bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Seasoned Equity Offerings: Stock Market Liquidity and the Rights Offer Paradox
Authors: Ginglinger Edith , Matsoukis Laure , Riva Fabrice
Published: October 2015

This paper examines the impact of market liquidity on seasoned equity offerings (SEO) characteristics in France. We find that, besides blockholders’ takeup, liquidity is an important determinant of SEO flotation method choice. We document higher direct equity offering flotation costs, but also improved stock market liquidity after public offerings and standby rights relative to uninsured rights. After controlling for endogeneity in the choice of SEO flotation method, we find that pure public offerings and standby rights are comparable in terms of direct costs and liquidity improvement. Our results provide new insights as to why firms choose public offerings despite apparently higher costs.
Liquidity and Returns to Target Shareholders in the Market for Corporate Control: Evidence from the US Markets
Authors: Lee Kaun Y. , Chung Kee H.
Published: October 2015

In this paper we analyze how stock market liquidity affects the abnormal return to target firms in mergers and tender offers. We predict that target firms with poorer stock market liquidity receive larger announcement day abnormal returns based on the following considerations. First, target firms with poorer stock market liquidity receive greater liquidity improvements after a merger or tender offer. Second, deals that involve less liquid targets are less anticipated and/or more likely to be completed. Third, less liquid stocks have more diverse reservation prices across shareholders and thus require a higher takeover return. Consistent with these expectations, we show that abnormal returns to target firms’ shareholders are significantly and positively related to the difference in liquidity (measured by the bid‐ask spread) between acquirers and targets as well as the magnitude of target firms’ liquidity improvement.
The Emergence of Second‐Tier Auditors in the US: Evidence from Investor Perceptions of Financial Reporting Credibility
Authors: Cassell Cory A. , Giroux Gary , Myers Linda A. , Omer Thomas C.
Published: October 2015

We examine changes in the association between auditor type (Big 4, Second‐Tier, and Other non‐Big 4) and perceived financial reporting credibility in the wake of events (e.g., Andersen's failure, the implementation of SOX, creation of the PCAOB, etc.) which led to significant growth in Second‐Tier client portfolios and increased scrutiny of Second‐Tier audit practices. Our results reveal that financial reporting credibility of Second‐Tier clients was lower than that of Big 4 clients and was indistinguishable from that of Other non‐Big 4 clients pre‐Andersen. However, post‐Andersen, we find that financial reporting credibility of Second‐Tier clients is higher than that of Other non‐Big 4 clients and is indistinguishable from that of Big 4 clients. We expect that our results will be of interest to regulators, both in the United States and in the European Union, who have expressed concerns about the current state of competition in the audit market, management and boards of directors that are contemplating switching to a Second‐Tier audit firm, and academics investigating quality differences among audit firm types.
An Analysis of Accounting Frauds and the Timing of Analyst Coverage Decisions and Recommendation Revisions: Evidence from the US
Authors: Young Susan M. , Peng Emma Y.
Published: October 2015

This paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the types of accounting fraud committed by firms over the period 1995–2009. Using detailed data from US SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAER), we examine the likelihood and timing of analyst coverage decisions and recommendation revisions related to fraud firms versus firms without accounting fraud. We find that analysts have a higher probability of taking the more severe action of dropping coverage rather than only revising down recommendations for firms with any type of accounting fraud and also for specific egregious types of accounting fraud. Through the use of competing hazards models, we also find that accounting frauds and their egregiousness are positively (negatively) associated with the timeliness of the analysts’ action to drop coverage (revise only). Overall, we find that analysts’ actions may be useful in determining the occurrence of accounting fraud prior to the public announcement of the fraud.
Estimation of accuracies and expected genetic change from selection for selection indexes that use multiple‐trait predictions of breeding values
Authors: Barwick S.A. , Tier B. , Swan A.A. , Henzell A.L.
Published: October 2015

Procedures are described for estimating selection index accuracies for individual animals and expected genetic change from selection for the general case where indexes of EBVs predict an aggregate breeding objective of traits that may or may not have been measured. Index accuracies for the breeding objective are shown to take an important general form, being able to be expressed as the product of the accuracy of the index function of true breeding values and the accuracy with which that function predicts the breeding objective. When the accuracies of the individual EBVs of the index are known, prediction error variances (PEVs) and covariances (PECs) for the EBVs within animal are able to be well approximated, and index accuracies and expected genetic change from selection estimated with high accuracy. The procedures are suited to routine use in estimating index accuracies in genetic evaluation, and for providing important information, without additional modelling, on the directions in which a population will move under selection.
Labor, Risk, and Uncertainty in Global Supply Networks—Exploratory Insights
Authors: Sydow Jörg , Frenkel Stephen J.
Published: October 2015

