The More the Better? A Comparison of the Information Sources Used by the Public during Two Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Recent infectious disease outbreaks have resulted in renewed recognition of the importance of risk communication planning and execution to public health control strategies. Key to these efforts is public access to information that is understandable, reliable and meets their needs for informed decision-making on protective health behaviours. Learning from the trends in sources used in previous outbreaks will enable improvements in information access in future outbreaks. Two separate random-digit dialled telephone surveys were conducted in Alberta, Canada, to explore information sources used by the public, together with their perceived usefulness and credibility, during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic (n = 1209) and 2009–2010 H1N1 pandemic (n = 1206). Traditional mass media were the most used information sources in both surveys. Although use of the Internet increased from 25% during SARS to 56% during H1N1, overall use of social media was not as high as anticipated. Friends and relatives were commonly used as an information source, but were not deemed very useful or credible. Conversely, doctors and health professionals were considered credible, but not consulted as frequently. The use of five or more information sources increased by almost 60% between the SARS and H1N1 surveys. There was a shift to older, more educated and more affluent respondents between the surveys, most likely caused by a decrease in the use of landlines amongst younger Canadians. It was concluded that people are increasingly using multiple sources of health risk information, presumably in a complementary manner. Subsequently, although using online media is important, this should be used to augment rather than replace more traditional information channels. Efforts should be made to improve knowledge transfer to health care professionals and doctors and provide them with opportunities to be more accessible as information sources. Finally, the future use of telephone surveys needs to account for the changing demographics of the respondents accessed through such surveys.     

Brain Evolution: Getting Better All the Time?

Recent studies on bats, goats and hominids suggest that some mammalian brains may have undergone dramatic evolutionary reductions in size. These studies emphasise the importance of selective pressures upon mammalian brain evolution and the need to integrate studies of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and behaviour.     

Layman versus Professional Musician: Who Makes the Better Judge?

The increasing number of casting shows and talent contests in the media over the past years suggests a public interest in rating the quality of vocal performances. In many of these formats, laymen alongside music experts act as judges. Whereas experts'' judgments are considered objective and reliable when it comes to evaluating singing voice, little is known about laymen’s ability to evaluate peers. On the one hand, layman listeners–who by definition did not have any formal training or regular musical practice–are known to have internalized the musical rules on which singing accuracy is based. On the other hand, layman listeners’ judgment of their own vocal skills is highly inaccurate. Also, when compared with that of music experts, their level of competence in pitch perception has proven limited. The present study investigates laypersons'' ability to objectively evaluate melodies performed by untrained singers. For this purpose, laymen listeners were asked to judge sung melodies. The results were compared with those of music experts who had performed the same task in a previous study. Interestingly, the findings show a high objectivity and reliability in layman listeners. Whereas both the laymen''s and experts'' definition of pitch accuracy overlap, differences regarding the musical criteria employed in the rating task were evident. The findings suggest that the effect of expertise is circumscribed and limited and supports the view that laypersons make trustworthy judges when evaluating the pitch accuracy of untrained singers.     

Animal or Plant: Which Is the Better Fog Water Collector?

Occasional fog is a critical water source utilised by plants and animals in the Namib Desert. Fog basking beetles (Onymacris unguicularis, Tenebrionidae) and Namib dune bushman grass (Stipagrostris sabulicola, Poaceae) collect water directly from the fog. While the beetles position themselves optimally for fog water collection on dune ridges, the grass occurs predominantly at the dune base where less fog water is available. Differences in the fog-water collecting abilities in animals and plants have never been addressed. Here we place beetles and grass side-by-side in a fog chamber and measure the amount of water they collect over time. Based on the accumulated amount of water over a two hour period, grass is the better fog collector. However, in contrast to the episodic cascading water run-off from the grass, the beetles obtain water in a steady flow from their elytra. This steady trickle from the beetles' elytra to their mouth could ensure that even short periods of fog basking--while exposed to predators--will yield water. Up to now there is no indication of specialised surface properties on the grass leafs, but the steady run-off from the beetles could point to specific property adaptations of their elytra surface.     

The Oxygen Receptor of the Teleost Gill?

The gills of the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, were studied using immunohistochemical techniques. Primary antibodies directed against serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and acetylated α-tubulin were used to visualise cells containing serotonin and nerve fibres, respectively. Three morphologically different 5-HT immunoreactive cell types were distinguished: (I) Neuroepithelial cells (NECs), which were abundant along the distal half of the efferent filamental arteries (EFAs), and particularly formed distinct clusters at the individual filamental tips, (II) bipolar neurones running next to the EFAs and (III) multipolar neurones innervating the proximal parts of the EFA. In addition, the study revealed a well-developed system of nerve fibres, some of which form plexuses in association with the NECs. A relatively rich innervation of the proximal part of the EFAs, in conjunction with the EFA sphincters was also observed. Delicate varicose terminals surround the bases of the efferent lamellar arterioles. The localisation of distinct clusters of NECs at the individual filamental tips and the close connection with nerve terminals suggests a function as external branchial oxygen receptors.     

The end of the adaptive landscape metaphor?

The concepts of adaptive/fitness landscapes and adaptive peaks are a central part of much of contemporary evolutionary biology; the concepts are introduced in introductory texts, developed in more detail in graduate-level treatments, and are used extensively in papers published in the major journals in the field. The appeal of visualizing the process of evolution in terms of the movement of populations on such landscapes is very strong; as one becomes familiar with the metaphor, one often develops the feeling that it is possible to gain deep insights into evolution by thinking about the movement of populations on landscapes consisting of adaptive valleys and peaks. But, since Wright first introduced the metaphor in 1932, the metaphor has been the subject of persistent confusion, from equivocation over just what the features of the landscape are meant to represent to how we ought to expect the landscapes to look. Recent advances—conceptual, empirical, and computational—have pointed towards the inadequacy and indeed incoherence of the landscapes as usually pictured. I argue that attempts to reform the metaphor are misguided; it is time to give up the pictorial metaphor of the landscape entirely and rely instead on the results of formal modeling, however difficult such results are to understand in ‘intuitive’ terms.

The onchocerciasis chronicle: from the beginning to the end?

The year 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the donation of ivermectin to fight onchocerciasis and the projected date for elimination of transmission of the disease in the Americas. This review looks at the history of onchocerciasis, from its discovery through to 2025, by which time it is projected that the disease will have been eliminated as a public health problem, except in a handful of sub-Saharan countries, where it should be well on the way towards elimination.     

The future as the key to the past for palaeobotany?

Continued increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO(2) and its possible effects on global climate has generated intense research interest on the likely responses of terrestrial plants and vegetation. Results from this new research provide quantitative information on plant function and growth in an environment with a high CO(2) concentration, but are also relevant to understanding plant growth in the distant past and to the techniques employed by palaeobotanists for reconstructing past climates from fossil plant remains. Experimental CO(2) enrichment of plants has demonstrated direct effects on leaf physiognomy, the tolerance of plants to low temperature and the relationship between tree rings, CO(2) and climate; it therefore signals the need for caution in interpreting palaeoclimates from fossils.