Parenting practices and trajectories of proactive coping assets among emerging adult Black men.

Positive youth development (PYD) frameworks suggest that a critical response to investigating the challenges young Black men living in resource poor communities experience involves identifying contextual resources in young men's lives and personal assets that promote success. The following study examines heterogeneity in proactive coping assets trajectories, parental practices as predictors of developmental trajectories, and associated outcomes of each trajectory. The study sample consisted of Black emerging adult men living in rural Georgia (N = 504). At baseline, men were between the ages of 19 and 22 (Mage = 20.29; SD = 1.10). At wave four, the participants' mean age was 27.67 (SD = 1.39). Results of growth mixture modeling from waves 1 to 3 discerned three developmental trajectory classes of emerging adults' proactive coping assets: a high and increasing class (n = 247, 49%), a low and stable class (n = 212, 42%), and a moderate and decreasing class (n = 45, 9%). Trajectory classes were linked to baseline levels of parental support, coaching, and expectations. Analysis revealed that parental support and parental coaching predicted proactive coping asset trajectory class identification. Links were then investigated between emerging adults' proactive coping asset trajectory classes and wave four physical health, depression, and alcohol use. Results revealed significant associations between class identification, alcohol use, and physical health. Study findings provide evidence supporting the impact of parenting on emerging adult Black men, underscoring the need to expand resources that support parenting and emerging adult relationships.

Family-Centered Prevention to Reduce Discrimination-Related Depressive Symptoms Among Black Adolescents: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Racial discrimination undermines the mental health of Black adolescents. Preventive interventions that can attenuate the effects of exposure to racial discrimination are needed. Objective: To investigate whether participation in the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program moderates Black adolescents' depressive symptoms associated with experience of racial discrimination. Design, Setting, and Participants: This secondary analysis used data from a community-based randomized clinical trial of SAAF (SAAF vs no treatment control). Participants were followed up at 10, 22, and 34 months after the baseline assessment. Assessment staff were blind to participant condition. Participants in this trial lived in 7 rural counties in Georgia. SAAF was delivered at local community centers. Eligible families had a child aged 11 to 12 years who self-identified as African American or Black. The joint influence of random assignment to SAAF and exposure to racial discrimination was investigated. Data were analyzed from September 2022 to March 2023. Intervention: SAAF is a 7-session (14 hours) family skills training intervention that occurs over 7 weeks. Small groups of caregivers and their adolescents participate in a structured curriculum targeting effective parenting behavior, adolescent self-regulation, and Black pride. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was adolescent-reported depressive symptoms, assessed at 34 months via the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children. Results: Of 825 families screened randomly from public school lists, 472 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 11.6 years; 240 [50.8%] female) were enrolled and randomized to SAAF (252 participants) or a no treatment control (220 participants). Exposure to racial discrimination at age 13 years was associated with increased depressive symptoms at age 14 years (ß = 0.23; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.34; P < .001). Interaction analyses indicated that the experimental condition significantly moderated the association of racial discrimination with depressive symptoms: (ß = -0.27; 95% CI, -0.47 to -0.08; P = .005). Probing the interaction with simple slopes at ±SD revealed that for the control group, racial discrimination was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (ß = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.54; P < .001), while for the SAAF group, there was no association between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms (ß = 0.12; P = .09). Conclusions and Relevance: This randomized clinical trial found that the SAAF intervention reduced the incidence of racism-associated mental health symptoms among Black adolescents. SAAF is recommended for dissemination to health care practitioners working with rural Black adolescents. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03590132.

Family history of substance use disorder and parental impulsivity are differentially associated with neural responses during risky decision-making.

Background: Risky decision-making is associated with the development of substance use behaviors during adolescence. Although prior work has investigated risky decision-making in adolescents at familial high risk for developing substance use disorders (SUDs), little research has controlled for the presence of co-morbid externalizing disorders (EDs). Additionally, few studies have investigated the role of parental impulsivity in offspring neurobiology associated with risky decision-making. Methods: One-hundred twenty-five children (28 healthy controls, 47 psychiatric controls with EDs without a familial history of SUD, and 50 high-risk children with co-morbid EDs with a familial history of SUD) participated in the Balloon Analog Risk Task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Impulsivity for parents and children was measured using the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Results: We found that individuals in the psychiatric control group showed greater activation, as chances of balloon explosion increased, while making choices, relative to the healthy control and high-risk groups in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC). We also found a positive association between greater activation and parental impulsivity in these regions. However, within rACC, this relationship was moderated by group, such that there was a positive relationship between activation and parental impulsivity in the HC group, but an inverse relationship in the HR group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that there are key differences in the neurobiology underlying risky decision-making in individuals with EDs with and without a familial history of SUD. The current findings build on existing models of neurobiological factors influencing addiction risk by integrating parental factors. This work paves the way for more precise risk models in which to test preventive interventions.