Arising from widespread outsourcing and, in particular, offshoring, goods and services are increasingly provided by supply networks that rely on global logistic systems. While the risks and uncertainties involved in this strategy have been widely acknowledged in the literature on interorganizational networks and supply chain management, labor conditions and labor relations—and related human resource management issues—have thus far been neglected. Starting from a perspective that takes into consideration that global supply networks are not only confronted with calculable risks but also genuine uncertainties, we explore the conditions under which labor may constitute a source as well as a means for dealing with risk and uncertainty. The study is based on a review of the relevant interorganizational network and supply chain management literature and is informed by an investigation of International Framework Agreements (IFAs) in 10 European corporations and their supply networks.IFAs—in addition to unilateral codes of conduct—could be used to detect and cope with labor‐related risk and uncertainties. However, our findings reveal that this is not the case. This leads to some tentative theoretical conclusions and implications for dealing with risk and uncertainty in global supply networks.
Initial Experience With Ultra High‐Density Mapping of Human Right Atria
Authors: BOLLMANN ANDREAS , HILBERT SEBASTIAN , JOHN SILKE , KOSIUK JEDRZEJ , HINDRICKS GERHARD
Published: October 2015

Ultra High‐Density Mapping of the Right Atria

Introduction

Recently, an automatic, high‐resolution mapping system has been presented to accurately and quickly identify right atrial geometry and activation patterns in animals, but human data are lacking. This study aims to assess the clinical feasibility and accuracy of high‐density electroanatomical mapping of various RA arrhythmias.

Methods and Results

Electroanatomical maps of the RA (35 partial and 24 complete) were created in 23 patients using a novel mini‐basket catheter with 64 electrodes and automatic electrogram annotation. Median acquisition time was 6:43 minutes (0:39–23:05 minutes) with shorter times for partial (4.03 ± 4.13 minutes) than for complete maps (9.41 ± 4.92 minutes). During mapping 3,236 (710–16,306) data points were automatically annotated without manual correction. Maps obtained during sinus rhythm created geometry consistent with CT imaging and demonstrated activation originating at the middle to superior crista terminalis, while maps during CS pacing showed right atrial activation beginning at the infero‐septal region. Activation patterns were consistent with cavotricuspid isthmus‐dependent atrial flutter (n = 4), complex reentry tachycardia (n = 1), or ectopic atrial tachycardia (n = 2). His bundle and fractionated potentials in the slow pathway region were automatically detected in all patients. Ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus (n = 9), the atrio‐ventricular node (n = 2), atrial ectopy (n = 2), and the slow pathway (n = 3) was successfully and safely performed.

Conclusions

RA mapping with this automatic high‐density mapping system is fast, feasible, and safe. It is possible to reproducibly identify propagation of atrial activation during sinus rhythm, various tachycardias, and also complex reentrant arrhythmias.
‘Heavy Fog in the Channel. Continent Cut Off’? British Diplomatic Relations in Brussels after 2010
Authors: Rasmussen Maja Kluger
Published: October 2015

What happens when a Member State challenges the unwritten rule of consensual decision‐making in the Council of the EU? Are their diplomats marginalized, or do other countries make an extra effort to attempt to get them on board? In this article, I use the UK (United Kingdom) in the area of financial and economic EU co‐operation as a case study to explore these questions. The British government has been unwilling to sign up for a range of recent EU crisis‐management measures and has not been afraid of utilizing its veto. Based on 33 interviews with diplomats from 20 countries, this article demonstrates that British diplomats have not become marginalized, but changes have occurred; other countries no longer go the extra mile to get the UK on board and they are worried that they will be seen as obstructive if they align themselves with the UK.
Group Buying Commitment and Sellers’ Competitive Advantages
Authors: Chen Yuxin , Li Xinxin
Published: October 2015

This paper examines a model of duopoly firms selling to an exogenously formed buyer group consisting of members with heterogeneous preferences. Two research questions are addressed: (1) when is it optimal for a buyer group to commit to exclusive purchase from a single seller, and (2) how does the presence of group buying and the exclusive purchase commitment associated with it affect firms’ incentives to invest in quality improvement? We find that, even though exclusive purchase commitment benefits buyers when the competing products provide similar quality, it may lower buyer surplus if one product is significantly advantaged and/or the competing products are not highly differentiated horizontally. This result is robust even if the buyer group is formed endogenously. In addition, contingent on the similarity between the competing sellers’ investment costs, the sellers’ incentives to improve quality may be positively or negatively affected by the presence of group buying.
Show Me the Right Stuff: Signals for High‐Tech Startups
Authors: Conti Annamaria , Thursby Marie , Rothaermel Frank T.
Published: October 2015

