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Tests predictions from a cognitive heuristics approach and a nonverbal expectancy violations approach concerning deception attribution directed toward a message source. Shows that the reward value of a message source can function as a heuristic cue and influence attributions of deceptions; however, this effect is apparently limited to low-reward message sources who are violating nonverbal expectancies. (SR)

Arenaviruses associated with rodents are known to cause fatal hemorrhagic fevers in humans in South America and West Africa. We describe a nosocomial outbreak of infection with a novel arenavirus [...]

OBJECTIVE. To examine uptake of varicella vaccine, a live attenuated vaccine licensed in 1995 and recommended in 1996 for routine vaccination of US children 12 to 18 months of age. METHODS. Data were for 178 616 children (19-35 months of age) and were collected in the 1997 to 2004 National Immunization Survey. The main outcome measures were estimated varicella vaccine coverage from 1997 to 2004, coverage among susceptible children (ie, those without a history of varicella disease), racial/ethnic disparities, risk factors for nonvaccination, missed opportunities to vaccinate simultaneously with other recommended vaccines, and projected increases in coverage after elimination of missed opportunities for simultaneous vaccination. RESULTS. Varicella vaccine coverage rates increased from 26% in 1997 to 87% in 2004. State-specific coverage rates increased 44 to 80 percentage points and were >80% in 42 states and >90% in 13 states by 2004. Coverage among susceptible children increased from 62% in 1999 to 88% in 2004. From 1998 onward, no statistically significant differences in coverage were found between white and black children, whereas Hispanic children had higher coverage rates than white children in 1998 to 2001 and 2004. Risk factors for undervaccination included living in the Midwest region, living in a household with >1 child, living in nonmetropolitan areas, living below the poverty level, having a mother who did not have a college degree, and having public providers. If missed opportunities for simultaneous vaccination had been eliminated, then coverage rates would have increased from 58% to 94% in 1999 and from 87% to 96% in 2004. CONCLUSIONS. Uptake of varicella vaccine has been steady and is an example of successful elimination of racial and ethnic disparities. Additional focus should be placed on reducing missed opportunities for simultaneous vaccination, improving coverage in rural areas and the Midwest region, and closing remaining gaps related to maternal education, provider type, and multiple-children households. Key Words varicella vaccine, racial disparities, vaccination coverage, immunization Abbreviations CDC--Centers for Disease Control and Prevention NIS--National Immunization Survey MSA--metropolitan statistical area MMR--measles-mumps-rubella Hib--Haemophilus infuenzae type b DTaP--diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis VFC--Vaccines for Children SCHIP--State Children's Health Insurance Program, BEFORE THE AVAILABILITY of vaccine, almost everyone developed varicella disease (ie, chickenpox) during their lifetimes, with ~4 million cases occurring annually in the United States and leading to an estimated […]

The anthrax attacks of Fall 2001 brought an awareness of the need for health care workers to be prepared to participate in infectious disease terrorism preparedness and response efforts. In […]

Nonverbal expectancy violations theory and a cognitive heuristics approach were used to generate predictions regarding attributions of deception directed toward a message source. The appearance of a message source was manipulated to be either higher or lower in attractiveness while engaging in stereotypically deceptive or truthful behavior. A heuristic approach would suggest a main effect for attractiveness on deceptiveness attributions while a nonverbal expectancy violations approach would predict an interaction between the attraction and deception manipulations. An apparent main effect suggested that the more socially attractive message source was perceived to be less deceptive. However, the effect was driven by an interaction that showed the discrepancy in deception attributions between levels of attractiveness was highest in the deceptive behavior condition, as predicted by nonverbal expectancy violations. KEY CONCEPTS: Deception, heuristics, expectancies, attractiveness

Activity level and TV/VCR watching appear to have independent and opposite relationships to men becoming overweight. Researchers analyzed questionnaire responses from 22,076 healthy men participating in a long-term study of lifestyle risk factors. The average age was 54 and 19% were overweight according to their height to weight ratio. As the amount of time spent in nonsedentary activities increased, the odds of being overweight fell. Men in the highest 20% for activity level had half the odds of men in the lowest 20%. The odds of overweight increased with number of hours of TV/VCR viewing. Men watching 41 or more hours per week were four times more likely to be overweight than men watching 1 hour or less. Similarly, among the 17,795 men who were not overweight when surveyed in 1988, increasing activity level was associated with decreased likelihood of being overweight by 1990 and increased TV/VCR viewing was associated with increased likelihood of overweight.

