features or ancestry. This strand of contention is based on the fact that most Muslims in Europe are non-white immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East and, as a consequence, generally appear phenotypically different from the white majority in European societies. In this article, Ejiofor argues that, even though the theoretical cultural racism framework utilized by some European and other western scholars to analyse Islamophobia in Europe is quite pertinent to some forms of Islamophobia in European or western societies, it does not apprehend the lived experiences of discrimination against Muslims in many non-European societies. Ejiofor contends that the cultural racism framework tends to sidestep the fact that Islamophobia is a global phenomenon that occurs in some non-European societies where colour racism is non-existent, where race―or racial identity―is not a relevant social category, and where discrimination against Muslims hardly has anything to do with whiteness or non-whiteness. What, then, does Islamophobia look like in some non-European contexts where racism―as the term is ordinarily used in Europe to refer to discrimination of peoples based on physical traits or ancestry―does not make sense? Drawing on the Nigerian context, in which discrimination against Muslims reflects ethnoreligious and ethnoregional conflicts arising from the complex political history of the Nigerian state, Ejiofor posits that Islamophobia in some non-European societies is about tribalism, as it involves the grouping of Muslims into a single tribe and associating Muslimness with terrorism despite the absence of racial identity. He proposes the novel framework of anti-Muslim tribalism so as to capture Islamophobia beyond the West.

Category expansion through cross-channel demand spillovers

Does the local presence of premium branded stores with strong associations to a product group help promote the relevant category as a whole? Based on the Starbucks example, this paper documents such a demand spillover effect for coffee across channels and firms: The firm’s stores stimulate coffee demand in mass-market grocery channels, benefiting rival firms that target consumption at home. I show the spillover at the household level, as well as with retail scanner data, employing a demand model to account for supply-side responses. To establish causality, I use a strict fixed effects specification with trend controls, and also validate the findings using instrumental variables based on the supply-side advantage to operating chain stores in proximate markets. In a representative market, the presence of a Starbucks stores boosts rival packaged coffee sales by 1.2%. The increase appears consistent a consumption stimulation effect of Starbucks stores acting as environmental cues for coffee, their main product. Evidence from other chains confirms the spillover, mainly from more premium brands with high demand-stimulating potential to lower-end mass products. The effect builds over time, and as cue theories predict, interacts positively with past consumption, suggesting a reinforcing effect on consumption habits.

Federal Data for Conducting Patient-centered Outcomes Research on Economic Outcomes.

Patients are increasingly interested in data on the economic burdens and impacts of health care choices; caregivers, employers, and payers are also interested in these costs. Although there have been various federal investments into patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), an assessment of the coverage and gaps in federally funded data for PCOR economic evaluations has not been produced to date. To classify relevant categories of PCOR economic costs, to assess current federally funded data for coverage of these categories, and to identify gaps for future research and collection. A targeted internet search was conducted to identify a list of relevant outcomes and data sources. The study team assessed data sources for coverage of economic outcomes. A technical panel and key informant interviews were used for evaluation and feedback. Four types of formal health care sector costs, 3 types of informal health care sector costs, and 10 types of non-health care sector costs were identified as relevant for PCOR economic evaluations. Twenty-nine federally funded data sources were identified. Most contained elements on formal costs. Data on informal costs (eg, transportation) were less common, and non-health care sector costs (eg, productivity) were the least common. Most data sources were annual, cross-sectional, nationally representative individual-level surveys. The existing federal data infrastructure captures many areas of the economic burden of health and health care, but gaps remain. Research from multiple data sources and potential future integrations may offset gaps in individual data sources. Linkages are promising strategies for future research on patient-centered economic outcomes.

