Impact of ambient sound on risk perception in humans: neuroeconomic investigations.

Research in the field of multisensory perception shows that what we hear can influence what we see in a wide range of perceptual tasks. It is however unknown whether this extends to the visual perception of risk, despite the importance of the question in many applied domains where properly assessing risk is crucial, starting with financial trading. To fill this knowledge gap, we ran interviews with professional traders and conducted three laboratory studies using judgments of financial asset risk as a testbed.

Hospital and ICU patient volume per physician at peak of COVID pandemic: State-level estimates.

Background: In anticipation of patient surge due to COVID-19, many states are working to increase the available healthcare workforce. To help inform state policies and initiatives aimed at physician deployment during COVID-19, we used predictions of peak patient volume for hospitals and intensive care units (ICU) and regional physician workforce estimates to measure patient to physician ratios at the peak of the pandemic for each state.

Methods: We estimated the number of potentially available physicians based on Medicare Part B billings for the care of hospitalized and critically ill patients in 2017, adjusted for attrition due to exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and relevant experience.

Relaxing household liquidity constraints through social security.

More than a quarter of working-age households in the United States do not have sufficient savings to cover their expenditures after a month of unemployment. Recent proposals suggest giving workers early access to a small portion of their future Social Security benefits to finance their consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. We empirically analyze their impact.

Patient Characteristics and Outcomes of Nonmetastatic Breast Cancer in Haiti: Results from a Retrospective Cohort.

Background: There are few studies on breast cancer outcomes in the Caribbean region. This study identified a retrospective cohort of female patients with nonmetastatic breast cancer in Haiti and conducted survival analyses to identify prognostic factors that may affect patient outcomes.

Methods: The cohort included 341 patients presenting between June 2012 and December 2016.

Private Equity Acquisitions of Physician Medical Groups Across Specialties, 2013-2016.

This study characterizes practice characteristics and specialties of physicians and medical groups acquired by private equity firms between 2013 and 2016.

Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials.

The capacity to infer others' mental states (known as 'mind reading' and 'cognitive empathy') is essential for social interactions across species, and its impairment characterizes psychopathological conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. Previous studies reported that testosterone administration impaired cognitive empathy in healthy humans, and that a putative biomarker of prenatal testosterone exposure (finger digit ratios) moderated the effect. However, empirical support for the relationship has relied on small sample studies with mixed evidence.

Effect of Different Financial Incentive Structures on Promoting Physical Activity Among Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Few adults engage in recommended levels of physical activity. Financial incentives can promote physical activity, but little is known about how the structure of these incentives influences their effectiveness (eg, how incentives are disbursed over time).

Objective: To determine if it is more effective to disburse fixed total financial incentives at a constant, increasing, or decreasing rate to encourage physical activity.

Beyond Willpower: Strategies for Reducing Failures of Self-Control.

Almost everyone struggles to act in their individual and collective best interests, particularly when doing so requires forgoing a more immediately enjoyable alternative. Other than exhorting decision makers to "do the right thing," what can policymakers do to reduce overeating, undersaving, procrastination, and other self-defeating behaviors that feel good now but generate larger delayed costs? In this review, we synthesize contemporary research on approaches to reducing failures of self-control. We distinguish between self-deployed and other-deployed strategies and, in addition, between situational and cognitive intervention targets.

Time Discounting and Economic Decision-making in the Older Population.

This paper examines heterogeneity in time discounting among a representative sample of elderly Americans, as well as its role in explaining key economic behaviors at older ages. We show how older Americans evaluate simple (hypothetical) inter-temporal choices in which payments today are compared with payments in the future. Using the indicators derived from this measure, we then demonstrate that differences in discounting patterns are associated with characteristics of particular importance in elderly populations.

Financial Fraud Among Older Americans: Evidence and Implications.

Objectives: The consequences of poor financial capability at older ages are serious and include making mistakes with credit, spending retirement assets too quickly, and being defrauded by financial predators. Because older persons are at or past the peak of their wealth accumulation, they are often the targets of fraud.

Methods: Our project analyzes a module we developed and fielded on people aged 50 an older years in the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Single-dose testosterone administration increases men's preference for status goods.

In modern human cultures where social hierarchies are ubiquitous, people typically signal their hierarchical position through consumption of positional goods-goods that convey one's social position, such as luxury products. Building on animal research and early correlational human studies linking the sex steroid hormone testosterone with hierarchical social interactions, we investigate the influence of testosterone on men's preferences for positional goods. Using a placebo-controlled experiment (N = 243) to measure individuals' desire for status brands and products, we find that administering testosterone increases men's preference for status brands, compared to brands of similar perceived quality but lower perceived status.

Musical Preferences Predict Personality: Evidence From Active Listening and Facebook Likes.

Research over the past decade has shown that various personality traits are communicated through musical preferences. One limitation of that research is external validity, as most studies have assessed individual differences in musical preferences using self-reports of music-genre preferences. Are personality traits communicated through behavioral manifestations of musical preferences? We addressed this question in two large-scale online studies with demographically diverse populations.

The effect of increased intracranial EEG sampling rates in clinical practice.