We present a theoretical model of startup signaling with multiple signals and potential differences in external investor preferences. For a novel sample of technology incubator startups, we empirically examine the use of patents and founder, friends, and family (FFF) money as such signals, finding that they are jointly endogenous to venture capital and business angel investment in the startups. For this sample, venture capitalists appear to value patents more highly than FFF money, while the reverse is true for business angels. Moreover, the impact of patents on venture capitalists is larger than the impact of FFF money on business angels.
The Economic Psychology of Entrepreneurship and Family Business
Authors: Puri Manju , Robinson David T.
Published: October 2015

This paper studies the attitudes of entrepreneurs, both how they differ as a group from others in the economy, as well as how they differ from one another according to the mode of entry into entrepreneurship and whether or not the firm is a family business. We use data from the Survey of Consumer Finance to measure and isolate the enjoyment of private benefits, attitudes toward risk, and optimism for these groups. Entrepreneurs are more optimistic and enjoy the nonpecuniary benefits of work more than wage earners. They embrace risk, but perhaps less so than commonly believed, as their risk‐bearing is tempered by longer planning horizons. Family business owners share optimism and nonpecuniary benefits with other entrepreneurs; their tolerance for risk is not different than wage earners. In contrast, those who inherit businesses are significantly less risk tolerant than nonentrepreneurs, are no more optimistic than nonentrepreneurs, but seem to derive more nonpecuniary benefits from work than others. Simply possessing these entrepreneurial traits translate into actions, increasing the amount of time spent at work, even among those who are not entrepreneurs.
Do Higher Costs Spur Process Innovations and Managerial Incentives? Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Authors: Dostie Benoit , Jayaraman Rajshri
Published: October 2015

This paper asks whether firms respond to cost shocks by introducing process innovations and increasing the use of managerial incentives. Using a large panel data set of workplaces in Canada, our identification strategy relies on exogenous variation in costs arising from increased border security along the 49thparallel following 9/11. Our longitudinal difference‐in‐differences estimates indicate that firms responded to the cost shock by introducing new or improved processes, but did not change their use of managerial incentives. These results suggest that the threat of bankruptcy may provide impetus for improving efficiency.
Search Quality and Revenue Cannibalization by Competing Search Engines
Authors: Taylor Greg
Published: October 2015

Consumers are attracted by high‐quality search results. Search engines, though, essentially compete against themselves because consumers are induced to substitute away from advertisement links when their organic counterparts are of high quality. I characterize the effect of such revenue cannibalization upon equilibrium quality when search engines compete for clicks. Cannibalization provides an incentive for quality degradation, engendering low‐quality equilibria—even when provision is costless. When consumers exhibit loyalty there is a ceiling above which result quality cannot rise, regardless of what the maximum feasible quality happens to be. Seemingly procompetitive developments may exert downward pressure on equilibrium quality.
Effectiveness of educational nursing home visits on quality of life, functional status and care dependency in older adults with mobility impairments: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Buss Arne , Wolf‐Ostermann Karin , Dassen Theo , Lahmann Nils , Strupeit Steve
Published: October 2015

Rationale, aims and objectives

Facilitating and maintaining functional status (FS) and quality of life (QoL) and avoiding care dependency (CD) are and will increasingly become major tasks of nursing. Educational nursing home visits may have positive effects on FS and QoL in older adults. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of educational home visits on FS, QoL and CD in older adults with mobility impairments.

Method

We performed a randomized controlled trial. The study was conducted in the living environments of 123 participants with functional impairments living in Hamburg, Germany. The intervention group received an additional nursing education intervention on mobility and QoL; the control group received care as usual. Data were collected from August 2011 to December 2012 at baseline, 6 months and 12 months of follow‐up. The main outcomes were FS (Barthel Index), QoL (WHOQOL‐BREF) and CD (Care Dependency Scale). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized linear models.

Results

In total, 113 participants (57 in the intervention and 56 in the control group) were included in the study. The intervention had no statistical significant effect on FS, QoL and CD.