Substance use trajectories among emerging adult Black men: Risk factors and consequences.

INTRODUCTION: Young, Black American men experience greater social, legal and economic consequences of substance use compared with White men for comparable levels of consumption. The development of tailored interventions requires prospective information on their substance use patterns, risk factors and consequences. We identified longitudinal substance use profiles and examined their links to childhood adversity, racial discrimination and young adult problem substance use and mental health. METHODS: Emerging adult Black men (n = 504, mean age = 20.26, SD = 1.08) provided fours waves of data between January 2012 and March 2021. We conducted a parallel process latent class growth analysis for three substances to explore conjoint longitudinal use patterns and investigated the risk factors and consequences of each pattern. RESULTS: Three trajectory classes emerged: non-using (n = 201, 39.9%), cannabis using (n = 202, 40.1%) and poly-substance using (n = 101, 20%) groups. Threat-based childhood adversity and racial discrimination were associated with higher odds of being members of cannabis or poly-substance groups than non-using group. Deprivation-based adversity was associated with higher odds for membership in poly-substance than non-using group. At Wave 4, elevated depressive symptoms were more prevalent among poly-substance compared with cannabis using group. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneous substance use patterns emerged among Black American men and each pattern has distinct risk factors and outcomes in young adulthood. For prevention, more attention is needed for cannabis use patterns and psychosocial adversities that are unique to Black population.

Racial discrimination, childhood adversity, and depression among Black men: Tests of stress sensitization hypotheses.

Racial discrimination has been linked to depression among Black American men. Racial discrimination, however, does not uniformly confer risk for depression. According to the stress sensitization theory, racial discrimination can be particularly harmful for those with histories of adversity in childhood. Existing research on stress sensitization is limited in that it has conceptualized childhood adversity as a unidimensional construct composed of a broad range of stressful experiences. To fill this gap in the literature, the current study investigated stress sensitization hypotheses, focusing on how different dimensions of adverse childhood experiences moderate the association between racial discrimination and depression. Study sample was 504 young Black men (mean age at baseline = 20.3, SD = 1.08) living in rural counties in South Georgia where childhood adversity is disproportionately high. The association between racial discrimination and increased risk for depressive symptoms varied by the degree of childhood experience of deprivation, but not threat. Our findings suggest that no or low levels of childhood deprivation, which is commonly regarded as a protective factor, can elevate the negative effects of discrimination on depression. This finding emphasizes that clinicians should consider developmental risk and protective factors that are unique to Black American men.

Thermal acclimation in brook trout myotomal muscle varies with fiber type and age.

As climate change alters the thermal environment of the planet, interest has grown in how animals may mitigate the impact of a changing environment on physiological function. Thermal acclimation to a warm environment may, for instance, blunt the impact of a warming environment on metabolism by allowing a fish to shift to slower isoforms of functionally significant proteins such as myosin heavy chain. The thermal acclimation of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) was examined by comparing swimming performance, myotomal muscle contraction kinetics and muscle histology in groups of fish acclimated to 4, 10 and 20 °C. Brook trout show a significant acclimation response in their maximum aerobic swimming performance (Ucrit), with acclimation to warm water leading to lower Ucrit values. Maximum muscle shortening velocity (Vmax) decreased significantly with warm acclimation for both red or slow-twitch and white or fast-twitch muscle. Immunohistochemical analysis of myotomal muscle suggests changes in myosin expression underly the thermal acclimation of swimming performance and contraction kinetics. Physiological and histological data suggest a robust acclimation response to a warming environment, one that would reduce the added metabolic costs incurred by an ectotherm when environmental temperature rises for sustained periods of time.

Impulsivity as a Predictor of Early Dating Initiation in 11-12-Year-Old Youth.

