BACKGROUND AND AIM[|]BACKGROUND: Drought is a significant weather event that impacts more individuals globally than any other natural calamity. It can disrupt ecosystems and lead to mental stress. ...

Aims Few studies investigate whether psychosocial factors (social isolation, social support, trait anger, and depressive symptoms) are associated with cardiovascular health, and none with the American Heart Association’s new definition of cardiovascular health, Life’s Essential 8 (LE8). Therefore, we assessed the cross-sectional associations of psychosocial factors with Life’s Essential 8 and individual components of Life’s Essential 8. Methods We included 11,311 Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities cohort participants (58% females; 23% Black; mean age 57 (standard deviation: 6) years) who attended Visit 2 (1990–1992) in this secondary data analysis using cross-sectional data from the ARIC cohort study. Life’s Essential 8 components included diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep quality, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Life’s Essential 8 was scored per the American Heart Association definition (0–100 range); higher scores indicate better cardiovascular health. Associations of categories (high, moderate, and low) of each psychosocial factor with continuous Life’s Essential 8 score and individual Life’s Essential 8 components were assessed using multivariable linear regressions. Results 11% of participants had high Life’s Essential 8 scores (80–100), while 67% and 22% had moderate (50–79) and low Life’s Essential 8 scores (0–49) respectively. Poor scores on psychosocial factor assessments were associated with lower Life’s Essential 8 scores, with the largest magnitude of association for categories of depressive symptoms (low β = Ref.; moderate β = -3.1, (95% confidence interval: -3.7, -2.5; high β = -8.2 (95% confidence interval: -8.8, -7.5)). Most psychosocial factors were associated with Life’s Essential 8 scores for diet, physical activity, nicotine, and sleep, but psychosocial factors were not associated with body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose, or blood pressure. Conclusion Less favorable measures of psychosocial health were associated with lower Life’s Essential 8 scores compared better measures of psychosocial health among middle-aged males and females.

As the number of interracial couples in the U.S. continues to grow, it is important to examine stressors that may lead to decreased well-being and self-rated health due to stigma. Using AddHealth, ...

This paper conducts a benefit-cost analysis of expanding agricultural research and development in the Global South. We extend a recent modelling exercise that used IFPRI's IMPACT model to estimate the investments required to reduce the global prevalence of hunger below 5%. After 35 years, the increased funding is estimated to increase agricultural output by 10%, reduce the prevalence of hunger by 35%, reduce food prices by 16%, and increase per capita incomes by 4% relative to a counterfactual where funding continues to rise on historical trends. Using an 8% discount rate, the net present value of the costs of agricultural R&D is estimated at $61 billion for the next 35 years, while the net present benefits in terms of net economic surplus (the sum of consumer and producer surplus) are estimated at $2.1 trillion. The central estimate of the benefit-cost ratio, BCR, is therefore 33, consistent with previous research documenting high average returns to agricultural research and development. The central BCR reported in this study places the intervention at the 91st percentile of all previous Copenhagen Consensus BCRs in agriculture, and 87th percentile for all BCRs regardless of sector. Seen in this light, agricultural R&D is likely one of the best uses of resources for the remainder of the Sustainable Development Goals and decades beyond. 2

Background Age-based sexual mixing data can guide design and implementation of sexually transmitted infection (STI) control interventions. It can also inform the parameterization of mathematical models of HIV and STI transmission. Data on mixing in heterosexual adults are uncommon, particularly in East Asian regions. Methods In June 2020, egocentric network data collected from sexually active adults in Hong Kong 18 or years participating in an online, population-based survey were used to assess age-dependent contacts and condom use patterns. Age-based mixing matrices of heterosexual partnerships were constructed separately according to sex and partnership type. Results Data from 1090 partnerships indicated highly assortative mixing among regular partners. Casual and commercial partners had larger age discrepancies, with both men and women reporting partners of the same age or younger age group. Regarding condom use, older age groups of both sexes reported less consistent use with all partner types. Particularly inconsistent use was noted in combinations of older men with younger casual/commercial female partners. Conclusions Our findings provide novel insights potentially useful for forming sexual health and STI control policy. First, the disassortative nature of casual and commercial partnerships in both men and women suggests that they may be a mechanism for the seeding of younger generations and therefore a target of health interventions. Second, health communications may wish to target older men in particular given their higher tendency to condomless sex with casual and commercial female partners in the youngest-and therefore most susceptible-age groups, indicating a lack of the sex symmetry that was observed in regular partnerships.

