An Exploratory Content Analysis of the Use of Health Communication Strategies and Presence of Objectification in Fitness Influencer Social Media Posts.

Health and fitness content intended to inspire people to live healthy lives (e.g. "fitspiration") has been linked to negative body image among girls and young women. Fitness influencers purport wanting to motivate healthy behaviors. This study seeks to examine the presence of strategies known to positively influence health behaviors (e.g. attitudes, self-efficacy) as well as of content known to have a negative influence (e.g. objectification) among fitness influencers. We conducted a content analysis (N = 441) of a random sample of one year of posts from four Instagram fitness influencers popular with girls and young women in the United States. The main analysis consisted of codes related to objectification, health promotion strategies, health-related content, and social engagement (i.e., likes). We found that fitness influencers included content that conveyed constructs previously found to positively influence health behaviors (e.g., attitudes and self-efficacy), but objectification was frequently present, in more than half of the posts. Additionally, we found that the presence of objectification in posts was negatively associated with likes, a form of social endorsement. We suggest health communicators aim to work in tandem with fitness influencers to include content that may motivate positive health behaviors and improve media literacy and that influencers aim to reduce the amount of objectifying content included in their posts. Our findings shed light on content being conveyed and possible insights into the negative effects associated with viewing such content.

The impact of sexual scripts in brand-generated cannabis social media posts on sex-related cannabis expectancies: Does body appreciation moderate effects?

INTRODUCTION: Cannabis messaging on digital media may include sexualised portrayals. We examined whether exposure to and perceptions of cannabis posts that included sexual objectification impacted two types of sex-related cannabis expectancies-sexual risk and sexual enhancement-and whether body appreciation moderated these relationships. METHODS: We conducted an online experiment with college students in Washington state. Participants viewed three brand-generated cannabis Instagram posts that either included sexually objectified women or recreational appeals (e.g., sitting by a firepit). We conducted regressions, using the PROCESS macro, to examine the hypothesized model and potential mediation and moderation. RESULTS: Exposure to sexualised advertisements was associated with increased perceptions of cannabis sex enhancement scripts (b = 0.34, p < 0.01), which was associated with increased cannabis sex enhancement expectancies (b = 0.34, p < 0.001) and decreased cannabis sexual risk expectancies (b = -0.16, p < 0.001); exposure to such advertisements were also associated with increased perceptions of cannabis sexual risk scripts (b = 0.61, p < 0.001), which was associated with increased cannabis sexual risk expectancies (b = 0.53, p < 0.001). Body appreciation was associated with increased cannabis sex enhancement expectancies (b = 0.13, p < 0.01) and moderated the relationship between exposure to sexualised ads and cannabis sex enhancement expectancies (b = -0.21, p < 0.01). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Practitioners may want to consider how to increase critical consumption of cannabis content on digital media. Researchers should consider the possible role of body appreciation as it relates to cannabis and sex enhancement expectancies.

Explaining College Men's Rape Myth Acceptance: The Role of Sports Media, Masculine Norms & Fraternity Membership.

Sexual assault is a serious public health issue that is particularly pervasive on U.S. college campuses, and it is well established that men's acceptance of rape myths is associated with negative, and even harmful, attitudes and behaviors toward women. Given the association of rape myths with sexual assault, there is a critical need to identify factors associated with men's acceptance of such myths. To this end, we surveyed 318 fraternity men and 183 non-fraternity college men in the United States to test whether sports media use and conformity to masculine norms, specifically beliefs in controlling women and sexual permissiveness, are associated with rape myth acceptance. Results showed that, after controlling for demographic characteristics including fraternity membership, regular sports media exposure, conformity to masculine norms that support control over women and permissive sexual activity (e.g. playboy norms), were positively associated with rape myth acceptance. This study contributes to a better understanding of multidimensional relationships between sports media consumption, conformity to masculine norms, and rape-supportive culture among young men.

Sexual Scripts and Sexual Consent: Gender Stereotypes, Music-Media Messages, and Sexual Consent Expectancies Among College Men and Women.