Conclusions

The intervention did not show the benefits that we assumed. Further studies on the effects of educational nursing interventions should be performed using different concepts and rigorous research methods.
Are There Differences in Treatment and Survival Between Poor, Older Black and White Women with Breast Cancer?
Authors: Aggarwal Himani , Callahan Christopher M. , Miller Kathy D. , Tu Wanzhu , Loehrer Patrick J.
Published: October 2015

Objectives

To explore differences in treatment and survival outcome between poor, older black and white women with breast cancer.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Public safety net hospital.

Participants

Women aged 65 and older diagnosed with breast cancer from 1999 to 2008 (n = 1,000).

Measurements

Breast cancer treatments that black and white women sought were compared using the Pearson chi‐square test. All‐cause mortality of black and white women was compared using hazard ratios derived from a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model.

Results

There was no significant difference between older black and white women in surgical treatment, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy over the study period. Race was not a significant predictor of survival in the Cox proportional hazards model that controlled for stage of cancer, age at diagnosis, dual‐eligibility status, comorbid conditions, body mass index, smoking history, mammogram screening, and treatment for breast cancer.

Conclusion

Race did not appear to affect treatment or mortality in a cohort of older women with low socioeconomic status. This may be associated with similar healthcare delivery and equivalent access to health care for the older black and white women in this study.
The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of Melbourne, Australia
Authors: Wiedmann Thomas O. , Chen Guangwu , Barrett John
Published: October 2015

Cities are thought to be associated with most of humanity's consumption of natural resources and impacts on the environment. Cities not only constitute major centers of economic activity, knowledge, innovation, and governance—they are also said to be linked to approximately 70% to 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. This makes cities primary agents of change in a resource‐ and carbon‐constraint world. In order to set meaningful targets, design successful policies, and implement effective mitigation strategies, it is important that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for cities is accurate, comparable, comprehensive, and complete. Despite recent developments in the standardization of city GHG accounting, there is still a lack of consistent guidelines regarding out‐of‐boundary emissions, thus hampering efforts to identify mitigation priorities and responsibilities. We introduce a new conceptual framework—based on environmental input‐output analysis—that allows for a consistent and complete reconciliation of direct and indirect GHG emissions from a city. The “city carbon map” shows local, regional, national, and global origins and destinations of flows of embodied emissions. We test the carbon map concept by applying it to the greater metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. We discuss the results and limitations of the approach in the light of possible mitigation strategies and policies by different urban stakeholders.
Improving crop nutrient efficiency through root architecture modifications
Authors: Li Xinxin , Zeng Rensen , Liao Hong
Published: October 2015

Improving crop nutrient efficiency becomes an essential consideration for environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture. Plant growth and development is dependent on 17 essential nutrient elements, among them, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most important mineral nutrients. Hence it is not surprising that low N and/or low P availability in soils severely constrains crop growth and productivity, and thereby have become high priority targets for improving nutrient efficiency in crops. Root exploration largely determines the ability of plants to acquire mineral nutrients from soils. Therefore, root architecture, the 3‐dimensional configuration of the plant's root system in the soil, is of great importance for improving crop nutrient efficiency. Furthermore, the symbiotic associations between host plants and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi/rhizobial bacteria, are additional important strategies to enhance nutrient acquisition. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in the current understanding of crop species control of root architecture alterations in response to nutrient availability and root/microbe symbioses, through gene or QTL regulation, which results in enhanced nutrient acquisition.
Is There a Human Right to Private Health Care?
Authors: Gross Aeyal
Published: October 2015

Recent years have seen an increase in the turn to rights discourse within the context of access to health and specifically health care. Developments took place at both the national and global levels, with a significant increase in right to health litigation around the world1 and developments at the international level, such as the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and the adoption of a “General Comment” on the topic by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Global Trade and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Regulatory Challenges in International Surrogacy
Authors: Nelson Erin
Published: October 2015

Lawyers (and others) tend to look to the law to resolve disputes and to create certainty about the rights and responsibilities of parties to relationships. There is a particularly acute need for certainty in the context of global trade in surrogacy services, both because of the number of parties who may be involved in creating familial relationships and because of the vulnerabilities created as a result of surrogacy arrangements. Participants in the Global Health Challenges conference (on which this special issue is based) were invited to consider to what extent law is implicated in global health challenges — both in terms of how law might help to resolve the challenges, and (as is particularly of interest in international surrogacy), how law might contribute to or create these challenges.
Thanking Those Who Made it Happen
Authors: Stier Daniel D.
Published: October 2015

This symposium issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics is devoted to the convening of the national public health law conference, Practical Approaches to Critical Challenges, on October 10-12, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was co-sponsored by the Network for Public Health Law and the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics (ASLME) with generous support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, California Endowment, and Healthcare Georgia Foundation.

