IntroductionThe objective of our study was to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness of a lifestyle modification program led by community health workers (CHWs) for low-income Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes.MethodsWe forecasted disease outcomes, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained, and lifetime costs associated with attaining different hemoglobin A1c (A1c) levels. Outcomes were projected 20 years into the future and discounted at a 3.0% rate. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the extent to which our results were dependent on assumptions related to program effectiveness, projected years, discount rates, and costs.ResultsThe incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the intervention ranged from $10,995 to $33,319 per QALY gained when compared with usual care. The intervention was particularly cost-effective for adults with high glycemic levels (A1c > 9%). The results are robust to changes in multiple parameters.ConclusionThe CHW program was cost-effective. This study adds to the evidence that culturally sensitive lifestyle modification programs to control diabetes can be a cost-effective way to improve health among Hispanics with diabetes, particularly among those with high A1c levels.

Increasingly, the media are important sources of scientific information. Recent studies indicate that this is especially true for climate change. This study analyzes reporters' understanding of climate change by identifying sources of reporter knowledge about climate change, measuring reporters' acquired knowledge against the scientific consensus, and analyzing differences in reporter knowledge based on several factors that may influence climate change reporting. Results show that reporters who primarily use scientists as sources and who work the environmental beat full-time have the most accurate climate change knowledge.

An important, but mostly overlooked aspect of science communication is the potential role US television weathercasters may perform. In some cases, these specialists may be the only source of scientific information that some people encounter on a regular basis. Audience research indicates that the weathercast is the most-watched part of the local newscast and the primary reason people choose a local television news product. But very little is known about the qualifications of weathercasters as a group and their inclinations as individuals to educate viewers about scientific topics. This study begins with results from the largest survey ever conducted about television weathercasters. Most of them say their broadcasts are appropriate venues for teaching their audiences about science, and most of them are already doing so. Other results provide a baseline foundation on a variety of other work-related factors, including the consistent public service function for most television weathercasters that includes science communication in their communities. Finally, the study discusses the increasing number of initiatives recently being developed to formalize this potentially powerful role of television weathercasters as prominent science communicators

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Children of parents with panic disorder (PD) have high risk for developing anxiety disorders. However, the mechanisms involved in transmission of risk are uncertain. Cognitive models of anxiety propose that information-processing biases underlie anxiety vulnerability; in particular, attentional biases for threat. Consequently, this study examined attentional biases in mothers with lifetime PD and their daughters (aged 9-14 years). Sixty mother-daughter dyads (n = 120) were recruited to the study; half the mothers had lifetime PD (i.e., either a current or past history of PD), and half had no psychiatric history. Attentional biases were assessed using a visual-probe task with pictorial and word stimuli related to physical-health threat. Stimulus duration was varied to examine the time-course of attentional biases (initial orienting and maintained attention). Results showed an attentional bias for threat in daughters of mothers with lifetime PD, compared with daughters of mothers with no PD history. Specifically, at-risk daughters had an attentional bias for physical-health threat cues (words and pictures) at the longer stimulus duration of 1250 ms (but not at 500 ms). In addition, attentional bias for threat in girls was associated with increased physical-health threat worries. Mothers with lifetime PD did not significantly differ from mothers with no PD history on the indices of attentional bias. The findings are discussed in terms of an attentional threat-monitoring strategy in at-risk girls and argue against the view that there is simple transmission of an anxiety-related attentional processing style across generations.