Influence of non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 interventions on speed-related and alcohol-related traffic injuries in five cities of the province of Québec, Canada.

Introduction: Understanding the impact of non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 interventions (NPIs) on road safety has become increasingly important to uncover the unintended consequences of the pandemic. This study explores how NPIs influenced alcohol-related and speed-related traffic collisions, including fatalities and serious injuries, in five cities of the province of Québec, Canada: Montréal, Québec, Laval, Longueuil and Sherbrooke.

Methods: We performed Poisson interrupted time-series analyses using daily traffic fatality and injury data from 2015 to 2022, to assess the change in rate expressed per 10 000 population.

Prenatal cannabis exposure in the clinic and laboratory: What do we know and where do we need to go?

Coincident with the legalisation of cannabis in many nations, rates of cannabis use during pregnancy have increased. Like prior investigations on smoking and alcohol, understanding how prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) impacts offspring outcomes across the lifespan will be critical for informing choices for pregnant people, clinicians, and policy makers alike. A thorough characterization of the life-long impacts is especially urgent for supporting all of these stakeholders in the decision-making process.

Towards a comprehensive COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions' index for the province of Québec.

Objectives: The primary objective of this project was to develop a comprehensive COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions' index for the province of Québec (QCnPI-Index). The resulting database systematically categorizes, multiple non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented in the 17 administrative regions (AR) of the province of Québec to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the form of an index.

Data Description: Data represent interventions and groups of interventions implemented during the COVID-19 period in Québec.

Changes in prenatal cannabis-related diagnosed disorders after the Cannabis Act and the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada.

Background And Aims: Public health concerns regarding pregnant women's health after the enactment of the Cannabis Act in Canada (CAC) (a law that allowed non-medical cannabis use), and the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, call for a contemporary assessment of these two events. Our study measured associations between the CAC, the COVID-19 pandemic and the monthly prevalence rates of cannabis-, all drug- and alcohol-related diagnosed disorders among pregnant women in the province of Quebec.

Design, Setting And Participants: This was a quasi-experimental design applying an interrupted time-series methodology in the province of Quebec, Canada.

Maternal Education and Children Home Alone in 63 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Maternal education may influence child supervision practices in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). However, little is known about the maternal factors that can improve child supervision in LMIC with scarce childcare facilities. To investigate the prevalence of children under 5 years home alone and examine the association between mother's formal education and children home alone across 63 LMIC.

Tobacco policies and changes in the tendency of smoking cessation in cigarette users in Chile: a longitudinal cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess the impact of tobacco control regulations and policy implementation on smoking cessation tendencies in cigarette users born between 1982 and 1991 in Chile.

Design: Longitudinal cross-sectional study.

Setting: National level.

Uneven effects of twenty years of Chile's cannabis policy implementation in cannabis onset.

Background: In Chile, Laws 19366 and 20000, implemented in 1995 and 2005 respectively, regulated and sanctioned cannabis' personal use, cultivation and trafficking.

Methods: We use thirteen biannual cross-sectional national surveys data from 1994 to 2018 to examine the effect of Laws 19366 and 20000-using the rate of individuals incarcerated per 100000 population due to drug-related crimes as proxy-on the age of onset of cannabis use over time. We estimate the effect of these policies using a mixed proportional hazards framework that models the transition to first cannabis use in 47,832 individuals aged 12-21.

Dataset: Repeated and longitudinal measures database from 1994 to 2018 to assess Chile's substance use control policies for the 2000-2010 decade.

We developed a database to assess Chile's substance use control policies implemented in the 2000-10 decade. The database includes the measurement of consumption of substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and drugs (cannabis, cocaine, and "" (crack)), individual, relationships, and environmental factors related to substance use, and variables that measure the implementation of laws regulating its use. For the construction of the database, we used information from three sources: i) the biannual National Survey of Drug Consumption for the general population of the National Service of Prevention and Rehabilitation for Drug and alcohol consumption (SENDA) from the Chilean government, ii) the cases filed in local police courts by group of offenses from Chile's Ministry of Justice reports, and iii) the regional imprisoned population from Chile's Correctional Services reports.

The Increasing Prevalence of Children Home Alone in Ghana: The Importance of Considering Regional Inequalities.

Unlabelled: Research from industrialized settings has linked inadequate child supervision with various negative consequences. Nevertheless, empirical research in lower- and middle-income countries about correlates of inadequate child supervision has been scarce. The few studies that exist tended to focus on individual- and household-level factors, and reported associations that are not significant or in mixed directions depending on the context.

The absence of data on driving under the influence of alcohol in road traffic studies: a scoping review of non-randomized studies with vote counting based on the direction of effects of alcohol policies.

Background: Data on driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA) are not always available, accurate, or reliable, making it difficult to study the effects of alcohol policies on road traffic outcomes. The objectives of our study were twofold: 1) to describe how road traffic outcomes of alcohol policies are assessed when DUIA data are missing, and 2) to explore the effects of alcohol policies when DUIA data are missing.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of non-randomized studies that assessed the road traffic outcomes of alcohol policies when DUIA data are missing.

Did the cannabis recreational use law affect traffic crash outcomes in Toronto? Building evidence for the adequate number of authorised cannabis stores' thresholds.

