This article offers a theoretical analysis of the role of empathy as a key mediator of the suasive effects of health messages, and it discusses the testing of an empirical tool for studying the state of empathy in responses to persuasive messages. It is argued that felt empathy evokes cognitive and emotional processing conducive to important health-promoting responses. This assertion was tested by operationalizing empathy as a response state via a new measure, the Empathy Response Scale (ERS). Two pilot tests and one major study, all set in the challenging area of HIV/AIDS prevention, provided preliminary data supporting the theoretical analysis and the ERS as a measure of the state of empathy. The article concludes with discussions of directions for future tests of the empathy theory and scale, as well as applications of the current framework for developing persuasive messages.

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In the course of investigations on the ecology of submerged aquatic macrophytes a narrow-bandwidth spectroradiometer has been used to measure underwater spectral intensity (390-750 nm) in a series of lochs approaching the extremes in optical and chemical properties of Scottish fresh waters. Cosine response and immersion-effect properties of the collector were determined in the laboratory with a colUmated hght source. Diffuse attenuation coefficients, Fe, ranged from 0-55 in Loch Croispol, a calcareous loch, to 2-9 in Loch Leven, a lowland eutrophic loch. Underwater spectral intensity (1 m) relative to subsurface values show a proportional increase in shortwave radiation in the blue-green water of Loch Croispol, while the converse is true of the peaty brown water of Loch Uanagan. Attenuation coefficients were derived over 25 nm wavebands in Lochs Croispol, Leven and Uanagan. The water in the latter two lochs is optically similar although Leven is rich in phytopiankton and has an extinction peak at 675 nm. Uanagan represents the brown-water type of loch most common in Scotland. Loch Croispol has attenuation coefficients for shorter wavelengths at least ten times lower than the other two lochs and only approaches their values at 750 nm. Croispol resembles Crater Lake, Oregon. The colour range at the maximum colonizable depths by rooted macrophytes of brown (Uanagan 4 m) to blue-green (Croispol 6 m) water is equivalent to 196-0 and 230-6 kJ/Einstein (48-2 and 55-6 kcal/Einstein). Red/far-red ratios even in plankton-rich water (Leven) were at least three times the value for sunlight (1-3) and within the total photic zone reached three-figure proportions. Possible implications for light-sensitive seeds of aquatic species and for morphogenesis and zonation are discussed.

Mass media can affect how people understand and react to particular health risks. Reporting of health risks during the international trade disputes, resulting from the difference in safety regulations, therefore can play a pivotal role in resolving them. This study compared the newspaper reports on BSE-related events in major national dailies between Japan and the US around the period when BSE-infected cattle were discovered in the US and the import of US beef products was banned (between December 2002 and November 2006). During the study period, the number of BSE-related newspaper articles increased in both the US and Japan, but the visibility of the issue was more prominent and persistent in Japan than in the US. Geographically, most of the articles had a domestic focus, but they also reported the news of each trade partner. After the discovery of BSE cattle in the US, articles of commerce and trade issues were dominant in Japan, while the incidence of BSE, agriculture, and trade dominated in the US. Overall, the US-based newspapers carried more advocacy articles than the Japanese ones. In Japan, calls for stronger domestic policy decreased, but those for stronger foreign policy increased slightly. Meanwhile, in the US, calls for a stronger domestic policy increased slightly whereas those for weaker foreign policy dropped-both only temporarily. The major rationale for policy advocacy was the economy and health in both Japan and the US. However, the balance of competing policy objectives and the rational acceptance of BSE risks were argued more in the US papers than in the Japanese ones. In conclusion, during the BSE-related dispute on health and trade, the visibility and faces of the issues in newspapers differed between Japan and the US. Acceptance of BSE-related risks was argued differently, and those differences reflected and affected the public's perception of BSE issues, the related safety policies by the governments, and the configuration of social interests in each country. The differ-* Corresponding author.H. Sato, R. G. Campbell 21 ences evident in the media could serve as a vehicle for reappraising the existing policies as well as the possible international harmonization of risk management policies.