Exposure to Secondhand Cannabis Smoke Among Children.

Importance: The degree that in-home cannabis smoking can be detected in the urine of resident children is unclear.

Objective: Test association of in-home cannabis smoking with urinary cannabinoids in children living at home.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used baseline data from Project Fresh Air, a 2012-2016 randomized clinical trial to reduce fine particulate matter levels.

Sexual Networks and Behavioral Characteristics of HIV-Positive Male Military Members, Female Sex Workers, and Male Civilians.

Military members and female sex workers (FSWs) may be more likely to acquire or transmit HIV. Mapping HIV transmission across these high-risk populations and identifying behaviors associated with sexual network clustering are needed for effective HIV prevention approaches. A cross-sectional study recruited participants newly diagnosed with HIV among militaries, civilians, and FSWs in Zambia, Senegal, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Clearing the air: Heightened perception of harm from secondhand cannabis smoke exposure is associated with no in-home cannabis smoking in a 21-country convenience sample.

Objective: As countries adopt more lenient cannabis use policies, perception of harm from secondhand cannabis smoke (SHCS) exposure is decreasing and most cannabis smoking is taking place at home. We quantified the relationship of reported in-home cannabis smoking with perceived harm from SHCS exposure.

Methods: The analytic sample comprised 28,154 adult respondents, from 21 countries, to the annual cross-sectional Global Drug Survey (2021) of users of licit or illicit drugs.

CarD-T: Interpreting Carcinomic Lexicon via Transformers.

The identification and classification of carcinogens is critical in cancer epidemiology, necessitating updated methodologies to manage the burgeoning biomedical literature. Current systems, like those run by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP), face challenges due to manual vetting and disparities in carcinogen classification spurred by the volume of emerging data. To address these issues, we introduced the Carcinogen Detection via Transformers (CarD-T) framework, a text analytics approach that combines transformer-based machine learning with probabilistic statistical analysis to efficiently nominate carcinogens from scientific texts.

Factors Associated with Research Productivity and National Institutes of Health Funding in Academic Otology.

Objectives: Bibliometrics, such as the Hirsch index (h-index) and the more recently developed relative citation ratio (RCR), are utilized to evaluate research productivity. Our study evaluates demographics, research productivity, and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in academic otology.

Methods: Academic otologists were identified, and their demographics were collected using institutional faculty profiles (N = 265).

Water quality and geochemical facie of high-altitude lakes in Tawang, Eastern Himalaya, India.

High-altitude lakes (HALs) can be used as a supplement or alternative source of water in areas where there is a water shortage. When these lakes are efficiently managed, they can supply more water resources to fulfil the increasing demand. Water quality assessment aids in the identification of adequate and safe drinking water sources.

Perception of harm is strongly associated with complete ban on in-home cannabis smoking: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Perception of health risk can influence household rules, but little is known about how the perception of harm from cannabis secondhand smoke (cSHS) is related to having a complete ban on in-home cannabis smoking. We examined this association among a nationally representative sample of United States adults.

Methods: Respondents were 21,381 adults from the cross-sectional Marijuana Use and Environmental Survey recruited from December 2019-February 2020.

The association between local area immigrant fraction and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the United States: an observational study.

Background: Local area immigrant fraction is strongly and positively correlated with local life expectancy in the United States. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between local area immigrant fraction and local prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke.

Methods: Cross-sectional study design, with ZIP code as the unit of observation.

Location and home rules of cannabis use - Findings from marijuana use and environmental survey 2020, a nationally representative survey in the United States.

Cannabis combustion and aerosolization may be associated with adverse health for users and nonusers through secondhand and thirdhand exposure. As cannabis regulation becomes more lenient, understanding where cannabis is used and whether homes have rules restricting use is needed. This study aimed to identify locations, presence of other people, and in-home rules of cannabis use in the United States (U.

In-Home Cannabis Smoking Among a Cannabis-Using Convenience Sample from the Global Drug Survey: With Weighted Estimates for U.S. Respondents.

