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The objective of this study was to examine the association between sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental factors and adherence to sleep duration recommendations among 1165 U.S. Hispanic/Latinx children.In this cross-sectional study, the following parent-reported variables were examined as correlates of whether children met age-appropriate nightly sleep duration recommendations: caretaker and child demographics (eg, gender, age, poverty level), presence of TV in child's bedroom, child's daily screen time and bedtime.Most (61.4%) children (mean age: 6.39 years, SD = 2.66) met sleep duration guidelines. Multivariable regression results revealed the odds of meeting recommendations were significantly higher among children 6-12 years old living above the poverty threshold (odds ratio [OR] = 1.57; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 1.08, 2.31) and those with a regular bedtime ("Some of the time:" OR = 2.05; 95%CI: 1.07, 3.92; "Most of the time:" OR = 3.19; 95%CI: 1.77, 5.74; "Always:" OR = 4.46; 95%CI: 2.43, 8.13).Sleep health disparities must be addressed through culturally and contextually appropriate interventions that combine individual-level strategies with those that address social and environmental factors.

Background Although evidence has shown that U.S. late-life disability has been declining, studies have also suggested that there has been an increase in chronic diseases between 1984 and 2007. Objectives To further illuminate these potentially contradictory trends, we explicate how the contribution of chronic conditions changes across four common types of disability (ADL, IADL, mobility disability, and functional limitations) by age (A), period (P), and birth cohorts (C) among adults aged 20 and above. Methods Our data came from seven cross-sectional waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We utilize a cross-classified random effect model (CCREM) to simultaneously estimate age, period, and cohort trends for each disability. Each chronic condition was sequentially then simultaneously added to our base models (sociodemographics only). Reductions in predicted probability from the base model were then calculated for each chronic condition by each temporal dimension (A/P/C) to assess the contribution of each chronic condition. Results There was increasing age-based contribution of chronic conditions to all disabilities. The period-based contribution remained quite stagnant across years while cohort-based contributions showed a continual decline for recent cohorts. Arthritis showed the greatest contribution to disability of all types which was followed by obesity. Cancer was the least important contributor to disabilities. Conclusion Although chronic conditions are becoming less disabling across recent cohorts, other competing risk factors might suggest prevailing causes of disability.

Implementing interventions that manipulate food store environments are one potential strategy for improving dietary behaviors. The present study evaluated intervention effects, from the El Valor de Nuestra Salud (The Value of Our Health) study, on in-store environmental changes within Latino/Hispanic-focused food stores (tiendas). Sixteen tiendas were randomly assigned to either: a six-month structural and social food store intervention or a wait-list control condition. Store-level environmental measures of product availability, placement, and promotion were assessed monthly from baseline through six-months post-baseline using store audits. Linear mixed effects models tested for condition-by-time interactions in store-level environmental measures. Results demonstrated that the intervention was successful at increasing the total number of fruit and vegetable (FV) promotions (p &lt, 0.001) and the number of FV promotions outside the produce department (p &lt, 0.001) among tiendas in the intervention versus control condition. No changes in product availability or placement were observed. Results suggests changing the marketing mix element of promotions within small stores is measurable and feasible in an in-store intervention. Difficulties in capturing changes in product availability and placement may be due to intervention implementation methods chosen by tiendas. It is important to build upon the lessons learned from these types of interventions to disseminate evidence-based in-store interventions.

Evidence indicates that restaurant-based interventions have the potential to promote healthier purchasing and improve the nutrients consumed. This study adds to this body of research by reporting the results of a trial focused on promoting the sale of healthy child menu items in independently owned restaurants. Eight pair-matched restaurants that met the eligibility criteria were randomized to a menu-only versus a menu-plus intervention condition. Both of the conditions implemented new healthy child menu items and received support for implementation for eight weeks. The menu-plus condition also conducted a marketing campaign involving employee trainings and promotional materials. Process evaluation data captured intervention implementation. Sales of new and existing child menu items were tracked for 16 weeks. Results indicated that the interventions were implemented with moderate to high fidelity depending on the component. Sales of new healthy child menu items occurred immediately, but decreased during the post-intervention period in both conditions. Sales of existing child menu items demonstrated a time by condition effect with restaurants in the menu-plus condition observing significant decreases and menu-only restaurants observing significant increases in sales of existing child menu items. Additional efforts are needed to inform sustainable methods for improving access to healthy foods and beverages in restaurants.

