Public perceptions, individual characteristics, and preventive behaviors for COVID-19 in six countries: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND@#Public perceptions and personal characteristics are heterogeneous between countries and subgroups, which may have different impacts on health-protective behaviors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To assess whether self-reported perceptions of COVID-19 and personal characteristics are associated with protective behaviors among general adults and to compare patterns in six different countries.@*METHODS@#This cross-sectional study uses the secondary data collected through an online survey between 15 and 23 April 2020 across six countries (China, Italy, Japan, Korea, the UK, and the USA). A total of 5945 adults aged 18 years or older were eligible for our analysis. A logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of three recommended behaviors (wearing a mask, handwashing, and avoiding social gatherings).@*RESULTS@#In most countries except for China, the participants who perceived wearing a mask as being extremely effective to curtail the pandemic were more likely to wear a mask (OR, 95%CI: Italy: 4.14, 2.08-8.02; Japan: 3.59, 1.75-7.30; Korea: 7.89, 1.91-31.63: UK: 9.23, 5.14-17.31; USA: 4.81, 2.61-8.92). Those who perceived that handwashing was extremely effective had higher ORs of this preventive behavior (OR, 95%CI: Italy: 16.39, 3.56-70.18; Japan: 12.24, 4.03-37.35; Korea: 12.41, 2.02-76.39; UK: 18.04, 2.60-152.78; USA: 10.56, 2.21-44.32). The participants who perceived avoiding social gathering as being extremely effective to curtail the pandemic were more likely to take this type of preventive behavior (OR, 95%CI: China: 3.79, 1.28-10.23; Korea: 6.18, 1.77-20.60; UK: 4.45, 1.63-11.63; USA: 4.34, 1.84-9.95). The associations between personal characteristics, living environment, psychological status, and preventive behaviors varied across different countries. Individuals who changed their behavior because of recommendations from doctors/public health officials were more likely to take preventive behaviors in many countries.@*CONCLUSIONS@#These findings suggest that higher perceived effectiveness may be a common factor to encourage preventive behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These results may provide a better understanding of the homogeneity and heterogeneity of factors related to preventive behaviors and improve public health policies in various countries and groups.

Brain information processing of high performance football players during decision Making -a study of event-related potentials and electromyography reaction time- / 体力科学

In this study, observing football players under simulated playing conditions to measure event-related potentials (ERPs, i.e. P300), electromyography reaction time (EMG-RT), and reaction time (RT), we investigated neural correlates of information processing during selective reaction challenges. A high performance group included 13 collegiate football players who had previously won the All Japan University Championships. A low performance group included 13 collegiate football players who never competed at the national level or played in prefectural or regional competitions. We conducted a 4 vs. 2 ball possession task (i.e. a Go/NoGo task) under simulated playing conditions that required situational assessment. Our results showed that the high-performance group had a significantly higher correct response rate than did the low-performance group in 4 vs. 2 ball possession tasks. Moreover, the EMG-RT and RT of the high-performance group were significantly shorter than that of the low-performance group. Furthermore, the P100 and P300 latencies of the high-performance group was significantly shorter than those of the low-performance group. These findings indicated that high-performance football players could perform the task-relevant stages of information processing (such as visual information processing, stimulus evaluation, and motor response output) in a short time. There was no correlation between EMG-RT and P100 (Go, NoGo stimulation), indicating that initial visual information processing did not contribute to the execution of the final motor response. There was no correlation between EMG-RT and Go P300 latency, whereas a significant correlation with NoGo P300 latency was shown. This suggested that the stimulus evaluation system by NoGo stimuli (response inhibition) is strongly involved in the final motor output reaction.