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Objective: To test whether 2 conceptually overlapping constructs, dispositional optimism (generalized positive expectations) and optimistic bias (inaccurately low risk perceptions), may have different implications for smoking treatment engagement. Method: Predominantly Black, low-income Southern Community Cohort study smokers (n = 880) self-reported dispositional optimism and pessimism (Life Orientation Test "Revised subscales: 0 = neutral, 12 = high optimism/pessimism), comparative lung cancer risk (Low/Average/High), and information to calculate objective lung cancer risk (Low/Med/High). Perceived risk was categorized as accurate (perceived = objective), optimistically-biased (perceived< objective), or pessimistically-biased (perceived >objective). One-way ANOVAs tested associations between dispositional optimism/pessimism and perceived risk accuracy. Multivariable logistic regressions tested independent associations of optimism/pessimism and perceived risk accuracy with cessation motivation (Low/High), confidence (Low/High), and precision treatment attitudes (Favorable/Unfavorable), controlling for sociodemographics and nicotine dependence. Results: Mean dispositional optimism/pessimism scores were 8.41 (SD = 2.59) and 5.65 (SD = 3.02), respectively. Perceived lung cancer risk was 38% accurate, 27% optimistically-biased, and 35% pessimistically-biased. Accuracy was unrelated to dispositional optimism (F(2, 641) = 1.23, p = .29), though optimistically-biased (vs. pessimistically-biased) smokers had higher dispositional pessimism (F(2, 628) = 3.17, p = .043). Dispositional optimism was associated with higher confidence (Adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.71, 95% CI [1.42, 2.06], p < .001) and favorable precision treatment attitudes (AOR = 1.66, 95% CI [1.37, 2.01], p < .001). Optimistically-biased (vs. accurate) risk perception was associated with lower motivation (AOR = .64, 95% CI [.42, .98], p = .041) and less favorable precision treatment attitudes (AOR = .59, 95% CI [.38, .94], p = .029). Conclusions: Dispositional optimism and lung cancer risk perception accuracy were unrelated. Dispositional optimism was associated with favorable engagement-related outcomes and optimistically-biased risk perception with unfavorable outcomes, reinforcing the distinctiveness of these constructs and their implications for smoking treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We sought to determine the frequency of intimate partner violence by type in a large, clinic-based, nurse-administered screening and services intervention project. Methods. A brief intimate partner violence screen, which included items to measure sexual and physical assaults and psychological battering (using the Women's Experience With Battering scale) was administered to consenting women receiving care at 1 of 8 rural clinics in South Carolina. Results. Between April 2002 and August 2005, 4945 eligible women were offered intimate partner violence screening, to which 3664 (74.1%) consented. Prevalence of intimate partner violence in a current (ongoing) relationship was 13.3%, and 939 women (25.6%) had experienced intimate partner violence at some point in the past 5 years. Of those ever experiencing intimate partner violence, the majority (65.6%) experienced both assaults and psychological battering; 10.1% experienced assault only, and 24.3% experienced psychological battering only. Most women (85.5%) currently experiencing both psychological battering and assaults stated that violence was a problem in their current relationship. Conclusions. The intimate partner violence screening technique we used was feasible to implement, acceptable to women seeking health care at the targeted clinics, and indicated a high proportion of women reporting intimate partner violence in the past 5 years, with a majority of those women stating that such violence was a problem in their relationships. These findings demonstrated the viability of the screening technique, which supports the growing importance of implementing intimate partner violence screenings in clinical settings in order to reduce the prevalence of violence in intimate relationships.

Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are used in efforts to reduce health disparities; however, there is little documentation in the literature regarding their use in precision medicine research. In this case study, an academic-CAB partnership developed a questionnaire and patient educational materials for two precision smoking cessation interventions that involved use of genetic or genetically-informed information. The community-engaged research (CEnR) literature provided a framework for enhancing benefits to CAB members involved in developing research documents for use with a low-income, ethnically diverse population of smokers. The academic partners integrated three CEnR strategies: 1) in-meeting statements acknowledging their desire to learn from community partners, 2) in-meeting written feedback to and from community partners, and 3) a survey to obtain CAB member feedback post-meetings. Strategies 1 and 2 yielded modifications to pertinent study materials, as well as suggestions for improving meeting operations that were then adopted, as appropriate, by the academic partners. The survey indicated that CAB members valued the meeting procedure changes which appeared to have contributed to improvements in attendance and satisfaction with the meetings. Further operationalization of relevant partnership constructs and development of tools for measuring these aspects of community-academic partnerships is warranted to support community engagement in precision medicine research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leptin is strongly associated with adiposity and few studies have investigated its role in Mexican-Americans. The aims of this study were to examine the association of serum leptin concentration with adiposity and body fat distribution in Mexican-Americans and to develop a predictive model of serum leptin concentration for this ethnic group., Methods: Three hundred fifty-two college students (242 women, 110 men; age 18-30 years) were evaluated in this cross-sectional study. Body fat content was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Correlation between serum leptin levels and several markers of adiposity and body fat distribution were examined in both men and women. Multiple regression analysis was performed to create the predictive model., Results: Women had higher serum leptin concentrations than men for the same levels of adiposity. After controlling for gender and body fat, only fat mass (FM) expressed in kg, was significantly correlated with serum leptin concentration in men (partial rho = 0.811, p <0.001), whereas body mass index (BMI), hip circumference (HC), and FM expressed in kg, were significantly correlated with serum leptin concentration in women (partial rho = 0.214, p <0.001; partial rho = 0.201, p <0.01; and partial rho = 0.818, p <0.001, respectively). Percent body fat (PBF) was the only significant predictor of serum leptin concentration among men, explaining 42% of the variance in serum leptin concentration. In addition to PBF, waist circumference (WC) and HC were significant predictors of serum leptin concentration among women explaining 65% of the variance in serum leptin concentration., Conclusions: Serum leptin concentration is a function of adiposity as determined by PBF in both Mexican-American men and women. HC and WC are associated with serum leptin concentration in Mexican-American women but not in men. BMI alone should not be used in evaluating the association of serum leptin concentration with body fatness in Mexican-Americans.