Charting water quality improvements and practice reversion with pesticide interventions at catchment scale.

Freshwater quality, and the impacts of farming practice on drinking water supplies, are of concern in many countries and time-limited catchment management interventions are commonly used to improve water quality. However, ending such schemes may result in practice reversion. This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach combining evidence from water quality monitoring data with a behavioural study of farmers to explore changes in land use practice with reference to the pesticide MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) following a catchment-based management scheme delivered in the cross-border Derg catchment in Northern Ireland/Ireland between 2018 and 2021.

Relative efficacy of cigarillo warning statements in text and pictorial formats: An experimental study among a sample of US young adults.

Introduction: Health warning labels (HWLs) communicate the health risks of cigar use and can decrease use when on cigar packages. This study assessed the relative efficacy of six FDA-proposed individual warning statements in text and pictorial format.

Methods: A sample of young adults (ages 18-29) were randomized to a text or pictorial warning condition on generic cigarillo packages.

Racial/ethnic differences in the acute effects of reduced nicotine content cigarettes among adolescents who smoke.

Objective: Reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes decreases their addictiveness and abuse liability, including among adolescents. Whether these effects differ by race/ethnicity is unknown. This study is a secondary analysis of previously published data collected between 2014-2017.

A national-scale high-resolution runoff risk and channel network mapping workflow for diffuse pollution management.

Managing diffuse pollution from agricultural land requires a spatially explicit risk assessment that can be applied over large areas. Major components of such assessments are the precise definition of both channel networks that often originate as small channels and streams, and Hydrologically Sensitive Areas (HSAs) of storm runoff that occur on land surfaces. Challenges relate to regions of complex topography and land use patterns, particularly those which have been heavily modified by arterial drainage.

Effects of Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes and Nicotine Vaping Device Characteristics on Choices to Smoke, Vape, or Abstain in Early Young Adults.

Introduction: A national nicotine reduction policy could reduce the public health toll of smoking. However, reducing nicotine in cigarettes may lead to changes in the use of other tobacco products such as nicotine vaping devices, particularly among young people. Product use outcomes may depend on characteristics of available nicotine vaping devices.

Reactions to a Nicotine Reduction Policy Among Adolescents Who Smoke: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: The Biden administration is pursuing a nicotine reduction policy in the United States to render cigarettes less addictive. In this study, we qualitatively investigated adolescents' subjective responses to very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarettes, reasons for incomplete adherence to using them, and their expected responses to a nicotine reduction policy.

Aims And Methods: Adolescents who smoke cigarettes daily (ages 15-19; N = 60) were enrolled in a 3-week double-blind randomized clinical trial and assigned to smoke either normal nicotine content or VLNC research cigarettes.

Examining Demand and Substitutability of Usual Brand Little Cigars/Cigarillos and Cigarettes in Young Adults Who Dual Use.

Introduction: Cigarette and little cigar/cigarillo (LCC) dual use is popular among young people and poses a substantial health risk. What remains unclear is the abuse liability of LCCs vs. cigarettes, LCCs' substitutability for cigarettes, and the influence of flavors on the abuse liability and substitutability of LCCs.

Effects of mint, menthol, and tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes on tobacco withdrawal symptoms in adults who smoke menthol cigarettes: A laboratory pilot study.

Background: Menthol cigarette smoking has remained stable or increased in certain groups, despite an overall decline in cigarette smoking rates in the U.S. Understanding whether e-cigarettes alter patterns of menthol cigarette use is critical to informing efforts for reducing the public health burden of menthol cigarette smoking.

Assessment of strategic healthcare purchasing and financial autonomy in Tanzania: the case of results-based financing and health basket fund.

Background: Low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) are implementing health financing reforms toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). In Tanzania direct health facility financing of health basket funds (DHFF-HBF) scheme was introduced in 2017/18, while the results-based financing (RBF) scheme was introduced in 2016. The DHFF-HBF involves a direct transfer of pooled donor funds (Health Basket Funds, HBF) from the central government to public primary healthcare-PHC (including a few selected non-public PHC with a service agreement) facilities bank accounts, while the RBF involves paying providers based on pre-defined performance indicators or targets in PHC facilities.

Disruption of circadian rhythms promotes alcohol use: a systematic review.

This systematic review investigates the bidirectional relationship between alcohol consumption and disrupted circadian rhythms. The goal of this study was to identify (i) the types of circadian rhythm disruptors (i.e.

Supply-side factors influencing demand for facility-based delivery in Tanzania: a multilevel analysis.

Background: Improving access to facility-based delivery care has the potential to reduce maternal and newborn deaths across settings. Yet, the access to a health facility for childbirth remains low especially in low-income settings. To inform evidence-based interventions, more evidence is needed especially accounting for demand- and supply-side factors influencing access to facility-based delivery care.

Viewing the global health system as a complex adaptive system - implications for research and practice.

The global health system (GHS) is ill-equipped to deal with the increasing number of transnational challenges. The GHS needs reform to enhance global resilience to future risks to health. In this article we argue that the starting point for any reform must be conceptualizing and studying the GHS as a complex adaptive system (CAS) with a large and escalating number of interconnected global health actors that learn and adapt their behaviours in response to each other and changes in their environment.

