Yielding to desire: the durability of affective preferences.

People's expectations about the future are guided not just by the contingencies of situations but also by what they hope or wish will happen next. These preferences can inform predictions that run counter to what should or must occur based on the logic of unfolding events. Effects of this type have been regularly identified in studies of judgment and decision making, with individuals' choices often reflecting emotional rather than rational influences.

Pilgrims sailing the Titanic: plausibility effects on memory for misinformation.

People rely on information they read even when it is inaccurate (Marsh, Meade, & Roediger, Journal of Memory and Language 49:519-536, 2003), but how ubiquitous is this phenomenon? In two experiments, we investigated whether this tendency to encode and rely on inaccuracies from text might be influenced by the plausibility of misinformation. In Experiment 1, we presented stories containing inaccurate plausible statements (e.g.

Management and control of varicella on cruise ships: a collaborative approach to promoting public health.

Background: In most years varicella is the vaccine-preventable disease most frequently reported to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by cruise ships. Since 2005, CDC has received numerous isolated case reports of varicella among crew members and has investigated varicella outbreaks aboard vessels sailing into and from US seaports.

Methods: CDC investigators reviewed electronic varicella case reports from 2005 to 2009 and outbreak reports from 2009 to characterize the response and control efforts implemented by cruise ships in accordance with CDC protocols.

Anticipating who will say what: the influence of speaker-specific memory associations on reference resolution.

Some accounts of common ground assume that successful communication requires detailed consideration of others' knowledge. In two studies, we provide evidence for an alternative account that views common ground as being mediated in part through domain-general memory mechanisms. On each trial, participants heard prerecorded instructions from one of two speakers indicating which of two displayed pictures to select.

Readability of skin cancer prevention brochures targeting parents of young children.

Long-term exposure to UV radiation and severe sunburns increase one's risk of experiencing malignant melanoma later in life, so parents need to be informed about how to protect children from overexposure to the sun. We attempted to determine readability of skin cancer brochures targeted toward parents of young children. SMOG and FOG readability formulas were applied to 8 brochures published by the American Cancer Society, Skin Cancer Foundation, American Academy of Dermatology, and the Anti-Cancer Council.

Falciparum malaria in a displaced Haitian population.

Falciparum malaria was a major problem among displaced Haitians in temporary camps at the US Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From December 1991 to March 1992, 235 cases of unmixed falciparum malaria were diagnosed in the laboratory, giving a cumulative attack rate of 160 per 10 000 camp residents. All cases were successfully treated with oral chloroquine.

An outbreak of Bacillus cereus food poisoning--are caterers supervised sufficiently.

Bacillus cereus is an uncommonly reported cause of foodborne illness in the United States. In May 1989, an outbreak of B. cereus gastroenteritis occurred among 140 guests who had attended a catered wedding reception in Napa, CA.

Risk factors associated with a school-related outbreak of serogroup C meningococcal disease.

An outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis sero-group C disease occurred in four eighth grade students and in a younger sibling of another eighth grade student attending an intermediate school (seventh and eighth grades) in Santa Clara County, CA. Four cases had onset within 3 days in January, 1989, with the fifth case occurring approximately 10 days later. A case-control study was performed to determine risk factors associated with serogroup C meningococcal infection (disease or carriage) in this eighth grade class.