With the support of those organizations and the dedicated efforts of the individuals mentioned below, the conference focused on building effective interactions between attorneys and public health practitioners in order to:

•

examine practical legal approaches to address priority public health issues;

•

learn about helpful public health law resources and evidence-based research;

•

discuss public health legal questions and answers; and

•

build partnerships to accomplish public health objectives and foster innovation.
Privacy and Anonymity Challenges When Collecting Data for Public Health Purposes
Authors: Emam Khaled El , Moher Ester
Published: October 2015

Even though health care provider reporting of diseases to public health authorities is common, often there is under-reporting by providers, including for notifiable diseases; frequently, under-reporting occurs by wide margins. Two causal factors for this under-reporting by providers have been that: (1) disclosing data may violate their patients’ privacy, and (2) disclosed data may be used to evaluate their performance. A reluctance to disclose information due to privacy concerns exists despite the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule permitting disclosures of personal health information (PHI) for public health purposes without patient authorization. On the other hand, such patient privacy concerns are somewhat justified: there have been documented breaches of patient information from public health data custodians.

A common way to address this privacy issue is to de-identify patient data before it is disclosed to public health.
Laboratory Specimens and Genetic Privacy: Evolution of Legal Theory
Authors: Lewis Michelle Huckaby
Published: October 2015

Human biological tissue samples are an invaluable resource for biomedical research designed to find causes of diseases and their treatments. Controversy has arisen, however, when research has been conducted with laboratory specimens either without the consent of the source of the specimen or when the research conducted with the specimen has expanded beyond the scope of the original consent agreement. Moreover, disputes have arisen regarding which party, the researcher or the source of the specimen, has control over who may use the specimens and for what purposes. The purposes of this article are: (1) to summarize the most important litigation regarding the use of laboratory specimens, and (2) to demonstrate how legal theory regarding control of laboratory specimens has evolved from arguments based upon property interests in biological samples to claims that the origins of laboratory specimens have privacy interests in their genetic information that should be protected.
Implications of the Supreme Court's ACA Medicaid Decision
Authors: Perkins Jane
Published: October 2015

Congress implemented the Medicaid Act in 1965, acting pursuant to its Spending Clause authority to “provide for the…general Welfare.” Over time, the Act has been amended more than 50 times. Most recently, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress required participating states to extend Medicaid eligibility to childless, non-disabled, and non-elderly adults with incomes below roughly 133% of the federal poverty level (referred to as childless adults).

Within hours of President Obama signing the ACA into law, four lawsuits were filed challenging the con-stitutionality of the ACA, including a case in Florida that eventually made its way to the Supreme Court as National Federal of Independent Business v. Sebelius (NFIB). As part of this case, officials from 26 states argued that Congress was improperly coercing them into participating in the Medicaid expansion.
Moral Gridlock: Conceptual Barriers to No-Fault Compensation for Injured Research Subjects
Authors: Henry Leslie Meltzer
Published: October 2015

The federal regulations that govern biomedical research, most notably those enshrined in the Common Rule, are a product of their time. Born in the aftermath of wartime atrocities committed by Nazi doctors, and influenced by domestic research scandals like the Willowbrook and Tuskegee studies, the regulations express a protectionist ethos aimed at safeguarding subjects of human experimentation from the potential harms of research participation. Requirements for informed consent, risk minimization, equitable subject selection, and peer review of proposed research rest on the presumption that the research enterprise owes subjects a duty of protection.
Caring for Elder Parents: A Comparative Evaluation of Family Leave Laws
Authors: Yang Y. Tony , Gimm Gilbert
Published: October 2015

The call for family and medical leave reform in the United States was largely the result of sweeping demographic shifts that occurred in the workforce after the 1950s, coupled with an ever-increasing life expectancy and changing social norms concerning the role of women as caretakers. By the early 1990s, the number of women in the workforce had nearly tripled from 1950. During that same period, life expectancy increased by six years for males and seven for females. Meanwhile, the first wave of the Depression-era generation began to reach the age of retirement. In short, the parents of American workers were living longer and retiring in greater numbers while more women, who were more likely to be informal caregivers, decided to join the workforce. As a result, many families with ill or elder parents began to turn to institutional long-term care.
Social Security Survivors Benefits: The Effects of Reproductive Pathways and Intestacy Law on Attitudes
Authors: Hans Jason D. , Gillen Martie
Published: October 2015

