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Association between household secondhand tobacco smoke exposure and regular e-cigarette use among adolescents: evidence from a national school-based survey
Get PDFAdolescent e-cigarette use is of public health interest in England, yet the influence of household environmental factors remains poorly understood. This cross-sectional study examined the association between secondhand tobacco smoke exposure in the home and regular e-cigarette use among adolescents. We analysed data from 12 297 adolescents aged 11–15 years who participated in the 2023 wave of the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England (SDD) survey. The primary exposure was self-reported frequency of secondhand smoke exposure in the home or someone else’s home, categorized into five levels. The outcome was regular e-cigarette use, defined as vaping at least once per week. Logistic regression models estimated crude and adjusted associations, controlling for age, gender identity, ethnicity, family affluence, and household or peer smoking. Regular e-cigarette use was reported by 5.8% (n = 716) of the sample. Compared to those never exposed, adolescents exposed to secondhand smoke ‘daily or most days’ had significantly higher odds of regular e-cigarette use [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 7.25; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.62–9.34; P < .001]. A clear dose–response relationship was observed across exposure categories (P for trend <.001), with increasing exposure linked to progressively higher odds of vaping. Among adolescents who had never smoked cigarettes, daily or near‑daily exposure to household secondhand smoke was still strongly associated with regular e‑cigarette use (aOR = 5.04; 95% CI: 3.64–6.99; P < .001). Frequent secondhand tobacco smoke exposure in the home is a strong and independent correlate of regular e-cigarette use among adolescents in England
Consistent, multidimensional differential histogramming and summary statistics with YODA 2
Get PDFHistogramming is often taken for granted, but the power and compactness of partially aggregated, multidimensional summary statistics, and their fundamental connection to differential and integral calculus make them formidable statistical objects, especially when very large data volumes are involved. But expressing these concepts robustly and efficiently in high-dimensional parameter spaces and for large data samples is a highly non-trivial challenge -- doubly so if the resulting library is to remain usable by scientists as opposed to software engineers. In this paper we summarise the core principles required for consistent generalised histogramming, and use them to motivate the design principles and implementation mechanics of the re-engineered YODA histogramming library, a key component of physics data-model comparison and statistical interpretation in collider physics
Reductions in development assistance for health funding threaten decades of progress in Africa
Get PDFCountries across Africa face health crises driven by aid cuts, shifting demography, and infectious and environmental threats. Renewed public health strategies, smarter investment, and stronger surveillance can help, but reversing funding cuts is vital
Coping with stressful life disruptions due to long COVID: a qualitative study
Get PDFBackground:
Long COVID impacts people’s physical health and cognition which immensely affects their psychosocial well-being. A larger study was conducted that explored the psychosocial impacts of Long COVID on individuals and caregivers. This paper focuses on the impact of these stressful disruptions on one’s health and psychosocial well-being, and how individuals cope with them.
Methods:
Utilizing a qualitative descriptive approach, we conducted interviews with 67 participants (52 people with Long COVID (mean age: 50.4) and 15 caregivers (mean age: 50.0)). People with Long COVID and caregivers were recruited from healthcare institutions through care team referrals, patient partners, and health organizations and via social media platforms. A thematic codebook developed through inter-coder agreement processes was used to analyze the data.
Findings:
Three key themes were identified: (1) Disruptions in people with Long COVID and caregivers’ lives are characterized by a deviation from their perceived ‘normalcy’, (2) Disruptions lead to substantial stress, loss and grief (independence, agency, meaning, and purpose), and (3) People with Long COVID and caregivers cope with stressful disruptions by adapting their daily activities.
Conclusion:
Our findings make the case for supportive rehabilitation strategies that address the psychosocial repercussions of Long COVID to help mitigate feelings of loss and grief, thereby increasing individuals’ overall quality of life and well-being
The use of membrane‐based therapeutic plasma exchange for the management of acute canine polyradiculoneuritis and reduction of antigen‐specific IgG in one dog
No full textAcute canine polyradiculoneuritis is one of the most common lower motor neuron diseases in dogs. Given similarities to Guillain–Barré syndrome in people, an immune‐mediated component has long been suspected. In veterinary medicine, two studies have documented specific antibodies as serum biomarkers for acute canine polyradiculoneuritis, including anti‐GM2 and anti‐GalNAc‐GD1a immunoglobulin G anti‐glycolipid antibodies. This case report documents the first use of membrane‐based therapeutic plasma exchange for the management of acute canine polyradiculoneuritis as well as an overall reduction in anti‐GM2 IgG and anti‐GalNAc‐GD1a IgG with subsequent treatments. The clinical recovery in this dog was rapid, with improved motor function within 48 hours of her first treatment and a complete return to normal within 1 month
Inter‐laboratory validation of nodal/paranodal antibody testing
Get PDFBackground and Aims:
Reliable detection of antibodies against nodal targets is vital for the diagnosis of autoimmune nodopathies. The performance characteristics of recently developed in-house assays are unknown. We compared testing at four centres.
Methods:
Each submitted 29–40 serum samples to a coordinating centre from one of three groups: (1) autoimmune nodopathy patients, with positive nodal/paranodal antibodies; (2) seronegative patients with other inflammatory neuropathies, and (3) healthy individuals or those with other neurological diseases. The coordinating centre recoded all samples and returned 160 identical aliquots to each testing centre for blinded testing. Once data from all centres had been received by the coordinating centre, unblinded results were returned for analysis. Sensitivity was defined by the proportion of group 1 samples returned as positive. Accuracy was defined as 0.075(sensitivity) + 0.925(specificity).
Results:
Centres performed various combinations of ELISA, cell-based (CBAs) and teased-nerve fibre assays. All labs produced highly accurate results (96%–100%) and concordance for the overall result across at least 3 or all 4 test centres was observed for 98% and 89% of the samples respectively. However, 10/30 individual assays (6/14 CBAs and 4/16 ELISAs) were less than 90% sensitive. Only 3 assays had more than 1 false positive result (2 ELISAs and 1 CBA). Combining different assay modalities to produce an overall result did not improve accuracy. Inter-laboratory consistency in the determination of antibody subclasses was poor.
Interpretation:
Although most samples were correctly categorised in all 4 centres, the use of a specific test modality or multiple tests did not guarantee accuracy. Early and repeated interlaboratory testing with sharing of samples is important to understand test performance and reproducibility, identify areas for improvement and maintain consistency. To aid this, we provide detailed methods for the best performing tests. Further standardisation of antibody subclass determination is required
Enhancing Academic Integrity and Literacy Among Life Sciences Postgraduates via a Moodle-based Intervention
No full textNo abstract available
Why it’s fine to offset one’s carbon emissions by paying others to pollute less: a deontological account of risk imposition
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Information, uncertainty, and public support for brinkmanship during the 2023 debt limit negotiations
Get PDFWhy do US voters allow politicians to hold the country’s economy hostage during debt ceiling negotiations? In this research note, we argue that ignorance and uncertainty over the consequences of a debt ceiling breach play a nontrivial role in public support for hard-line negotiating positions. In a pre-registered survey experiment, two weeks before the June 2023 deadline to raise the US debt ceiling, we show that providing credible information about the consequences of default increases support for concessions among both Democrats and Republicans. Further, more certain information about the consequences of a debt ceiling breach has a larger effect than less-certain information suggesting that the unpredictable consequences of the crisis also help explain voter reluctance to accept concessions. The findings have implications for understanding debt ceiling negotiations and other crisis bargaining situations where the public serves as a relevant third party
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