Objective: Recent research suggests that high frequency intracranial EEG (iEEG) may improve localization of epileptic networks. This study aims to determine whether recording macroelectrode iEEG with higher sampling rates improves seizure localization in clinical practice.

Methods: 14 iEEG seizures from 10 patients recorded with >2000 Hz sampling rate were downsampled to four sampling rates: 100, 200, 500, 1000 Hz.

Single-Dose Testosterone Administration Impairs Cognitive Reflection in Men.

In nonhumans, the sex steroid testosterone regulates reproductive behaviors such as fighting between males and mating. In humans, correlational studies have linked testosterone with aggression and disorders associated with poor impulse control, but the neuropsychological processes at work are poorly understood. Building on a dual-process framework, we propose a mechanism underlying testosterone's behavioral effects in humans: reduction in cognitive reflection.

Hospitals Known for Nursing Excellence Perform Better on Value Based Purchasing Measures.

It is well-established that hospitals recognized for good nursing care - Magnet hospitals - are associated with better patient outcomes. Less is known about how Magnet hospitals compare to non-Magnets on quality measures linked to Medicare reimbursement. The purpose of this study was to determine how Magnet hospitals perform compared to matched non-Magnet hospitals on Hospital Value Based Purchasing (VBP) measures.

The Questionable Economic Case for Value-Based Drug Pricing in Market Health Systems.

This article investigates the economic theory and interpretation of the concept of "value-based pricing" for new breakthrough drugs with no close substitutes in a context (such as the United States) in which a drug firm with market power sells its product to various buyers. The interpretation is different from that in a country that evaluates medicines for a single public health insurance plan or a set of heavily regulated plans. It is shown that there will not ordinarily be a single value-based price but rather a schedule of prices with different volumes of buyers at each price.

The commercialization of genome-editing technologies.

The emergence of new gene-editing technologies is profoundly transforming human therapeutics, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology. Advances in clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) have created a fertile environment for mass-scale manufacturing of cost-effective products ranging from basic research to translational medicine. In our analyses, we evaluated the patent landscape of gene-editing technologies and found that in comparison to earlier gene-editing techniques, CRISPR has gained significant traction and this has established dominance.

Optimal experimental designs for estimating Henry's law constants via the method of phase ratio variation.

When measuring Henry's law constants (k) using the phase ratio variation (PRV) method via headspace gas chromatography (G), the value of k of the compound under investigation is calculated from the ratio of the slope to the intercept of a linear regression of the inverse G response versus the ratio of gas to liquid volumes of a series of vials drawn from the same parent solution. Thus, an experimenter collects measurements consisting of the independent variable (the gas/liquid volume ratio) and dependent variable (the G peak area). A review of the literature found that the common design is a simple uniform spacing of liquid volumes.

Race or Resource? BMI, Race, and Other Social Factors as Risk Factors for Interlimb Differences among Overweight Breast Cancer Survivors with Lymphedema.

Introduction. High BMI is a risk factor for upper body breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) onset. Black cancer survivors are more likely to have high BMI than White cancer survivors.

Quantifying Gains in the War on Cancer Due to Improved Treatment and Earlier Detection.

Introduction: There have been significant improvements in both treatment and screening efforts for many types of cancer over the past decade. However, the effect of these advancements on the survival of cancer patients is unknown, and many question the value of both new treatments and screening efforts.

Methods: This study uses a retrospective analysis of SEER Registry data to quantify reductions in mortality rates for cancer patients diagnosed between 1997 and 2007.

Biologic therapy adherence, discontinuation, switching, and restarting among patients with psoriasis in the US Medicare population.

Background: Studies indicate adherence to biologics among patients with psoriasis is low, yet little is known about their use in the Medicare population.

Objective: We sought to investigate real-world utilization patterns in a national sample of Medicare beneficiaries with psoriasis initiating infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, or ustekinumab.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective claims analysis using 2009 through 2012 100% Medicare Chronic Condition Data Warehouse Part A, B, and D files, with 12-month follow-up after index prescription.

Improving Exercise Adherence and Physical Measures in English-Speaking Latina Women.

Background: Epidemiological data have established that lack of physical activity increases risk factors for chronic diseases. Data also suggests that physical activity participation is lowest in minority women, particularly Latinas, and that the nature of the exercise and attitudes toward exercise may influence exercise adherence. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hypertrophy training (HT) or power training (PT) used concomitantly with evaluative conditioning (EC) or neutral conditioning (NC) on exercise adherence as well as in physical and psychosocial variables in Latina women.

The Empirical Distribution of a Large Number of Correlated Normal Variables.

Motivated by the advent of high dimensional highly correlated data, this work studies the limit behavior of the empirical cumulative distribution function (ecdf) of standard normal random variables under arbitrary correlation. First, we provide a necessary and sufficient condition for convergence of the ecdf to the standard normal distribution. Next, under general correlation, we show that the ecdf limit is a random, possible infinite, mixture of normal distribution functions that depends on a number of latent variables and can serve as an asymptotic approximation to the ecdf in high dimensions.