Introduction: Psychosocial factors (social isolation, social support, trait anger, and depressive symptoms) are associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors and incidence; few studies invest...

Aim: We investigate if periodontal disease is prospectively associated with cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative markers of dementia and Alzheimer's pathology. Materials and Methods: N = 1306 participants (Visit 5 mean age = 76.5 [standard deviation = 5.4] years) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study with completed dental exams at Visit 4 underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging scans at Visit 5 while N = 248 underwent positron emission tomography scans. Participants were classified as edentulous or, among the dentate, by the modified Periodontal Profile Class. Brain volumes were regressed on periodontal status in linear regressions. Cerebrovascular measures and β-amyloid positivity were regressed on periodontal status in logistic regressions. Results: Periodontal disease was not associated with brain volumes, microhaemorrhages, or elevated β-amyloid. Compared with periodontally healthy individuals, odds ratios [95% confidence interval] for all-type infarcts were 0.37 [0.20, 0.65] for severe tooth loss and 0.56 [0.31, 0.99] for edentulous participants. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, periodontal disease was not associated with altered brain volumes, microhaemorrhages, or β-amyloid positivity. Tooth loss was associated with lower odds of cerebral infarcts.

Background: Sexual and reproductive health of young people is an international concern with the increasing interest in healthy pregnancy and childbirth. mHealth interventions involve the use of mobile technologies for health support, have wide applications in clinical nursing practice, and play an increasingly important role in disseminating sexual and reproductive health-related information in emerging adulthood. However, there is a lack of evidence on the effects of mHealth intervention programs. Objectives: This meta-analysis systematically assessed the effects of mHealth interventions on contraceptive use and pregnancy occurrence in emerging adulthood to identify the characteristics of a successful mHealth intervention program. Design: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Data sources: Four central electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL complete, and the Cochrane Library) were searched for relevant articles published from inception to May 2020. Review methods: Data extraction and quality appraisal were performed independently by two reviewers. Eleven papers on the effects of mHealth interventions on sexual and reproductive health in emerging adulthood were selected. The included studies were assessed for the risk of bias with the Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) tool. Overall and subgroup meta-analyses were conducted using STATA 16.0. Heterogeneity within studies was calculated using I2. Results: We tested the effect of mHealth interventions on contraceptive use and pregnancy occurrence to identify the impact of sexual and reproductive health. mHealth interventions improved the use of contraception (OR 1.21; 95% CI: 1.02–1.43, I2 = 20.7%; p = 0.234) although the effect on pregnancy occurrence was not significant (OR 0.80, 95% CI: 0.61–1.05, I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.950). In subgroup analysis, mHealth interventions especially improved oral contraceptive use (OR 1.43, 95% CI: 1.15–1.77, I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.784). Regarding the communication type, two-way communication showed statistically significant results with the mHealth intervention in the experimental group (OR 1.28, 95% CI: 1.06–1.54, I2 = 0.0%, p = 0.872). Conclusion: This meta-analysis found a positive effect of mHealth intervention on contraception, whereas the impact on pregnancy occurrences was limited. We also confirmed the factors underlying effective mHealth interventions from the results of our review. Our findings demonstrate that mHealth interventions may be suggested as a useful strategy to promote sexual and reproductive health in emerging adulthood.

Background: Periodontal disease (PD) is associated positively with neurocognitive outcomes. Few studies have investigated the relationship between PD and indicators of brain aging and vascular chan...

Undergraduates’ distress has increased dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, raising concerns for academic achievement. Yet little is known about the mechanisms by which pandemic-relate...

