To the Editor: South African readers of the SAMJ may be interested to know that some recently described features of alcohol consumption1-3 appear too in parts of Russia, where there are similar factors that predispose to alcohol abuse: relative cheapness of alcoholic products, ease of access, boredom, unemployment, peer pressure, etc.1 Concerning alcohol advertising,2 there has not been much ad...

Breast cancer treatments today are likely to cause less physical deformity from surgery than a half-century ago, but are more complex and extend over a longer period of time. Women today are often well informed about the details of their cancer diagnosis and prognosis, and are increasingly involved in shared decision-making regarding treatment. Although serious depression is not seen in the maj...

As more and more people use computers for communicating, the behavioral and societal effects of computer-mediated communication are becoming critical research topics. This article describes some of the issues raised by electronic communication, illustrates one empirical approach for investigating its social psychological effects, and discusses why social psychological research might contribute ...

When agents have conflicting preferences over a set of alternatives and they want to make a joint decision, a natural way to do so is by voting. How to design and analyze desirable voting rules has been studied by economists for centuries. In recent decades, technological advances, especially those in internet economy, have introduced many new applications for voting theory. For example, we can...

Buccal odors have always been a factor of concern for society. This study aims to investigate the historical and social base of halitosis, through systematized research in the database BVS (biblioteca virtual em saúde - virtual library in health) and also in books. Lack of knowledge on how to prevent halitosis allows for its occurrence, limiting quality of life. As social relationships are one ...