As early initiation of dating behaviors is associated with risky sexual behaviors (e.g., higher number of sexual partners, sex with strangers), the current study examined determinants of early dating behaviors, focusing on impulsivity. Participants were 11-12-year-old boys (n = 109) and girls (n = 61) recruited from a psychiatric clinic and ads targeted to the general public. Ordered logistic regression models were used to examine the association between each facet of impulsivity (negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking) and dating behaviors. Youth with higher sensation seeking and negative urgency was more likely to initiate dating behaviors at early ages compared to those with lower scores on those measures. Further, we found that female gender and higher parental education were associated with lower risk of initiating dating behaviors at early age. Advanced pubertal development was associated with higher risk for early dating. Our findings can inform prevention efforts, identifying sensation seeking and negative urgency as predictors of youths' early engagement in dating behaviors, which can be a precursor of early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors.

The Transition to Fatherhood, Contextual Stress, and Substance Abuse: A Prospective Analysis of Rural, Emerging Adult Black American Men.

Background: Among Black American emerging adult men (∼aged 18-25), the early transition to fatherhood is often marred by numerous contextual stressors related to racial discrimination and socioeconomic instability. The strain of transitioning to fatherhood while experiencing high levels of contextual stress may evidence escalations in substance misuse over time as men may turn to substances to cope with the stress of complex life transitions. However, research examining these associations are scarce. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the influence of contextual stress on the association between fatherhood and substance misuse. Hypotheses were tested using multiple linear regression with 3 waves of data from 476 Black American men aged 19 to 22 at baseline living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Results: Results demonstrated that fatherhood status was associated, prospectively, with Black American fathers' substance misuse when exposure to contextual stress was high but not low. Conclusions: Findings underscore the need for substance misuse prevention programs to (a) support Black American fathers in coping with race-related stress and (b) integrate robust socioeconomic stability services in order in disrupt patterns of future substance misuse by improving Black American men's experience of the transition to fatherhood.

Racial Discrimination and Conduct Problems Among Black American Youth: The Moderating Effect of Ethnic Racial Socialization.

PURPOSE: Experiencing racial discrimination in everyday life can have lasting detrimental effects on Black American youth. Conduct problems are one of the consequences of discriminatory experiences. The present study examined whether the effects of discrimination on conduct problems vary by the levels of ethnic-racial socialization youth experience. METHODS: A sample of 472 Black American youth provided five waves of survey data from ages 11-15 (June 2013 - December 2017). We tested the moderating effect of different types of ethnic-racial socialization (preparation for bias, cultural socialization, promotion of mistrust) on the association between discrimination and conduct problems using logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: We found that cultural socialization significantly moderates the effects of racial discrimination on conduct problems. Promotion of mistrust was directly associated with increased risk for conduct problems. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that high levels of cultural socialization are beneficial to mitigate the effect of discrimination on conduct problems. Promotion of mistrust needs to be avoided but future research is warranted to investigate if promotion of mistrust can be helpful to youth in certain contexts.

Planful Self-Control, Metabolic Risk, and Psychosocial Outcomes Among Young, Black Men: A Test of Skin-Deep Resilience Theory.

Research on skin-deep resilience suggests that for youth and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds, high levels of planful self-control may promote positive psychosocial outcomes while simultaneously conferring vulnerabilities to chronic diseases related to aging. In this study, we investigated the divergent effects of planful self-control on young Black American men's psychosocial well-being and their metabolic risk. We expected that high levels of planful self-control in emerging adulthood would predict positive outcomes in young adulthood (educational attainment, low depressive symptoms, job satisfaction); however, the combination of high levels of planful self-control and the experience of contextual adversity either in emerging adulthood or in childhood would forecast poor metabolic health. Hypotheses were tested with prospective data from 504 Black American men followed from age 20 to age 26. Planful self-control in emerging adulthood directly forecasted low levels of depressive symptoms, one's likelihood of obtaining a bachelor's degree, increased job satisfaction, and increases in metabolic risk. Exposure to childhood deprivation moderated the influence of planful self-control on metabolic risk. Men with high levels of deprivation and high levels of planful self-control exhibited the worst metabolic profiles in the sample. In contrast, men with high levels of childhood deprivation and low levels of planful self-control exhibited the best metabolic profiles. Documenting the health consequences associated with planful self-control provides a foundation from which to identify modifiable psychosocial factors that affect the course of psychosocial problems and health.

Paradoxical Association Between Relative Cerebral Blood Volume Dynamics Following Chemoradiation and Increased Progression-Free Survival in Newly Diagnosed IDH Wild-Type MGMT Promoter Methylated Glioblastoma With Measurable Disease.

