Changes in E-cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights Into Risk Perceptions and Reasons for Changing Use Behavior.

Introduction: This study assessed changes in e-cigarette use since the COVID-19 pandemic began and reasons for these changes among US youth and young adults.

Aims And Methods: We combined data from two cross-sectional samples of youth and young adult (15-24 years) participants of a monthly surveillance study (data collected in April and June 2021). Analyses were restricted to past-year e-cigarette users who reported using e-cigarettes before the pandemic (n = 1762).

Predictive validity of the original and expanded susceptibility scales for smokeless tobacco.

Background: This study seeks to validate the original and expanded susceptibility scales for smokeless tobacco (SLT) use among a longitudinal sample of rural male youth. We also compare the predictive validity of both scales for SLT.

Methods: Data are from a five-wave longitudinal sample of rural males in the Unites States aged 11-16 at baseline.

"The Real Cost" Smokeless campaign: changes in beliefs about smokeless tobacco among rural boys, a longitudinal randomized controlled field trial.

Background: The prevalence of current smokeless tobacco (SLT) use in 2019 among high school students was 4.8%, and the overall rate of SLT use was higher among high school boys (7.5%) than girls (1.

Pudendal nerve block prior to inflatable penile prosthesis implantation: decreased intra-operative narcotic requirements.

The opioid epidemic has proven to be a public health crisis over the past two decades and efforts to decrease opioid exposure are sorely needed. Our objective was to determine whether pudendal nerve block utilization in the immediate pre-operative setting decreases intra-operative opioid analgesic requirements in veteran patients undergoing a primary inflatable penile prosthesis implantation. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of all patients undergoing penile prosthesis implantation between January 2017 and July 2020 at the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta, GA.

Cost Effectiveness of the Tips From Former Smokers® Campaign-U.S., 2012-2018.

Introduction: Since 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has conducted the national Tips From Former Smokers® public education campaign, which motivates smokers to quit by featuring people living with the real-life health consequences of smoking. Cost effectiveness, from the healthcare sector perspective, of the Tips From Former Smokers® campaign was compared over 2012-2018 with that of no campaign.

Methods: A combination of survey data from a nationally representative sample of U.

Comparison of Transcription-Mediated Amplification and Real-Time PCR Assays for Hepatitis B Virus DNA Quantitation in Serum.

Background: The quantification of hepatitis B (HBV) DNA in serum is critical to identify patients requiring antiviral therapy and to monitor the response to treatment.

Method: This study describes the evaluation of the Aptima HBV Quant Dx assay (Aptima HBV) performed on the automated Panther system.

Results: Aptima HBV was linear from 1.

Antismoking Advertisements and Price Promotions and Their Association With the Urge to Smoke and Purchases in a Virtual Convenience Store: Randomized Experiment.

Background: Point of sale (POS) advertising is associated with smoking initiation, current smoking, and relapse among former smokers. Price promotion bans and antismoking advertisements (ads) are 2 possible interventions for combating POS advertising.

Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to determine the influence of antismoking ads and promotions on urges to smoke and tobacco purchases.

Effect of menthol cigarette and other menthol tobacco product bans on tobacco purchases in the RTI iShoppe virtual convenience store.

Objective: To test how a potential US ban of menthol products or replacement with 'green' products and ads could influence tobacco purchases.

Methods: US adult menthol smokers (N=1197) were recruited via an online panel and randomly assigned to complete a shopping task in one of four versions (experimental conditions) of the RTI iShoppe virtual store: (1) no ban, (2) replacement of menthol cigarettes and ads with green replacement versions, (3) menthol cigarette ban and (4) all menthol tobacco product ban. Logistic regressions assessed the effect of condition on tobacco purchases.

Warning Labels on Sugar-sweetened Beverages: An Eye Tracking Approach.