According to the Social Security Administration, 98% of minor children are eligible to receive survivors benefits if a working parent dies. However, the eligibility of children born, and even conceived, after a working parent dies is less clear. In recent years, the Social Security Administration has received more than 100 applications for survivors benefits filed on behalf of children conceived after a parent's death, and one such case, Astrue v. Capato, was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. In that case, whether the child is eligible to inherit under state intestacy law was accepted as a reasonable — and is a common — approach for determining eligibility for Social Security survivors benefits. The purpose of this study is to examine attitudes concerning access to Social Security survivors benefits (hereafter referred to as survivors benefits) in the context of various reproductive pathways and varying state intestacy laws.
Legal Responses to Communal Rejection in Emergencies
Authors: Hodge James G. , Orenstein Daniel G. , Weidenaar Kim , Meza Nick , Van Buren Laura , Wearne Nick , Penunuri Kristin
Published: October 2015

Major disasters and public health emergencies constantly test the nation's resolve to rally and recover from tragedy. Public health crises stemming from prolonged threats like the 2009/2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic require sustained preparedness and response over many months. Even shorter-duration events, like tornados, earthquakes, or hurricanes, leave lasting impacts for which full recovery may take years. Telling examples include the displacement of thousands of persons across the Gulf Coast states following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and difficulties obtaining basic housing and services that persisted in the Northeast months after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Whether the result of natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, bioterrorism, or other causes, these events can change the societal landscape in affected regions.

Despite the challenges of recovery across populations stemming from national or regional emergencies, Americans have consistently supported those directly affected.
Physicians under the Influence: Social Psychology and Industry Marketing Strategies
Authors: Sah Sunita , Fugh-Berman Adriane
Published: October 2015

It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

– Leonardo da Vinci

Physicians often believe that a conscious commitment to ethical behavior and professionalism will protect them from industry influence. Despite increasing concern over the extent of physician-industry relationships, physicians usually fail to recognize the nature and impact of subconscious and unintentional biases on therapeutic decision-making. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies, however, routinely demonstrate their knowledge of social psychology processes on behavior and apply these principles to their marketing. To illustrate how pharmaceutical marketing strategies use psychological techniques to promote targeted therapies, we draw on the relevant social psychology literature on conflicts of interest and on the six principles of influence articulated by the eminent social psychologist Robert Cialdini. Hospitals, professional organizations, medical educators, and other stakeholders must also draw on social psychology to respond effectively to commercial activities that compromise good medical practice.
Ethical Quandaries in Gamete-Embryo Cryopreservation Related to Oncofertility
Authors: Ayensu-Coker Leslie , Essig Ellen , Breech Lesley L. , Lindheim Steven
Published: October 2015

Cancer rates in men and women of reproductive age have continued to increase in recent years; however, therapy has dramatically decreased the mortality rates. Since 1990, the prevalence of cancer survivors in young adults increased from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 250 patients due to more aggressive therapies. Current therapies may have profound toxic effects on gamete function with infertility as an expected consequence of cancer therapy. Depending on the site and stage of cancer, age of the patient, and the type of treatment, approximately 90% of men and women diagnosed with cancer may be at risk of permanent infertility.

Fertility preservation has emerged as a discipline dedicated to improving the future reproductive potential of cancer survivors. Significant progress in the advancement of fertility preservation therapies and a heightened awareness of the availability of therapies has occurred in the past 10 years. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) have advanced these efforts by formally recognizing the importance of fertility awareness.
Major Trends in Public Health Law and Practice: A Network National Report
Authors: Hodge James G. , Barraza Leila , Bernstein Jennifer , Chu Courtney , Collmer Veda , Davis Corey , Griest Megan M. , Hammer Monica S. , Krueger Jill , Lowrey Kerri McGowan , Orenstein Daniel G.
Published: October 2015

Public health law research reveals significant complexities underlying the use of law as an effective tool to improve health outcomes across populations. The challenges of applying public health law in practice are no easier. Attorneys, public health officials, and diverse partners in the public and private sectors collaborate on the front lines to forge pathways to advance population health through law. Meeting this objective amidst competing interests requires strong practice skills to shift through sensitive and sometimes urgent calls for action to address known threats to the health of individuals and the community. It also necessitates objective, timely information and national and regional legal support.
Defining the Scope of Public Engagement: Examining the “Right Not to Know” in Public Health Genomics
Authors: Allen Clarissa , Sénécal Karine , Avard Denise
Published: October 2015

