Gauging Risk and Protective Factors Contributing to e-Cigarette Use Among Multiracial Youth

Background: Currently, e-cigarettes are the most common form of nicotine consumption among youth in the United States. There is a lack of research focusing on e-cigarette use among multiracial youth, yet the sparse literature points toward the adverse consequences of e-cigarettes on multiracial youth. Multiracial youth tend to have higher addiction and prevalence rates of e-cigarette use compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The current research focuses on analyzing e-cigarette use based on parental factors, school factors, prosocial behavior, ease of access, risk behaviors, perception of harm, and sociodemographic differences among multiracial youth. Methods: A secondary data analysis of the 2020 Student Drug Use Survey (N = 38 048) was performed. Of these, n = 3340 self-identified as multiracial. Descriptive analysis, univariate logistic regression, and logistic regression were performed. Results: Results indicate that the odds of using e-cigarettes among multiracial youth increase 2 times when not perceived as harmful, 2 times if one is employed, 18 times if involved in high-risk behaviors, and 2 times if in 9th through 12th grade. Additionally, logistic regression demonstrates that parental factors may not be significant in e-cigarette use among multiracial youth. Conclusion: It is crucial to investigate the association between e-cigarette use and multiracial youth, as they may be disproportionately affected by chronic conditions and fatal diseases linked to tobacco use. Understanding the specific risk and protective factors influencing e-cigarette use within this demographic can help design targeted interventions, particularly for multiracial youth in the Greater Cincinnati region

Board of Directors

No abstract available

Going to Therapy With John Bunyan

Readers have long recognized that Grace Abounding (first edition 1666) might suggest that John Bunyan (b. 1628 – d. 1688) suffered from mental illness. Some critics have posited that Bunyan suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, but others argue that what may appear to be OCD symptoms in Bunyan's narrative are in fact processes of spiritual examination fostered by early modern Protestant devotion. Drawing on my own experience as an OCD sufferer, I argue that far from encouraging religious scrupulosity (a type of OCD), early modern Protestant devotional practice contains strategies that anticipate modern OCD therapy and therefore may well have helped Bunyan manage his OCD symptoms. Bunyan had access to these strategies by way of the commentary on Galatians (first edition 1535) by the German Reformation theologian Martin Luther (b. 1483 – d. 1546). Luther directs his readers to understand their spiritual anxieties and troubling thoughts as trials visited upon them by Satan, and he encourages them not to respond to these anxieties and thoughts by performing works but instead to wait faithfully upon divine aid. Similarly, in OCD therapy, patients are taught that intrusive thoughts are outside of our conscious control, and we are instructed not to respond to these thoughts by performing actions (compulsions), which only validate and intensify the anxiety, but rather to "sit with" the anxiety and wait for it to pass. Bunyan's spiritual autobiography therefore suggests that he used devotional practice to make sense of his own experience and to manage his mental and spiritual affliction

Commentary on Buechele, Cooke, & Berezovsky (2024): Entropic Models of Scales and some Extensions

I discuss Buechele, Cooke, and Berezovsky’s entropy-based model of scale structure and compare it with a different entropy-based model from Milne et al. (2017). I also present an augmented version of the 2017 model to provide an additional entropy-based explanation for preferred scale structures. Our models have similarities and differences in terms of their constructions and constraints, and their results differ somewhat in meaning. Despite this, they are broadly comparable in terms of the “optimal” scales found. This suggests that entropy-based approaches can explain the origins of historical and contemporary scales, whilst also indicating interesting alternative scales that align with psychoacoustic and cognitive affordances

Sources of Gene Tree Discordance and Their Implications for Systematics and Evolution of a Megadiverse Australian Plant Radiation (Subtribe Hakeinae, Proteaceae)