Abstract Background COPD is characterised by loss of alveolar elastic fibers and by lack of effective repair. Elastic fibers are assembled at cell surfaces by elastin binding protein (EBP), a molecular chaperone whose function can be reversibility inhibited by chondroitin sulphate of matrix proteoglycans such as versican. This study aimed to determine if alveoli of patients with mild to moderate COPD contained increased amounts of versican and a corresponding decrease in EBP, and if these changes were correlated with decreases in elastin and FEV1. Methods Lung samples were obtained from 26 control (FEV1 ≥ 80% predicted, FEV1/VC >0.7) and 17 COPD patients (FEV1 ≥ 40% – 1/VC ≤ 0.7) who had undergone a lobectomy for bronchial carcinoma. Samples were processed for histological and immuno-staining. Volume fractions (Vv) of elastin in alveolar walls and alveolar rims were determined by point counting, and versican and EBP assessed by grading of staining intensities. Results Elastin Vv was positively correlated with FEV1 for both the alveolar walls (r = 0.66, p < 0.001) and rims (r = 0.41, p < 0.01). Versican was negatively correlated with FEV1 in both regions (r = 0.30 and 0.32 respectively, p < 0.05), with the highest staining intensities found in patients with the lowest values for FEV1. Conversely, staining intensities for EBP in alveolar walls and rims and were positively correlated with FEV1 (r = 0.43 and 0.46, p < 0.01). Conclusion Patients with mild to moderate COPD show progressively increased immuno-staining for versican and correspondingly decreased immuno-staining for EBP, with decreasing values of FEV1. These findings may explain the lack of repair of elastic fibers in the lungs of patients with moderate COPD. Removal of versican may offer a strategy for effective repair.

Although mortality from infectious diseases was of primary concern at the beginning of the 20th century, as the end of the century approaches, the major health problems of children and [...]

Background Genomic imprinting is a process causing genes to be expressed according to parental origin. Imprinting acts to coordinate fetal and prenatal growth, as well as control postnatal adaptations. Studies on human imprinting are confounded by tissue availability, sampling variability and limitations posed by tissuespecific expression and cellular heterogeneity within tissues. The human umbilical cord is an easily available, embryonic-derived fetal tissue with the potential to overcome many of these limitations. Methods In a sensitive, gene-specific quantitative expression analysis, we show for the first time robust imprinted gene expression combined with methylation analysis in cords isolated from Asian Chinese full-term births. Results Linear regression analyses revealed an inverse correlation between expression of pleckstrin homologylike domain, family A, member 2 (PHLDA2) with birth weight (BW). Furthermore, we observed significant down-regulation of the paternally expressed gene 10 (PEG10) in low BW babies compared to optimum BW babies. This change in PEG10 gene expression was accompanied by concomitant methylation alterations at the PEG10 promoter. Conclusions These data are the first to demonstrate relative expression of an imprinted gene associated with epigenetic changes in non-syndromic fetal growth restriction in babies. They show that perturbed expression in compromised fetal growth may be associated with in utero modulation of the epigenetic state at the imprinting control regions and implicate specific imprinted genes as new biomarkers of fetal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acoustic transmission in shallow water is degraded in the presence of high winds; losses can exceed 40 dB, after which they cannot easily be measured. Multifrequency studies have used pulse frequencies f from 312 Hz to 4.44 kHz, with path lengths 17, 23, and 137 km, and observations to about 15 m/s wind speed W. The main results show a dB attenuation proportional to f1.5W4, with a coefficient that depends on the season. They can be explained by a quantitative theory involving the scattering loss from the waves on the rough sea surface. But the possibility of a component of the scattering or absorption coming from shallow layers of entrained bubbles is not ruled out. Briefer descriptions cover effects of directional dependence, comparison of rising and falling winds, squalls, breakup of fish shoals, swell, fluctuations, and observed effects on sonar displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To understand the factors underlying the decision by U.S. hospitals to participate or not in the U.S. Smallpox Pre-Event Vaccination Program (SPVP)., Methods: We conducted semistructured telephone interviews with a convenience sample of 123 hospital decision-makers in nine states between June and November 2003., Results: Within our sample, 88 hospitals (72%) decided to participate in the SPVP and 35 (28%) decided against doing so. Nearly all hospital decision-makers considered the risk of a smallpox outbreak, risks associated with vaccination, hospital costs, and the reaction of hospital stakeholders. However, these factors often were weighed differently by hospitals that decided to participate compared to those that did not. Fewer than half of all hospitals reported that public health officials played an important role in their decision-making process, but those that did felt the influence of public health officials was positive., Conclusions: Strengthening the linkage between the public and private health sectors may help to address some of the barriers to broader participation by hospitals in the SPVP and foster the success of smallpox outbreak response preparedness efforts in the future.

Background: The public health system continues its efforts to prepare for bioterrorist events, such as a smallpox outbreak, but may need to call on other health professionals to ensure sufficient capacity to implement preparedness plans., Objective: The goal was to understand the willingness of primary care physicians to participate in possible smallpox pre- or post-event activities., Methods: A 23-question mail survey was sent to a national random sample of 727 internists and 720 family physicians. After three mailings, a one-page version of the survey was sent to nonrespondents., Results: Response rates were 26% for questions common to both surveys and 22% for questions on the longer survey only. Respondents to the survey expressed moderate support for participating in certain smallpox pre- and post-event activities. Under a pre-event scenario, many providers would be willing to vaccinate first responders in their practice, and roughly one-third would be willing to vaccinate patients in their practice or to work in a public health clinic as a vaccinator. Most physicians, however, would be unwilling to be vaccinated themselves. Under post-event conditions, most providers would be willing to vaccinate their own patients, and many would vaccinate other community members in their practice., Conclusions: Despite the low response rate, information from this study on the smallpox preparedness activities in which physicians are most willing to participate can help to inform efforts by public health officials and private physicians to collaborate on bioterrorism preparedness efforts.