Countering online marketing and user endorsements with enhanced cannabis warning labels: An online experiment among at-risk youth and young adults.

As cannabis legalization expands and online marketing intensifies, this study examines whether online social cues can amplify youth-targeted cannabis advertising and whether cannabis warning labels (CWLs) can counteract these influences. A U.S. online sample of 970 adolescents and 1776 young adults susceptible to cannabis use were recruited from Qualtrics in summer 2022. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the 3 (CWLs: none vs. textual vs. pictorial) by 3 (comments: none vs. anti-cannabis vs. pro-cannabis) conditions in an online experiment. Participants were exposed to three online marketing posts promoting marijuana edibles (randomly selected from a large pool, N = 1260), each with either no warning label, a textual warning, or a pictorial warning (text and picture), and with either five comments (pro- or anti-cannabis in valence) or none. Results showed that among adolescents, pro-cannabis comments increased product appeal (vs. anti-cannabis comments: b = 0.18, p = .025; vs. no comments: b = 0.21, p = .021), and did so more than young adults. For adolescents, only pictorial warnings reduced product appeal (b = -0.20, p = .028). For young adults, both pictorial (b = -0.18, p = .002) and textual warnings (b = -0.12, p = .029) reduced product appeal. Furthermore, both textual (adolescents: b = -0.20, p = .004; young adults: b = -0.15, p = .005) and pictorial (adolescents: b = -0.30, p < .001; young adults: b = -0.18, p = .001) warnings reduced cannabis use intentions. Findings support requiring enhanced CWLs accompany online marketing ads.

Fighting Fire or Fighting War: Examining the Framing Effects of COVID-19 Metaphors.

Metaphorical language describing the COVID-19 pandemic as a war has been pervasive in public discourse (e.g. "the pandemic is a war," "the virus is an enemy," and "the vaccine is a weapon"). This study employs an online survey experiment (N = 551 U.S. adults) to examine the impact of war metaphors compared to non-metaphorical literal frames and fire metaphors (e.g. "the pandemic is a wildfire"). War metaphors exhibited little advantage over literal frames across a variety of desirable outcomes (i.e. the adoption of pro-health behaviors against COVID-19, perceived solidarity and collective responsibility to curb the pandemic, and intentions to discuss and share the health news with others). However, this study revealed some benefits of war metaphors over fire metaphors. Compared with fire metaphors, health news featuring war metaphors increased both positive emotions and perceived threats of COVID-19, which in turn promoted pro-health behaviors against COVID-19 and perceived solidarity to cope with the public health crisis. Moreover, positive emotions in response to war metaphors also indirectly encouraged the retransmission of science-based COVID-19 health news. This study thus showcased the benefits and limitations of war metaphors and revealed the mediating roles of perceived threats and positive emotions in explaining war metaphorical framing effects. Implications of using war and fire metaphors for communicating about public health crises are also discussed.

The Effects of Vaccine Efficacy Information on Vaccination Intentions Through Perceived Response Efficacy and Hope.

Response efficacy information indicating the effectiveness of a recommended behavior in risk reduction is an important component of health communication. For example, many messages regarding COVID-19 vaccines featured numerical vaccine efficacy rates in preventing infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. While the relationship between disease risk perceptions and fear has been well established, we know less about the psychological factors involved in communicating vaccine efficacy information, such as response efficacy perceptions and hope. This study examines the effects of numerical vaccine efficacy information and message framing on vaccination intentions and their relationship to perceived response efficacy and hope, using a fictitious infectious disease similar to COVID-19. Findings suggest that communicating a high efficacy rate of the vaccine in preventing severe illness increased perceived response efficacy, which in turn boosted vaccination intention directly and indirectly through increasing hope. Also, fear about the virus was positively associated with hope about the vaccine. Implications of using response efficacy information and hope appeals in health communication and vaccination promotion are discussed.

miR­519d­3p released by human blastocysts negatively regulates endometrial epithelial cell adhesion by targeting HIF1α.

