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BackgroundNeighbourhood tobacco retail access may influence adolescent tobacco use. In India, we examined the association between neighbourhood tobacco retail access and cognitive risks for tobacco use during early adolescence.MethodsIn 2019–2020, a population-based sample (n=1759) of adolescents aged 13–15 years was surveyed from 52 neighbourhoods in Mumbai and Kolkata. Neighbourhood tobacco retail access was measured as the frequency of visits to tobacco retailers, mapped tobacco retailer density and perceived tobacco retailer density. We estimated associations between neighbourhood tobacco retail access and cognitive risks for tobacco use (perceived ease of access to tobacco, perceived peer tobacco use and intention to use tobacco).ResultsThere was high neighbourhood tobacco retail access. Tobacco retailer density was higher in lower income neighbourhoods (p<0.001). Adolescent frequency of tobacco retailer visits was positively associated with cognitive tobacco use risks. Mapped tobacco retailer density was associated with perceived ease of access in Kolkata but not in Mumbai, and it was not associated with perceived peer tobacco use nor intention. Perceived tobacco retailer density was associated with perceived ease of access and perceived peer use, but not with intention. In Kolkata, higher perceived retailer density and frequency of tobacco retailer visits were negatively associated with perceived ease of access.ConclusionsEfforts to reduce neighbourhood tobacco retail access in India may reduce cognitive tobacco use risk factors in young adolescents. The frequency of tobacco retailer visits and perceived tobacco retailer density increased cognitive risks, though there were some exceptions in Kolkata that further research may explain.

BackgroundWe measured how student tobacco use and psychological risk factors (intention to use and perceived ease of access to tobacco products) were associated with tobacco vendor compliance with India’s Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act provisions regulating the point-of-sale (POS) environment.MethodsWe conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey of high school students (n=1373) and tobacco vendors (n=436) in school-adjacent communities (n=26) in Mumbai, India. We used in-class self-administered questionnaires of high school students, face-to-face interviews with tobacco vendors and compliance checks of tobacco POS environments. Logistic regression models with adjustments for clustering were used to measure associations between student tobacco use, psychological risk factors and tobacco POS compliance.ResultsCompliance with POS laws was low overall and was associated with lower risk of student current tobacco use (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.91) and current smokeless tobacco use (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.77), when controlling for student-level and community-level tobacco use risk factors. Compliance was not associated with student intention to use tobacco (OR 0.50; 95% CI 0.21 to 1.18) and perceived ease of access to tobacco (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.53 to 1.00).ConclusionsImproving vendor compliance with tobacco POS laws may reduce student tobacco use. Future studies should test strategies to improve compliance with tobacco POS laws, particularly in low-income and middle-income country settings like urban India.

AbstractObjective:To investigate the changes on self- and parental weight perceptions and parental communication with healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the United States during the mid-2000s period when the terminology changed for classifications of childhood obesity/overweight.Methods:A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted with 6799 children aged 8–15 years with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2014. BMI was calculated from objectively measured heights and weights, and children were classified as normal/underweight, overweight or obese, using the new terminology. Children reported their own weight status. Parents reported their child's weight status and reported how HCPs described their children's weight status. Logistic regressions were used to investigate changes in weight perceptions among overweight/obese children themselves and their parents and parental communication with HCPs about children's overweight/obesity status during the time of the terminology change.Results:The proportion of parents told by HCPs about children's weight status increased for overweight children [6.8% in 2005–2006 to 18.8% in 2013–2014, pfor trend (ptrend= 0.02)], and marginally increased between 2005–2006 (37.1%) and 2007–2008 (45.4%) for obese children (p= 0.09). However, parental perceptions for obese/overweight children did not change. Also, obese children's weight perception did not change, and the proportion of overweight children who perceived their weight status accurately declined in 2005–2012 (25.9%–16.4%, ptrend= 0.02).Conclusions:Although the terminology change about childhood obesity/overweight was associated with increased communication about child's weight status by HCPs, the accuracy of weight perceptions among obese/overweight children or their parents did not improve or declined.

