The changes in smoking stigmatization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the changes in smoking stigmatization in relation to an individual's smoking status after the COVID-19 outbreak. Study design: A 2 (before vs. after COVID-19) X 2 (smoking status: smoker vs. non-smoker) factorial design was developed. Methods: Two national surveys were conducted, one each before (between January 7th and 15th, 2020) and after (between January 26th and February 18th, 2021) the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. A total of 7296 representative adult responses were finalized. Respondents were categorized into two groups: non-smokers and smokers. Smoking stigma was measured in two ways: social and personal. Results: In general, smoking stigmatization intensified after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there was a discrepancy in responses based on smoking status-non-smokers exhibited a heightened negative stigma toward smokers, whereas smokers had generous perspectives about themselves. Conclusions: The health-oriented environment generated by the response to COVID-19 is leading to increased stigmatization of smokers who pose a risk to public health. However, the discrepancy between smokers and non-smokers shows that social efforts are required to alter smokers' generous views about themselves and to persuade them to cease smoking.

COVID-19 impact on hygiene practices for food safety in South Korea.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the influence of COVID-19 on the perception and behaviours of hygiene practices for food safety in South Korea. STUDY DESIGN: This study employed COVID-19 status (i.e. before or after the outbreak), gender and age groups as independent variables, and perceived relevance and behaviour frequency of hygiene practices for food safety as dependent variables. METHODS: Respondents were asked to answer questions about the perceived relevance and behaviour frequency of hygiene practices before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in an online survey with a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: Respondents' perceived relevance and behaviour frequency of hygiene practices increased after the COVID-19 outbreak. This trend was seen in both genders and across all age groups. In addition, the enhanced perception that hygiene practices are related to food safety had a strong relationship with following hygiene practices. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate that COVID-19 made people more aware of maintaining personal hygiene, leading to a noticeable change in the food safety environment, and subsequently prevention of viral transmission. In particular, the COVID-19 outbreak has influenced the communal eating culture by highlighting good hygiene practices, such as taking individual servings of food from communal dishes and using personal plates.

Interactive effects of seizure frequency and lateralization on intratemporal effective connectivity in temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) show brain connectivity changes in association with cognitive impairment. Seizure frequency and lateralization are 2 important clinical factors that characterize epileptic seizures. In this study, we sought to examine an interactive effect of the 2 seizure factors on intratemporal effective connectivity based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) in patients with TLE. METHODS: For rsfMRI data acquired from 48 TLE patients and 45 healthy controls, we applied stochastic dynamical causal modeling to infer effective connectivity between 3 medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions, including the hippocampus (Hipp), parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), and amygdala (Amyg), ipsilateral to the seizure focus. We searched for the effect of the 2 seizure factors, seizure frequency (good vs poor seizure control) and lateralization (left vs right TLE), on connection strengths and their relationship with the level of verbal memory and language impairment. RESULTS: Impairment of verbal memory and language function was mainly affected by seizure lateralization, consistent with preferential involvement of the left MTL in verbal mnemonic processing. For the fully connected model, which was selected as the effective connectivity structure that best explained the observed rsfMRI time series, alterations in connection strengths were primarily influenced by seizure frequency; there was an increase in the strength of the Hipp to PHG connection in TLE patients with poor seizure control, whereas the strength of the Amyg to PHG connection increased in those with good seizure control. Furthermore, the association between connection strength alterations and cognitive impairment was interactively affected by both seizure frequency and lateralization. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest an interactive effect as well as an individual effect of seizure frequency and lateralization on neuroimaging features and cognitive function. This potential interaction needs to be evaluated in the consideration of multiple seizure factors.

Seizure Control and Memory Impairment Are Related to Disrupted Brain Functional Integration in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Brain functional integration can be disrupted in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but the clinical relevance of this disruption is not completely understood. The authors hypothesized that disrupted functional integration over brain regions remote from, as well as adjacent to, the seizure focus could be related to clinical severity in terms of seizure control and memory impairment. Using resting-state functional MRI data acquired from 48 TLE patients and 45 healthy controls, the authors mapped functional brain networks and assessed changes in a network parameter of brain functional integration, efficiency, to examine the distribution of disrupted functional integration within and between brain regions. The authors assessed whether the extent of altered efficiency was influenced by seizure control status and whether the degree of altered efficiency was associated with the severity of memory impairment. Alterations in the efficiency were observed primarily near the subcortical region ipsilateral to the seizure focus in TLE patients. The extent of regional involvement was greater in patients with poor seizure control: it reached the frontal, temporal, occipital, and insular cortices in TLE patients with poor seizure control, whereas it was limited to the limbic and parietal cortices in TLE patients with good seizure control. Furthermore, TLE patients with poor seizure control experienced more severe memory impairment, and this was associated with lower efficiency in the brain regions with altered efficiency. These findings indicate that the distribution of disrupted brain functional integration is clinically relevant, as it is associated with seizure control status and comorbid memory impairment.

