Sunlight and Protection Against Influenza.

Recent medical literature suggests that vitamin D supplementation protects against acute respiratory tract infection. Humans exposed to sunlight produce vitamin D directly. This paper investigates how differences in sunlight, as measured over several years across states and during the same calendar week, affect influenza incidence.

Recollection Bias and Its Underpinnings: Lessons from Terrorism Risk Assessments.

Recollection bias is the phenomenon whereby people who observe a highly unexpected event hold current risk beliefs about a similar event that are no higher than their recollection of their prior beliefs. This article replicates and extends the authors' previous study of recollection bias in relation to individuals' perceptions of the risks of terrorism attacks. Over 60% of respondents in a national U.

Better predictions, better allocations: scientific advances and adaptation to climate change.

Climate science initially aspired to improve understanding of what the future would bring, and thereby produce appropriate public policies and effective international climate agreements. If that hope is dashed, as now seems probable, effective policies for adapting to climate change become critical. Climate science assumes new responsibilities by helping to foster more appropriate adaptation measures, which might include shifting modes or locales of production.

Climate sensitivity uncertainty: when is good news bad?

Climate change is real and dangerous. Exactly how bad it will get, however, is uncertain. Uncertainty is particularly relevant for estimates of one of the key parameters: equilibrium climate sensitivity--how eventual temperatures will react as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations double.

The relative weights of direct and indirect experiences in the formation of environmental risk beliefs.

Direct experiences, we find, influence environmental risk beliefs more than the indirect experiences derived from outcomes to others. This disparity could have a rational basis. Or it could be based on behavioral proclivities in accord with the well-established availability heuristic or the vested-interest heuristic, which we introduce in this article.

Social Class and (Un)Ethical Behavior: A Framework, With Evidence From a Large Population Sample.

Differences in ethical behavior between members of the upper and lower classes have been at the center of civic debates in recent years. In this article, we present a framework for understanding how class affects ethical standards and behaviors. We apply the framework using data from a large Dutch population sample.

The global challenge of antimicrobial resistance: insights from economic analysis.

The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AR) limits the therapeutic options for treatment of infections, and increases the social benefit from disease prevention. Like an environmental resource, antimicrobials require stewardship. The effectiveness of an antimicrobial agent is a global public good.

Predictors of patient preferences and treatment choices for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Little is known regarding how patients select treatment for localized prostate cancer. This study examined determinants of patients' preferences for health states related to prostate cancer, and assessed whether preferences and/or other factors predict treatment choices.

Methods: A survey of 167 patients with newly diagnosed localized prostate cancer was conducted in 4 academic medical practices from 2004 to 2007.

Custom-made versus ready-to-wear treatments: behavioral propensities in physicians' choices.

To customize treatments to individual patients entails costs of coordination and cognition. Thus, providers sometimes choose treatments based on norms for broad classes of patients. We develop behavioral hypotheses explaining when and why doctors customize to the particular patient, and when instead they employ "ready-to-wear" treatments.

Decision analysis using individual patient preferences to determine optimal treatment for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Selecting treatment for clinically localized prostate cancer remains an ongoing challenge. Previous decision analyses focused on a hypothetical patient with average preferences, but preferences differ for clinically similar patients, implying that their optimal therapies may also differ.

Methods: A decision model was constructed comparing 4 treatments for localized prostate cancer: 1) radical prostatectomy (RP); 2) external beam radiation (EB); 3) brachytherapy (BT); and 4) watchful waiting (WW).

Antibiotic resistance as a global threat: evidence from China, Kuwait and the United States.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is an under-appreciated threat to public health in nations around the globe. With globalization booming, it is important to understand international patterns of resistance. If countries already experience similar patterns of resistance, it may be too late to worry about international spread.