Secondhand and thirdhand smoke exposure most often occur at home, but little is known about occurrences of in-home smoking. We ascertained in-home cannabis smoking reported by all (i.e.

Cancer Mortality in U.S.-Born versus Foreign-Born Asian American Groups (2008-2017).

Background: Asian Americans (AA) are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States with high proportions of immigrants. Nativity is important as cancer risk factors vary by country. We sought to understand differences in cancer mortality among AAs by nativity (foreign-born vs.

In-home cannabis smoking more prevalent than in-home tobacco smoking among 2019 Global Drug Survey respondents.

Purpose Of The Research: Early evidence from studies of home smoking policies suggests that in-home cannabis smoking is more often allowed than in-home tobacco smoking, but there are not yet data on whether cannabis is more often smoked in the home compared to tobacco, or whether in-home cannabis and tobacco smoking differs by usage status. Using cross-sectional data from over 100,000 sentinel drug users from 17 countries, we compared cannabis and tobacco smoking in the homes of Global Drug Survey 2019 respondents who currently used cannabis only, tobacco only, both tobacco and cannabis, or neither.

Principal Results: Complete data on cannabis and tobacco use and in-home smoking were available for 107,272 adults (average age = 30 ± 12, 34% women, countries with the three highest response rates; Germany = 32%, USA = 10%, New Zealand = 9%).

Alcohol use and its association with sexual risk behaviors in the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo.

Background: Previous research has shown alcohol misuse amplifies the risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections [STIs], including HIV, by increasing high risk sexual behaviors. Military populations are particularly vulnerable to both alcohol misuse and STIs due to the unique conditions of military service. This study estimated the prevalence of probable hazardous and harmful alcohol use and examined associations with transactional sex, sex with a sex worker, and multiple sexual partners among military personnel in the Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo (FAC).

Remote sensing based deforestation analysis in Mahanadi and Brahmaputra river basin in India since 1985.

Land use and land cover (LULC) change has been recognized as a key driver of global climate change by influencing land surface processes. Being in constant change, river basins are always subjected to LULC changes, especially decline in forest cover to give way for agricultural expansion, urbanization, industrialization etc. We used on-screen digital interpretation technique to derive LULC maps from Landsat images at three decadal intervals i.

Predicting Suitable Habitats for the Vulnerable Eastern Hoolock Gibbon, Hoolock leuconedys, in India Using the MaxEnt Model.

The eastern hoolock gibbon, Hoolock leuconedys, is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and assessed as a Schedule I species of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 in India. We predict the potential habitat of H. leuconedys in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) distribution modelling algorithm.

Slow Ca2+ channels neither contribute to upstroke of action potential nor to pacemaker potential in spontaneously active freshly isolated three day embryonic chick ventricle.

Contribution of slow Ca2+ channels to the upstroke of action potential (AP) and pacemaker potential was studied by observing the effects of Ca2+ channel activators- high [Ca2+]0, Bay-K-8644, isoproterenol, forskolin and dibutyryl-cAMP on spontaneous AP of freshly isolated 3 day embryonic chick ventricle (3 day ECV). The spontaneous APs showed maximal upstroke velocity (+Vmax), maximum diastolic potential (MDP), overshoot (Eov) and AP duration at -20 mv (APD20) of 42.60 +/- 2.

Involvement of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in catecholamine-induced increase in intracellular calcium in cardiomyocytes.

Although sarcolemmal (SL) Na+/Ca2+ exchanger is known to regulate the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), its involvement in catecholamine-induced increase in [Ca2+]i is not fully understood. To gain some information in this regard, isolated rat cardiomyocytes were treated with different agents, which are known to modify Ca2+ movements, in the absence or presence of a beta-adrenoceptor agonist, isoproterenol, and [Ca2+]i in cardiomyocytes was determined spectrofluorometrically with fura-2 AM. Treatment with isoproterenol did not alter [Ca2+]i in quiescent cardiomyocytes, whereas the ATP (purinergic receptor agonist)-induced increase in [Ca2+]i was significantly potentiated by isoproterenol.

Modulation of spontaneous electrical activity of freshly isolated 3-day embryonic chick ventricle by cAMP and cGMP.

