Are distributional preferences for safety stable? A longitudinal analysis before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Policy makers aim to respect public preferences when making trade-offs between policies, yet most estimates of the value of safety neglect individuals' preferences over how safety is distributed. Incorporating these preferences into policy first requires measuring them. Arroyos-Calvera et al.

Chemosensory continuity from prenatal to postnatal life in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Throughout pregnancy, fetuses are exposed to a range of chemosensory inputs influencing their postnatal behaviors. Such prenatal exposure provides the fetus with continuous sensory information to adapt to the environment they face once born. This study aimed to assess the chemosensory continuity through a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing evidence on chemosensory continuity from prenatal to first postnatal year.

Flavor Sensing in Utero and Emerging Discriminative Behaviors in the Human Fetus.

The diet of pregnant women exposes fetuses to a variety of flavors consisting of compound sensations involving smell, taste, and chemesthesis. The effects of such prenatal flavor exposure on chemosensory development have so far been measured only postnatally in human infants. Here, we report the first direct evidence of human fetal responsiveness to flavors transferred via maternal consumption of a single-dose capsule by measuring frame-by-frame fetal facial movements.

Foetal mouth movements: Effects of nicotine.

Aim: To assess whether foetal mouth movement frequency changes across gestation and whether there are differences between cigarette and e-cigarette exposure conditions in comparison to a non-exposed group of foetuses.

Method: Pregnant women underwent 4-dimensional (4D) foetal ultrasound scans at 32 weeks (106 scans) and 36 weeks of gestational age (87 scans) at James Cook University Hospital, UK. The 4D scans were coded using the Fetal Observable Movement System (FOMS).

The Predictive Utility of Reward-Based Motives Underlying Excessive and Problematic Social Networking Site Use.

Compulsive seeking of reward is a hallmark feature of drug addiction, but the role of reward is less well understood in behavioural addictions. The present study investigated the predictive utility of ten reward-based motives, which we identified in the literature, in explaining excessive and problematic use of social networking sites (SNSs). These motives were examined in a cross-sectional survey of 411 young adults, revealing that prolonged use and excessive checking were predicted by distinctly different motives.

Risk perception of cigarette and e-cigarette use during pregnancy: A qualitative postpartum perspective.

Aim: The aim of this exploratory qualitative analysis is to assess the perceptions of risks of cigarette and e-cigarette use during pregnancy.

Background: An important public health aim is a reduction of smoking at time of delivery (SATOD) from 10.6% to less than 6% by 2022 in the United Kingdom (UK).

The effects of prenatal cigarette and e-cigarette exposure on infant neurobehaviour: A comparison to a control group.

Background: Infant neurobehaviour provides an insight into the development of the central nervous system during infancy, with behavioural abnormalities highlighting a cause for concern. Research has demonstrated that prenatal exposure to cigarettes leads to deficits within neurobehavioural development, along with negative birth outcomes detrimental to subsequent development. With the growing use of e-cigarettes amongst pregnant women, this study explores how prenatal e-cigarette exposure compares to prenatal cigarette exposure.

Infant neurobehavioural consequences of prenatal cigarette exposure: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: Prenatal exposure to cigarettes leads to alterations in brain development during pregnancy. This has an impact on postnatal psychological and behavioural processes, affecting an infant's neurobehavioural profile with little known about which aspects are affected. The evidence was synthesised to assess the effects of prenatal cigarette smoke exposure on neurobehavioural outcomes within the first year of life.

Factors motivating the use of respiratory protection against volcanic ashfall: A comparative analysis of communities in Japan, Indonesia and Mexico.

Communities living near active volcanoes may be exposed to respiratory hazards from volcanic ash. Understanding their perception of the risks and the actions they take to mitigate against those risks is important for developing effective communication strategies. To investigate this issue, the first comparative study of risk perceptions and use of respiratory protection was conducted on 2003 residents affected by active volcanoes from three countries: Japan (Sakurajima volcano), Indonesia (Merapi and Kelud volcanoes) and Mexico (Popocatépetl volcano).

The efficiency-equity trade-off, self-interest, and moral principles in health and safety valuation.

Policy makers try to take account of public preferences when making trade-offs between policy options. Yet most estimates of the value of health and safety reflect only individuals' self-interested preferences, neglecting their preferences over the distribution of public resources. We conduct an experiment in which participants choose between policy options that differ in their efficiency (expected number of fatalities or cases of ill health they would prevent) and their equity (defined in terms of the balance of risk reductions for different sections of the population).

Do time trade-off values fully capture attitudes that are relevant to health-related choices?

Previous research has shown that demographics, beliefs, and self-reported own health influence TTO values. Our hypothesis is that attitudes towards length and quality of life influence TTO values, but should no longer affect a set of related choices that are based on respondents' own TTO scores. A representative sample of 1339 respondents was asked their level of agreement to four statements relating to the importance of quality and length of life.

Short Communication: Health Interventions in Volcanic Eruptions-Community Wearability Assessment of Respiratory Protection against Volcanic Ash from Mt Sinabung, Indonesia.

Inhalation of ash can be of great concern for affected communities, during and after volcanic eruptions. Governmental and humanitarian agencies recommend and distribute a variety of respiratory protection (RP), commonly surgical masks but, also, industry-certified N95-style masks. However, there is currently no evidence on how wearable they are within affected populations or how protective wearers perceive them being against volcanic ash (which will influence the likelihood of uptake of recommended interventions).

