A bouncing cosmology from VECROs.

We argue that, in the same way that in a black hole space-time VECROs will form in order to cancel the gravitational effects of a collapsing mass shell and prevent the formation of a singularity, in a contracting universe a gas of VECROs will form to hold up the contraction, prevent a Big Crunch singularity, and lead to a nonsingular cosmological bounce.

Prevalence and sociodemographic factors associated with polysubstance use: analysis of a population-based survey in Jamaica.

BACKGROUND: In Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a dearth of research exploring polysubstance use. This study aims to determine the prevalence, varying combinations and associated sociodemographic characteristics of polysubstance use in Jamaica. METHODS: This study involved a secondary data analysis of the Jamaica National Drug Prevalence Survey 2016 dataset where 4,623 participants between the age of 12 and 65 years from each household were randomly selected as respondents. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the prevalence and the sociodemographic correlates of polysubstance use among Jamaicans. RESULTS: 19.6% of respondents used two or more drugs in their lifetime. Of this amount 68.7% reported past year use and 61.9% reported past month use. Bivariate analyses reported polysubstance use was statistically significantly higher amongst males (U = 54,579, p = 0.000), those living in rural areas (U = 91,892, p = 0.003), non-Christian (U = 89,514, p = 0.014), and married persons (U = 74,672, p = 0.000). Past month polysubstance use was statistically significantly higher among employed persons than unemployed persons were (U = 81,342, p = 0.001). Surprisingly, there was a lack of significant differences between education level, household income and past month concurrent polysubstance use (p = 0.609; p = 0.115 respectively). Logistic regression model indicated males were 3.076 times more likely than females to report past month polysubstance use than females. Also, when compared to those 55-65 years old, participants 35-54 years were 2.922 times more likely and those 18-34 years were 4.914 times more likely to report past month polysubstance use. Additionally, those living in rural areas were 1.508 times more likely than participants living in urban areas to report past month polysubstance use. As it relates to occupational status, when compared to armed forces, skilled workers were 4.328 times more likely and unskilled workers were 7.146 times more likely to report past month polysubstance use. CONCLUSIONS: One in five Jamaicans identified as polysubstance users, predominated by marijuana as the most common factor amongst the polysubstance combinations examined, signalling the need for early marijuana interventions.

Prevalence, perceived risk and associated factors of tobacco use amongst young, middle-aged and older adults: analysis of a national survey in Jamaica.

Introduction: tobacco smoking remains a significant threat to public health. This paper sought to examine the prevalence, perceived risk and the associated factors of current tobacco use amongst Jamaican adults. Methods: this study is a secondary data analysis of the Jamaican National Household Survey 2016. The data for this study was extracted from a pre-coded questionnaire using a standardized extraction sheet. Adults were categorized into young adults (18-35), Middle-aged adults (36-55) and Older adults (56 and older) groups. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the prevalence, perceived risk and associated factors of tobacco use among Jamaican adults. Results: young adults had the lowest lifetime prevalence of tobacco smoking at 23% yet the highest percentage of current users at 48.3% (p=0.000), with gender being the only significant associated factor. Males were 2.565 times more likely to be current tobacco users than females (p < 0.01). In middle-aged adults, and older adults the highest predictive factor was risk perception. Current tobacco use was 3.375 times higher in middle-aged adults (p=0.044) and 2.815 times higher in older adults with low risk perception (p=0.025). Conclusion: four out of 10 Jamaican adult tobacco users are current users. Young adults had significantly fewer mitigating factors to tobacco usage despite being the most prevalent group for current use. Significantly, perception of risk impacted current usage in middle-aged and older adults but not in younger adults. Innovative and targeted approaches are needed in young adults such as incorporating the health and wellness promotion model with tobacco emphasis.

Note on shape moduli stabilization, string gas cosmology and the swampland criteria.

In String Gas Cosmology, the simplest shape modulus fields are naturally stabilized by taking into account the presence of string winding and momentum modes. We determine the resulting effective potential for these fields and show that it obeys the de Sitter conjecture, one of the swampland criteria for effective field theories to be consistent with superstring theory.

Risk Factors Associated with Frequent Alcohol Binge Drinking among Jamaicans: Does Gender Matter?

Objective: Alcohol is one of the most commonly consumed substances in Jamaica, despite the many health problems associated with excessive alcohol use. The aim of this study was to identify potential risk factors for alcohol binge drinking among Jamaicans, and determine if there were significant gender differences in the associations between identified risk factors and frequent binge drinking. Methods: Data collected from the 2016 National Household Survey Jamaica were analysed. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using SPSS. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with frequent binge drinking. Results: The total number of respondents was 4623. Females were 2,535 (54.8%) compared to males 2088 (45.2%). In bivariate analysis, there was a significant association between age and frequent binge drinking among males (X2 = 11.11, p =0.004), but not among females (X2 = 2.03, p = 0.36). Similarly, there was a significant association between employment and frequent binge drinking for males but not for females (X2= 12.85, p= 0.002; X2= 2.49, p= 0.29 respectively). In multivariate analysis, age 12- 17 years was significantly, inversely associated with frequent binge drinking in the crude logit model but not in the adjusted logit model (crude odds ratio [COR] 0.21, 95%CI= 0.6- 0.66; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.51, 95%CI= 0.12- 2.13 respectively). Employment was significantly, positively associated with frequent binge drinking in the adjusted logit model (employed: AOR= 3.63, 95% CI= 1.05- 12.59) among males. Among females, age showed no significant association with frequent binge drinking. Only having primary/ lower education was significantly, positively associated with frequent binge drinking among females (AOR= 5.17, 95%CI= 1.36- 19.65). Conclusion: Risk factors for frequent binge drinking differed by gender; being employed was a risk factor for males while having primary (or lower) education was a risk factor for females.

Parental Alcohol Drinking Habit as a Predictor of Alcohol Use among Secondary School Students in Barbados

Background: In Barbados and the wider Caribbean region, alcohol is widely consumed by adolescents and young people, including those in secondary schools. The high prevalence of alcohol use, and its potential adverse effects are a source of concern to policy makers and the general population, which calls for better understanding of the drivers of this problem. This study thus aimed at investigating whether parental alcohol drinking habit is a predictor of alcohol use among secondary school students in the country. Methods: The predictor variables and response variables in the study were categorical, and so descriptive, univariate analysis consisted of computation of frequencies and percentages. Bivariate analysis using Pearson's Chi Square was done to test for significant differences in the response variables among groups. Logistic regression modeling was used in multivariate analysis to determine the predictor variables that were significantly associated with the response variables. Results: Significant associations were seen between students' age, (P= 0.00), grade (P=0.00), fathers' drinking habit (P=0.00), mothers' drinking habit (P=0.00), and both past year and past month alcohol use, in bivariate analysis. Logit model shows that students whose fathers drink only on weekends, sometimes during the week, or every day, respectively, had significantly increased risk of alcohol use in the past month (AOR= 2.62, 95%CI= 1.81- 3.77; AOR= 1.85, 95%CI= 1.19- 2.85; AOR= 2.18, 95%CI= 1.49- 3.18). Students whose mothers drink only on special occasion had significantly higher risk of alcohol use in the past year and past month (AOR= 1.99, 95%CI= 1.06- 3.74; AOR= 2.30, 95%CI= 1.36- 3.89 respectively). Conclusion: Having fathers who drink only on weekend, sometimes during the week and every day were significantly positively associated with alcohol use in the past month. Having mothers who drink only on special occasion was a risk factor for past year and past month alcohol use. However, having mothers who drin