Effects of portraying an innocent versus non-innocent identified victim on intentions to donate organs post-mortem.

The need for more people to register as organ donors is a pressing concern. This preregistered experiment examined whether portraying a patient in need of an organ transplant as leading a healthy lifestyle (an "innocent victim") can serve to increase people's intentions to register as post-mortem organ donors. Participants not previously registered as organ donors (N = 348) were randomly assigned to an innocent identified victim, non-innocent identified victim, or statistical victims condition. The identified victim was a 42 year-old woman in need of a liver transplant. The experimental manipulation produced marginally significant effects on self-reported intentions to register as an organ donor. Moreover, participants in the innocent victim condition were more likely relative to those in the non-innocent victim condition to sign up on an e-mail list to receive additional information about organ donation.

Love thy (Ukrainian) neighbour: Willingness to help refugees depends on their origin and is mediated by perceptions of similarity and threat.

Prejudice and discrimination against minorities can be a powerful tool for populistic and reactionary political movements, and it is therefore crucial to study its determinants. The aim of this research is to develop the understanding of a possible mechanism of such discrimination: cultural distance. In a pre-registered survey experiment with a between-subjects design, we draw on the large increase in intra-European refugee migration from Ukraine, to test whether refugees from another ongoing conflict in (culturally distant) Yemen are treated differently than (culturally similar) Ukrainian refugees by British participants (N = 1545). We measured stated willingness to help and to hire refugees. Moreover, the participants were offered the chance to donate their own earnings from survey participation to real charity drives aimed at the respective refugee groups. Thus, we are able to examine both stated and actual helping behaviours that captured both autonomy- and dependency-oriented forms of helping. As expected, participants were more willing to help, hire and donate money to Ukrainian refugees, and these effects were mediated by higher perceived similarity and lower perceived threat from Ukrainians compared with Yemenis.

Do Social Norms Influence Young People's Willingness to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine?

Although young adults are not at great risk of becoming severely ill with COVID-19, their willingness to get vaccinated affects the whole community. Vaccine hesitancy has increased during recent years, and more research is needed on its situational determinants. This paper reports a preregistered experiment (N = 654) that examined whether communicating descriptive social norms - information about what most people do - is an effective way of influencing young people's intentions and reducing their hesitancy to take the COVID-19 vaccine. We found weak support for our main hypothesis that conveying strong (compared to weak) norms leads to reduced hesitancy and stronger intentions. Furthermore, norms did not produce significantly different effects compared to standard vaccine information from the authorities. Moreover, no support was found for the hypothesis that young people are more strongly influenced by norms when the norm reference group consists of other young individuals rather than people in general. These findings suggest that the practical usefulness of signaling descriptive norms is rather limited, and may not be more effective than standard appeals in the quest of encouraging young adults to trust and accept a new vaccine.

Time required to complete transvaginal cervical length in women receiving universal cervical length screening for preterm birth prevention.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth contributes to over one-third of infant deaths, and although there are several risk factors for preterm birth few tests predict this obstetric complication. Midtrimester transvaginal cervical length (TVCL) screening is currently the best clinical predictor of spontaneous preterm birth and has been suggested to be applied universally. Although several studies have examined the cost-efficacy of universal screening, the time consumption and resultant time management has not been examined. OBJECTIVE: We aim to quantitate the time requirement for transvaginal cervical length (TVCL) screening with the implementation of universal TVCL screening.Study design: This is a retrospective cohort study of women undergoing cervical length screening after implementation of universal Transvaginal Cervical Length (TVCL) screening at a university setting over a 1-year period. The primary outcome was time in minutes for TVCL screening from completion of transabdominal to completion of transvaginal ultrasound. RESULTS: This study included 2803 ultrasounds, 1673 of which involved completion of a TVCL after completion of abdominal imaging between 16 0/7 and 23 6/7 weeks of gestation. The mean duration of cervical length screening was 9.8 min (standard deviation [SD], 4.0 min). The time range was less than 1 min to 48 min. For women obtaining cervical lengths, 4.2% required less than 5 additional minutes to perform cervical length screening, 52.1% (872), required less than 10 additional minutes. The majority, 91.8%, of ultrasounds required less than 15 min to complete. Ultrasounds performed in private practice sites required less time compared to those at teaching sites (8.2 ± 3.1 min versus 10.2 ± 4.1 min, p < .001). No significant time improvement occurred after 6 months of universal TVCL screening, with the first 6 months average of 10.1 min versus 9.6 min in the later half, p = .61. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a universal TVCL program adds an average of 10 min to each ultrasound exam. This additional time does diminish with increasing experience with TVCL, but not to a significant degree.

