Communicating Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Contamination to the Public Through Personal Relevance.

It is important to understand people's risk perception to identify effective pathways for risk communication about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) because they present emerging environmental health risks. Guided by dual-process theories of information processing, this study focuses on personal relevance as a key variable that influences risk perception, systematic processing, and information seeking intention. Through an experimental survey, we found that participants in the high personal relevance condition (n = 497) were more likely to process information systematically compared to those in the low personal relevance condition (n = 486). Results also revealed that personal relevance influenced systematic processing through risk judgment and emotional response. Message-specific systematic processing was positively associated with information seeking intention. Lastly, trust in government and trust in science had different relationships with systematic processing, demonstrating the importance of distinguishing different types of institutional trust in future research.

Public Support for COVID-19 Responses: Cultural Cognition, Risk Perception, and Emotions.

As one of the biggest challenges facing mankind in recent history, the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impact on the United States. However, government responses ranging from stay-at-home orders to temporary closing of nonessential businesses are not palatable for everyone. This study examines how cultural cognition, risk perception, and discrete emotions influence Americans' support for COVID-19 responses. We found that compared to communitarians and egalitarians, individualists and hierarchists were less likely to support COVID-19 responses. In addition, fear and anger mediated the relationship between risk perception and public support in the opposite direction. The highlight of this study is the moderating role of cultural cognition. Specifically, individualistic worldviews significantly moderated anger's mediation effect on the relationship between risk perception and support for COVID-19 responses.

It's the Thoughts That Count: How Psychological Distance and Affect Heuristic Influence Support for Aid Response Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Guided by construal level-theory, this research seeks to understand the effect of perceived psychological distance on emotions and risk perception associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stage. Survey data were collected from a nationally representative U.S. adult sample (N = 1009) in April 2020. Results reveal that social distance was negatively related to emotions and risk perception. However, hypothetical distance was not significantly related to these variables. Emotions and risk perception also mediated the relationship between social distance and support for aid response measures; theoretically, we demonstrate that people evaluate risks contingent on their emotions when making decisions. This research contributes to extant literature on psychological distance and its utility in communication messaging design during public health crises.

Predicting Recycling Behavior in New York State: an integrated model.

Public participation in proper recycling is a crucial means to deal with the crisis in the U.S. recycling market. In this study, we combine the norm activation model (NAM; Schwartz 1977), the information-motivation-behavioral skills model (IMB; Fisher et al. 2003), and the theory of interpersonal behavior (TIB; Triandis 1977; 1979) to investigate recycling intention and behavior. Based on a longitudinal sample of New York state residents (N = 520), the results show that the integrated model fits the data well. Personal norm, habit, and recycling intention are three direct predictors of recycling behavior. Recycling intention is directly influenced by personal norm and behavioral skills, and indirectly influenced by personal motivation, social motivation, and ascription of responsibility. These findings suggest the importance of the normative approach in environmental campaigns to encourage recycling.

Fast and Frugal: Information Processing Related to The Coronavirus Pandemic.

This research focuses on three factors that influence how individuals cognitively process information related to the coronavirus outbreak. Guided by dual-process theories of information processing, we establish how the two different information processing modes (system 1: heuristic processing; system 2: systematic processing) are influenced by individuals' responsibility attribution, discrete negative emotions, and risk perception. In an experiment, participants were exposed to a news article that either blames China (n = 445) or does not blame China (n = 498) for the pandemic. Results reveal that exposure to the responsibility attribution frame led individuals to engage in more heuristic processing, but it did not influence systematic processing. Discrete negative emotions and risk perception mediated the relationship between responsibility attribution and information processing. The indirect relationships suggest a more intricate process underlying heuristic processing and systematic processing. In particular, information processing styles seem to be determined by social judgment surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Wake of Scandals: How Media Use and Social Trust Influence Risk Perception and Vaccination Intention among Chinese Parents.

Recently, repeated childhood vaccine scandals shook public confidence in vaccine safety in China. This study explores whether media attention, online discussion, and social trust influence Chinese parents' risk perception and vaccination intention. Based on data from a Qualtrics panel (N = 354), results indicate that media attention is positively related to social trust and online discussion is positively related to perceived benefits. Additionally, social trust is negatively associated with perceived risk but positively associated with perceived benefits. Social trust is also positively related to general vaccination intention and intention to get domestic vaccines. Further, social trust mediates the relationship between media attention/online discussion and risk perception. Lastly, parents with higher risk perception are less likely to get domestic vaccines, but more likely to get imported vaccines. Perceived benefits also influence vaccination intention.

Synthesis, crystal structure, cytotoxicity and action mechanism of a Rh(iii) complex with 8-hydroxy-2-methylquinoline as a ligand.

A rhodium(iii) complex, [Rh(MQ)(DMSO)2Cl2] (1), with 8-hydroxy-2-methylquinoline as the ligand was synthesized and characterized. Complex 1 exhibited cytotoxicity against BEL-7404, Hep-G2, NCI-H460, T-24, and A549 cell lines with IC50 values in the micromolar range (6.52-17.86 µM). Various experiments on the Hep-G2 cells showed that complex 1 caused cell cycle arrest at the S phase, downregulation of cdc25 A, cyclin A, cyclin B and CDK2, and upregulation of p21, p27 and p53. Furthermore, cytotoxicity mechanism studies suggested that complex 1-induced apoptosis was achieved via disruption of the mitochondrial function, which led to a significant loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential, an increase in the cellular levels of reactive oxygen species, cytochrome c, and apaf-1, and a fluctuation of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Taken altogether, complex 1 can trigger cancer cell death by inducing apoptosis through a mitochondrial dysfunction pathway.

Overexpression of TaNHX3, a vacuolar Na⁺/H⁺ antiporter gene in wheat, enhances salt stress tolerance in tobacco by improving related physiological processes.

Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stresses affecting plant growth, development, and productivity. In this study, we functionally characterized a wheat vacuolar Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene (TaNHX3). TaNHX3 is 78.9% identical with TaNHX2 in nucleic acid level, encoding a polypeptide of 522 amino acids (aa). TaNHX3 is targeted onto tonoplast after ER sorting and can complement the growth under salt stress in a yeast mutant with a defective vacuolar Na(+)/H(+) antiporter exchange. TaNHX3 transcripts were induced by applying salt stress in wheat cultivars. More TaNHX3 were detected in the salt-stress-resistant cultivar Ji 7369 compared with the salt-stress-sensitive cultivar Shimai 12 and Ji-Shi-3, an isogenic line derived from aforementioned cultivars with Shimai 12 genetic background. The ectopic TaNHX3 expression in tobacco significantly enhanced the plant tolerance to salt stress. Compared with control plants, the TaNHX3 overexpressing plants displayed no varied Na(+) contents and accumulated more Na(+) amount in plants. However, they exhibited higher fresh and dry weights, more accumulative nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, higher contents of chlorophyll, carotenoid, soluble protein, higher activities of the antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase, and lower malondialdehyde and H2O2 amount. Our results indicated that TaNHX3 plays an important role in regulating the cytosolic Na(+) transportation within vacuoles under high salinity, alleviating the Na(+) damage effects. The improved salt stress tolerance in TaNHX3 overexpressing tobacco plants is closely associated with the improvement of the aforementioned physiological processes. TaNHX3 can be used as a candidate gene for molecular breeding of salt-tolerant plants.