While the realm of bioethics has traditionally focused on the rights of the individual and held autonomy as a defining principle, public health ethics has at its core a commitment to the promotion of the common good. While these two domains may at times conflict, concepts arising in one may also be informative for concepts arising in the other. One example of this is the concept of a “right not to know.” Recent debate suggests that just as there is a “right to know” information about one's genetic status, there is a parallel “right not to know” when it comes to genetic information that if communicated, could be detrimental to an individual's social or psychological well-being. As new genetic technologies continue to change the nature of genetic testing and screening, it is crucial that normative frameworks to guide and assess genetic public health initiatives be developed. In this context, the question of whether a “right not to know” may also be said to exist for populations on a public health level merits attention.
Autonomy, the Right Not to Know, and the Right to Know Personal Research Results: What Rights are There, and Who Should Decide about Exceptions?
Authors: Helgesson Gert
Published: October 2015

Bioethicists have for quite some time discussed the right to know and the right not to know personal health information, such as genetic information acquired in health care and incidental health-related findings in research. Several international ethical guidelines explicitly defend these rights.

My own interest in these matters stems from my participation in ethics-related research tied to a longitudinal screening study on Type I diabetes involving young children. A few of the participating parents (about 2 percent) did not want to be informed if the study revealed their child had a high risk of developing diabetes. This response was troublesome, not least since the information would concern the child's and not the parents’ health. Our inclination was that there cannot be a right not to know that should be granted without qualifications. Furthermore, other contextual factors, e.g., that parents experienced pressure to participate and felt concern about some of the personal data handled in the study, gave reason to question whether autonomous decisions were made regarding participation. The autonomy of their expressed desire not to know was therefore questionable.
The Right Not to Know and the Duty to Tell: The Case of Relatives
Authors: Juth Niklas
Published: October 2015

This text is about obtaining and sharing genetic information when there is a potential conflict of interests between patients and their families and relatives. The patient or, in this text, the “index-person,” is someone who is considering obtaining or already has obtained genetic information about herself through genetic testing.

The index-person can have several reasons to take an interest in obtaining her genetic information. She may want to know if she has a genetic predisposition for a disorder in order to take measures for preventing its development. Even if there are no preventive measures, as is the case with Huntington's disease, for instance, she may still want to know whether she has the mutation, in order to adjust her future plans. These interests that an individual may have in obtaining genetic information have been used to argue in favour of a right to know.
Recognizing the Right Not to Know: Conceptual, Professional, and Legal Implications
Authors: Laurie Graeme
Published: October 2015

The right not to know is a contested matter. This can be because the inversion of the normal framing of entitlement to information about one's own health is thought to be illogical and inconsistent with self-authorship and/or because the very idea of claiming arightnot to know information is an inappropriate appeal to the discourse of rights that places impossible responsibilities on others. Notwithstanding, there has been a sustained increase in this kind of appeal in recent years fueled in large part by the rise and rise of the importance of personal autonomy in health care ethics, and by domestic and international health law. The right not to know has been acknowledged in at least two important international legal instruments. For example, the UNESCO Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997), Article 5c provides: “The right of every individual to decide whetheror notto be informed of the results of genetic examination and the resulting consequences should be respected.”
Normalizing Disability in Families
Authors: Crossley Mary
Published: October 2015

In “Selection against Disability: Abortion, ART, and Access,” Alicia Ouellette probes a particularly vexing point of intersection between ART and abortion: how negative assumptions about the capacities of disabled persons and the value of life with disability infect both prospective parents’ prenatal decisions about what pregnancies to pursue and fertility doctors’ decisions about providing services to disabled adults. This commentary first briefly describes what I view as Ouellette’s key points and her article’s most valuable contributions. It then suggests further expanding the frame of reference for Ouellette’s discussion. Viewing decisions about who can reproduce and what children will be born as fundamentally decisions about family suggests ways of drawing on intersectional approaches and growing public acceptance of nontraditional families to promote acceptance of people with disabilities as valued family members — without limiting reproductive liberties.
False Framings: The Co-Opting of Sex-Selection by the Anti-Abortion Movement
Authors: Mohapatra Seema
Published: October 2015

Sujatha Jesudason and Tracy Weitz provide an empirical examination of the framing of public discourses related to assisted reproductive technology (ART) and abortion by examining two bills considered by the California legislature in “Eggs and Abortion: The Language of Protection in Legislation Regulating Abortion and Egg Donation in Debate over Two California Laws.” Jesudason and Weitz analyze the framing of two different legislative efforts: one allowing non-physician practitioners to perform non-surgical abortions and the other removing the prohibition on egg donor payment in the research setting. Jesudason and Weitz identified three different memes that were present in the discussion of these two bills: health care providers and scientists as inherently suspect, denial of women of agency through speaking about them as passive actors that things happen to, and the focus on potential harms and the need to protect women from harm. What was most compelling about their article is that they convincingly show how these themes were used as political tools by both anti-choice and pro-choice groups in California. Jesudason and Weitz note that “frames and language matter.”
The Invisible Classes in High Stakes Reproduction
Authors: Goodwin Michele
Published: October 2015

