A Health System That Won't Learn From Its Mistakes.

When a patient dies from a medical error, there often is no recourse for the family.

Future directions of the National Institutes of Health Science of Behavior Change Program.

BACKGROUND: The National Institutes of Health Science of Behavior Change Common Fund Program has accelerated the investigation of mechanisms of behavior change applicable to multiple health behaviors and outcomes and facilitated the use of the experimental medicine approach to behavior change research. PURPOSE: This commentary provides a brief background of the program, plans for its next phase, and thoughts about how the experimental medicine approach to behavior change research can inform future directions in two areas of science-reproductive health and COVID-19 vaccine uptake. CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of a mechanisms-based approach into behavior intervention research offers new opportunities for improving health.

Gaze strategies for avoiding obstacles: Differences between young and elderly subjects.

Visual input is highly relevant for safely stepping over obstacles. In this study, gaze-behaviour was investigated in elderly, middle-aged and young subjects as they walked on a treadmill repeatedly stepping over obstacles, which approached either on the right or left side. In between obstacle-steps, subjects visually fixated a target N or F located two or four steps ahead on the floor, respectively. An acoustic warning signal announced the obstacles, after which subjects were free to look wherever they wanted. Gaze-movements were measured by video-oculography. Four conditions with 20 obstacles were conducted (two with target N, two with target F). In two conditions, high-precision stepping was investigated by asking subjects to step with minimal foot-clearance over the obstacles, while receiving acoustic feedback about their performance. In the high-precision conditions, more subjects (target N: 70%, F: 81%) turned their gaze on the obstacles and for a longer time than in unrestricted conditions. When fixating on the near target N and unrestricted stepping over the obstacles, significantly more elderly subjects (85%) turned their gaze on the obstacle compared to middle-aged (17%) and young subjects (29%). The elderly turned their gaze earlier and longer on the obstacle than middle-aged or young subjects. Our results reveal a different gaze-behaviour strategy of elderly subjects suggesting a greater dependency on visual inputs.