Background and Purpose: While relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) may be diagnostic and prognostic for survival in glioblastoma (GBM), changes in rCBV during chemoradiation in the subset of newly diagnosed GBM with subtotal resection and the impact of MGMT promoter methylation status on survival have not been explored. This study aimed to investigate the association between rCBV response, MGMT methylation status, and progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in newly diagnosed GBM with measurable enhancing lesions. Methods: 1,153 newly diagnosed IDH wild-type GBM patients were screened and 53 patients (4.6%) had measurable post-surgical tumor (>1mL). rCBV was measured before and after patients underwent chemoradiation. Patients with a decrease in rCBV >10% were considered rCBV Responders, while patients with an increase or a decrease in rCBV <10% were considered rCBV Non-Responders. The association between change in enhancing tumor volume, change in rCBV, MGMT promotor methylation status, and PFS or OS were explored. Results: A decrease in tumor volume following chemoradiation trended towards longer OS (p=0.12; median OS=26.8 vs. 16.3 months). Paradoxically, rCBV Non-Responders had a significantly improved PFS compared to Responders (p=0.047; median PFS=9.6 vs. 7.2 months). MGMT methylated rCBV Non-Responders exhibited a significantly longer PFS compared to MGMT unmethylated rCBV Non-Responders (p<0.001; median PFS=0.5 vs. 7.1 months), and MGMT methylated rCBV Non-Responders trended towards longer PFS compared to methylated rCBV Responders (p=0.089; median PFS=20.5 vs. 13.8 months). Conclusions: This preliminary report demonstrates that in newly diagnosed IDH wild-type GBM with measurable enhancing disease after surgery (5% of patients), an enigmatic non-response in rCBV was associated with longer PFS, particularly in MGMT methylated patients.

Sex differences in weight perception and weight gain among Black college students in the USA.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of overweight/obesity and to explore sex differences in body weight perceptions and correlates of weight gain among Black students at 2 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the USA. METHODS: Participants completed a paper-based survey, and their height and weight were measured (67% completion rate). RESULTS: The overweight and obesity rates were 33.8% and 26.9%, respectively. More females than males accurately assessed their weight (p < 0.05). Body weight underestimation was associated with male sex, excellent/very good perceived overall health, and not being informed by a doctor of having overweight or obesity (p < 0.01). Higher odds of ≥5% weight gain were related to female sex, living on campus, and not being informed by a doctor of having overweight or obesity (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Given the high overweight and obesity rates among Black students, HBCUs in the USA should develop intervention strategies for the prevention and management of overweight and obesity. College health educators at HBCUs need to provide regular check-ups or health screenings that help male students perceive their weight accurately and prevent weight underestimation. It is important for HBCUs to monitor and address weight gain among Black students as early as possible.

Opioid Use Disorder Stigma, Discrimination, and Policy Attitudes in a National Sample of U.S. Young Adults.

PURPOSE: A small fraction of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) receives appropriate care. Public opinion about addiction contributes to the availability and accessibility of effective treatment services. Little is known about such attitudes toward OUD among young adults, a population at heightened risk for OUD onset. The current study examined endorsement of social stigma, discrimination, and policy attitudes about OUD and hypothesized correlates of such attitudes (familiarity with OUD, criminal justice involvement, respondent demographic characteristics). METHODS: A national sample of 190 young adults (weighted n = 408; 69% female, 42% White, non-Hispanic) aged 19-29 years completed web and telephone surveys covering opioid social stigma, discrimination, policy attitudes, personal experience with opioids, and criminal justice, and participant characteristics (age, sex, race, education, employment, income). Linear regressions were performed to examine associations between respondent characteristics and attitudes. RESULTS: Young adults, on average, endorsed moderate levels of stigma and discrimination toward people with OUD and support for treatment-oriented policies. Stigma was positively associated with discrimination and negatively associated with support for policies favorable to people with OUD. Regression results revealed that more negative attitudes toward OUD were endorsed as a function of older age and less personal experience or familiarity with OUD. CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneity in young adults' attitudes about OUD may be explained, in part, by personal characteristics and familiarity with OUD. Adolescence may be an opportune developmental period to prevent or reduce public stigma related to OUD and MOUD and increase public attitudes in support of expanded access to effective OUD treatments.

Climate change and anadromous fish: How does thermal acclimation affect the mechanics of the myotomal muscle of the Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar?