Geographic Information Systems in Archaeology: A Systematic Review

GIS are an essential element in archaeology. Their use has become widespread for their potential to store, reference, analyse and visualise spatial information. Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, a systematic review of academic peer-reviewed publications related to the use of GIS, as a framework, in archaeology has never been presented before. Our goal in this work is to identify what has been published so far in relation to using GIS in archaeology within a small selected sample. We used the PRISMA guideline to perform a systematic review of 671 publications that we identified using the SCOPUS database and the keywords ‘GIS’ and ‘archaeology’. The collected publications were screened, analysed, and categorized into different relevant categories. Our analysis shows that GIS, in our selected sample, are mostly used for visualization and information management tasks. Moreover, spatial analysis studies were more common than other studies, and theoretical publications are scarce. The lack of a theoretical background in GIS may be the cause of some of the problems related to GIS applications in archaeology.

Factors Influencing Information Sharing among Users of Online Communities: A Meta-Analysis

When discussing the question of what influences information sharing among users of online communities and the extent to which it is strong, researchers have come up with different views, which has hindered the development of online community research. This study compares the empirical studies of previous scholars and systematically analyses their influencing factors and strengths with the help of meta-analysis. Twenty-seven Chinese and English literatures were collected and analyzed to identify and code 15 significant factors influencing information sharing among online community users, and to test for heterogeneity and publication bias. The study found that the influencing factors could be divided into 6 external factors and 9 internal factors in two categories. 7 moderately correlated factors and 8 weakly correlated factors were also derived based on correlation coefficients. Of these, technical effectiveness and control had the greatest impact on information sharing among users of online communities, followed by perceived usefulness and information quality. External factors were mainly concentrated in the moderately relevant category. Theoretical and practical implications for community operations and managers are discussed in light of these findings

Transitar los intersticios: entendiendo procesos identitarios transnacionales desde el caso de una mujer inmigrante brasileña en Santiago

This paper discusses the subjective identity processes produced in the transnational migration experience through the concept of interstitial identities. To illustrate the uses of this concept, a case built from life stories, in-depth interviews, and photo stories is analyzed. Thus, Maria is identified, a skilled Brazilian immigrant in Santiago de Chile, who chooses to descend from the upper to low socioeconomic class in the destination country to construct herself as the subject of her history. In addition, it reflects on the processuality of their identities and on the identity negotiations that she establishes in the interstice between different cultural configurations she relates transnationally, in which gender and class are relevant categories. Finally, it is concluded that thinking about the migratory experience from interstitial identities does not allow to build identity typologies but to explore the articulations between subject and culture in migration.

How are health technology assessment bodies responding to the assessment challenges posed by cell and gene therapy?

BackgroundThe aims of this research were to provide a better understanding of the specific evidence needs for assessment of clinical and cost-effectiveness of cell and gene therapies, and to explore the extent that the relevant categories of evidence are considered in health technology assessment (HTA) processes.MethodsA targeted literature review was conducted to identify the specific categories of evidence relevant to the assessment of these therapies. Forty-six HTA reports for 9 products in 10 cell and gene therapy indications across 8 jurisdictions were analysed to determine the extent to which various items of evidence were considered.ResultsThe items to which the HTA bodies reacted positively were: treatment was for a rare disease or serious condition, lack of alternative therapies, evidence indicating substantial health gains, and when alternative payment models could be agreed. The items to which they reacted negatively were: use of unvalidated surrogate endpoints, single arm trials without an adequately matched alternative therapy, inadequate reporting of adverse consequences and risks, short length of follow-up in clinical trials, extrapolating to long-term outcomes, and uncertainty around the economic estimates.ConclusionsThe consideration by HTA bodies of evidence relating to the particular features of cell and gene therapies is variable. Several suggestions are made for addressing the assessment challenges posed by these therapies. Jurisdictions conducting HTAs of these therapies can consider whether these suggestions could be incorporated within their existing approach through strengthening deliberative decision-making or performing additional analyses.

