Search

Early adolescents often hear messages like "Don't spend too much time on your phone!" Yet little is known about how middle school youth regulate their smartphone usage. To help fill that gap, the authors held a week-long summer workshop to explore early adolescents' perspectives on positive and healthy social media usage. A community-based participatory action research model was used to design a social media curriculum around one specific middle school community, beginning by gathering perspectives from students, parents, and staff. This work shaped a workshop curriculum, which was piloted in summer 2019 with 13 students from this middle school. The workshop activities engaged participants in reflecting on their social media habits, using a method called photovoice to empower participants to share the world through their lenses. In the process, they developed interest in becoming producers as well as critical consumers of social media. The long-term goal is to incorporate these participants' voices into a user-centered design process to build an app, website, or workshop to support healthy social media use. The photovoice project provides an example of how to engage in a research-community collaboration to learn which social media and well-being issues are most salient in a school community. It is also a model to show afterschool or summer program providers how to conduct their own photovoice workshop.

Background Patients with Eisenmenger syndrome are known to have a high incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD), yet the underlying causes are not well understood. We sought to define the predictors of SCD in this population. Methods and Results A retrospective analysis of all patients with Eisenmenger syndrome from 2 large tertiary referral centers was performed. ECGs, prolonged ambulatory recordings, echocardiograms, and clinical histories were reviewed; and the cause of death was identified. A total of 246 patients (85 [34.6%] men) with a mean age of 37.3 (±14.2) years were followed up for a median of 7 years. Over the study period, 136 patients died, with 40 experiencing SCD and 74 experiencing cardiac death (sudden and nonsudden). Age, atrial fibrillation, prolonged QRS duration, complete heart block, right atrial enlargement, right bundle branch block, increased right atrial pressure, impaired biventricular function, and the presence of a pacemaker were associated with increased risk of SCD, whereas advanced pulmonary hypertension therapies were protective. Atrial fibrillation (11.45-fold increased risk; P

Psychosocial factors are associated with the achievement of optimal cardiovascular disease risk factor (CVDRF) levels. To date, little research has examined multiple psychosocial factors simultaneously to identify distinguishing psychosocial profiles among individuals with CVDRF. Further, it is unknown whether profiles are associated with achievement of CVDRF levels longitudinally. Therefore, we characterized psychosocial profiles of individuals with CVDRF and assessed whether they are associated with achievement of optimal CVDRF levels over 15 years. We included 1148 CARDIA participants with prevalent hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and/or diabetes mellitus in 2000-2001. Eleven psychosocial variables reflecting psychological health, personality traits, and social factors were included. Optimal levels were deemed achieved if: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) < 7.0%, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol < 100 mg/dl, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 140 mm Hg. Latent profile analysis revealed three psychosocial profile groups 'Healthy', 'Distressed and Disadvantaged' and 'Discriminated Against'. There were no significant differences in achievement of CVDRF levels of the 3 targets combined across profiles. Participants in the 'Distressed and Disadvantaged' profile were less likely to meet optimal HbA1c levels compared to individuals in the 'Healthy' profile after demographic adjustment. Associations were attenuated after full covariate adjustment. Distinct psychosocial profiles exist among individuals with CVDRF, representing meaningful differences. Implications for CVDRF management are discussed., Author(s): Emily A. Vargas [sup.1] , Diana A. Chirinos [sup.1] , Mandy Wong [sup.1] , Mercedes R. Carnethon [sup.1] , Allison J. Carroll [sup.2] , Catarina I. Kiefe [sup.3] , [...]

Understanding how multiple stressors interact is needed to predict the dynamical outcomes of diverse biological systems, ranging from drug-resistant pathogens that are combated and treated with combination drug therapies to ecosystems impacted by environmental toxicants or disturbances. Nevertheless, extensive studies of higher-order (more than two component) interactions have been lacking. Here, we conduct experiments using 20 three-drug combinations and their effects on the bacterial growth of Escherichia coli We report our measurements of growth rates in single, pairwise and triple-drug combinations. To uncover emergent interactions, we derive a simple framework to calculate expectations for three-way interactions based on the measured impact of each individual stressor and of each pairwise interaction. Using our framework, we find that (i) emergent antagonisms are more common than emergent synergies and (ii) emergent antagonisms are more common and emergent synergies are more rare than would be inferred from measures of net effects that do not disentangle pairwise interactions from three-way interactions.

Introduction. Commonly prescribed medications are associated with various gastrointestinal (GI) side effects but few data are available on prescription medication use and polypharmacy in a gastroenterology outpatient practice. We aimed to examine the prevalence of polypharmacy, defined as the simultaneous use of 5 or more medications.

The minority stress model states that routine forms of discrimination are associated with adverse health consequences. Despite this well-supported association, there is a limited body of research applying this model for sexual minorities of colour. We utilise an intersectional approach to investigate how minority stress at the intersection of sexual and racial identities impacts psychological health outcomes. In the current study, we examine how various sources of minority stress (perceived stigma, internalised homophobia, and everyday discrimination) are associated with psychological health, through an indirect effect of mastery (Study 1) in addition to authenticity (Study 2) in two independent samples of sexual minorities of colour. Study 1 (n = 262) included sexual minorities of colour from Project STRIDE, and in Study 2, participants (n = 75) were recruited across several online platforms. Mediation analyses revealed that increased minority stressors, like discrimination, were significantly associated with a decrease in psychological health, through a decline in mastery. We did not find support for authenticity as a mediator. This study has important implications for understanding the experiences and health consequences for sexual minorities of colour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]