Pro-ana versus Pro-recovery: A Content Analytic Comparison of Social Media Users' Communication about Eating Disorders on Twitter and Tumblr.

To compare how people communicate about eating disorders on two popular social media platforms - Twitter and Tumblr. Thematic analysis was conducted to characterize the types of communications posted, and a content analysis was undertaken of between-platform differences. Three types of content (pro-ana, anti-ana, and pro-recovery) were posted on each platform.

Exploring Differences between TTO and DCE in the Valuation of Health States.

There is recent interest in using discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to derive health state utility values, and results can differ from time tradeoff (TTO). Clearly, DCE is "choice based," whereas TTO is generally considered a "matching" task. We explore whether procedural adaptations to the TTO, which make the method more closely resemble a DCE, make TTO and choice converge.

A synthesis of meta-analytic evidence of behavioral interventions to reduce HIV/STIs.

To identify the mode of delivery, communicator, and content dimensions that make STI/HIV prevention interventions most successful at increasing condom use/protected sex or reducing STI/HIV incidence. A literature search for published meta-analyses of STI/HIV prevention interventions yielded 37 meta-analyses that had statistically tested the moderating effects of the dimensions. Significant and non-significant moderators from the coded dimensions were extracted from each meta-analysis.

Theory of planned behavior interventions for reducing heterosexual risk behaviors: A meta-analysis.

Objective: The meta-analysis reported here examined interventions informed by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) or theory of reasoned action (TRA) aimed at reducing heterosexual risk behaviors (prevention of STDs and unwanted pregnancy).

Methods: Studies were eligible for inclusion if they were either randomized control trials or quasi-experimental studies that compared the TPB-based intervention against a control group. Search strategy consisted of articles identified in previous reviews, keyword search through search engines, examination of key journals, and contacting key experts.

An exploratory investigation of barriers and enablers affecting investment in renewable companies and technologies in the UK.

The last few years have seen considerable research expenditure on renewable fuel technologies. However, in many cases, the necessary sustained and long-term funding from the investment community has not been realized at a level needed to allow technologies to become reality. According to global consulting firm Deloitte's recent renewable energy report (http://www.

Past and future implications of near-misses and their emotional consequences.

The Reflection and Evaluation Model (REM) of comparative thinking predicts that temporal perspective could moderate people's emotional reactions to close counterfactuals following near-misses (Markman & McMullen, 2003). The experiments reported in this paper tested predictions derived from this theory by examining how people's emotional reactions to a near-miss at goal during a football match (Experiment 1) or a close score in a TV game show (Experiment 2) depended on the level of perceived future possibility. In support of the theory it was found that the presence of future possibility enhanced affective assimilation (e.

Family and friends' fears of recurrence: impact on the patient's recovery after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Object: Patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and their close friends and family may be excessively fearful that the patient will have a recurrence, and such fears could play a critical role in the poor recovery shown by many patients The authors examined whether these fears could account for significant variance in psychosocial outcomes.

Methods: The authors prospectively studied a sample of 69 patients with SAH alongside their spouse, other family member, and/or close friend identified as their significant other (SO). The patient/SO pairs were assessed at 13 months postictus for their fears of recurrence and for health-related quality of life on the 8 domains of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey.

The role of dispositional factors in moderating message framing effects.

Objective: Health messages can be framed in terms of the benefits of adopting a recommendation (gain frame) or the costs of not adopting a recommendation (loss frame). In recent years, research has demonstrated that the relative persuasiveness of gain and loss frames can depend on a variety of dispositional factors. This article synthesizes this growing literature to develop our understanding of the moderators of framing.

The effects of absolute risks, relative risks, frequencies, and probabilities on decision quality.

It is important to understand how the quality of people's decision making may be affected by the format used to present treatment benefits. Two experiments compared the accuracy of presenting the benefits of cancer screening tests or vaccines using either absolute or relative risk formats that included baseline risk information. Moreover, the absolute and/or baseline risks were presented using either natural frequencies or probabilities.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage patients' fears of recurrence are related to the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients illustrate a chronic fear of recurrence. A third of patients develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after SAH, and PTSD after other conditions is associated with a more negative outlook on life.

Objective: We examined whether recurrence fears are related to PTSD and whether this is associated with the patients making more negative health appraisals.

A meta-analysis of the effects of presenting treatment benefits in different formats.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of presenting treatment benefits in different formats on the decisions of both patients and health professionals. Three formats were investigated: relative risk reductions, absolute risk reductions, and number needed to treat or screen.

Methods: A systematic review of the published literature was conducted.

How common is the 'prominence effect'? Additional evidence to Whynes et al.

In a recent issue of Health Economics Letters, Whynes et al. report an observation not previously reported in the willingness-to-pay (WTP) literature; that when people are asked to provide an estimate using payment scales they tend to disproportionately select prominent values (that is, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, etc.).

Are people unrealistically optimistic? It depends how you ask them.

Objective: The present study investigated the extent to which direct (D) and indirect (ID) measures of unrealistic optimism truly capture people's beliefs about their comparative risk status.

Methods: Respondents (N = 425) were contacted in a general population survey. The D measure required respondents to estimate whether their personal chance of contracting an illness was above/below the average for people of the same age/gender.