The Effect of Experience on Anxiety in Food Safety Incidents—An Empirical Study on Infant Formula Safety Incidents in China

Infant formula incidents have endangered the dietary safety and healthy growth of infants and young children and are triggers of the public’s negative emotions, attracting widespread public attention. The aim of this research was to explore how perceived knowledge gap, risk perception, past actual risk experience, and media risk experience affect anxiety. The research data obtained from 506 respondents were divided into groups with actual risk experience and without actual risk experience. Then, PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data. The results show that risk perception mediated the relationship between perceived knowledge gap and anxiety. Specifically, for the group with actual risk experience, perceived knowledge gap had a significant direct impact on anxiety; however, there was no moderation effect of media experience on the relationship between perceived knowledge gap and risk perception. For the group without actual risk experience, perceived knowledge gap had no direct effect on anxiety, and media experience had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceived knowledge gap and risk perception. The results suggest that in infant formula safety incidents, actual risk experience and media risk experience have different influence mechanisms on anxiety. Actual risk experience will directly and intuitively bridge the relationship between perceived knowledge gap and anxiety. Meanwhile, groups without actual risk experience tend to be influenced by rational risk judgment, and this process is moderated by media risk experience.

Antimicrobial Drug-Resistant Salmonella in Urban Cats: Is There an Actual Risk to Public Health?

The present study was undertaken to investigate the presence of Salmonella spp. in the faeces of client-owned cats in urban areas and to evaluate the risk that is posed to public health. Fresh faecal samples were collected directly from the rectums from 53 diarrhoeic and 32 non-diarrhoeic cats. The samples were individually screened for the presence of Salmonella spp. using standard methods and, in the case of positive findings, the resulting typical colonies were then biochemically confirmed using the VITEK®2 automated system. Subsequently, all of the Salmonella spp. isolates were molecularly tested for the presence of the invA gene. All of the isolates were serotyped using the slide agglutination technique according to the White–Kauffmann–Le Minor scheme. The phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolated strains was obtained from the VITEK®2 system using specific cards from the Gram-negative bacteria. A total of 16 of the samples (18.82%) tested positive for Salmonella spp. according to conventional and molecular testing methods. Serotyping of the Salmonella isolates showed the presence of three serotypes, namely S. enteritidis (n = 9; 56.3%), S. typhimurium (n = 4; 25%), and S. kentucky (n = 3; 18.8%). All of the tested strains showed strong resistance towards cefazolin, cefepime, ceftazidime, and ceftriaxone. Additionally, resistance (listed in descending order of strength) was observed to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (11/16; 68.8%), ampicillin (10/16; 62.5%), ampicillin/sulbactam (9/16; 56.3%), gentamicin (9/16; 56.3%), nitrofurantoin (8/16; 50.0%), and amikacin (5/16; 31.3%). No resistance was expressed against ciprofloxacin, ertapenem, imipenem, levofloxacin, piperacillin/tazobactam, and tobramycin. The results of this study highlight a substantial public health issue and medical concern, especially in vulnerable people, such as children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals.

Perceptions of risk for COVID-19 among individuals with chronic diseases and stakeholders in Central Appalachia

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving and is a serious public health threat worldwide. Timely and effective control of the pandemic is highly dependent on preventive approaches. Perception of risk is a major determinant of health behavior. The current study explores the association between actual risk and perceived risk for one’s self, family/friends and friends, and community. A questionnaire was administered to participants in Central Appalachia (n = 102). The actual risk was based on the number of chronic conditions of the following conditions: hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Participants were also queried about their perception of risk for COVID-19. Generalized Linear Models were used to independently evaluate the likelihood of perceived risk for one’s: self, family/friends, and community, based on actual risk. Actual risk for COVID-19 was significantly associated with higher likelihood of higher perception of risk for one’s self (b = 0.24; p = 0.04), but not with one’s family/friends (b = 0.05; p = 0.68), or one’s community (b = 0.14; p = 0.16). No health insurance was negatively associated with perception of risk for self (b = −0.59; p = 0.04) and family/friends (b = −0.92; p < 0.001). Male gender (b = −0.47; p = 0.01) was also negatively associated with perception of risk for family/friends. In conclusion, individuals’ actual risk for COVID-19 is associated with their own perception of risk. This indicates that one’s perception of risk for COVID-19 is greater for their own health compared to their family/friends or the community. Therefore, monitoring and following up with chronic disease patients and addressing their lack of awareness of risk to others is needed to prevent and curtail the spread of COVID-19.

Comparative analysis of the potential and actual risk of noise-induced hearing loss in employees of “noise” industries

Introduction. The high incidence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) makes it possible to attribute the problem of prevention and prediction of the risk of NIHL to the number of socially significant ones. The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative assessment of the potential risk of hearing loss caused by noise according to GOST R ISO 1999-2017, and the actual risk of NIHL in workers of “noise” industries according to epidemiological research. Materials and methods. The calculation of the potential risk of hearing loss according to GOST R ISO 1999-2017 included assessing age, noise and total hearing loss at noise exposure with 85, 90, 95 and 100 dBA. The actual risk of NIHL was evaluated on survey data of 600 miners and 600 workers of processing plants. Results. The calculation of the probable risk according to GOST R ISO 1999-2017 and the assessment of the actual risk according to epidemiological studies showed that the risk of NIHL depends on both noise exposure and age. As the levels of noise affecting an employee increase, the risk of an NIHL becomes more determined by the effect of noise. At noise levels 85, 90 and 95 dBA, the probable risk calculated under GOST R ISO 1999-2017 coincides with the actual risk established according to epidemiological studies. At the same time, for miners exposed to high-intensity noise 100 dBА, the real risk was not as high as could be assumed from the calculated data. Conclusion. The results obtained allow stating that the GOST ISO 1999-2017 standard with a high degree of potential risk allows predicting the group risk of hearing loss due to noise exposure, to quantify the degree of risk and can be used for the formation of risk groups for NIHL and the development of programs for the preservation of hearing.