Purpose. Describe and evaluate a media campaign to encourage 1% or nonfat milk consumption.Design. Uncontrolled pre/post test.Setting. One largely rural (Santa Paula) and one urban (East Los Angeles) California community.Subjects. Community residents and milk vendors in primarily low-income Latino/Hispanic communities.Intervention. The “1% or Less” milk campaign, which promotes substitution of 2% fat or whole milk with 1% or less fat milk was adapted and implemented.Measures. Comparison of post-campaign milk sales with pre-campaign sales.Analysis. Chi-square tests of independence used to compare precampaign and postcampaign sales.Results. There were decreases in the proportion of whole milk sold and increases in the proportion of reduced-fat, low-fat, and nonfat milk sold in the weeks following each campaign (Santa Paula: p = .0165; East Los Angeles: p < .0001). However, follow-up data from East Los Angeles suggest that these changes were not sustained. The proportions of the different units of milk sold also changed in the weeks following each campaign (p < .0001). Sales of whole milk gallon units decreased from 36.3% to 28.4% in Santa Paula, and from 43.5% to 10.2% in East Los Angeles.Conclusion. Highly focused campaigns to promote substitution of high-fat milk with low-fat or nonfat milk can show dramatic initial changes in sales patterns. However, whether such campaigns can have a sustained impact in largely Latino/Hispanic communities is not evident.

AbstractObjective: With increasing frequency, health promotion messages advocating physical activity are claiming weight loss as a benefit. However, messages promoting physical activity as a weight loss strategy may have limited effectiveness and cross-cultural relevance. We recently found self-perceived overweight to be a more robust correlate of sedentary behavior than BMI in Los Angeles County adults. In this study, we examined ethnic and sex differences in overweight self-perception and their association with sedentariness in this sample.Research Methods and Procedures: We conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses of cross-sectional survey data from a representative sample of Los Angeles County adults.Results: Women were more likely to perceive themselves to be overweight than men overall (73.2% of overweight/non-obese and 24.1% of average weight women vs. 44.5% of overweight/non-obese and 5.6% of average weight men) and within each ethnic group. African-Americans were least likely (41.3% of overweight/non-obese African-Americans self-identified as overweight) and whites were most likely to consider themselves overweight (60.6% of overweight/non-obese whites self-identified as overweight). Overweight (vs. average weight) self-perception was correlated with sedentariness among average weight adults (45.3% vs. 33.0%, p < 0.001), overweight adults (43.4% vs. 33.6%, p < 0.001), men (average and overweight: 38.4% vs. 27.8%, p < 0.001), overweight whites (41.9% vs. 29.7%, p = 0.0012), and African-Americans and Latinos (41.6% vs. 33.9%, p = 0.005).Discussion: These data suggest that our society’s emphasis on weight loss rather than lifestyle change may inadvertently discourage physical activity adoption/maintenance among non-obese individuals. However, further research is needed, particularly from prospective cohort and intervention studies, to elucidate the relationship between overweight self-perception and healthy lifestyle change.

Background.In a national survey, a correlation between overweight and depression was explained by dieting and poor health. This study examines overweight and depressive symptoms among urban African-American women, taking into account demographic factors, health status and practices, and psychosocial constructs.

A major concern with the use of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in many QA/QC laboratories is the need for a simple reliable method of verifying the wavelength accuracy of the instrument. This requirement is particularly important in near-infrared spectroscopy because of the heavy reliance on sophisticated statistical vector analysis techniques to extract the desired information from the spectra. These techniques require precise alignment of the data points between the vectors corresponding to the standard and sample spectra. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a Standard Reference Material (SRM 1921) for the verification and calibration of mid-infrared spectrometers in the transmittance mode. This standard consists of a 38 μm-thick film of polystyrene plastic. While SRM 1921 works well as a mid-infrared standard, a thicker sample is required for use as a routine standard in the near-infrared spectral region. The general acceptance and proven reliability of polystyrene as a standard reference material make it a very good candidate for a cost-effective NIR standard that could be offered as an internal reference for every instrument. In this paper we discuss a number of the parameters in a Fourier transform (FT)-NIR instrument that can affect wavelength accuracy. We also report a number of experiments designed to determine the effects of resolution, sample position, and optics on the wavelength accuracy of the system. In almost all cases the spectral reproducibility was better than one wavenumber of the values extrapolated from the NIST reference material. This finding suggests that a thicker sample of polystyrene plastic that has been validated with the SRM 1921 standard would make a cost-effective reference material for verifying wavelength accuracy in a medium-resolution FT-NIR spectrometer.