Retail food environments have received attention for their influence on dietary behaviors and for their nutrition intervention potential. To improve diet-related behaviors, such as fruit and vegetable (FV) purchasing, it is important to examine its relationship with in-store environmental characteristics. This study used baseline data from the "El Valor de Nuestra Salud" study to examine how in-store environmental characteristics, such as product availability, placement and promotion, were associated with FV purchasing among Hispanic customers in San Diego County. Mixed linear regression models indicated that greater availability of fresh FVs was associated with a $0.36 increase in FV purchasing (p = 0.01). Placement variables, specifically each additional square foot of display space dedicated to FVs (p = 0.01) and each additional fresh FV display (p = 0.01), were associated with a $0.02 increase and $0.29 decrease, respectively, in FV purchasing. Introducing FV promotions in the final model was not related to FV purchasing. Exploratory analyses indicated that men reported spending $3.69 fewer dollars on FVs compared to women, controlling for covariates (p = 0.02). These results can help inform interventions targeting in-store environmental characteristics to encourage FV purchasing among Hispanics.

This paper uses data from the U.S. National Health Interview Surveys (N = 1,513,097) to describe and explain temporal patterns in black-white health disparities with models that simultaneously consider the unique effects of age, period, and cohort. First, we employ cross-classified random effects age–period–cohort (APC) models to document black-white disparities in self-rated health across temporal dimensions. Second, we use decomposition techniques to shed light on the extent to which socio-economic shifts in cohort composition explain the age and period adjusted racial health disparities across successive birth cohorts. Third, we examine the extent to which exogenous conditions at the time of birth help explain the racial disparities across successive cohorts. Results show that black-white disparities are wider among the pre-1935 cohorts for women, falling thereafter; disparities for men exhibit a similar pattern but exhibit narrowing among cohorts born earlier in the century. Differences in socioeconomic composition consistently contribute to racial health disparities across cohorts; notably, marital status differences by race emerge as an increasingly important explanatory factor in more recent cohorts for women whereas employment differences by race emerge as increasingly salient in more recent cohorts for men. Finally, our cohort characteristics models suggest that cohort economic conditions at the time of birth (percent large family, farm or Southern birth) help explain racial disparities in health for both men and women.

Objectives. This study delineates acti vities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) black–white disparity trends by age, period, and cohort (APC) and explores sociodemographic contributors of cohortbased disparity trends. Method. W e utilized multiple cross-sectional waves of National Health Interview Survey data (1982–2009) to describe APC trends of ADL and IADL disparities using a cross-classified random effect model. Further, we decomposed the cohort-based disparity trends using Fairlie’s decomposition method for nonlinear outcomes. Results. The crosso ver ADL and IADL disparities (whites > blacks) occurring at age 75 increased with age and reached a plateau at age of 80, whereas period-based ADL and IADL disparities remained constant for the past 3 decades. The cohort disparity trends for both disabilities showed a decline with each successive cohort except for ADL disparity among women. Discussion. W e examined the role of aging on racial disparity in disability and found support for the racial crossover effect. Further, the racial disparity in disability will disappear should the observed pattern of declining cohort-based ADL and IADL disparities persist. Although education, income, and marital status are important sociodemographic contributors to cohort disparity trends, future studies should investigate individual behavioral health determinants and cohortspecific characteristics that explain the cohort-based racial difference in ADL and IADL disabilities.