Organizational policies as a means of sharing sports values among athletes: the role of social capital

PurposeSome sports organizations have a strategic objective of promoting human and social development through sports. However, it can be challenging to ensure that these objectives, conveyed by the board, are fully internalized by the athletes. From the perspective of inter-organizational networks, this dissemination can occur through strategic alignment and diffusion of social capital. Therefore, the authors wanted to analyze if organizational policies from sports organizations are related to athletes' perception of social capital and strategic alignment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a sequential mixed-method research. Firstly, a pilot study was conducted with two exploratory interviews with key informants from a sports organization, supported by documentary data from this organization. A thematic content analysis was carried out to identify relevant categories and subcategories to prepare a quantitative research instrument. In the second phase, a questionnaire was applied to 159 student-athletes from this organization. The collected data were analyzed by multiple linear regression.FindingsFrom the pilot study, a set of five elements of strategic alignment, and three elements of social capital in the sports organization context were provided. In the quantitative phase, the authors identified that social capital is related to athletes' perception of shared values internalization in a sports organization, but strategic systems were not.Practical implicationsSports managers could better promote internal policies if there is social capital among athletes rather than implementing top-down deployed communications.Social implicationsPolicymakers could better predict the effectiveness of a foment request by sports organizations considering not only strategic systems communication deployment but also the existence of social capital in a sports organization. It is a broader mechanism to understand the capacity of a sports organization in disseminating good values among their members.Originality/valueDifferent from traditional companies, in sports organizations, only social capital is related to the internalization of organizational policy by athletes rather than strategic alignment initiatives.

Review Symposium

Rhys Williams Geneviève Zubrzycki’s Resurrecting the Jew represents another step in the author’s continuing examination of religion and nationalism, particularly as the relationship manifests in material culture. It explores a struggle for national identity waged through a discursive field in which history, destiny, ethnicity, language, and religious culture come to form contested public imaginaries. I will briefly present the basic argument in Resurrecting the Jew, suggest a few questions, then yield the floor to Ruth Braunstein and Paul Lichterman. Geneviève Zubrzycki offers a rejoinder. As Benedict Anderson ([1983] 2006) noted, all nations are necessarily “imagined” communities; there are more people in the nation than anyone can possibly know, both across geographical space and across generations. To feel a national identity, people must imagine their similarities and connections. But how they are imagined, and what symbolic boundaries and socio-cultural practices mark out the relevant categories of belonging, varies greatly with decidedly different consequences. The symbolic power to articulate principles of division can be a form of Bourdieu’s (1993) “symbolic violence,” and hence the stakes are high.

Life Cycle Assessment of Black Soldier Fly, Yellow Mealworm and Soybean Protein for Use in Fish Feed

As the consumption of fish in the human diet increases, a larger amount of production is needed. The growing demand for fish also has an impact on fish feed, its production efficiency and the sustainability of using raw materials. To evaluate the sustainability of raw materials and the impact on the environment, three protein alternatives are compared – black soldier fly, yellow mealworm and soybean. Each alternative has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of black soldier fly and yellow mealworm are a valuable source of protein, sustainable growth (as feed can be used for food waste) and no need for arable land. Disadvantages of black soldier fly and yellow mealworm are price, an unbalanced diet can negatively affect growth, and nutritional value effect on the fish vary depending on fly or mealworm species. The advantages of soybeans are price, availability and high protein content, but the disadvantages are a lack of essential amino acids that affect the quality of fish and poor palatability. An LCA study has been carried out for the black soldier fly, yellow mealworm and soybean protein. From PEFCR most relevant impact categories are climate change, particulate matter, acidification, land use, eutrophication terrestrial and water use. The total single score value for black soldier fly protein is 1.43E+01 μPt, for yellow mealworm protein is 3.89E+02 μPt and for soybean protein is 9.72E+01 μPt. Large impact is from electricity consumption, used components for feed. Sensitivity analysis was performed for black soldier fly protein and yellow mealworm protein production, where feed composition was changed. In sensitivity analysis environmental impact is less from the new feed structure. The reason might be that the new feed structure has used food waste and wheat as feed ingredients.