Cardiac arrest associated with non-toxigenic corynebacterium diphtheria strain: A case report.

Here we document a rare, acute, infection caused by non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae and the resulting unique and severe clinical sequelae. Our patient was a young man with no known pre-existing conditions that presented in cardiopulmonary arrest. We contrast this case with prior instances of non-toxigenic C. diphtheriae strain infection in the United States and summarize the literature that suggests systemic infection can result in cardiogenic toxicity. We speculate on a possible missed, pre-existing condition that could have increased this patient's susceptibility to poor clinical outcome.

Bystander Reactions to Workplace Incivility: The Role of Gender and Discrimination Claims.

Will men and women receive the same support at work when they claim to have been discriminated against? This paper reports a scenario-based experimental study (N = 240, 50.4% women, M age = 25.65) that investigated bystanders' reactions to an incident where a co-worker is treated in a condescending manner by another co-worker. The results showed that women reacted more strongly to the incivility incident and were more willing to support and defend the co-worker. As expected, the gender difference in helping intentions was especially prominent when the co-worker attributed the incident to gender discrimination, compared to a control condition with an attribution unrelated to gender. Further, when the incident was attributed to discrimination, the female co-worker evoked somewhat stronger helping intentions than the male co-worker, suggesting the presence of gender bias. The results are discussed in relation to the prototype perspective of perceived discrimination.

Universal transvaginal cervical length screening during pregnancy increases the diagnostic incidence of low-lying placenta and placenta previa.

BACKGROUND: Universal transvaginal cervical length screening has been increasingly implemented with both positive and negative consequences. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we described the diagnostic incidence of low-lying placenta and placenta previa with the implementation of universal transvaginal cervical length screening. STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective cohort study of women undergoing midtrimester universal transvaginal cervical length screening. The primary outcome was the rate of transvaginal diagnosis of low-lying placenta or placenta previa using midtrimester universal transvaginal cervical length screening. RESULTS: This study included 1982 midtrimester ultrasounds, of which 211 indicated a low-lying placenta or placenta previa on either transabdominal or transvaginal ultrasound. With transvaginal ultrasound, a low-lying placenta or placenta previa was diagnosed in 211 women (10.6% of the study population). Of the 211 patients with a low-lying placenta or placenta previa, 90 (42.6%) had a false-negative result, diagnosed using only transvaginal ultrasound; 112 (53.1%) had a true-positive result; and 9 (4.3%) had a false-positive result. The relative risk of having an abnormal finding on ultrasound with the addition of universal transvaginal cervical length screening was 9.2 (95% confidence interval, 4.6-18.1). Of the low-lying placenta or placenta previa diagnosed using midtrimester universal transvaginal cervical length screening, 98.9% resolved (95% confidence interval, 93.7-99.97). CONCLUSION: Implementation of universal transvaginal cervical length screening increases the diagnostic incidence of low-lying placenta or placenta previa without an increase in the diagnoses that persist to term, which comes at the cost of increased follow-up ultrasounds and potentially increased anxiety for the patient.

Does expertise and thinking mode matter for accuracy in judgments of job applicants' cognitive ability?