Resolving phylogenetic relationships in the presence of conflicting signal across genes is one of the major challenges of the phylogenomic era. Conflicting signal can emerge from biological processes, such as incomplete lineage sorting or introgression, or have technical origins, such as from misaligned sequences. Decisions made in the process of estimating species trees may therefore result in alternative tree topologies and large variation in branch support values with important taxonomic consequences. To explore how these methodological choices affect the estimation of relationships, we compare alternative strategies for alignment cleaning, loci filtering, and phylogenetic estimation for 551 taxa in the Proteaceae subtribe Hakeinae. We found that node support values across gene trees were generally low and gene discordance was high in the Hakeinae, and that the degree of discordance varied across the phylogeny, as well as geographically across Australia. Higher stringency of alignment cleaning tended to decrease node support, while removing undesirable loci tended to increase gene concordance. Cleaning, filtering, and phylogenetic estimation method (short-cut coalescent vs. concatenation) have significant effects on tree topologies with distinct clusters of similar topologies detected in tree space. In some cases, this has important systematic consequences for two of Australia’s largest and best-known plant genera, with concatenated approaches resolving Hakea and Grevillea as reciprocally monophyletic, but coalescent approaches showing that Hakea is nested within Grevillea. Our results suggest that widespread gene discordance may be the result of rapid radiation and incomplete lineage sorting, demonstrating the importance of assessing the drivers of discordance to understand phylogenetic relationships

Vaccination, Adolescents, and the Mature Minor Standard in Ohio

Controversy in recent years surrounding the vaccination of minors and the stories of adolescents like Ohioan Ethan Lindenberger, who went viral for a Reddit post in 2019 in which he asked for advice after discovering that he had never been vaccinated, have raised questions about whether allowing adolescents to vaccinate without parental consent is ac-ceptable. This article discusses the mature minor doctrine, Kantian philosophy, and principlism to argue that not only is it acceptable to do so, but there is already precedent in Ohio law, and doing so would be beneficial to public health in Ohio

The Buckeye Wellness Innovator Program: A Quality Improvement Evaluation

Background: Wellness champion networks are a best practice strategy to promote and sustain a culture of well-being in organizations and institutions of higher education. Aim: The purpose of this quality improvement evaluation was to determine program effectiveness and areas of opportunity for a university wellness champion program. Methods: An anonymous survey was sent to 700 wellness champions, the Buckeye Wellness Innovators (BWIs), to assess program components, identify areas of opportunity, and gather participant feedback. Results: A total of 202 BWIs (28.8%) responded to the survey. Seventy-five percent reported at least moderate engagement in the role. There was a strong desire among respondents to contribute to the university’s wellness initiative. Areas of opportunity include further colleague engagement in wellness services and programs, enhanced communication from program facilitators, and continued and increased support for the wellness champion role. Conclusions: Feedback on the program was positive overall. Several areas of opportunity for program improvement were identified. Wellness champions are an effective evidence-based strategy to support a culture of wellness in institutions of higher education and their feedback is important for program quality improvement

Body Tricks

No abstract available

Call-Push-Shock: A Community Education Initiative to Strengthen the Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Chain of Survival

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a global health concern with an incidence of 8.9 million people annually. More than 350,000 incidences of OHCA occur yearly in the United States, with an average survival of 10%. Provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use have been noted to significantly improve survival rates. Aim: The aim of this quality improvement project was to strengthen the OHCA chain of survival on the university campus and within the surrounding community. Methods: This was a multifaceted evidence-based quality improvement project involving community CPR/AED education, improving AED awareness, and policy creation. Results: Participant (n = 759) knowledge of CPR and AED use improved between pre-test (M = 3.34, SD = 1.18) and post-test scores (M = 5.23, SD = 0.82). Participant knowledge of AED locations in areas they frequent improved from 58% to 91%, and comfort level for performing CPR improved from 59% to 97% post implementation. Adoption of a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan for the university was achieved, an additional 23 AEDs were placed on campus and uploaded to an AED location app. Conclusion: There is strong evidence to support that communities who place an emphasis on strengthening the OHCA chain of survival report better OHCA outcomes

President’s Message: 10 Ways You Can Build a Culture of Belonging and Connection

No abstract available