Bystander intervention to prevent firearm injury: A qualitative study of 4-H shooting sports participants.

This qualitative study examines how youth and adult members of 4-H Shooting Sports clubs perceive firearm injury risk and risk reduction, and the applicability of a bystander intervention (BI) risk reduction framework in this community. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 youth and 13 adult members of 4-H Shooting Sports clubs across nine US states from March to December of 2021 until thematic saturation was reached. Deductive and inductive thematic qualitative analyses were performed. Six overarching themes emerged: (1) The tendency to view firearm injury as predominantly unintentional in nature; (2) Acknowledgment of a wide array of risks for firearm injury; (3) Perceived barriers to bystander action to prevent firearm injury including knowledge, confidence, and consequences of action; (4) Facilitators of bystander action including a sense of civic responsibility; (5) Direct and indirect strategies to address potential risks for firearm injury; and (6) Belief that BI skills training would be useful for 4-H Shooting Sports. Findings lay the groundwork for applying BI skills training as an approach to firearm injury prevention in 4-H Shooting Sports, similar to how BI has been applied to other types of injury (i.e., sexual assault). 4-H Shooting Sports club members' sense of civic responsibility is a key facilitator. Prevention efforts should attend to the broad array of ways in which firearm injury occurs, including suicide, mass shootings, homicide, and intimate partner violence, as well as unintentional injury.

Brief Report: Increased Cotinine Concentrations are Associated With Reduced Expression of Cathelicidin (LL-37) and NOD-2 in Alveolar Macrophages of PLWH Who Smoke.

There is a strong link between cigarette smoking and pulmonary complications among people living with HIV. However, the effects of smoking on the local lung immune environment in this population remain unclear. Bronchoalveolar lavage and saliva were collected from HIV-infected smokers involved in a prospective study investigating alveolar macrophage expression of host defense molecules. Salivary cotinine concentrations were inversely related to expression of the immune cell receptor nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-2 and the cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide LL-37. The negative correlation between salivary cotinine and LL-37 was particularly strong. Our study provides insight into how nicotine may adversely affect lung innate immunity in HIV.