For some influencers, dropping F-bombs and other swear words is part of their brand, and their followers embrace it. But new research from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin suggests most creators might think twice about using profanity. The reason: On average, it reduces user engagement.

Black and African American adults are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at higher rates than non-Hispanic white adults and face higher rates of serious complications. Dr. Tyler Prochnow, associate professor in the School of Public Health, said understanding what happens after diagnosis is an important part of addressing those disparities.

In two related studies drawing on a national survey of 1,225 Black and African American men with Type 2 diabetes, Prochnow and his colleagues examined how social networks relate to diabetes outcomes and how experiences of discrimination are associated with communication, mental health and self-care. The studies were published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and Social Science & Medicine.

The findings suggest that diabetes-specific conversations are strongly associated with self-care behaviors, but men reporting more healthcare discrimination also reported talking less about their diabetes, despite communicating more frequently with people in their social networks overall.

Over the past 50 years, Canadian English has become more uniform across regions and has adopted many American terms and pronunciations, while the use of Canadian spellings has gained in popularity. These are the key results of a large-scale study by McGill researchers to update the Survey of Canadian English, initially done in 1972.