Effects of cyclic nucleotides 8-Bromo-cAMP and 8-Bromo-cGMP (membrane permeable analogs of cAMP and cGMP) were examined on action potential (AP) configuration and rate of spontaneous firing of the freshly isolated 3-day embryonic chick ventricle (ECV) to assess the role of L-type slow Ca2+ channels in upstroke of AP and spontaneous electrical activity (pacemaker potential). The 3-day ECV exhibited prominent automaticity and spontaneous APs characterized by maximum upstroke velocity (+V(max)), maximum diastolic potential (MDP), overshoot (E(ov)), AP duration at -20 mV (APD20) and cycle length (CL) of 33.09 +/- 3.

Frequency- and time-dependent effects of fendiline on action potentials of guinea pig papillary muscle.

The action of fendiline on cardiac electrical activity was investigated in guinea pig papillary muscle by monitoring frequency- and time-dependent changes in membrane potential, action potential (AP) configuration and conduction velocity. Isolated guinea pig papillary muscles driven at 0.1 to 3 Hz showed a concentration-dependent reduction of +Vmax, overshoot, and AP duration at -20mV (APD20) in the presence of fendiline (1-320 microM), reflecting inhibition of Na+ and L-type Ca2+ channels, respectively.

Verapamil and TTX inhibit +Vmax but differentially alter the duration of action potential of adult chicken ventricular myocardium.

Verapamil, a Ca2+ channel blocker, is also reported to block Na+ channels in mammalian heart and to modulate the repolarisation phase of cardiac action potential (AP). The Na+ channel blocking activity of verapamil and its implication to changes in repolarisation were studied on chicken ventricular strips where upstroke is due to highly TTX sensitive Na+ channels. At low doses verapamil (0.

Kinetic properties of unitary Na+-dependent K+ channels in inside-out patches from isolated guinea-pig ventricular myocytes.

1. Single Na+-activated K+ channels (K(Na)) were investigated by means of the inside-out patch clamp technique in ventricular myocytes isolated from the guinea-pig heart. 2.

The occurrence of stable subconductance levels in Na(+)-activated K+ channels in excised membrane patches from guinea-pig ventricular myocytes.

Twelve short-lived subconductance levels have been recognized in potassium channels activated by intracellular Na+ (KNa channels) in membrane patches excised from guinea-pig ventricular myocytes. When stable recording was achieved over a prolonged period (> 30 min), sojourns of opening to one of two stable subconductance levels (approximately 30 and 70% of the main-state level) occurred spontaneously. These periods of activity showed similar kinetics (open and closed time distributions) to those of openings to the main-state conductance.

Effects of calcium channel blockers on spontaneous electrical activity of freshly isolated three-day-old embryonic chick ventricle.

The effects of four major types of organic Ca2+ channel blockers, verapamil, nifedipine, diltiazem and fendiline and of tetrodotoxin (TXX), a fast Na+ channel blocker, on the action potential (AP) of freshly isolated 3-day-old embryonic chick ventricle (3d ECV) were investigated to resolve the controversy about the ionic basis of upstroke. The APs were characterized by a maximum diastolic potential (MDP) of -60 mV, an overshoot (Eov) of 16 mV and a maximum upstroke velocity (+Vmax) of 42 V s-1. All four Ca2+ channel blockers (0.

Developmental changes in Ca(2+)-uptake, Na+,Ca(2+)-exchange and Ca(2+)-ATPase in freshly isolated embryonic, newborn and adult chicken heart.

Developmental changes in cellular Ca(2+)-transport mechanisms were studied in chick heart by determining cellular Ca(2+)-uptake and Na+,Ca(2+)-exchange activity in freshly isolated ventricular tissues of embryonic (5-18 days old), newborn (1-2 days old) and young adult (90-100 days old) heart by monitoring 45Ca influx. Ca(2+)-ATPase activity was determined in microsomal fractions at different stages of development. The Ca(2+)-uptake (per g wet tissue weight) increased with the development of embryonic as well as post-hatch chick heart, reaching a maximum in the young adult chicken.