In this study, we examined visual attention of a warning label on a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and its effects on visual attention to SSB product descriptors and perceptions of SSB using eye tracking technology. We had 180 young adults view an image of a generic soda can with or without a text warning on a computer monitor. Participants spent less time looking at marketing elements on the can in the "Warning" condition compared to the "No warning" (control) condition.

Evaluation of the Aptima HCV Quant Dx Assay Using Serum and Dried Blood Spots.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA quantitation is the primary method by which active HCV infections are identified and the response to direct-acting antiviral therapy is monitored. This study describes the evaluation of the Aptima HCV Quant Dx assay (Aptima HCV) performed on the Panther system. The clinical performance of Aptima HCV was compared to that of the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HCV test v2.

Deception and Shopping Behavior Among Current Cigarette Smokers: A Web-Based, Randomized Virtual Shopping Experiment.

Background: Virtual stores can be used to identify influences on consumer shopping behavior. Deception is one technique that may be used to attempt to increase the realism of virtual stores.

Objective: The objective of the experiment was to test whether the purchasing behavior of participants in a virtual shopping task varied based on whether they were told that they would receive the products they selected in a virtual convenience store (a form of deception) or not.

Smokers' Attention to Point-of-Sale Antismoking Ads: An Eye-tracking Study.

Objectives: We used eye-tracking to examine smokers' visual attention in one of 4 antismoking ad contexts (alone, next to cigarette ad, tobacco display, or cooler). Participants viewed 4 ad types (graphic, intended emotive, and benefits of quitting-graphic ads, and benefits of quitting-informational ads), each with 3 areas of interest (AOI) (anti-ad image, anti-ad text, and other text).

Methods: Current smokers (N = 153) viewed ads for 10 seconds each.

Stability of Zika virus in urine: Specimen processing considerations and implications for the detection of RNA targets in urine.

Background: Detection of Zika virus (ZIKV) RNA in urine is of increasing interest for the diagnosis of ZIKV infection. Pre-analytical variables can significantly impact the stability of RNA in urine.

Methods: To determine optimal specimen processing protocols that would maximize detection of ZIKV RNA in urine by real-time, reverse transcriptase PCR, we investigated the effect of temperature, initial ZIKV concentration, use of nucleic acid stabilizers, and time on ZIKV RNA levels.

Calibration of BK Virus Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing to the 1st WHO International Standard for BK Virus.

Significant interassay variability in the quantification of BK virus (BKV) DNA precludes establishing broadly applicable thresholds for the management of BKV infection in transplantation. The 1st WHO International Standard for BKV (primary standard) was introduced in 2016 as a common calibrator for improving the harmonization of BKV nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) and enabling comparisons of biological measurements worldwide. Here, we evaluated the Altona RealStar BKV assay (Altona) and calibrated the results to the international unit (IU) using the Exact Diagnostics BKV verification panel, a secondary standard traceable to the primary standard.

Novel Nanocomposites of Poly(lauryl methacrylate)-Grafted Al2O3 Nanoparticles in LDPE.

Aluminum oxide nanoparticles (NPs) were surface-modified by poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA) using surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of lauryl methacrylate. Nanocomposites were obtained by mixing the grafted NPs in a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) matrix in different ratios. First, the NPs were silanized with different aminosilanes, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane, and 3-aminopropyl(diethoxy)methylsilane (APDMS).

Linking costs to health outcomes for allocating scarce public health resources.

Introduction: Resources for public health (PH) are scarce and policymakers face tough decisions in determining their funding priorities. The difficulty of making these decisions is compounded by current PH accounting systems, which are ill-equipped to link fiscal resources to PH outcomes. This paper examines the types of revenues and expenditures, health services, and health outcomes that are being tracked at the local and state PH levels.

A manageable approach to integrating personal digital assistants into a family medicine clerkship.

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) were incorporated into the six-week Family Medicine Clerkship in 2002 to achieve two major goals: tracking students' outpatient encounters at preceptor sites and providing opportunities to use PDAs during medical visits. Each student collects information on each patient seen. Data are then retrieved and presented to students individually and as a group twice during the rotation.