The Plight of Athletic Training Graduates in a Third World Country: An Obscure and Unregulated Profession in Jamaica

Background: Sports treatment and rehabilitation in Jamaica appears to be a costly struggle for athletes of all ages, with very few facilities and specialists on the island. However, the introduction of the athletic training (AT) profession can bridge the gap in sports treatment and rehabilitation by creating a solid foundation for athletes, especially at the high school level. After 12 years of establishing the course of study in Jamaica, athletic trainers (ATs) are still not recognized and are unable to practice. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to highlight the aspirations of the athletic training profession in Jamaica. Methods: The study was conducted using an explanatory case study design that used an open-ended survey to collect data from AT graduates. A total of 20 participants were selected using a combined sampling method that utilized purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Google forms were used to create the open-ended questions and a content analysis method that utilized multi-analyst coding was used to establish relevant themes and categories from the responses. Results: The results of the study indicated that graduates are fnding it extremely difcult to get jobs as athletic trainers, due to the lack of awareness, promotion, and ambiguity of AT in Jamaica. Despite the challenges, graduates believed that a national AT association is crucial for seeking licensure and promoting awareness of the profession in Jamaica. Conclusion: If recognized, ATs can signifcantly help to boost sports treatment in Jamaica and contribute to greater sporting performances. Keywords: allied health professionals, athletic trainers, developing profession.

Artificial intelligence and remote patient monitoring in US healthcare market: a literature review

ABSTRACT Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) enables remote patient monitoring (RPM) which reduces costs by triaging patients to optimize hospitalization and avoid complications. The FDA regulates AI in medical devices and aims to ensure patient safety, effectiveness, and transparent AI solutions. Objectives: Identify and summarize FDA approved RPM devices to provide information for the US medical device industry based on previous approvals and the markets’ needs. Methods: We searched publicly available databases on FDA-approved RPM devices. Selection criteria were established to classify a solution as AI. Technical information was analyzed on pre-identified 16 parameters for the qualified solutions. Results: A total of 47 RPM devices were reviewed, among which 12.8% were classified as a De Novo product and the remaining devices fell under the 510(K) FDA category. The cardiovascular (74%) AI RPM solutions dominated the US market, followed by ECG-based arrhythmia detection algorithms (59.4%), and Hemodynamics and Vital Sign monitoring algorithms (21.9%). The trend observed in the FDA rejected devices was their inability to be classified into clinically relevant categories (Criteria 2 and 3). Conclusion: The market needs more innovative RPM solutions under the De Novo category, as there are very few. The transparency is low on the technical aspect of AI algorithms. The market needs AI algorithms that can effectively classify patients rather than merely improve device functionality.

Comparative Environmental Assessment of the Iron Fertilisers’ Production: Fe-Biochelate versus Fe-EDDHA

In response to tackling the environmental consequences of fertiliser production, biofertilisers from organic sources are strongly promoted in line with circular economy and maximising resource use. Despite the outstanding potential of bio-based fertilisers for the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, an environmental investigation of these fertilisers is required to replace synthesised fertilisers. Considering the importance of iron as a plant micronutrient and the scientific gap in the environmental assessment of relevant fertilisers, iron-based fertilisers produced in EU and US geographical zones are selected as a case study in this paper. Therefore, this study examines the environmental performance of two iron-based fertilisers (Fe-biochelate and Fe-EDDHA) by the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The LCA model has been implemented in Simapro software by the ecoinvent database and ReCipe 2016 method considering 1 kg iron content as a functional unit. The results revealed that the Fe-biochelate reduced impacts (69–82%) on all relevant categories, including global warming (69%), terrestrial ecotoxicity (82%), and fossil resource scarcity (77%) in comparison with Fe-EDDHA. Soymeal and acetic acid were the main stressors identified in Fe-biochelate production, while phenol, ethylenediamine and glyoxal were the most significant contributors to the impact categories related to Fe-EDDHA. As a result, Fe-biochelate can be considered a more eco-friendly alternative to Fe-EDDHA.

