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The COVID-19 pandemic is having profound effects on college students, and those with mental health conditions are more vulnerable to the impact of this stress. Objective: To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students' mental health. Participants: Participants (n=489) were mostly female, undergraduate, and aged 18–25. Methods: Participants completed an online survey assessing symptoms of mental health problems including hopelessness, loneliness, sadness, anxiety, sadness, and anger. Results: Approximately 81.6 % self-reported at least one negative mental health symptom. Students reported increased feelings of hopelessness (+7.8%), loneliness (+6.7%), sadness (+8.8%), depression (+2.6%), anxiety (+5.2%), and anger (+14.6%) during the pandemic than before. LGBTQ students and Black students had significantly more mental health symptoms during the pandemic than straight and White students. Conclusions: Results of this study highlight the negative impact of the pandemic and resultant changes on college students' mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which drug users can consume illicit drugs intravenously. SIFs can be cost saving, help to reduce transmission of disease, and decrease drug overdoses. There are no SIFs in the United States. In this study we used a multiple case study design to understand the stigma surrounding the use of a SIF and the feasibility of implementing the drug prevention strategy in Baltimore City by comparing experiences with opening a SIF in Sydney, Australia. We interviewed one healthcare worker at the Sydney SIF and ten community stakeholders in Baltimore City. Interviewees were asked about community stigma of SIFs, drug use, and feasibility of opening a SIF in Baltimore City. Six overarching themes were established including lack of trust, lack of public education, fear of police, concern about efficacy of harm reduction programs, drug user stigma, and concerns about implementation. Findings suggest that stigma surrounding drug use and drug users is the most important aspect in shaping the participant's varied perceptions of SIFs. Participants believed that for any change to occur, there must be multi-tiered collaboration at the level of government, healthcare, community, and law enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to inadequate resources and limited access to healthy foods, residents who live in food deserts struggle to maintain a healthful diet. Living in a food desert increases the risk of developing diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity. Local farmers' markets serve as community-level interventions, bringing healthy food options to food deserts. This study explores the relationship between food deserts, placement of farmers' markets, and availability of food assistance programs in the state of Hawai'i. Data are from the 2017 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Access Research Atlas and the USDA Farmers' Market Directory. Farmers' market addresses were geocoded in ArcGIS 10.3. Descriptive statistics and spatial visualization were used to explore census tract level relationships. Of the Hawai'i census tracts, 10% are food deserts. Sixteen of the 101 registered farmers markets are located within a food desert. Of these markets, 28.7% accept Farmers' Market Nutrition Program coupons, 0% accept Women, Infants, and Children Fruit and Vegetable Checks, and 39.6% accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Fewer than 20% of farmers' markets in Hawai'i are located in food deserts, and few accept food assistance programs. Fresh food is less accessible to low-income residents in these areas and lack of access to fresh food is associated with diet-related chronic diseases. To reduce food insecurity, farmers' markets could accept food assistance program funds. Additional farmers' markets could be established in food deserts to increase availability of healthy food, thereby reducing the population's risk of developing obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A food desert is an urban or rural location which lacks access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods due to a lack of grocery stores. In the state of Maryland, 12.7 percent of residents are food insecure, which is comparable to the national average. In Baltimore City, 23.8 percent of residents are food insecure, and one quarter of city residents live in food deserts. The lack of access to healthy food can result in diet-related health conditions such as overweight and obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and other conditions. Establishing community gardens in urban food deserts helps to improve the food environment and increase access to vegetables and fruits. This article describes the process of distributing United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - National Institute for Food and Agriculture People's Garden Grant funds within the Cherry Hill neighborhood located in South Baltimore, Maryland. The article also describes the program's reach and the change in access to fresh produce as a result of the People's Garden Grant funds. Cherry Hill is a USDA-designated urban food desert. In 2011, the 1.5-acre Cherry Hill Urban Garden was established within the Cherry Hill community. In 2011, the USDA awarded a People's Garden Grant to establish school and community gardens in Cherry Hill, to engage the community in healthy gardening activities, to build partnerships, and to create opportunities for economic development related to urban agriculture. With these funds, community organizations were invited to apply for micro-subgrant awards. Using grant documents, attendance sheets, and GIS analysis, results indicate that five new gardens were established, ninety-six residents participated in cooking classes, nineteen youth were trained in urban agriculture, and eleven new partnerships were developed between the fourteen awarded applications. The new gardens increased physical access to fresh fruits and vegetables as 100 percent of residents lived within one mile of a garden and 90 percent of residents lived within one half mile of a garden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced technology has improved learning within educational settings using digital storytelling. A digital story (DS) combines multiple technologies and learning techniques to construct a short video. Digital stories are an effective media format to raise awareness about many topics, including food studies. DS can be used to promote a healthy food system and educate about the need for change in food production techniques. College students (n = 47) enrolled in an Environmental Health class learned about the food system and other environmental health topics. Students enrolled in the class participated in a study that used a DS as a research project. Using principles of Project Based Learning, and providing ongoing instructional support in the DS development, students were expected to increase engagement within the research and DS creation. A paper survey was administered to gauge students’ perceptions on the process of creating a DS. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS v.21.0 and qualitative data were coded and grouped into themes. Results suggest that students had a positive experience creating a DS, and they were engaged in the research topic. The DS provided an innovative way to communicate health messages to a wider audience by allowing them to share their final product through various media outlets. This allowed for more persons to learn from the project. The DS process expanded student skills by exploring the use of advanced technology. Creating a DS can be used as an educational tool in a classroom setting if adequate instructional support is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe the recruitment challenges faced by eight public health graduate students when conducting qualitative dissertation research. The authors summarize their dissertation studies, describe recruitment challenges, and provide strategies and recommendations used to address challenges. The authors identified twelve recruitment issues which they grouped into three major categories: (a) obtaining consent; (b) working with gatekeepers; and (c) accessing participants. The authors propose three recommendations to consider in participant recruitment, which are: (a) collaborate with gatekeepers; (b) use additional recruitment tools; and (c) understand your target population. The compilation of experiences from multiple graduate students from a diverse selection of topics provides valuable insight and resources when planning a qualitative research study in the field of public health. Keywords: Recruitment, Graduate Student, Participant Access, Informed Consent, Gatekeepers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This work investigates the effect of mesoporosity of titanium dioxide on its electrochemical reactivity in water. Nanostructured titanium dioxide films formed by the surfactant template method, unlike films prepared without surfactant, have been found to be reduced when cathodically polarised in aqueous lithium hydroxide. The result is attributed to accelerated lithium ion diffusion within the porous nanostructure, allowing a rapidly reversible insertion of lithium ions forming Li x TiO2 with x as high as 0.27, corresponding to a charge capacity of 127mCcm−2 in a 1.3μm thick film. Self-discharge is slower than expected, with half-life of a few minutes under oxygen-free conditions. An all-nanostructured supercapacitor constructed from Li x TiO2 and NiOOH2−x electrodes showed an average cell potential of 1.6V, which is close to the maximum possible potential range in an aqueous solution. A specific energy of 90Whkg−1 is calculated, based on the combined mass of the charged electrodes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although attention has been shown to enhance neural representations of selected inputs, the fate of unselected background sounds is still debated. The goal of the current study was to understand how processing resources are distributed among attended and unattended sounds during auditory scene analysis. We used a three‐stream paradigm with four acoustic features uniquely defining each sound stream (frequency, envelope shape, spatial location, tone quality). We manipulated task load by having participants perform a difficult auditory task and an easy movie‐viewing task with the same set of sounds in separate conditions. The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) was measured to evaluate sound processing in both conditions. We found no effect of task demands on unattended sound processing: MMNs were elicited by unattended deviants during both low‐ and high‐load task conditions. A key factor of this result was the use of unique tone feature combinations to distinguish each of the three sound streams, strengthening the segregation of streams. In the auditory task, the P3b component demonstrates a two‐stage process of target evaluation. Thus, these results, in conjunction with results of previous studies, suggest that stimulus‐driven factors that strengthen stream segregation can free up processing capacity for higher‐level analyses. The results illustrate the interactive nature of top‐down and stimulus‐driven processes in stream formation, supporting a distributive theory of attention that balances the strength of the bottom‐up input with perceptual goals in analyzing the auditory scene. Attentional resources are generally thought of as preferentially distributed to the task at hand. We demonstrated complex sound processing within unattended and attended sound streams in parallel and irrespective of the task load demand. Results thus demonstrate that the task load is not necessarily a defining factor in limiting attentional resources. Our results support a distributive theory of attention that balances the strength of the bottom‐up input with perceptual goals in analyzing the auditory scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Access to affordable and nutritious foods is vital to maintaining a healthy and well-balanced diet. Individuals living in food deserts are not able to reap the benefits that fresh fruits and vegetable offer and may have a greater risk of developing diet-related diseases. Farmers' markets are one way to bring locally grown and affordable fresh produce to areas lacking supermarkets and grocery stores. This study explores the relationships between locations of farmers' markets, food assistance program access at markets, food deserts, and rates of obesity and diabetes by census tract. Methods: Data were collected from the 2017 USDA National Farmers' Market Directory, 2015 USDA Food Access Research Atlas, and 2013 CDC Diabetes and Obesity County Data Indicators. Maps were prepared using ArcGIS. Census tract level relationships were determined using spatial visualization. Results: 201 farmers' markets were located in Texas in 2017. The majority (79%) of these markets accepted zero Food Assistance Programs (FAPs). The highest concentrations of farmers' markets could be found around metropolitan areas. Most food deserts do not have any farmers' markets within their boundaries. Conclusions: Farmers' markets are not located in the areas of most need. When farmers' markets were located within the boundaries of food deserts, they often did not accept FAPs. Farmers' markets alone are not adequately addressing the issue of food access in the state of Texas. There are mixed spatial relationships linking diet-related diseases to residents who live in food deserts. Community based gardens located in food deserts and cultivated by community members would bring affordable and nutritious foods directly to those who would otherwise not have access to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]