In response to accelerated temperature shifts due to climate change, the survival of many species will require forms of thermal acclimation to their changing environment. We were interested in how climate change will impact a commercially and recreationally important species of fish, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). As climate change alters the thermal environment of their natal streams, we asked how their muscle function will be altered by extended exposure to both warm and cold temperatures. We performed a thermal acclimation study of S. salar muscle mechanics of both fast-twitch, or white, and slow-twitch, or red, myotomal muscle bundles to investigate how temperature acclimated Atlantic salmon would respond across a range of different temperatures. Isometric contraction properties, maximum shortening velocity, and oscillatory power output were measured and compared amongst three groups of salmon-warm acclimated (20°C), cold-acclimated (2°C), and those at their rearing temperature (12°C). The Atlantic salmon showed limited thermal acclimation in their contraction kinetics, and some of the shifts in contractile properties that were observed would not be predicted to mitigate the impact of a warming environment. For instance, the maximum shortening velocity at a common test temperature was higher in the warm acclimated group and lower in the cold-acclimated group. In addition, critical swimming speed did not vary with temperature of acclimation when tested at a common temperature (12°C). Our results suggest that Atlantic salmon populations will continue to struggle in response to a warming environment.

Trajectories and determinants of adolescents' nicotine product use risk among U.S. adolescents in a nationally representative sample of longitudinal cohort.

INTRODUCTION: To understand the heterogeneous longitudinal trends in adolescent nicotine product use risk, we investigated the trajectories and determinants of nicotine product use among adolescents. METHODS: Using Waves 1-4 (Years 2013-2018) data of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, we conducted group-based trajectory modeling to identify groups of individuals who followed homogeneous trajectories of nicotine product use risk over time and weighted multinomial logistic regression to examine relative risk ratios (RRRs) of different levels of predictors of group membership in each identified trajectory. RESULTS: For adolescents, who were 12-17 years old at baseline (N = 10,086), 5 trajectory groups emerged: (1) nonusers (73.7%); (2) stable low to moderate risk of developing poly use (5.0%); (3) gradual increase in risk of poly use (12.8%); (4) rapid linear increase in risk of poly use until Wave 3 and then plateauing for cigarettes or slightly diminishing for e-cigarettes and other tobacco products at Wave 4 (4.6%); and (5) stable moderate to high risk of poly use (3.9%). Adolescents who used social network services daily at Wave 1 were more likely to belong to each of the four trajectory groups compared to nonusers (RRRs ranging from 1.43 to 2.04). CONCLUSIONS: The current study findings imply that the majority of adolescents who initiated any nicotine product use have an elevated risk of transitioning to poly users. Risk and protective factors for different risk patterns are discussed.

Functional connectivity in frontostriatal networks differentiate offspring of parents with substance use disorders from other high-risk youth.

BACKGROUND: Family history (FH) of substance use disorders (SUDs) is known to elevate SUD risk in offspring. However, the influence of FH SUDs has been confounded by the effect of externalizing psychopathologies in the addiction risk neuroimaging literature. Thus, the current study aimed to assess the association between parental SUDs and offspring functional connectivity in samples matched for psychopathology and demographics. METHODS: Ninety 11-12-year-old participants with externalizing disorders were included in the study (48 FH+, 42 FH-). We conducted independent component analyses (ICA) and seed-based analyses (orbitofrontal cortex; OFC, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) with resting state data. RESULTS: FH+ adolescents showed stronger functional connectivity between the right lateral OFC seed and anterior cingulate cortex compared to FH- adolescents (p < 0.05, corrected). Compared to FH-, FH+ adolescents showed stronger negative functional connectivity between the left lateral OFC seed and right postcentral gyrus and between the left NAcc seed and right middle occipital gyrus (p < 0.05, corrected). Poorer emotion regulation was associated with more negative connectivity between right occipital/left NAcc among FH+ adolescents based on the seed-based analysis. FH- adolescents had stronger negative functional connectivity between ventral attention/salience networks and dorsal attention/visuospatial networks in the ICA. CONCLUSIONS: Both analytic methods found group differences in functional connectivity between brain regions associated with executive functioning and regions associated with sensory input (e.g., postcentral gyrus, occipital regions). We speculate that families densely loaded for SUD may confer risk by altered neurocircuitry that is associated with emotion regulation and valuation of external stimuli beyond what would be explained by externalizing psychopathology alone.

Treatment of Adolescent e-Cigarette Use: Limitations of Existing Nicotine Use Disorder Treatment and Future Directions for e-Cigarette Use Cessation.

