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Objectives. We investigated vaccine risk perception among reporters of autism to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). Methods. We conducted structured interviews with 124 parents who reported autism and related disorders to VAERS from 1990 to 2001 and compared results with those of a published survey of parents in the general population. Results. Respondents perceived vaccine-preventable diseases as less serious than did other parents. Only 15% of respondents deemed immunization extremely important for children's health; two thirds had withheld vaccines from their children. Conclusions. Views of parents who believe vaccines injured their children differ significantly from those of the general population regarding the benefits of immunization. Understanding the factors that shape this perspective can improve communication among vaccine providers, policymakers, and parents/patients.

IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, routine influenza vaccinations have become increasingly popular, and pneumococcal vaccine has been recommended more widely for older adults and people with certain medical conditions. Given […]

Improved risk communication techniques may overcome some parents' reluctance to vaccinate their children. Overall, vaccines have a very good safety record, and vaccination is an extremely effective public health intervention. Nevertheless, some parents are concerned about adverse effects. Many parents are unaware of the serious nature of vaccine-preventable diseases because vaccination programs have been so effective. Presentation of the risk and nature of the disease, balanced by the small risk of injury from vaccination, can be persuasive., Concern over vaccine safety has been a major determinant of immunization policy -- from passage of the Biologics Control Act in 1902 to the recent American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) [...]

Water is one of the most important substances on which life depends. However, water may also serve as a medium by which disease is spread to humans, animals, and plants. Therefore, the biological decontamination of this vital substance is of paramount importance. Several methods have been used to decontaminate water and assure its clean supply. Unfortunately, most of these methods use potentially hazardous chemicals, which require proper storage and transport and are not environmentally friendly. Here we present a decontamination method based on the use of UV radiation emitted by the decay of excimers generated by a nonequilibrium discharge operating in the high-pressure regime. We found that at an appropriate wavelength, this type of UV radiation has a devastating effect on micro-organisms. Index Terms--Bacteria, discharge, excimer, ultraviolet, water.

High-profile terrorist attacks in the new millennium have made counter-terrorism a priority for many governments. The abundance of open source intelligence available after the 9/11/2001 attack, for example, enabled a comprehensive analysis of that terrorist network. The opportunity, thus, is to collect valuable and cost-effective information during the pre-attack phase to aid in the prevention of such atrocities in the future. This article positions social network analysis as a key tool for this type of intelligence analysis, with emphasis on the automated extraction of data relevant to the structural organisation of its actors and the attributes of their relationships in the network by using data and text mining techniques on open sources. The processes outlined are viewed as a layer that could complement and help to populate a terrorist behavioural activity model such as where the recognition of pre-incident indicators are linked to the likelihood of terrorist events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]