The flu shot study: Using multiattribute utility theory to design a vaccination intervention

Differences between the multiattribute utility (MAU) profiles of participants who had previously gotten flu shots and those who had not done so were used to design an informational brochure urging influenza vaccination. The effectiveness of the MAU brochure was evaluated in a VA ambulatory care clinic with a long-standing influenza vaccination program. The target population for the intervention was high-risk clinic patients who had not gotten a shot the previous year. Participants received either a letter urging them to get a flu shot, or a letter plus the informational brochure. A significantly larger proportion of the patients who received the brochure got shots; 36% versus 23% for the letter only. While a 13 percentage point increase is modest, influenza and related complications (preventable through vaccination) are the fourth-leading killers of older persons. Adding a MAU-based brochure to an ongoing vaccination program is inexpensive and may save additional lives.     

Mental Disorders and Socioeconomic Status: Impact on Population Risk of Attempted Suicide in Australia

The population attributable risk (PAR) of mental disorders compared to indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) for attempted suicide was estimated for Australia. For mental disorders, the highest PAR% for attempted suicide was for anxiety disorders (males 28%; females 36%). For SES, the highest PAR% for attempted suicide in males was for occupation (males 31%; females 16%) and education level (males 19%; females 8%), following adjustment for age and mental disorders. The study results suggest that one third of suicide attempts in both males and females are attributable to anxiety disorders, the same proportion attributable to low educational or occupational status.     

Exploring the fruitfulness of diagrams in mathematics

Synthese - The paper asks whether diagrams in mathematics are particularly fruitful compared to other types of representations. In order to respond to this question a number of examples of...     

Conflict and Cognitive Control in the Brain

ABSTRACT— Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses. In the current article, we review this theory and some of the research that has supported it, including its implication for understanding cognitive disturbances in clinical disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We conclude by addressing several interesting possibilities for future research.     

A Defense of Egalitarianism

Recently in this journal, Michael Huemer has attempted to refute egalitarianism. His strategy consists in: first, distinguishing between three possible worlds (one with an equal distribution of well-being, one with an unequal distribution at every moment but with an equal distribution overall, and one with an unequal distribution at every moment as well as overall); second, showing that the first world is equal in value to the second world; third, dividing the second and third worlds into two temporal segments each, then showing that none of the temporal segments possesses greater moral value than any other, thereby demonstrating that the second and third worlds as a whole are equal in value; and finally, concluding that none of the three worlds has more value than any other. The present article rebuts Huemer’s critique of egalitarianism first, and most importantly, by showing that his core argument rests upon an equivocation, and second, by refuting his supplementary arguments.