The pervasiveness of sexual assault among college women prompted examination of college students' sexual-consent expectancies using sexual scripting theory as a framework. We aimed to understand how personal beliefs, experiences with sexual violence, and dominant cultural gendered sexual scripts in music media inform sexual-consent expectancies among a sample of primarily White heterosexual college students at a northwestern university (n = 364). Participants viewed music videos with sexual and objectifying content and reported their perceptions of how women were portrayed. Linear mixed modeling with Maximum Likelihood with interactions by biological sex revealed associations between past sexual victimization and lower expectancies to adhere to a sexual partner's consent wishes. Men with a history of perpetrating sexual violence had lower expectancies to ask for consent, and women with more traditional sexual stereotypes had lower expectancies to seek consent or refuse unwanted sex. Having lower expectancies to adhere to a partner's consent wishes was associated with holding more traditional sexual stereotypes for both men and women. Participants who perceived women as powerlessness in viewed music videos had lower expectancies to ask for consent from a sexual partner, to refuse unwanted sexual advances, and to adhere to a decision regarding sexual consent. Through the lens of sexual scripting theory, results advance understanding of how the intersection of biological sex, experiences of sexual violence, gendered beliefs, and cultural scripts in music media inform young adults' sexual expectancies and potential for sexual risk. Implications for prevention include addressing gendered sexual scripts to reduce ambiguity around sexual consent among college students. Media-based interventions are discussed as a strategy toward this end.

Examining science and media literacy health communication messages to reduce intentions to use cannabis while pregnant.

OBJECTIVE: Although use of cannabis during pregnancy can be detrimental to the fetus, use of cannabis during pregnancy has increased. Pregnant people are often exposed to incorrect information about cannabis use during pregnancy online and have expressed a desire for additional information about the effects of using cannabis while pregnant. We wanted to design and test a brief intervention promoting media literacy and science literacy and assess whether exposure would reduce intentions to use cannabis during pregnancy. METHOD: We created two sets of messages, one with a focus on increasing media literacy and another on increasing science literacy. Messages were either presented in a narrative/story or nonnarrative formats. Participants who identified as female, aged 18-40, were recruited online via a Qualtrics panel to participate in the online experiment. We used multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) to model the relationships across message groups. RESULTS: Results suggested that increased awareness about potential harms of Tetrahydrocannabinol to the fetus was associated with intentions to reduce cannabis use while pregnant in the science literacy conditions for both message types (science narrative b = .389, p = .003; science nonnarrative b = .410, p ≤ .001). Increased media literacy for source was associated with intentions to reduce cannabis use during pregnancy in the media literacy nonnarrative group (b = .319, p = .021) but was not significant for the media literacy narrative condition. CONCLUSIONS: Messages focused on both media literacy and science literacy may be of value to pregnant people who use cannabis, with science literacy likely having a more direct effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

High Thermal Stability, High Tensile Strength, and Good Water Barrier Property of Terpolyester Containing Biobased Monomer for Next-Generation Smart Film Application: Synthesis and Characterization.

This research synthesizes novel copolyester (PCITN) containing biobased isosorbide, 1,4-cyclohexandimethanol, terephthalic acid, and 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid and characterize its properties. The PCITN copolyester was extruded into film, and its performance properties including: tensile strength, Young's modulus, thermal, dimensional stability, barrier (water barrier), and optical (birefringence and transmittance) were analyzed after uniaxial stretching. The films have higher Tg, Tm, dimensional stability, and mechanical properties than other polyester-type polymers, and these performance properties are significantly increased with increasing stretching. This is due to the increased orientation of molecular chains inside the films, which was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and birefringence results. Good water barrier (0.54%) and lower birefringence (△n: 0.09) of PCITN film compared to poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(ethylene 2,6-naphthalate) (PEN), and polyimide (PI) films, used as conventional substrate materials for optical devices, make it an ideal candidate as performance material for next-generation flexible devices.

An Exploratory Study of Adolescents' Social Media Sharing of Marijuana-Related Content.

