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.

Framing Obesity: Effects of Obesity Labeling and Prevalence Statistics on Public Perceptions.

The rising prevalence rate of obesity in the United States has accentuated concerns about obesity-related problems as a major public health issue, which has motivated widespread efforts to increase public knowledge and to motivate individuals to change their relevant behaviors. Although health campaign messages commonly include information about prevalence rates for obesity, the impact of obesity labeling and prevalence rate descriptions in such messages has been overlooked by researchers. This online framing experiment fills the research gap by investigating the effects of obesity labeling (disease vs. body type) and prevalence statistics (prevalence rates of obesity, extreme obesity, combined overweight-obesity, or no prevalence information). Our findings suggest that obesity perceptions deviate from reality and that participants use framed cues in the health message as reference points when making judgments related to the nature and prevalence of obesity. Moreover, this study shows that even accurate information might lead to inaccurate perceptions as a result of framing, and perceptions of the nature and prevalence of obesity mediate the effects of framing on behavioral intentions. Implications for obesity framing and the design of public health messages are discussed.

When women attack.

The common assumption that female candidates on the campaign trail should not go on the attack, because such tactics contradict gender stereotypes, has not received consistent support. We argue that in some circumstances gender stereotypes will favor female politicians going negative. To test this proposition, this study examines how gender cues affect voter reactions to negative ads in the context of a political sex scandal, a context that should prime gender stereotypes that favor females. Using an online experiment involving a national sample of U.S. adults (N = 599), we manipulate the gender and partisan affiliation of a politician who attacks a male opponent caught in a sex scandal involving sexually suggestive texting to a female intern. Results show that in the context of a sex scandal, a female candidate going on the attack is evaluated more positively than a male. Moreover, while female participants viewed the female sponsor more favorably, sponsor gender had no effect on male participants. Partisanship also influenced candidate evaluations: the Democratic female candidate was evaluated more favorably than her Republican female counterpart.

Public broadcasting, media engagement, and 2-1-1: using mass communication to increase the use of social services.

BACKGROUND: The 2008-2009 subprime mortgage crisis was catastrophic, not only for the global economy but for families across the social spectrum. The resultant economic upheaval threatened the livelihoods, well-being, and health of many citizens, who were often unsure where to turn for help. At this critical juncture, public broadcasting stations worked to connect viewers to support resources through 2-1-1. PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the ability of public broadcasting to increase the use of information and referral services. METHODS: Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) modeling and regression analysis document the relationship between public broadcasting initiatives and 2-1-1 call volume in 35 highly affected U.S. markets. Time-series data from St. Louis MO were collected and analyzed in 2008. Station-level data from across the nation were collected during 2009-2010 and analyzed in 2010. RESULTS: ARIMA results show a distinct linkage between the timing and duration of Channel 9 in St. Louis MO (KETC) programming and a subsequent (approximately 400%) increase in 2-1-1 calls regarding financial services and assistance. Regression path analysis not only found evidence of this same effect nationally but also showed that differences in the broadcaster's orientation and approach mediated effects. Specifically, stations' orientations toward engagement were mediated through strong outreach strategies to increase 2-1-1 use. CONCLUSIONS: This study documents the ability of public broadcasting to help citizens in need connect with social resources through 2-1-1 services. By focusing attention on the mortgage crisis and its attendant consequences, and by publicizing 2-1-1 services as a gateway to supportive resources, public broadcasters fostered linkages between those in need and social resources. Moreover, the level of a station's commitment to engaging citizens had a strong bearing on the success of its programming initiatives and community partnerships with organizations such as 2-1-1.

Process research and development for a tetrazole-based growth hormone secretagogue (GHS) pharmaceutical development candidate.

BMS-317180 (1) is a potent, orally active agonist of the human growth hormone secretagogue (GHS) receptor. This manuscript details the process research and development efforts that enabled the synthesis of the phosphate salt of 1 on a multi-kilogram scale. Key considerations in the development of this process focused on safe execution and the requirement for telescoped synthetic transformations (i.e., without isolation of intermediate products) to contend with a lack of suitably crystalline products.

Frames and knowledge in mixed media: how activation changes information intake.

Many people consider strategic framing, the journalistic tendency to reduce politics to a game or competition focused on the tactical maneuvers of political actors, to be harmful to democracy because it erodes citizen interest in the democratic process. Our results demonstrate that this is not always the case. Testing the effects of textual strategic frames and video processing in a digital environment, we show that strategic frames may also provide a context that is more conducive to learning in mixed media news environments than that provided by value frames, those focused on the value conflict between principled policy opponents. Further analysis reveals that this effect is most clearly seen among people who read political blogs (i.e., those who are already active and interested in politics). Our data suggest that for individuals with cognitive networks built around ideological concerns, such as blog readers, value-framed messages provide cues to stop encoding new information, while strategically framed messages lead people to continue absorbing and learning in mixed media environments.

Stereoselective synthesis of the nonproteinogenic amino acid (2S,3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxydecanoic acid from (4S,5S)-4-formyl-5-vinyl-2-oxazolidinone.

(4S,5S)-4-Formyl-5-vinyl-2-oxazolidinone (4b), which is readily obtained via a zinc-silver-mediated reductive elimination of alpha-d-lyxofuranosyl phenyl sulfone (3b), is successfully converted to the naturally occurring, nonproteinogenic amino acid (2S,3R)-3-amino-2-hydroxydecanoic acid (2). Also in this study, a facile "oxazolidinone rearrangement" reaction is uncovered during the attempted formation of the (methylthio)thiocarbonate derivative of the oxazolidinone alcohol 7.