Targeting gender: A content analysis of alcohol advertising in magazines.

Creating target specific advertising is fundamental to maximizing advertising effectiveness. When crafting an advertisement, message and creative strategies are considered important because they affect target audiences' attitudes toward advertised products. This study endeavored to find advertising strategies that are likely to have special appeal for men or women by examining alcohol advertising in magazines. The results show that the substance of the messages is the same for men and women, but they only differ in terms of presentation. However, regardless of gender group, the most commonly used strategies in alcohol advertising are appeals to the target audience's emotions.

Low Plasma Proportion of Omega 3-Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Predicts Poor Outcome in Acute Non-Cardiogenic Ischemic Stroke Patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Alterations in blood fatty acid (FA) composition are associated with cardiovascular diseases. We investigated whether plasma FA composition was related to stroke severity and functional outcome in acute ischemic stroke patients. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 156 patients with first-episode cerebral infarction, within 7 days of symptom onset. The proportion of FAs was analyzed using gas chromatography, and the summation of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3-PUFA), 18:3 ω3 α-linolenic acid, 20:3 ω3 eicosatrienoic acid, 20:5 ω3 eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and 22:6 ω3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was reported as Σω3-PUFAs. Stroke severity was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission. Poor functional outcome was defined by modified Rankin scale (mRS) ≥3 at three months after the index stroke. RESULTS: Lower proportions of EPA (ß=-0.751), DHA (ß=-0.610), and Σω3-PUFAs (ß=-0.462) were independently associated with higher NIHSS score, after adjusting for stroke subtype, hemoglobin, high density lipoprotein, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, fasting glucose, 16:0 palmitic acid, and Σsaturated fatty acids. Moreover, a lower proportion of DHA (odds ratio [OR]: 0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.04-0.88), and Σω3-PUFAs (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.05-0.84) showed an independent relationship with poor functional outcome after adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, NIHSS score, stroke subtype, and 16:0 palmitic acid. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that ω3-PUFAs correlated with stroke severity on admission and functional outcomes at 3 months. ω3-PUFAs are potential blood biomarkers for prognosis of acute non-cardiogenic ischemic stroke patients.

Long-term sustainable aluminum precursor solution for highly conductive thin films on rigid and flexible substrates.

To fabricate the highly conductive Al film via a solution process, AlH3 etherates have been a unique Al source despite their chemical instability in solvents and thus lack of long-term sustainability. Herein, we suggest an innovative solution process to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks in AlH3 etherates; AlH3 aminates powder, which can be stored in low temperature surroundings and redissolved in solvents whenever it is needed. Since refrigeration of AlH3 aminates, AlH3{N(CH3)3}, was very effective to prevent its chemical degradation, Al film with excellence and uniformity in electrical and mechanical properties was successfully fabricated even by the 180-day stored AlH3{N(CH3)3} dissolved in solvents. Moreover, the applicability of long-term stored AlH3{N(CH3)3} to electronic devices was experimentally demonstrated by the successful operation of LED lamps connected to the Al pattern films on glass, PET, and paper substrates.

Highly conductive aluminum textile and paper for flexible and wearable electronics.

Light to wear: Aluminum coated fibrous materials with excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical endurance are fabricated at room temperature by a chemical solution process. The resulting aluminum-coated conductive papers and threads can be used in electric circuits for flexible and wearable electronics.

Direct deposition of highly conductive aluminum thin film on substrate by solution-dipping process.

A solution-dipping process consisting of 2 steps, including (i) a catalytic treatment of the substrate and (ii) an immersion of the catalytically treated substrate into an aluminum precursor solution of AlH3{O(C4H9)2}, is suggested for the low-cost and simple preparation of aluminum thin film. This process can be applied to electric devices in the way of not only various film geometry including large area (□ 100 mm (W) × 100 mm (L)) or patterned structure but also the diverse substrate selectivity including rigid or flexible substrate. More interestingly, preparations of aluminum film in this study can be unprecedentedly accomplished at room temperature with the help of chemical catalyst to decompose AlH3{O(C4H9)2} into Al, 1.5H2, and O(C4H9)2. Beyond the previously reported processes, the prepared Al films via solution-dipping process are comparable or even superior to Ag, Au, and Al films prepared by other solution processes and furthermore are found to be excellent in mechanical durability against external deformation.