Adolescents often post content related to risk behaviors online, and social media posting related to substance use has been found to be associated with intentions to use substances. However, there is a dearth of research about what may motivate an adolescent to share marijuana-related content. This study aimed to examine the types of content related to marijuana that adolescents are posting on social media and what may influence such sharing. We conducted an online survey in Washington state (N = 350)-a state in which recreational marijuana use is legal for persons at age 21 years and older-and examined adolescents' social media sharing of marijuana-related content. Thirty-one percent of adolescents in our study reported sharing marijuana-related content on social media, with 24 percent of adolescent participants sharing marijuana-related memes. Peer marijuana use and perceived parents' approval of marijuana were positively associated with the likelihood of posting marijuana-related content on social media. Increased perceived parental monitoring was negatively associated with posting marijuana-related content on social media; however, increased parental media monitoring was not. Our research highlights the factors that may influence adolescents' decisions to share marijuana-related content on social media. Internal factors, such as personal beliefs, were not associated with sharing such content in the final model, whereas external factors, such as perceived peer use and parent approval, were positively associated. Our results have implications for communicators who may want to address adolescents' norm perceptions, and parents who may want to informally monitor their children instead of monitoring their children's social media.

Comprehensive Investigation of the Behavior of Polyurethane Foams Based on Conventional Polyol and Oligo-Ester-Ether-Diol from Waste Poly(ethylene terephthalate): Fireproof Performances, Thermal Stabilities, and Physicomechanical Properties.

The chemical recycling of postconsumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bottles to produce highly thermally stable polyurethane foam (r-PUF) with excellent flame-retardant (FR) performance could be applied on an industrial scale to create a sustainable recycling industry. The advantage of oligo-ester-ether-diol obtained from waste PET glycolysis is its application in r-PUF, generating a durable foam with excellent fire resistance at rather low loadings of phosphorus-nitrogen FRs (P-N FRs), especially in high moisture environments. Compared to polyurethane foam from commercial polyol (c-PUF), r-PUF is notably more thermally stable and efficient in terms of flame retardancy, even without adding FRs. By incorporating 15 php diammonium phosphate (DAP) as a P-N FR, r-PUF/DAP self-extinguished 5 s after the removal of the 2nd flame application with a limited oxygen index value of 24%. However, for c-PUF, a much higher DAP (30 php) loading did not exhibit any rating in the vertical burning test. The aromatic moiety in the oligo-ester-ether-diol structure strongly enhanced the compressive strength and thermal stability. The positive outcomes of this study also confirmed that the r-PUF/DAP prepared from oligo-ester-ether-diol not only satisfied the fire safety requirements of polymer applications but also contained a high percentage of postconsumer PET, which could help reduce the amount of recycled polymer materials and improve waste management.

Novel Oligo-Ester-Ether-Diol Prepared by Waste Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Glycolysis and Its Use in Preparing Thermally Stable and Flame Retardant Polyurethane Foam.

Rigid polyurethane foam (PUF) was successfully prepared from a novel oligo-ester-ether-diol obtained from the glycolysis of waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bottles via reaction with diethylene glycol (DEG) in the presence of ZnSO4·7H2O. The LC-MS analysis of the oligodiol enabled us to identify 67 chemical homologous structures that were composed of zero to four terephthalate (T) ester units and two to twelve monoethylene glycol (M) ether units. The flame retardant, morphological, compression, and thermal properties of rigid PUFs with and without triphenyl phosphate (TPP) were determined. The Tg values showed that TPP played a role of not only being a flame retardant, but also a plasticizer. PUF with a rather low TPP loading had an excellent flame retardancy and high thermal stability. A loading of 10 wt % TPP not only achieved a UL-94 V-0 rating, but also obtained an LOI value of 21%. Meanwhile, the PUF without a flame retardant did not achieve a UL-94 HB rating; the sample completely burned to the holder clamp and yielded a low LOI value (17%). The fire properties measured with the cone calorimeter were also discussed, and the results further proved that the flame retardancy of the PUF with the addition of TPP was improved significantly. The polymeric material meets the demands of density and compression strength for commercial PUF, as well as the needs of environmental development. The current study may help overcome the drawback of intrinsic high flammability and enlarge the fire safety applications of materials with a high percentage of recycled PET.