Artificial intelligence and healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually changing the landscape of medicine. With the advent of powerful computation and the availability of “big data,” the applications of AI in healthcare are expanding to realms, which were previously thought to be the domain of human intelligence. The applications of AI could be broadly classified into diagnostic and therapeutic categories. The diagnostic applications of AI include the procurement of specimens and interpretation of the findings. Similarly, novel AI algorithms are being applied to analyze retinal images and radiographs. Further, the algorithms could classify patients into clinically relevant categories and aid in decision making. The therapeutic applications of AI extend from prescribing medicines to performing robotic- and endoscope-assisted surgeries, with precision nearly as high as that of trained surgeons. Other applications of AI are predicting epidemics, developing drugs, and managing intensive care units (ICUs), to name a few. AI holds unprecedented potential to revolutionize patient care. The knowledge of AI applications can help clinicians and researchers appraise the current state of the utilization of AI in healthcare and may guide future research. In this article, the existing and upcoming applications of AI in healthcare are reviewed, with respect to various disciplines.

Adaptive coding of stimulus information in human frontoparietal cortex during visual classification

The neural mechanisms of how frontal and parietal brain regions support flexible adaptation of behavior remain poorly understood. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and representational similarity analysis (RSA) to investigate frontoparietal representations of stimulus information during visual classification under varying task demands. Based on prior research, we predicted that increasing perceptual task difficulty should lead to adaptive changes in stimulus coding: task-relevant category information should be stronger, while task-irrelevant exemplar-level stimulus information should become weaker, reflecting a focus on the behaviorally relevant category information. Counter to our expectations, however, we found no evidence for adaptive changes in category coding. We did find weakened coding at the exemplar-level within categories however, demonstrating that task-irrelevant information is de-emphasized in frontoparietal cortex. These findings reveal adaptive coding of stimulus information at the exemplar-level, highlighting how frontoparietal regions might support behavior even under challenging conditions.

Improving university competitiveness and quality education through Human Resource Development in the digital era

In its quest for quality education, Higher Education Institutions (HEI) ascribed to the UN's SDG 4 Quality Education in ensuring that inclusive and equitable quality education will promote lifelong learning and opportunities for all. The critical role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in building teaching skills, fostering knowledge, and engagement with society are significant factors in developing its human resources, particularly, the faculty. The benefits and challenges brought about by Industry 4.0 drive the universities to integrate quality education into their mission of promoting positive change, lifelong learning, and competitiveness. The study utilized qualitative and descriptive design to probe the variabilities and similarities of Human Resource Development strategies, quality education initiatives, and university competitiveness of HEIs in Bandung and Manila. Thematic analysis was carried out to produce more conclusive results. The researchers applied a data condensation process to form a perceived relevant category and a theme was created based on strategies and competitiveness. The significant result shows a deficit in the strategy to target specific faculty KSAs in the personal development in-service programs instituted by the HEIs in Manila. Remarkable are the many organizational strategies employed by both cities that yields quality education indicator (management) particularly the essential role of the HEI in instituting policies for faculty’s wholistic development. Results on competitiveness denote compliance to most functional capacities of both cities as a valuable means of mobility as the education workers meet the demands of their job. Moreover, the strong partnership with local and international agencies solidifies various developmental programs and the social relevance of the university. The study recommends further study on the impact of the educational global ranking system in the retention of human resources and employment of graduates.

Holistic rehabilitation of cochlear implant users: using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

BackgroundThe purpose of this article is to propose how the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), particularly the ICF core sets for hearing loss, can be used to plan and evaluate the holistic (re)habilitation of cochlear implant recipients.Material and methodsThe opinions of HearRing experts were gathered on what – based on their clinical experience – are the most relevant ICF categories and codes to describe audiological rehabilitation after cochlear implantation. For each ICF category, the most commonly used audiological assessment tools and methods were identified.ResultsThe most relevant codes for <i>Body functions and structures</i>, <i>Activities and Participation</i> as well as <i>Environmental factors were identified</i>. These were the following. <i>Body structures</i>: structure of the inner ear (s260), auditory nerve (s260), brainstem (s1105), midbrain (s1101), diencephalon (s1102), and cortical lobe (s110). <i>Hearing functions</i>: sound detection (b2300), sound discrimination (b2301), localization of sound source (b2302), lateralization of sound (b2303), and speech discrimination (b2304). <i>Activities and participation</i>: listening (d115); communicating with (receiving) spoken messages (d310); handling stress and other psychological demands (d240); using communication devices and techniques (d360); conversation (d350); family relationships (d760); school education (d820); paid employment (d850); and community life (d910). <i>Environmental factors</i>: sounds (e250), products and technology for communication (e125), immediate family (e310), attitudes of immediate family members (e410), societal attitudes (e460), health professionals (e355), and health services, systems, and policies (e580).ConclusionsUsing the ICF can help target the holistic (re)habilitation of cochlear implant recipients. By providing a common language, it can enable clearer communication across disciplines, and closer comparison between different studies, which is essential for meta-analyses.