Background Away-from-home eating is an important dietary behavior with implications on diet quality. Thus, it is an important behavior to target to prevent and control childhood obesity and other chronic health conditions. Numerous studies have been conducted to improve children’s dietary intake at home, in early care and education, and in schools; however, few studies have sought to modify the restaurant food environment for children. This study adds to this body of research by describing the development and launch of an innovative intervention to promote sales of healthy children’s menu items in independent restaurants in Southern California, United States. Methods This is a cluster randomized trial with eight pair-matched restaurants in San Diego, California. Restaurants were randomized to a menu-only versus menu-plus intervention condition. The menu-only intervention condition involves manager/owner collaboration on the addition of pre-determined healthy children’s menu items and kitchen manager/owner collaboration to prepare and plate these items and train kitchen staff. The menu-plus intervention condition involves more extensive manager/owner collaboration and kitchen staff training to select, prepare, and plate new healthy children’s menu items, and a healthy children’s menu campaign that includes marketing materials and server training to promote the items. The primary outcome is sales of healthy children’s menu items over an 18-week period. In addition, dining parties consisting of adults with children under 18 years of age are being observed unobtrusively while ordering and then interviewed throughout the 18-week study period to determine the impact of the intervention on ordering behaviors. Manager/owner interviews and restaurant audits provide additional evidence of impact on customers, employees, and the restaurant environment. Our process evaluation assesses dose delivered, dose received, and intervention fidelity. Discussion Successful recruitment of the restaurants has been completed, providing evidence that the restaurant industry is open to working on the public health challenge of childhood obesity. Determining whether a restaurant intervention can promote sales of healthy children’s menu items will provide evidence for how to create environments that support the healthy choices needed to prevent and control obesity. Despite these strengths, collection of sales data that will allow comprehensive analysis of intervention effects remains a challenge. Trial registration NCT02511938

In this article, we discuss a study by Masters et al. (2014), published in Demography. Masters and associates estimated age, period, and cohort (APC) effects on U.S. mortality rates between 1959 and 2009 using the intrinsic estimator (IE). We first argue that before applying the IE, a grounded theoretical justification is needed for its fundamental constraint on minimum variance of the estimates. We next demonstrate IE's high sensitivity to the type of dummy parameterization used to obtain the estimates. Finally, we discuss challenges in the interpretation of APC models. Our comments are not restricted to the article in question but pertain generally to any research that uses the IE.

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to establish the minimal detectable change (MDC) and clinically important differences (CIDs) of the physical domains of the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) and to assess the proportions of patients’ change scores exceeding the MDC and CIDs after stroke rehabilitation. Methods. Seventy-four patients received 1 of 3 treatments for 3 weeks and underwent clinical assessment before and after treatment. The MDC was calculated from the standard error of measurement to indicate a real change with 95% confidence for individual patients (MDC95). Anchor-based and distribution-based approaches were adopted to triangulate the ranges of minimal CIDs. The percentage of patients exceeding MDC95 and minimal CIDs were also calculated. Results. The MDC95 of the strength, activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living, mobility, and hand function subscales were 24.0, 17.3, 15.1, and 25.9, respectively. The respective minimal CIDs for these 4 subscales were 9.2, 5.9, 4.5, and 17.8 points, respectively, and the MDC95 and CID proportions were 14% to 43%, 16% to 49%, 10% to 50%, and 23% to 64%, respectively. Conclusions . The change score of an individual patient has to reach 24.0, 17.3, 15.1, and 25.9 on the 4 subscales to indicate a true change. The mean change scores of a stroke group on the 4 subscales should reach 9.2, 5.9, 4.5, and 17.8 points to be regarded as clinically important changes. Future research with larger sample sizes is warranted to validate these estimates.