Successful embryo implantation requires a competent embryo, a receptive endometrium and synchronized communication between them. The selection of embryos with the highest implantation potential remains a challenge in the field of assisted reproductive technology. Moreover, little is known about the precise molecular mechanisms underlying embryo­endometrium crosstalk. MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) have been detected in the spent embryo culture medium (SCM); however, their functions at the preimplantation stage remain unclear. In the present study, human SCM samples were collected during in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection­embryo transfer and divided into implanted and not­implanted groups according to the clinical pregnancy outcomes. Total RNA was extracted and six miRNAs (miR­372­3p, miR­373­3p, miR­516b­5p, miR­517a­3p, miR­519d­3p and miR­520a­3p) were selected for reverse transcription­quantitative PCR (RT­qPCR) analysis. The results revealed that miR­372­3p and miR­519d­3p were markedly increased in SCM from blastocysts that failed to implant compared with in blastocysts that implanted. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that miR­519d­3p was superior to miR­372­3p in predicting pregnancy outcomes. In vitro miRNA uptake and cell adhesion assays were performed to determine whether miR­519d­3p could be taken up by endometrial epithelial cells and to examine the biological roles of miR­519d­3p after internalization. Potential targets of miR­519d­3p were verified using a dual­luciferase reporter system. The results demonstrated that miR­519d­3p was taken up by human endometrial epithelial cells and that it may inhibit embryo adhesion by targeting HIF1α. Using RT­qPCR, western blot analysis and flow cytometry assay, HIF1α was shown to inhibit the biosynthesis of fucosyltransferase 7 and sialyl­Lewis X (sLex), a cell­surface oligosaccharide that serves an important role in embryonic apposition and adhesion. In addition, a mouse model was established and the results suggested that miR­519d­3p overexpression hampered embryo implantation in vivo. Taken together, miRNAs in SCM may serve as novel biomarkers for embryo quality. Furthermore, miR­519d­3p was shown to mediate embryo­endometrium crosstalk and to negatively regulate embryo implantation by targeting HIF1α/FUT7/sLex pathway.

Psychological antecedents of COVID-19 information sharing within strong-tie and weak-tie networks.

Objective: This study investigates the psychological mechanisms underlying people's sharing of COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks and weak-tie networks. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between March and April 2020 (N = 609 Chinese adults). Measures included emotions and behavioral beliefs about COVID-19 information sharing, risk perceptions, and COVID-19 information acquisition and sharing behaviors. Multiple linear regression was performed to examine the psychological predictors of COVID-19 information sharing. Results: People were more likely to share COVID-19 information within their strong-tie networks when they experienced more negative emotions (ß = .09, p = .01) and had stronger beliefs that information sharing would promote disease prevention (ß = .12, p = .004). By comparison, negative emotions were the only significant predictor of COVID-19 information sharing (ß = .12, p = .002) within weak-tie networks (ß = .04, p = .31 for beliefs about sharing). Conclusion: People may share COVID-19 information within weak-tie networks to cope with negative emotions regardless of whether they perceive information sharing as beneficial to disease prevention. Innovation: Health educators should raise people's awareness of the psychological motivators of COVID-19 information sharing to create a healthy information environment for disease prevention.

Cultural Differences in Cancer Information Acquisition: Cancer Risk Perceptions, Fatalistic Beliefs, and Worry as Predictors of Cancer Information Seeking and Avoidance in the U.S. and China.

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in China and the United States. Past studies found that cancer risk perceptions, fatalistic beliefs, and worry were prominent predictors of health-related behaviors. Perceived cancer risks, fatalistic beliefs, and worry were associated with cancer information acquisition in the United States. However, little is known about whether these factors played comparable roles in China. This study investigates the psychological antecedents of cancer information acquisition using data from Health Information National Trends Surveys (HINTS) in both countries. Results showed that cancer worry was negatively related to cancer information avoidance in the U.S. but positively related to information avoidance in China. Also, whereas cancer fatalistic beliefs were negatively associated with cancer information seeking in the U.S., the relationships between fatalistic beliefs and cancer information seeking exhibited more complex patterns in China. Implications for cancer communication in different cultures are discussed.

Source Trust and COVID-19 Information Sharing: The Mediating Roles of Emotions and Beliefs About Sharing.

Health information sharing has become especially important during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic because people need to learn about the disease and then act accordingly. This study examines the perceived trust of different COVID-19 information sources (health professionals, academic institutions, government agencies, news media, social media, family, and friends) and sharing of COVID-19 information in China. Specifically, it investigates how beliefs about sharing and emotions mediate the effects of perceived source trust on source-specific information sharing intentions. Results suggest that health professionals, academic institutions, and government agencies are trusted sources of information and that people share information from these sources because they think doing so will increase disease awareness and promote disease prevention. People may also choose to share COVID-19 information from news media, social media, and family as they cope with anxiety, anger, and fear. Taken together, a better understanding of the distinct psychological mechanisms underlying health information sharing from different sources can help contribute to more effective sharing of information about COVID-19 prevention and to manage negative emotion contagion during the pandemic.

Health Information Seeking Behaviors and Source Preferences between Chinese and U.S. Populations.

This study examined similarities and differences in health information-seeking behaviors between American and Chinese people using data from the 2017 U.S. Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) and the 2017 China HINTS. It is one of the first studies that use comparable samples and survey instruments to make direct comparisons of the two populations' health information-seeking behaviors. Results showed that Americans (including different racial/ethnic groups in the U.S.) were more likely to actively seek health information than Chinese people. Americans were also more likely to use mediated communication as their primary sources of health information while Chinese people favored interpersonal sources. Chinese people reported lower quality of doctor-patient communication than their American counterparts. These differences between the two countries highlight the importance of using different information sources to reach specific populations, and the need to develop tailored public health intervention programs in different cultures.