BACKGROUND Detailed information on patient exposure, contact patterns, and discharge status is rarely available in real time from traditional surveillance systems in the context of an emerging infectious disease outbreak. Here, we validate the systematic collection of Internet news reports to characterize epidemiological patterns of Ebola virus disease (EVD) infections during the West African 2...

This brief essay a call for further research rather than a summary of existing findings speculates on the existence of an area of potential misunderstanding, yet also of potential solidarity, among diplomats: that of emotion culture. All diplomats know that different cultures have different triggers for emotion (e.g., what would be taken as a joke in one culture is heard as an insult in another...

Until the 1970s, Brazilians used to joke that they had to die before the authorities paid any attention to them. Dr Hugo Coelho Barbosa Tomassini recalls how they used to have a full-time “death secretary” to administer funerals in the city of Niterói, where he was once the municipal health secretary, but only one health unit to care for the living. Much has changed since then. While long queue...

With the implementation of strict quarantine and adjunct health measures, Fiji was largely spared from COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In April 2021, arrival delta variant SARS-CoV-2 resulted a major outbreak that is only now under control. The country enacted swift countermeasures to reduce population movement, but gained foothold peri-urban areas largest city, Suva, there spread other urban centre...

The term ‘placebo’ is used in different contexts with different meanings (Box 1). Placebo effects have been a scientific curiosity for years, regarded as deceptive therapies and tainted by associations with quackery and dishonesty. Anthropological studies of the placebo (Thompson 2010) highlight the universality of charms and ritual to produce healing effects in all cultures, suggesting an evol...

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the level of death anxiety among a national sample of United States funeral directors with varying levels of death exposure, age, and sex. Utilizing the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS), the results showed a significant, but weak negative relationship between levels of death anxiety and the participants' reported numbe...

Background. A stray bullet injury is defined as an accidental firearm injury occurring outdoors by an anonymous attacker. Stray bullet injuries are rare, but not uncommon in certain parts of the world. In Pakistan, 165 patients with stray bullet injuries were recorded between 2006 and 2010. Objectives. In Lebanon, gunshots may occur during politicians’ speeches, funerals and after exam results ...

We propose that perceptions of personal control are one means to protect the belief in a controllable, nonrandom world. Accordingly, people respond to losses of personal control by imbuing their social, physical, and metaphysical environments with order and structure. We demonstrate that when personal control is threatened, people can preserve a sense of order by (a) perceiving patterns in nois...

Imagine yourself walking alone down a dark alley after midnight. Suddenly, you freeze. The man seen in Figure 11.1 is standing straight ahead of you. In a split second, you recognize the anger so strongly evident by the expression on his face and by his tightly clenched fist. Terrified, you turn around, running for your life. Two long minutes later, you are safe in the main street. Admittedly, ...