Reactions to using other nicotine and tobacco products instead of menthol cigarettes: A qualitative study of people who smoke menthol cigarettes in the United States.

The US Food and Drug Administration is considering banning menthol cigarettes, which could result in some people who smoke menthol cigarettes switching to other tobacco products (OTPs). This qualitative study explored reactions to using OTPs instead of menthol cigarettes. People who smoke menthol cigarettes (N=40) completed a behavioral economic assessment of the effects of menthol cigarette price increases on OTP purchasing.

Qualitative reactions to a low nicotine product standard for cigarettes from adolescents and young adults living in the United States who smoke.

The Biden Administration is considering a low nicotine product standard for cigarettes. This qualitative study examined reactions to a nicotine reduction policy among adolescents and young adults (AYA) who smoke cigarettes. After completing a lab study involving masked exposure either to low nicotine or normal nicotine research cigarettes and unmasked exposure to e-cigarettes varying in nicotine concentration and flavor, we conducted follow-up semi-structured interviews (N = 25) to explore participants' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of a low nicotine product standard and their anticipated tobacco use behavior after policy implementation.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a sample of US young adults who smoke cigarettes: A qualitative analysis.

Introduction: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with increased negative mood in youth, and a few reports of changes in tobacco use. We sought to increase the depth of knowledge on the effects of the pandemic on early young adult mood states, access to tobacco products and tobacco use behaviors, and knowledge of risks associated with tobacco use and COVID-19 by learning more about the lived experience of the pandemic among young adults early in their smoking trajectories.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 young adults ages 18-20 (M = 19) who smoked cigarettes daily or nearly every day and had used electronic cigarettes (ECs) on ≥ 2 occasions in their lifetime.

Interactive effects of financial strain and distress tolerance on prequit tobacco withdrawal symptoms in smokers preparing to initiate a quit attempt.

Smokers experiencing greater financial strain are less likely to successfully quit smoking, possibly due to greater severity of tobacco withdrawal. However, limited research has explored whether individual-level psychological factors (i.e.

Subjective experiences, contexts, and risk perceptions of very low nicotine content cigarettes and electronic cigarettes among people with depression and anxiety disorders who smoke.

Background: A low-nicotine product standard is currently under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Early Indicators of Autism in Infants: Development of the IMES Screening Tool.

We developed the Infant, Motor, and Engagement Scale (IMES) to address the public health goal of early identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IMES is a screening tool that assesses quality of infants' interaction with people and objects during early play. We aimed to examine the IMES' preliminary psychometric properties and its value in discriminating between infants later diagnosed with ASD and typically developing infants.

The Impact of Reducing Nicotine Content on Adolescent Cigarette Smoking and Nicotine Exposure: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: As the science base around the potential benefits of a reduced-nicotine standard for cigarettes grows, information on the potential effects on adolescent smokers is a high priority. The aim of this randomized trial was to test the influence of 3-week exposure to reduced nicotine cigarettes in a sample of adolescent daily smokers.

Aims And Methods: In this double-blind, two-arm, randomized controlled trial (NCT0258731), following a 1-week baseline, adolescent daily smokers not currently intending to quit (ages 15-19 years, n = 66 randomized) were urn randomized to use either very low nicotine content (VLNC; 0.

Impact of a reduced nicotine standard on young adult appeal for menthol and non-menthol cigarettes.

Introduction: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its intention to reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes as a strategy to promote cessation and reduce smoking-related harm. A low nicotine product standard will apply to all cigarettes on the market, including menthol cigarettes. In December 2021, the FDA approved a modified risk tobacco product application for menthol and non-menthol flavoured very low nicotine cigarettes (VLNC) from the 22nd Century Group.

Evaluation of Chemcatcher® passive samplers for pesticide monitoring using high-frequency catchment scale data.

Passive samplers (PS) have been proposed as an enhanced water quality monitoring solution in rivers, but their performance against high-frequency data over the longer term has not been widely explored. This study compared the performance of Chemcatcher® passive sampling (PS) devices with high-frequency sampling (HFS: 7-hourly to daily) in two dynamic rivers over 16 months. The evaluation was based on the acid herbicides MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid), mecoprop-P, fluroxypyr and triclopyr.

How to do (or not to do)…using causal loop diagrams for health system research in low and middle-income settings.

Causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are a systems thinking method that can be used to visualize and unpack complex health system behaviour. They can be employed prospectively or retrospectively to identify the mechanisms and consequences of policies or interventions designed to strengthen health systems and inform discussion with policymakers and stakeholders on actions that may alleviate sub-optimal outcomes. Whilst the use of CLDs in health systems research has generally increased, there is still limited use in low- and middle-income settings.

Effects of Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarette use on Cigarette Reinforcement among Smokers with Serious Mental Illness.

Background: Among people without psychiatric disorders who smoke, very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarette use reduces cigarette reinforcement. Whether this is true of people with serious mental illness (SMI) who smoke is unknown. Using a hypothetical purchase task, we compared the effects of 6-week use of VLNC versus normal nicotine content (NNC) cigarettes on study cigarette and usual brand (UB) cigarette reinforcement among people with SMI who smoke.