Black–white differences in U.S. adult mortality have narrowed over the past five decades, but whether this narrowing unfolded on a period or cohort basis is unclear. The distinction has important implications for understanding the socioeconomic, public health, lifestyle, and medical mechanisms responsible for this narrowing. We use data from 1959 to 2009 and age-period-cohort (APC) models to examine period- and cohort-based changes in adult mortality for U.S. blacks and whites. We do so for all-cause mortality among persons aged 15–74 as well as for several underlying causes of death more pertinent for specific age groups. We find clear patterns of cohort-based reductions in mortality for both black men and women and white men and women. Recent cohort-based reductions in heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, female breast cancer, and other cancer mortality have been substantial and, save for breast cancer, have been especially pronounced for blacks. Period-based changes have also occurred and are especially pronounced for some causes of death. Period-based reductions in blacks’ and whites’ heart disease and stroke mortality are particularly impressive, as are recent period-based reductions in young men’s and women’s mortality from infectious diseases and homicide. These recent period changes are more pronounced among blacks. The substantial cohort-based trends in chronic disease mortality and recent period-based reductions for some causes of death suggest a continuing slow closure of the black-white mortality gap. However, we also uncover troubling signs of recent cohort-based increases in heart disease mortality for both blacks and whites.

Objectives. We elucidated how US late-life disability prevalence has changed over the past 3 decades. Methods. We examined activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) disability trends by using age–period–cohort (APC) models among older adults aged 70 years or older who responded to the National Health Interview Survey between 1982 and 2009. We fitted logistic regressions for ADL and IADL disabilities and for each of the 3 APC trends with 2 models: unadjusted and fully adjusted for age, period, cohort, and sociodemographic variables. Results. The unadjusted and adjusted period trends showed a substantial decline in IADL disability, and ADL disability remained stable across time. Unadjusted cohort trends for both outcomes also showed continual declines across successive cohorts; however, increasing cohort trends were evident in the adjusted models. Conclusions. More recent cohorts of US older adults are becoming more disabled, net of aging and period effects. The net upward cohort trends in ADL and IADL disabilities remain unexplained. Further studies should explore cohort-specific determinants contributing to the increase of cohort-based disability among US older adults.

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of chronic administration of alcohol on the olfactory bulbectomy (OBX)-induced mouse-killing behavior (MKB), an animal model for screening antidepressants. The rats were divided into three groups, which were given alcohol (0, 0.5, or 1 g/kg/day) orally for 28 days. MKB was analyzed before and at the end of each week of the alcohol treatment. The results showed that chronic alcohol treatment produced a significant increase in the latency of MKB, implying that alcohol may have an antidepressant-like activity. This suggests that alcohol dependence or abuse in depressed patients may result from "self-medication". Since it has been reported that OBX causes a decrease in the density of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the brain and that alcohol is a potent and selective inhibitor of NMDA receptors, the possible role of NMDA receptors in this effect is discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb 761) on male copulatory behavior in rats. EGb 761 (1 mg/ml) induced significant production of testosterone (T) in rat Leydig cells in vitro. Its effects on sexual behavior were then tested in Long-Evans male rats after 7, 14, 21, or 28 days of oral gavage of vehicle (distilled water) or EGb 761 at doses of 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg. Administration of 50 mg/kg of EGb 761 for 28 days and of 100 mg/kg for 14 or 21 days significantly increased intromission frequency compared to controls on the same day. An increase in ejaculation frequency was seen after treatment with 50 mg/kg of EGb 761 for 14, 21, or 28 days when compared to either the control group on the same day or the same group on day 0. A reduction in ejaculation latency was only seen after administration of 50 mg/kg of EGb 761 for 14 days compared to the vehicle-treated group. After treatment for 28 days, no significant difference was seen in mount latency, intromission latency, serum T levels, reproductive organ weight, sperm number, or levels of the metabolite of dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the brain with any dose of EGb 761, but significantly reduced serum prolactin levels and increased dopamine levels in the medial preoptic area and arcuate nucleus were seen at the dose of 50 mg/kg. These findings show that EGb 761 (especially at the dose of 50 mg/kg) enhances the copulatory behavior of male rats and suggest that the dopaminergic system, which regulates prolactin secretion, may be involved in the facilitatory effect of EGb 761.