A Generic Approach towards Enhancing Utility and Privacy in Person-Specific Data Publishing Based on Attribute Usefulness and Uncertainty

This paper proposes a generic anonymization approach for person-specific data, which retains more information for data mining and analytical purposes while providing considerable privacy. The proposed approach takes into account the usefulness and uncertainty of attributes while anonymizing the data to significantly enhance data utility. We devised a method for determining the usefulness weight for each attribute item in a dataset, rather than manually deciding (or assuming based on domain knowledge) that a certain attribute might be more useful than another. We employed an information theory concept for measuring the uncertainty regarding sensitive attribute’s value in equivalence classes to prevent unnecessary generalization of data. A flexible generalization scheme that simultaneously considers both attribute usefulness and uncertainty is suggested to anonymize person-specific data. The proposed methodology involves six steps: primitive analysis of the dataset, such as analyzing attribute availability in the data, arranging the attributes into relevant categories, and sophisticated pre-processing, computing usefulness weights of attributes, ranking users based on similarities, computing uncertainty in sensitive attributes (SAs), and flexible data generalization. Our methodology offers the advantage of retaining higher truthfulness in data without losing guarantees of privacy. Experimental analysis on two real-life benchmark datasets with varying scales, and comparisons with prior state-of-the-art methods, demonstrate the potency of our anonymization approach. Specifically, our approach yielded better performance on three metrics, namely accuracy, information loss, and disclosure risk. The accuracy and information loss were improved by restraining heavier anonymization of data, and disclosure risk was improved by preserving higher uncertainty in the SA column. Lastly, our approach is generic and can be applied to any real-world person-specific tabular datasets encompassing both demographics and SAs of individuals.

Socio-Professional Group of IT Specialists: Conceptualization of the Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of the Study

Introduction. For sociology, it is important to understand the content and forms of integration of IT specialists as one of the types of social associations. Such an analysis is important to carry out since the interpretation and content characteristics of this community subsequently guide all other elements of the strategy of theoretical and empirical research. In particular, it is relevant to identify: in what capacity of a “professional community” or “professional group” IT specialists act as a real social phenomenon.Methodology and sources. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of IT specialists involved identifying the nature and forms of their social integration: as socioprofessional groups, or as socio-professional communities. Based on the analysis of the fundamental provisions of foreign and Russian sociologists F. Tennis, J. Shchepansky, R. Merton, K. Manheim, T.M. Mills, P.A. Sorokin, V.A. Yadov, and many others, the differences in the understanding of “community” and “group” are revealed as a reflection of the special essential characteristics of these forms of integration.Results and discussion. The results of the analysis of statistical data show that the concept of a social group is used much more often than the concept of community in characterizing integration processes; this is a more relevant category for modern research. The results confirm the significant connection between the concept of “group” and the concepts of “values”, “common goal”, and “professional”. Exploring the numerous features of IT specialists, such as self-education, the desire to organize training based on introspection, significant differences from other specialists in the system of professions “human-sign system”, such as erudition and logical thinking, mastering mathematics, English language, the Internet as necessary starting conditions for entering the profession, the authors use the definition of a professional or social group.Conclusion. IT professionals should be considered a special socio-professional group with all the signs of such social integration. IT professionals operate in today's multidimensional social space. As a social group, IT specialists are united by the presence of a common feature – activities in a special environment – in the information and digital space, common social values.