OBJECTIVE: Research replication, or repeating a study de novo, is the scientific standard for building evidence and identifying spurious results. While replication is ideal, it is often expensive and time consuming. Reproducibility, or reanalysis of data to verify published findings, is one proposed minimum alternative standard. While a lack of research reproducibility has been identified as a serious and prevalent problem in biomedical research and a few other fields, little work has been done to examine the reproducibility of public health research. We examined reproducibility in 6 studies from the public health services and systems research subfield of public health research., DESIGN: Following the methods described in each of the 6 papers, we computed the descriptive and inferential statistics for each study. We compared our results with the original study results and examined the percentage differences in descriptive statistics and differences in effect size, significance, and precision of inferential statistics. All project work was completed in 2017., RESULTS: We found consistency between original and reproduced results for each paper in at least 1 of the 4 areas examined. However, we also found some inconsistency. We identified incorrect transcription of results and omitting detail about data management and analyses as the primary contributors to the inconsistencies., RECOMMENDATIONS: Increasing reproducibility, or reanalysis of data to verify published results, can improve the quality of science. Researchers, journals, employers, and funders can all play a role in improving the reproducibility of science through several strategies including publishing data and statistical code, using guidelines to write clear and complete methods sections, conducting reproducibility reviews, and incentivizing reproducible science.

OBJECTIVES: An increased trend in the number of reported gonorrhoea cases has been observed between 2014 and 2017 in China. This study aims to describe the reported epidemic of gonorrhoea and potential driving forces in Guangdong Province, China. DESIGN: A review of surveillance data. PARTICIPANTS: Three different sources of data from Guangdong Province were analysed: gonorrhoea cases reported to the Chinese sexually transmitted infections (STI) case report system (CRS); a clinic-based retrospective study conducted to collect information on annual gonorrhoea screening coverage and data from the Guangdong governmental sentinel surveillance network (SSN) to examine the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics. OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported incidence of gonorrhoea, number of reported gonorrhoea cases, number of screening tests for gonorrhoea and gonorrhoea prevalence. RESULTS: The STI CRS data showed that the reported incidence of gonorrhoea has increased rapidly from 15.7 cases per 100 000 population in 2014 to 27.3 cases per 100 000 in 2017 in Guangdong (p<0.001). Regions with a reported incidence of gonorrhoea cases of more than 10 cases per 100 000 expanded from 7 cities in 2014 to 13 cities in 2017. The SSN data showed that the gonorrhoea prevalence among males attending STI clinics increased from 2.7% in 2015 to 3.6% in 2017 (p=0.14). The retrospective study showed that the increased rate of screening for gonorrhoea between 2014 and 2017 was 35.0%, which was much lower than the increased rate of the number of reported gonorrhoea cases (123.3%). CONCLUSIONS: The number of gonococcal infections is rapidly rising in Guangdong, China. Expanded screening coverage, use of more sensitive diagnostics and increase of gonorrhoea prevalence are three potential contributors to the epidemic. Additional targeted intervention strategies are necessary in the future to control the epidemic.

Background/Objectives:There is increasing evidence of a relationship between blood DNA methylation and body mass index (BMI). We aimed to assess associations of BMI with individual methylation measures (CpGs) through a cross-sectional genome-wide DNA methylation association study and a longitudinal analysis of repeated measurements over time.Subjects/Methods:Using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip, DNA methylation measures were determined in baseline peripheral blood samples from 5361 adults recruited to the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS) and selected for nested case-control studies, 2586 because they were subsequently diagnosed with cancer (cases) and 2775 as controls. For a subset of 1088 controls, these measures were repeated using blood samples collected at wave 2 follow-up, a median of 11 years later; weight was measured at both time points. Associations between BMI and blood DNA methylation were assessed using linear mixed-effects regression models adjusted for batch effects and potential confounders. These were applied to cases and controls separately, with results combined through fixed-effects meta-Analysis.Results:Cross-sectional analysis identified 310 CpGs associated with BMI with P<1.0 × 10 â '7, 225 of which had not been reported previously. Of these 225 novel associations, 172 were replicated (P<0.05) using the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We also replicated using MCCS data (P<0.05) 335 of 392 associations previously reported with P<1.0 × 10 â '7, including 60 that had not been replicated before. Associations between change in BMI and change in methylation were observed for 34 of the 310 strongest signals in our cross-sectional analysis, including 7 that had not been replicated using the ARIC study.Conclusions:Together, these findings suggest that BMI is associated with blood DNA methylation at a large number of CpGs across the genome, several of which are located in or near genes involved in ATP-binding cassette transportation, tumour necrosis factor signalling, insulin resistance and lipid metabolism.