Using graphic warning labels to counter effects of social cues and brand imagery in cigarette advertising.

Exposure to cigarette advertising can increase the likelihood of youth smoking initiation and may encourage people who already smoke to continue. Requiring prominent, graphic warning labels could reduce these effects. We test whether graphic versus text-only warning labels in cigarette advertisements influence cognitive and emotional factors associated with youth susceptibility to smoking and adult intentions to quit. We conducted two randomized, between-subjects experiments with middle-school youth (n = 474) and adult smokers (n = 451). Both studies employed a two (graphic or text-only warnings) by two (advertisements with social cues or brand imagery) factorial design with a fifth, offset control group (social cue advertisements with the current US Surgeon General's Warning). Graphic warnings outperformed text-only warnings in reducing visual attention to the advertisement, generating visual attention to the warning and arousing more negative affect. Graphic warnings also reduced the appeal of cigarette brands among youth relative to social cue advertisements with the Surgeon General's warnings. None of the warnings (graphic or textual) influenced health risk beliefs. Graphic warning labels on cigarette advertisements appear to have effects similar to those observed on cigarette packs in previous work, with an added benefit of reducing cigarette brand appeal among youth.

Economics of youth drug use, addiction and gateway effects.

The use of illicit drugs by American youth rose dramatically during the 1990s. Reducing these trends is an important policy objective. However, for policies to be effective it is important to understand the key causal links that lead to substance use and abuse. Policy makers must understand whether attempts to reduce the demand for one drug have impacts on the current and future use of other drugs. This paper overviews an economic approach to modeling drug use, addiction and gateway effects, emphasizing the potential of this method for identifying causal links in consumption. The paper demonstrates how this multi-substance theory of drug use leads to empirical specifications that can identify the impact of consumption of one drug on the contemporaneous and future consumption of other drugs. This is followed by a discussion of what types of data would be needed to estimate these effects.

Alcohol portrayal on prime-time television: manifest and latent messages.

OBJECTIVE: The research in this article is designed to improve our understanding of alcohol messages embedded in prime-time television, especially when adolescent characters are shown portraying or consuming alcohol. METHOD: Manifest and latent content analyses are used to assess the frequency of alcohol portrayal in prime-time television and the personality traits (powerful, admirable, smart) of characters shown consuming or portraying alcohol on prime-time television. The sample includes 224 hours of programming across 276 programs on four major networks. RESULTS: Alcoholic beverages were the most frequently portrayed food or drink. The prominence of alcohol in prime-time television applies to all characters, including adolescents. The proportion of all food and drink incidents accounted for by alcohol equaled .14 for male and .20 for female adolescent television characters. Moreover, when adolescent characters are involved with alcohol incidents, they are more likely to be shown consuming this alcohol than are adults. A significant finding was that adolescents portraying alcohol in programming were shown to have significantly more negative personality characteristics than did characters in older age groups. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with other studies, this study finds higher rates of alcohol portrayal by adolescents on prime-time television. The negative character portrayal of adolescents involved with alcohol is encouraging. However, adult and high-income characters involved with alcohol, who might serve as role models for younger adults are, on average, shown with positive personality characteristics.

Cerebrospinal fluid cytomorphology identification of benign cells originating in the central nervous system.

The chief cellular consituents of CSF are the "free cells" of the pia-arachnoid, ependyma, and choroid. These cells are of diverse types, but have their mesenchymal origin in common. Usually they offer no difficulty in identification since they are predominantly histiocytic. However, these "free cells" may be morphologically changed in reaction to an appropriate stimulus, and may therefore be a source of error in diagnostic material. Cells having mesothelial characteristics are not found in the CSF compartment and therefore the term pia-arachnoid mesothelial cells appears inappropriate. The only neuroectodermal derivative that was easily identifiable was the choroidal cell. It is distinctive and unequivocal. We were unable to recognize ependymal cells in our present study. Glial cells (protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes) and neurons can be recognized when neural tissue is penetrated in the process of collecting CSF.