The urgent and painful costs of motherhood became strikingly clear, during the spring and summer months of 2014 when Shanesha Taylor, a homeless mother, was arrested for leaving her two children in a parked car, while at a job interview for a Scottsdale, Arizona insurance agency. The single, homeless mother perceived herself as having limited if not desperate options in trying to uplift her family. A new job would have provided more opportunities for her children. Advocates pointed out that she had left the car fan on, windows cracked open, and that it was 71 degrees outside — even though they acknowledged that leaving children alone in cars can be dangerous. Taylor was promptly arrested after completing the interview. A Washington Post reporter remarked that her “mugshot image was a painfully heartbreaking one: a mother, struggling not to cry, tears running down her cheeks.” Months after her arrest, she was finally granted limited visitation with her children. Arizona prosecutors refuse to drop the charges.
Respecting Intent and Dispelling Stereotypes by Reducing Unintended Pregnancy
Authors: Johnsen Dawn
Published: October 2015

In “Expectant Fathers, Abortion, and Embryos,” Dara Purvis considers the interests of “expectational fathers,” as she calls them, in the related contexts of abortion and the disposition of pre-embryos in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Her thought-provoking essay contributes to a subject — men and reproductive decision-making — that is too little studied. I embrace her emphasis on respect for both men’s equal role in parenting and women’s right to decide whether to terminate or continue pregnancy. In this Comment, I examine her central concern that abortion discourse promotes harmful gender stereotypes by minimizing expectational fathers’ interests. I suggest that Purvis’s own analytic focus on intent, properly applied and extended, actually ameliorates her concern and points instead to a more direct, unapologetic acknowledgement of men’s (and women’s) desires to avoid parenthood in particular circumstances and at particular times in their lives.
Universal Access to Effective Antibiotics is Essential for Tackling Antibiotic Resistance
Authors: Daulaire Nils , Bang Abhay , Tomson Göran , Kalyango Joan N. , Cars Otto
Published: October 2015

The right to health is enshrined in the constitution of the World Health Organization and numerous other international agreements. Yet today, an estimated 5.7 million people die each year (Table 1) from treatable infectious diseases, most of which are susceptible to existing antimicrobials if they were accessible. These deaths occur predominantly among populations living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries, and they greatly exceed the estimated 700,000 annual deaths worldwide currently attributed to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Ensuring universal appropriate access to antimicrobials is not only a critical part of realizing the right to health, it is necessary for mobilizing effective collective action against the development and spread of AMR.
Antibiotic Resistance is a Tragedy of the Commons That Necessitates Global Cooperation
Authors: Hollis Aidan , Maybarduk Peter
Published: October 2015

Antibiotic resistance presents a classic example of the “tragedy of the commons.” In this eponymous tragedy, the commons — shared, public access lands — are overgrazed because farmers can send their livestock onto the land at a zero price. The “tragedy” occurs because overgrazing destroys the land and reduces its ability to provide fodder. The application to antibiotics is obvious: the use of antibiotics creates selection pressure leading to increased proportions of resistant bacteria in the patient and the environment. The increase in frequency of resistant organisms diminishes the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating future infections; thus, the long-term value of the antimicrobial resource is reduced.
Some Global Policies for Antibiotic Resistance Depend on Legally Binding and Enforceable Commitments
Authors: Behdinan Asha , Hoffman Steven J. , Pearcey Mark
Published: October 2015

This article assesses which policies for addressing antibiotic resistance (ABR) as part of a multi-pronged approach would benefit from legalization through an international legal agreement. Ten candidate policies were identified based on a review of existing literature, especially The Lancet Series on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), The Lancet Infectious Diseases Commission on AMR, and the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan for AMR. These policies were then grouped under the headings of access, conservation, and innovation.

Each of the ten policies were assessed using four criteria developed by Hoffman, Røttingen, and Frenk to help consider why their legalization may be helpful, necessary and/or justified. These criteria are: (1) the problem has a significant transnational dimension; (2) the goal justifies the coercive nature of law; (3) the outcome is likely to be beneficial; and (4) legalization represents the best commitment mechanism among competing alternatives.