A Youth Health Leadership Program: Feasibility and Initial Outcomes.

This study determined the feasibility (attendance, participation and completion) and initial outcomes (food consumption, food acquisition, physical activity and leadership) of a community-based youth health leadership (YHL) program. YHL was developed as a part of a larger childhood obesity prevention coalition in a medium-sized community in North Florida using community-based participatory research approaches. The theory-driven 6-week program included content sessions, application rotation, and health campaign. Data were collected from youth participants (n = 36) and a purposive comparison group (n = 29) via self-administered questionnaire and project records in the first three years of YHL. Feasibility outcomes show that the majority of program participants attended and participated. Completion rates ranged from 61.5% in year one to 100% in years two and three. Significant differences in treatment and comparison groups were noted in frequency of fruit consumption (p < 0.001) and physical activity (p < 0.002). However, there were no clear patterns of improvements for the treatment group. Trends in the data showed that the consumption of foods high in fat, sugar and sodium decreased slightly for the treatment group but increased or remained the same for the comparison group. The leadership outcomes for youth participants show that those reached are furthering their education, participating in activities such as internships, receiving honors, and garnering leadership achievements. This study suggests that a community-based youth health leadership model is feasible, but more work is needed to impact health behaviors. Future research directions are provided.

In vitro cytotoxicity of benzopyranone derivatives with basic side chain against human lung cell lines.

BACKGROUND: Coumarins belong to an important group of useful drugs with diverse pharmacological properties. In the present study, the in vitro cytotoxicity of new coumarin-based benzopyranone derivatives containing diethylaminoethoxy (5), dimethylaminoethoxy (6), morpholinoethoxy (7), piperidinylethoxy (8) and pyrrolidinylethoxyl (9) amino side chain against human carcinoma (A549) and normal (LL47) lung cell lines was evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cytotoxicity was evaluated by crystal violet dye binding assay. The effect of compound 9 on different phases of the cell cycle was determined using flow cytometry. RESULTS: In A549 cells, the 50% lethal dose (LD(50)) for compounds 5-9 were found to be 7.08, 5.0, 34.2, 8.33 and 5.83 µM, respectively, while in LL47 cells, the LD(50) values were found to be 16.7, 20.4, 34.6, 15.4 and 8.75 µM, respectively after 48 h treatment. Cell cycle data indicated that A549 cells were arrested at different phases depending on the concentration. CONCLUSION: Compounds 5-9 showed anticancer activity against lung cancer cell lines, while compound 6 showed highly selective anticancer activity.