We surveyed members of a medium-size national union representing workers in high-risk industries to assess workers' support for union and company programs to help smokers break the habit and policies that restrict smoking. Two surveys were conducted that involved 690 respondents in 1984 and 593 respondents in 1985. Respondents overwhelmingly (82) favored restrictions on smoking in the workplace but less than half agreed that companies or unions should be concerned about workers smoking off the job. For both smokers and nonsmokers, beliefs that cancer has specific causes and can be prevented strongly predict support for workplace smoking control policies. Exposure to company occupational health training also influenced smokers and nonsmokers to support selected smoking control policies. These and other findings led to the conclusion that: (1) educating workers about cancer may promote support for smoking control policies, and (2) smoking control policies are more acceptable in the context of a strong company health and safety program.

Twenty-six male and 26 female undergraduates participated in four-person mixed-sex group discussions. After each of three discussions in which a consensus was required, each person in the group rated the other members on their degree of talkativeness, on the quality of their expressed ideas, and on the degree of their concern for other's feelings. Results showed that sex role orientation alone predicted task-orientation; individuals of both sexes who had high masculinity scores on the BSRI were perceived to have talked more and to have had good ideas. Gender and sex role orientation predicted warm socioemotional behavior: Females and individuals with high femininity scores were judged to have been more concerned about group members' feelings. The prediction that androgynous individuals would exhibit the greatest behavioral flexibility (perform both task and socioemotional behaviors) was marginally supported.

Survey data on smokeless tobacco and other substance use were obtained from 2,926 seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders in Ventura County, California public schools. Patterns of smokeless tobacco use were examined relative to other drug use, particularly cigarette smoking. Few females used smokeless tobacco regularly, as compared to 4.7 percent of the males. The data supported the view that the recent increases in smokeless tobacco use were related to male tobacco users' belief that smokeless tobacco was less harmful to physical health than cigarette smoking. A Guttman scalogram analysis showed that tobacco use, either cigarette smoking or smokeless tobacco use, occurred after marijuana use rather than before. Perceived parental attitudes toward marijuana use predicted both cigarette smoking and use of smokeless tobacco, whereas perceived parental attitudes toward alcohol use was only related to use of cigarettes. Quality of life measures were inversely related to both cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use, but mood state measures predicted only cigarette smoking. Implications of the results for a historical hydraulic model of aggregate drug use are discussed with recommendations for improved approaches to the prevention of drug abuse.

The polyhedral occlusion bodies (OBs) of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus were purified from larvae of the tufted apple bud moth Platynota idaeusalis. Electron micrographs of OB thin sections revealed a number of enveloped virions containing one or two rod-shaped nucleocapsids. However, fractionation of alkaline buffer released virions on sucrose gradients (10-55%, w/w) showed four closely spaced bands indicative of discrete sets of virions containing from one to four nucleocapsids per envelope and a considerably lighter band (1.084 g/ml) probably consisting of envelope material. Purified undegraded polyhedrin, which has a molecular weight of 31.7 kDa as determined by 12% SDS-PAGE, was assayed by immunodiffusion with antisera (polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies) specific to Heliothis zea SNPV (HzSNPV) polyhedrin. Precipitin bands were evident between the polyclonal antibody and the polyhedrins of P. idaeusalis MNPV (PiMNPV), HzSNPV, and Autographa californica MNPV. The type 1 reaction observed among these bands indicated a close serological relatedness of PiMNPV to baculovirus subgroup A. However, a monoclonal antibody (1003) could be used to differentiate the polyhedrin of PiMNPV from the other polyhedrin antigens. The viral DNA at a density of 1.686-1.707 g/ml was purified from 1.695 g/ml (w/w) CsCl gradient. Genetic heterogeneity of the virus was confirmed by the appearance of submolar bands following restriction endonuclease analysis. The genome size was estimated to be 79 × 10⁶ Da (121.6 kb). The LD₅₀, determined by a dose mortality assay of 8-day-old larvae, was 334 OBs with a 95% confidence interval from 269 to 408 OBs. Copyright 1993, 1999 Academic Press

