Peak aerobic capacity and maximal heart rates were slightly lower in this age group than the younger groups. When compared with the general population, mountain guides of similar age showed lower prevalence of being overweight, and suffering from systemic hypertension and diabetes. Conclusions Our findings indicate favorable aging of mountain guides occupationally performing mountaineering activities (at moderate and high altitudes), characterized by maintaining a high fitness level and developing reduced cardiovascular risk factors until older than 50 years.The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in unprecedented job losses in the United States, disrupting health insurance coverage for millions of people. Several models have predicted large increases in Medicaid enrollment among those who have lost jobs, yet the number of Americans who have gained coverage since the pandemic began is unknown. We compiled Medicaid enrollment reports covering the period from March 1 through June 1, 2020, for twenty-six states. We found that in these twenty-six states, Medicaid covered more than 1.7 million additional Americans in roughly a three-month period. Relative changes in Medicaid enrollment differed significantly across states, although enrollment growth was not systemically related to job losses. Our results point to the important effects of state policy differences in the response to COVID-19.Background HFE p.C282Y (chromosome 6p22.2; exon 4, c.845G>A; rs1800562), a hemochromatosis-associated polymorphism in European Americans, is absent in sub-Saharan West African blacks. Methods We estimated European American ancestry in African Americans (M) using published p.C282Y allele frequencies of sub-Saharan West African blacks; and ≥50 unselected African Americans and ≥50 unselected European Americans in the same city/region. Results p.C282Y allele frequency in 870 West African blacks (The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone) was 0.0000 (confidence interval [95% CI 0.0000-0.0027]). p.C282Y allele frequencies in European Americans were 0.0600 (12,592 participants; five single-site studies) and 0.0673 (54,882 participants; two multisite studies). p.C282Y allele frequencies in African Americans were 0.0102 (3084 participants; five single-site studies) and 0.0122 (30,762 participants; two multisite studies). M for all data was 0.1803 (standard error 0.0049; [95% CI 0.1706-0.1900]). City/region estimates of M differed 1.8-fold 0.1321, Rochester, NY; 0.1456, Birmingham, AL; 0.1569, Upper Savannah Region, SC; 0.1612, Portland, OR; 0.1746, San Diego, CA; 0.1780, Hartford, CT; 0.1957, District of Columbia; 0.2377, Oakland, CA; and 0.2429, Irvine, CA. Conclusions Estimates of M using p.C282Y are consistent with those using other autosomal markers, differ across nine cities/regions, and reflect paternal and maternal contributions of European American ancestry in African Americans.Expanding third-person effect (TPE) research to digital disinformation, this article investigates the impact of COVID-19 digital fake news exposure on individuals’ perceived susceptibility of influence on themselves, their close others, and their distant others. Findings from a survey of 511 Chinese respondents suggest that, overall, individuals would perceive themselves to be less vulnerable than close others and distant others to the impact of COVID-19 digital disinformation. The highest self-other perceptual discrepancy is found when individuals receive disinformation on mobile social networking apps. Also, individuals who practice more active fact-checking perceive themselves to be less susceptible. The perception of disinformation effects on self as well as the self-other perceptual discrepancy is both positively related to emotional responses (anxiety, fear, and worry) to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study contributes to existing research by linking exposure to disinformation in different digital channels, the TPEs, and emotional outcomes in the context of a public health crisis. It also highlights the importance of educating and enabling fact-checking behaviors on digital media, which could help to reduce negative emotional impact of the disinformation.The current meta-analysis aims to investigate and clarify existing research on virtual reality (VR) as a medium to elicit empathy. An exhaustive literature search (updated to February 29, 2020) enabled us to locate seven published articles, yielding a total of nine independent samples. The results reveal statistically significant positive changes in perspective-taking outcomes after VR exposure (d+ = 0.51 [95 percent CI 0.15-0.88]) but they did not note in empathy (d+ = 0.21 [95 percent confidence interval, CI -0.37-0.79]). A potential limitation of this work is the low number of studies included. Implications and directions for theoretical development and empirical research are also discussed.The reports suggesting a beneficial effect of nicotine on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity may encourage smoking. We aimed to analyze tweets on COVID-19 and smoking coming from casual Twitter users and Twitter accounts representing the tobacco industry. We collected tweets on COVID-19 and smoking from January 1 to May 1, 2020, using Twitter application programming interface. We analyzed sentiment, likes, or retweet to followers ratios, and the posts coming from the casual users to find pieces of news that could affect the discourse. Tweets coming from industry were analyzed manually. We analyzed n = 33,890 tweets on COVID-19 and smoking. The sentiment of tweets was negative, hitting a nadir in mid-March, but became less negative in April when preprints suggesting benefits from smoking on COVID-19 were released. Similar trends were observed for the ratios of likes or retweets to followers. AGI-6780 We found 58 messages from the tobacco industry concerning COVID-19. Twenty-two (37.9 percent) mentioned the efforts of tobacco companies to support the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Two tweets included Food and Drug Administration statements that there is no evidence that vaping increases the risk of COVID-19. The occurrence of preprints suggesting benefits of smoking in COVID-19 might increase sentiment and reactions to tweets on tobacco products and the virus. The authors of potentially controversial articles should restrain from the promotion of their results before the completion of the peer-review process. Twitter presents a convenient tool to monitor e-discourse during a health crisis. The research community should monitor the tobacco industry’s social media.