Complementary health approaches and dietary supplement use trends among U.S. college students: A brief report.

OBJECTIVE: Examine differences over time in use of complementary health approaches (CHA) and dietary supplements among college students. PARTICIPANTS: Two samples of undergraduate students (Sample 1, N = 370; Sample 2, N = 482) from a midsized Midwestern university. METHOD: Using stratified random sampling, at two time points (spring 2008, spring 2019), students were surveyed. Frequency of CHA and supplement use in the past year were assessed and compared across the two time periods. RESULTS: Of the CHAs compared, 53% had changed in frequency of use with only the practice of yoga significantly increasing. As for supplements, 78% changed in their frequency of use with the rate of melatonin being the only significant increase. CONCLUSIONS: Although the reported use of many CHAs and supplements appeared to change in the time period between assessments, findings suggest that students still report using several CHA practices and, to a lesser extent, supplements.

Prevalence and Predictors of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Use Among Ivy League College Students: Implications for Student Health Services.

OBJECTIVE: Determine prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies used and test the significance of demographics and social cognitive constructs as predictors of CAM use in a college sample. Secondary purpose was to guide the integration of CAM therapies into college health services. PARTICIPANTS: Random, stratified sample of 2,553 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled at Columbia University. METHODS: Web-based survey e-mailed to a random sample of 6,482 students. Regression analyses used to determine predictors of CAM use. RESULTS: Nearly 82% of respondents reported using at least 1 form of CAM in the last 12 months, the most common being nonvitamin, nonmineral (NVNM) products, yoga, deep breathing exercises, massage therapy, and meditation. Sex, student home origin, outcome expectancies, observational learning, and attitude toward CAM were found as significant predictors of CAM use. CONCLUSIONS: Ongoing assessment of CAM use can assist administrators and providers to enhance college health services and programs.

A high-throughput method for generating uniform microislands for autaptic neuronal cultures.

Generating microislands of culture substrate on coverslips by spray application of poly-d lysine is a commonly used method for culturing isolated neurons that form self (autaptic) synapses. This preparation has multiple advantages for studying synaptic transmission in isolation; however, generating microislands by spraying produces islands of non-uniform size and thus cultures vary widely in the number of islands containing single neurons. To address these problems, we developed a high-throughput method for reliably generating uniformly shaped microislands of culture substrate. Stamp molds formed of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) were fabricated with arrays of circles and used to generate stamps made of 9.2% agarose. The agarose stamps were capable of loading sufficient poly D-lysine and collagen dissolved in acetic acid to rapidly generate coverslips containing at least 64 microislands per coverslip. When hippocampal neurons were cultured on these coverslips, there were significantly more single-neuron islands per coverslip. We noted that single neurons tended to form one of three distinct neurite-arbor morphologies, which varied with island size and the location of the cell body on the island. To our surprise, the number of synapses per autaptic neuron did not correlate with arbor shape or island size, suggesting that other factors regulate the number of synapses formed by isolated neurons. The stamping method we report can be used to increase the number of single-neuron islands per culture and aid in the rapid visualization of microislands.