Targeted ultrasound imaging of apoptosis with annexin a5 microbubbles in acute Doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of targeted ultrasound imaging on apoptosis with annexin A5 microbubbles (A5MB) in acute doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. METHODS: Avidinated and octafluoropropan-filled phospholipid microbubbles were conjugated with biotinylated annexin A5. To confirm the specific binding of A5MB, flow cytometry was performed with hydrogen peroxide induced apoptosis in rat aorta smooth muscle cells incubated with fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled annexin A5 and A5MB. Adult male rats were injected intraperitoneally with 5 mg/kg doxorubicin weekly for 3 weeks (n = 5). Control rats were injected with normal saline (n = 5). At 24 hours after the final treatment, triggering imaging was performed 15 min after an intravenous bolus injection of A5MB for washout of freely circulating microbubbles. After echocardiography, the heart was isolated for histological detection of apoptosis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay. RESULTS: In the in vitro tests, fluorescence intensity was low for healthy cells and high for apoptotic cells when incubated with FITC-labeled annexin A5 and A5MB. Rats treated with doxorubicin showed significant contrast opacification of the myocardium on contrast echocardiography using A5MB. However, no opacification was observed in control rats. Apoptosis was confirmed by TUNEL assay in doxorubicin treated rats. CONCLUSION: Acute doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy based on early apoptosis can be assessed and imaged with targeted ultrasound imaging using A5MB in rats.

Antiproliferative effects of 6-anilino-5-chloro-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-4,7-dione in vascular smooth muscle cells.

It has been known that benzimidazol-4,7-diones have antiproliferative activity against various cancer cell lines. Recently, we have also reported that these compounds strongly inhibited the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Although benzimidazol-4,7-diones have important biological activities, the molecular mechanism of the compounds in these cells remains to be elucidated. In order to investigate the anti-proliferation mechanism of the compounds in smooth muscle cell, we selected 6-anilino-6-chloro-5-chloro-1H-benzo{d}midazole-4,7-dione (BUD-0203) among 12 benzimidazol-4,7-dione derivatives and examined its antiproliferative effects. Phosphorylation of the extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) reached a maximal level at 1h after treatment with BUD-0203 and was sustained during the examined period. We also observed that phosphorylation of p38 reached a maximal level at 4h and decreased to control levels after 8h. These results showed that BUD-0203 sustainedly activated MAP kinase pathways in SMC. However, this compound did not induce cell cycle arrest in G1 or G2 phase in these cells. We also demonstrated that BUD-0203 not only induced apoptosis of SMC, but it also strongly inhibited SMC migration induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) or serum. Taken together, our experiments indicate that benzimidazol-4,7-diones induce apoptosis of smooth muscle cell via simultaneously prolonged activation of MAP kinase pathways including ERK, p38, and JNK/SAPK, similar with the apoptosis mechanism reported previously.

A case of congenital junctional ectopic tachycardia: diagnosis and successful radiofrequency catheter ablation in infancy.

It is difficult to make a definitive diagnosis of congenital junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET) in utero. We report a case in which congenial JET was suspected by fetal M-mode echocardiography. Fetal M-mode tracing of the atria and ventricle clearly showed a gradual acceleration of ventricular activity at the beginning of tachycardia, the warming-up sign of ectopic tachycardia, which was followed by simultaneous contractions of atrium and ventricle. This report also describes successful emergent radiofrequency catheter ablation of congenital JET in infancy with preservation of normal AV nodal conduction for this patient.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of benzimidazole-4,7-diones that inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation.

A series of 6-arylamino-5-chloro-benzimidazole-4,7-diones were synthesized and tested for their inhibitory activity on the rat aortic smooth muscle cell (RAoSMC) proliferation. Among them, 6-arylamino-5-chloro-2-methyl-benzimidazole-4,7-diones exhibited potent antiproliferative activity. Benzimidazole-4,7-dione 2c activated SAPK/JNK signaling pathway in the RAoSMCs.