Electronic cigarette use ("vaping") has surged in the United States since the mid-2010s. From 2011 to 2018, current e-cigarette use among high school students escalated from 1.5% to 20.8% (∼3.05 million youths),1 countering downward trends in combustible nicotine product use (21.8% in 2011 to 13.9% in 2018).1 Although preventing the initial uptake of vaping is crucial, for the millions of adolescents who have taken up this behavior-many of whom express interest in quitting (eg, 44.5% of current, adolescent non-light e-cigarette users in one US national representative sample)2-it is critically important to help them quit vaping so as to curtail future substance use disorders and other health consequences. Here, we discuss several challenges around adolescent vaping treatment, and highlight research areas in urgent need of attention.

Tropomyosin 3.1 Association With Actin Stress Fibers is Required for Lens Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition.

Purpose: Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cause of anterior and posterior subcapsular cataracts. Central to EMT is the formation of actin stress fibers. Selective targeting of actin stress fiber-associated tropomyosin (Tpm) in epithelial cells may be a means to prevent stress fiber formation and repress lens EMT. Methods: We identified Tpm isoforms in mouse immortalized lens epithelial cells and epithelial and fiber cells from whole lenses by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed Sanger sequencing. We focused on the role of one particular tropomyosin isoform, Tpm3.1, in EMT. To induce EMT, we treated cells or native lenses with TGFß2. To test the function of Tpm3.1, we exposed cells or whole lenses to a Tpm3.1-specific chemical inhibitor, TR100, as well as investigated lenses from Tpm3.1 knockout mice. We examined stress fiber formation by confocal microscopy and assessed EMT progression by analysis of alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) mRNA (real-time RT-PCR), and protein (Western immunoassay [WES]). Results: Lens epithelial cells express eight Tpm isoforms. Cell culture studies showed that TGFß2 treatment results in the upregulation of Tpm3.1, which associates with actin in stress fibers. TR100 prevents stress fiber formation and reduces αSMA in TGFß2-treated cells. Using an ex vivo lens culture model, TGFß2 treatment results in stress fiber formation at the basal regions of the epithelial cells. Genetic knockout of Tpm3.1 or treatment of lenses with TR100 prevents basal stress fiber formation and reduces epithelial αSMA levels. Conclusions: Targeting specific stress fiber associated tropomyosin isoform, Tpm3.1, is a means to repress lens EMT.

Trends and sociodemographic factors of e-cigarette use among adult daily smokers in South Korea.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have identified the sociodemographic factors associated with e-cigarette use among adolescents in South Korea. However, literature regarding e-cigarette use among adult smokers remains limited in South Korea. METHODS: Applying four waves (2013-2016) of The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 3227), sociodemographic factors were included in the multivariable logistic regression model to study their relationships with e-cigarette use among adult daily smokers. RESULTS: E-cigarette use increased from approximately 21.2% to 34.6% from 2013 to 2016, respectively. Females had lower odds of e-cigarette use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.76; 95% CI, 0.58-0.99, P < .05) compared with males. Older age was negatively associated with e-cigarette use experience (all Ps < .01). Daily smokers with high school education or above all had higher odds of using e-cigarettes compared those with elementary school education (all Ps < .05). CONCLUSION: As this study examined the trends of e-cigarette use and factors associated with e-cigarette use among adult daily smokers in South Korea, further research is needed to investigate the long-term effect of e-cigarette use on smoking cessation in South Korea as well as other Asian countries.

Using susceptibility measures to prospectively predict ever use of electronic cigarettes among adolescents.

Preventing adolescents from using e-cigarettes is crucial given that e-cigarette use can lead to conventional cigarette smoking. In order to inform prevention efforts, the present study examined the role of susceptibility measures as well as psychosocial, behavioral, and environmental factors in prospectively predicting ever use of electronic cigarettes among adolescents. We analyzed Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH), nationally representative longitudinal panel datasets. Nicotine naïve adolescents, ages 12-17 at baseline (N = 7933) were included in the study sample. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to examine the determinants of adolescents' ever use of e-cigarettes. Overall, 12.3% (n = 983) of adolescents who were naïve to nicotine products at Wave 1 became ever users of e-cigarettes at Wave 2. Susceptibility to e-cigarette use at Wave 1 was a significant predictor of ever use at Wave 2 (adjusted odds ratio = 2.27; 95% CI = 1.92, 2.68). Adolescents who were not susceptible to e-cigarette use at Wave 1 but became ever users at Wave 2 were more likely to show a higher level of alcohol use, marijuana use, other substance use, have modified family, be exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, and have a higher level of psychological problems. The specificity of susceptibility measure was 73.2% (5080/6936) and sensitivity was 57.3% (563/983). The findings of the present study appear to support the predictive validity of the susceptibility to e-cigarette use measure as a significant predictor of future e-cigarette use.