Effects of conspecific density on tadpole risk assessment and defensive behaviour

Prey species assess predation risk by using either direct and indirect cues and both may contribute to a proper evaluation of the actual risk. As postulated by the risk assessment hypothesis, conspecific density may also provide useful information for tuning defensive responses. We tested this hypothesis using a combination of five density levels (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 individuals) of Italian agile frog Rana latastei tadpoles and three treatments (control, predatory cues of common backswimmer Notonecta glauca and a waterjet of tap water as mechanical disturbance). Tadpole activity decreased in response to all stimuli but, as expected, backswimmer cues induced a stronger and lasting response. However, tadpole activity level did not vary with group size, thus providing no support for the risk assessment hypothesis and confirming that conspecific density might have less consistent effects on short-term behavioural responses than morphological and life history traits.

Challenges in Tracking the Risk of COVID-19 in Bangladesh: Evaluation of A Novel Method

Identifying actual risk zones in a country where the overall test positive rate (TPR) is higher than 5% is crucial to contain the pandemic. However, TPR-based risk zoning methods are debatable since they do not consider the rate of infection in an area and thus, it has been observed to overestimate the risk. Similarly, the rate of infection in an area has been noticed to underestimate the risk of COVID-19 spreading for the zones with higher TPR. In this article, we discuss the shortcomings of currently available risk zoning methods that are followed in the lower-middle-income countries (LMIC), especially in Bangladesh. We then propose to determine a risk zone by combining the rate of infection with TPR and effective reproduction number, R_t in a distinct manner from existing methods. We evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method with respect to the mass-movement events and show its application to track the evolution of COVID-19 pandemic by identifying the risk zones over time. Demo website for the visualization of the analysis can be found at: http://erdos.dsm.fordham.edu:3000/.

Transport Risk Identification and Assessment

The transport process is characterized by transport operations and the relationships between them, the route, the time of transport and the type of product transported. One of these parameters is the degree of risk associated with a possible disruption of the transport process. Therefore, this article aims to present the possibility of calculating the degree of risk on the selected transport route. The risk level is calculated on based on the actual risk incidents on the transport route.

Evidence against risk as a motivating driver of COVID-19 preventive behaviors in the United States

Does an individual’s risk profile predict their social distancing and mask wearing in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic? Common sense and some health behavior theories suggest that as a perceived threat increases, an individual should be more likely to take preventive measures. We explore this hypothesis using survey responses collected from 1114 U.S. adults during April and October 2020, and find that neither perceived nor actual risk predicted these preventive behaviors. Instead, being an essential worker, partisanship, and believing compliance was important were more reliable predictors. These results provide guidance for better pandemic response policies and challenge models of health behavior.

Mortality in Patients with Brainstem Cavernous Malformations

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Brainstem cavernous malformations (BSCM)-associated mortality has been reported up to 20% in patients managed conservatively, whereas postoperative mortality rates range from 0 to 1.9%. Our aim was to analyze the actual risk and causes of BSCM-associated mortality in patients managed conservatively and surgically based on our own patient cohort and a systematic literature review. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Observational, retrospective single-center study encompassing all patients with BSCM that presented to our institution between 2006 and 2018. In addition, a systematic review was performed on all studies encompassing patients with BSCM managed conservatively and surgically. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Of 118 patients, 54 were treated conservatively (961.0 person years follow-up in total). No BSCM-associated mortality was observed in our conservatively as well as surgically managed patient cohort. Our systematic literature review and analysis revealed an overall BSCM-associated mortality rate of 2.3% (95% CI: 1.6–3.3) in 22 studies comprising 1,251 patients managed conservatively and of 1.3% (95% CI: 0.9–1.7) in 99 studies comprising 3,275 patients with BSCM treated surgically. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The BSCM-associated mortality rate in patients managed conservatively is almost as low as in patients treated surgically and much lower than in frequently cited reports, most probably due to the good selection nowadays in regard to surgery.

Personal space Increases during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Response to Real and Virtual Humans

Typically, people maintain a certain distance from others (personal space) during daily life, in a largely automatic, unconscious manner. However during the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing recommendations led to deliberate expansions of personal space outside of intimate social circles. In the laboratory, personal space preferences are quite stable over repeated measurements. Here, we collected such measurements both before and during the pandemic in the same individuals, using both conventional and virtual reality-based techniques. We found that the size of personal space, and discomfort ratings in response to personal space intrusions, increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to both real humans and virtual others. Moreover, this increase in personal space requirements correlated with the perceived, not the actual, risk of being infected with COVID-19, even in a virtual reality environment in which there was no possibility of infection. Thus, quantification of personal space may reveal some of the psychological effects of the pandemic, and subsequent progress towards recovery.