Introduction: In the past decade, a group of studies has begun to explore the association between cannabis recreational use policies and traffic crashes. After these policies are set in place, several factors may affect cannabis consumption, including the number of cannabis stores (NCS) per capita. This study examines the association between the enactment of Canada's Cannabis Act (CCA) (18 October 2018) and the NCS (allowed to function from 1 April 2019) with traffic injuries in Toronto.

Birth, Expansion, and Contestation of Alcohol Per Se Laws: A Global Data Set of Policies Regulating Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol.

Objective: More than 270,000 people across the world die every year from alcohol-related crashes. Introducing alcohol per se laws (APL) based on a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold of .05% could save at least 16,000 lives annually.

A new alcohol-related traffic law, a further reduction in traffic fatalities? Analyzing the case of Turkey.

Background: In June 2013, an alcohol-related traffic law took effect in Turkey. The law 6487 introduced administrative fines for not respecting blood alcohol concentration limits, health warning messages on alcohol containers (bottles, cans), and prohibited the sale of alcohol beverages in retail facilities between 10 p.m.

Estimate of the magnitude of risky and protective behaviors associated with road traffic injuries in capitals participating in the Life in Traffic Project of Brazil.

Background: Brazil occupies the fifth position in the ranking of the highest mortality rates due to RTI in the world. With the objective of promoting traffic safety and consequently reducing deaths, Brazil created the Life in Traffic Project (LTP). The main goal of LTP is reducing 50% of RTI deaths, by promoting interventions to tackle risk factors, such as driving under the influence of alcohol and excessive and/or inappropriate speed.

COVID-19 and European carcerality: Do national prison policies converge when faced with a pandemic?

The article analyses an original dataset on policies adopted in 47 European countries between December 2019 and June 2020 to prevent coronavirus from spreading to prisons, applying event-history analysis. We answer two questions: 1) Do European countries adopt similar policies when tackling the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons? 2) What factors are associated with prison policy convergence or divergence? We analyze two policies we identified as common responses across prisons around the world: limitations on visitation rights for prisoners, and early releases of prisoners. We found that all states in our sample implemented bans on visits, showing policy convergence.

The Impact of Cannabis Decriminalization and Legalization on Road Safety Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: There is substantial debate concerning the impact of cannabis decriminalization and legalization on road safety outcomes.

Methods: Seven databases were systematically searched: Embase, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO through Ovid as well as Web of Science Core Collection, SafetyLit, Criminal Justice Database (ProQuest), and Transport Research International Documentation (from inception to June 16, 2021). Eligible primary studies examined group-level cannabis decriminalization or legalization and a road safety outcome in any population.

Investigating the Risk Factors Associated with Injury Severity in Pedestrian Crashes in Santiago, Chile.

Pedestrians are vulnerable road users that are directly exposed to road traffic crashes with high odds of resulting in serious injuries and fatalities. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify the risk factors associated with injury severity in pedestrian crashes to promote safe and friendly walking environments for pedestrians. This study investigates the risk factors related to pedestrian, crash, and built environment characteristics that contribute to different injury severity levels in pedestrian crashes in Santiago, Chile from a spatial and statistical perspective.

Differential impacts of ridesharing on alcohol-related crashes by socioeconomic municipalities: rate of technology adoption matters.

Background: An emergent group of studies have examined the extent under which ridesharing may decrease alcohol-related crashes in countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and Chile. Virtually all existent studies have assumed that ridesharing is equally distributed across socioeconomic groups, potentially masking differences across them. We contribute to this literature by studying how socioeconomic status at the municipal level impacts Uber's effect on alcohol-related crashes.

Structural gender inequalities and symptoms of postpartum depression in 40 countries.

Background: The role of structural gender inequality in macro-level differences in women's perinatal mental health remains largely unexplored. This short communication explores structural gender inequalities and their potential as a macro-level, upstream social determinant of postpartum depression (PPD).

Methods: We compiled meta-analytically derived national-level prevalence estimates of PPD symptoms - based on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale - with economic (e.

The risks of warm nights and wet days in the context of climate change: assessing road safety outcomes in Boston, USA and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Background: There remains a dearth of cross-city comparisons on the impact of climate change through extreme temperature and precipitation events on road safety. We examined trends in traffic fatalities, injuries and property damage associated with high temperatures and heavy rains in Boston (USA) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).

Methods: Official publicly available data on daily traffic outcomes and weather conditions during the warm season (May to September) were used for Boston (2002-2015) and Santo Domingo (2013-2017).

The global viralization of policies to contain the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic: Analyses of school closures and first reported cases.

Background: On January 30th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a international health emergency due to the unprecedented phenomenon of COVID-19. After this declaration countries swiftly implemented a variety of health policies. In this work we examine how rapid countries responded to this pandemic using two events: the day in which the first case of COVID-19 was reported, and first day in which countries used school closure as one of the measures to avoid outbreaks.

Green, Brown, and Gray: Associations between Different Measurements of Land Patterns and Depression among Nursing Students in El Paso, Texas.

Background: While greenness has been associated with lower depression, the generalizability of this association in arid landscapes remains undetermined. We assessed the association between depression and residential greenness, but also brownness and grayness among nursing students living in El Paso, Texas (the Chihuahuan desert).

Methods: Depression was measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale and greenness with the normalized difference vegetation index across three buffer sizes (i.