This paper reports the first application of a generalized two-dimensional (G2D) correlation method in photoacoustic spectral depth-profiling analysis of laminate/heterogeneous samples. In this method, photoacoustic magnitude spectra at different modulation frequencies are used to generate two-dimensional (2D) correlation spectra. The relative spatial origins of correlated signals are then determined from the signs of the corresponding contours. The unique features and advantages of this technique over previously reported depth-profiling methods are demonstrated and discussed. These include simplification of step-scan photoacoustic phase-modulation experiments as well as 2D correlation-analysis rules, avoidance of phase-related negative-band ambiguities, and enhancement of both spectral and depth resolutions, etc. The recently developed software-based digital signal-processing (DSP) technique for step-scan photoacoustic measurements offers an efficient means (sampling-depth multiplexing advantage) to collect within a single scan all necessary data for this type of 2D correlation analysis. Index Headings: Photoacoustic; PAS; Two-dimensional; Step-scan; FT-IR; Depth profiling; Polymer films; DSP.

A software-based digital signal processing (DSP) method using the data system processor has been developed to demodulate the photoacoustic responses of a sample to the fundamental phase modulation frequency and its harmonic frequencies (up to the ninth harmonic) in step-scan FT-IR photoacoustic measurements, without the use of any additional hardware. The DSP algorithm and its sampling depth multiplexing advantages are compared to conventional hardware demodulation. Comparison of results from the DSP method to those from hardware demodulators are shown at both the phase modulation frequency and the harmonics, and application of the DSP method to step-scan photoacoustic measurements with phase modulation is discussed as it applies to obtaining depth profile information in heterogeneous materials.

The family background characteristics of 756 male heroin users were examined to determine the effects of selected family risk factors on the timing of onset of emancipation and drug use, on pre-addiction incarcerations and on educational attainment. These risk factors included family size, birth order, socioeconomic status, family drug use, parental history of alcoholism, parental absence, and family history of incarceration. The two measures of age of emancipation were age on leaving school and age on leaving home. Age of onset of regular use was measured for the following drugs: tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and heroin. Incarceration measures included the occurrence of juvenile detention and the time spent in prison prior to first addiction. Educational attainment was a score on a California State achievement test. Larger family size, higher birth order, parental alcoholism and parental absence were found to have a cumulatively negative effect on how young the respondents were when they first left home and when they first used particular drugs regularly, on their level of tested academic achievement, and on their probability of juvenile detention. Implications for social policies designed to prevent drug abuse are discussed.

The concentration of each of 10 pesticides (azinphosmethyl, captan, carbaryl, chlordimedorm, dichlorvos, dimenthoate, fenvalerate, methomyl, methyl parathion, trichlorfon) causing a 50% inhibition (ID50) in cell number relative to an untreated culture for a time period equal to four cell doublings was determined for the TN368 and IPLB-HZ1075 cell lines. The range of ID50values with either of the cell lines was similar, with captan being most toxic within an ID50range of 5 to 6 μM/2×105cells/ml, and methomyl least toxic within a range of 2900 to 3200 μM/2×105cells/ml. Yet there were significant differences between cell lines in pesticide susceptibility. Fenvalerate, dichlorvos, and chlordimeform were 16, 3, and 1.5 times more toxic, respectively, for TN368 cells than HZ1075 cells, whereas dimethoate and carbaryl were each 2 times more toxic for HZ1075 cells. In general, increasing toxicity paralleled decreasing water solubility, although the order of the pesticides varied somewhat according to the particular cell line and medium. Moreover, there was little aberrant cell morphology in either of the cell cultures during incubation with most of the pesticides at their ID50levels. Preincubation of TN368 cells with any one of seven different pesticideis before inoculation withAutographa californicaMNPV, and subsequent incubation of infected cells in medium plus pesticide, did not significantly suppress polyhedra development except for trichlorfon-incubated cells. In addition, there was a small but consistent variation from control cells in extracellular virus titers assayed from two of five of the pesticide incubations. The titer was consistently depressed with trichlorfon and elevated with fenvalerate, however, further work is required to determine the biological significance of these differences.

Two acid phosphatases were demonstrable by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. They had different mobilities and different heat stabilities in 1.0Macetate buffer, pH 5.2. Both phosphatases had the same electrophoretic mobility in tris buffer at pH 7.5, gave one boundary in the analytical ultracentrifuge in tris or acetate buffer, and had the same sedimentation coefficient. The difference in these properties suggests an alteration in conformation of the proteins by the buffer systems.