The present research examined the role of thinking mode for accuracy in recruiters and laypeople's judgments of applicants' cognitive ability. In Study 1, students who relied on their intuition were somewhat less accurate. In Study 2, an experimental manipulation of thinking mode (intuitive vs analytical) revealed no apparent differences in accuracy. Moreover, there were no differences in accuracy or agreement between recruiters and laypeople. Examination of the use of specific resume content suggested that intuitive thinking corresponds to basing one's judgments more on the way that applicants present themselves in their personal letter and less on diagnostic biographical information such as SAT scores. The findings point to the possibility that professional recruiters may not possess intuitive expertise in this context.

Prototypes and same-gender bias in perceptions of hiring discrimination.

The present study investigated the relative importance of two explanations behind perceptions of gender discrimination in hiring: prototypes and same-gender bias. According to the prototype explanation, people perceive an event as discrimination to the extent that it fits their preconceptions of typical discrimination. In contrast, the same-gender bias explanation asserts that people more readily detect discrimination toward members of their own gender. In four experiments (n = 797), women and men made considerably stronger discrimination attributions, and were moderately more discouraged from seeking work, when the victim was female rather than male. Further, a series of regressions analyses showed beliefs in discrimination of women to be moderately correlated with discrimination attributions of female victims, but little added explanatory value of participant gender, stigma consciousness, or feminist identification. The results offer strong support for the prototype explanation.

Measuring Outcomes of an Intensive Care Unit Family Diary Program.

Patients discharged from intensive care units are at risk of short- and long-term physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms known as post-intensive care syndrome. Family members of intensive care unit patients are at risk of similar symptoms known as post-intensive care syndrome-family. Both syndromes are common, and strategies to reduce risk factors should be employed. An intensive care unit diary project to help reduce these syndromes was implemented in 2 intensive care units using an evidence-based framework. The effects of these diaries were studied using the Family Satisfaction with Care in the Intensive Care Unit survey. Rates of referrals to a postintensive care unit recovery clinic were also observed in relation to the diaries. Although preliminary data did not reveal a significant increase in family satisfaction, the surveys provided important staff feedback. The diaries fostered feelings of compassion and caring as well as built trust between staff and family members of intensive care unit patients. The diaries increased referrals to the postintensive care unit recovery clinic.

Getting along or ahead: Effects of gender identity threat on communal and agentic self-presentations.

When faced with a threat to gender identity, people may try to restore their gender status by acting in a more gender-typical manner. The present research investigated effects of gender identity threat on self-presentations of agentic and communal traits in a Swedish and an Argentine sample (N = 242). Under threat (vs. affirmation), Swedish women deemphasized agentic traits (d [95% CI] = -0.41 [-0.93, 0.11]), Argentine women increased their emphasis on communal traits (d = 0.44 [-0.08, 0.97]), and Argentine men increased their emphasis on agentic traits (d = 0.49 [-0.03, 1.01]). However, Swedish men did not appear to be affected by the threat regarding agentic (d = 0.04 [-0.47, 0.55]) or communal traits (d = 0.23 [-0.29, 0.74]). The findings are to be considered tentative. Implications for identity threat research are discussed.

What will I be when I grow up? The impact of gender identity threat on adolescents' occupational preferences.

The present study examined the impact of gender identity threat on adolescents' occupational preferences. Two hundred and ninety-seven adolescents (45% girls, M age = 14.4, SD = .54) participated in the experiment. There were substantial differences between boys' and girls' occupational preferences. Importantly, adolescents who received a threat to their gender identity became more stereotypical in job preferences, suggesting a causal link between threatened gender identity and stereotypical preferences. A comparison threat to one's capability did not have this effect, indicating a unique effect of gender identity threat. Further, individual differences in gender identity concerns predicted gender stereotypical preferences, and this finding was replicated with an independent sample (N = 242). In conclusion, the results suggest that threats to adolescents' gender identity may contribute to the large gender segregation on the labor market.