Gender differences in psychological factors shaping smoking decisions of Chilean adolescents

This study examined gender differences in how internalizing and externalizing symptoms affect adolescents’ decisions about smoking in Chile, where girls smoke at some of the highest rates in the world. In multivariate logistic regression analyses with 607 adolescents, internalizing symptoms, such as depressed mood and anxiety, predicted smoking among girls more than boys, with girls who were low in internalizing symptoms being more likely to smoke than those who were high in internalizing symptoms. In Chile’s high-risk context, internalizing symptoms may be indirectly protective for girls by decreasing their exposure to peer pressure and related influences that encourage cigarette use.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant R01-DA-022720). (R01-DA-022720 - U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse)http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC5014729&blobtype=pdfhttp://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC5014729&blobtype=pdfAccepted manuscrip

Health status impacts on individual earnings in Brazil

The aim of this paper is to estimate the impact of health conditions on the earnings of Brazilians. We have identified three ways through which health conditions affect workers’ earnings: labor force participation, hourly wages and weekly hours worked. A measure of the welfare reduction due to poor health conditions was created by aggregating individual losses. Individuals are classified as sick or healthy according to two criteria. Firstly, the clinical criterion which is based on the presence of chronic diseases or problems with physical mobility. Secondly, the subjective criterion which is based on the health self-assessment. Each Brazilian individual loses from R$6.30 to R$16.89 per week depending on individual characteristics. In relative terms these aggregated losses represent from 1.5% to 4.7% of the Brazilian GDP. The data base used in this work were PNAD/1998 (the Brazilian national household survey). In 1998, PNAD had an additional survey about health.

Associations of maternal and adolescent religiosity and spirituality with adolescent alcohol use in Chile: implications for social work practice

To inform social work practice with adolescents who may consume alcohol, we examined if alcohol use among Chilean adolescents varied as a function of their mothers’ and their own religiosity and spirituality. Data were from 787 Chilean adolescents and their mothers. Adolescent spirituality was a protective factor against more deleterious alcohol use. Parental monitoring and alcohol using opportunities mediated the associations. The practice of religious behaviors by themselves without meaningful faith were not associated with alcohol use among adolescents. Implications for social work practice are discussed.This research was funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 02118). The project also received support from the Curtis Research and Training Center of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan and from the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 DA007267. (R01 02118 - US National Institute on Drug Abuse; Curtis Research and Training Center of the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan; T32 DA007267 - University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service

Examining the factor structure of anxiety and depression symptom items among adolescents in Santiago, Chile

The co-occurrence of emotional disorders among adolescents has received considerable empirical attention. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of co-occurring anxiety and depression by examining the factor structure of the Youth Self-Report used with a sample of low-income adolescents from Santiago, Chile. Data from two independent, randomly selected subsamples were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results indicate the best fit for the data is a two-factor model of anxiety and depression symptoms, which factors anxiety and depression into separate latent constructs. Because the findings show that anxiety and depression are not measured by the same factor in this international sample, the results imply that a valid and useful distinction exists between these constructs. That these constructs are found to be separate factors suggests that anxiety and depression may have separate etiologies and consequences, which might be best addressed by separate intervention components. These findings are consistent with the viewpoint that anxiety and depression constructs have similar emotional features and, despite sharing a common underlying internalizing disorder, distinct items capture aspects of each construct.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140221/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140221/Accepted manuscrip

Personality and parenting processes associated with problem behaviors: a study of adolescents in Santiago, Chile

Considerable research in the U.S. has established that adolescent antisocial, aggressive, and attention problems have a negative influence on adolescents' ability to become productive members of society. However, although these behaviors appear in other cultures, little is known about the development of these problems among adolescents in countries other than the U.S.. This study contributes to our understanding of personality and parenting factors associated with adolescent problem behaviors using an international sample. Data are from a NIDA-funded study of 884 community-dwelling adolescents in Santiago, Chile (Mean age=14, SD=1.4, 48% females) of mid-to-low socioeconomic status. Results revealed that rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors were both associated with greater levels of adolescent drive but lower levels of parental monitoring and positive parenting by both parents. Adolescents who reported more attention problems were more likely to exhibit driven behavior, more behavioral inhibition, to report lower levels of parental monitoring, and positive parenting by mother and father. Results of interactions revealed that the influences of positive parenting and parental monitoring on adolescent aggressive behaviors varied as a function of the gender of the adolescent. Helping parents build on their parenting skills may result in important reductions in adolescent problem behaviors among U.S. and international adolescents.R01 HD033487 - NICHD NIH HHS; R01 DA021181 - NIDA NIH HHS; R01 DA021181-04 - NIDA NIH HH

A comparison of life histories and ecological aspects among snappers (Pisces: Lutjanidae)

An extensive search for data on life-history and ecological variables was conducted for a representative number of the species within the family Lutjanidae. After creating different databases and standardizing all data, these variables were examined in statistical, correlation and graphic analyses. Additionally, a series of Principal Component Analyses were used to examine patterns among variables. Life-history variables included age at length zero, asymptotic length, maximum length, longevity, asymptotic weight, length at maturity, age at maturity, reproductive life span, growth rate and mortality rate. Ecological variables included latitudinal and vertical distribution, habitat selection (represented by substrate type), and spawning seasons. The feeding habits of snappers were examined after determining the most common items reported in the literature and summarizing them in ten categories. Results indicated that life-history variables related to the size of the species were highly correlated, supporting the findings of other studies that length at maturity is dependent on asymptotic length. Longevity and reproductive life span were also highly correlated, while longevity and age at maturity had a low correlation, indicating that maturity among snappers is independent of life span and with relatively low variation among species. A review of the geographic and vertical distribution of snappers suggests that pre-settlement larvae in several species may exhibit strong nursery habitat selection, and that adult snappers have distinctive vertical distributions. Finally, based on the variability of prey items found in snapper diets, two basic feeding strategies were evident, species in the subfamily Lutjaninae feed mainly on benthic organisms, mainly crustaceans; while species in the subfamily Etelinae feed in the water column on a variety of pelagic fishes and invertebrates

Visualizing Quasiparticle Scattering of Nematicity in NaFeAs and of Topological Surface States in MoTe2

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been a powerful tool in expanding our understanding in the study of condensed matter physics. Many of the exotic materials of interest exhibit rich phases of matter at different temperatures and pressures. In order to probe the rich array of phases we developed a novel technique of combining scanning tunneling microscopy with tunable temperature and tunable mechanical strain in ultra high vacuum conditions. The mechanisms that give rise to high temperature superconductivity has been a long standing problem in physics. The discovered of iron-based high temperature superconductors (pnictides) have spurred much research into the mechanisms that give rise to the different exotic states observed in these new materials in hopes to better understand the underlying nature of unconventional superconductivity. Here we present a detailed study of the Nematic ordered phase in the prototypical iron- based high temperature superconductor, NaFeAs. Using our novel strain, temperature, scanning tunneling microscopy technique, we can attain an atomic-resolution view of the effects of the nematic phase on the local density of states along with the effects of anisotropic strain on the electronic structure. We further systematically study NaFeAs along both axes of the phase diagram, tuning temperature and Cu doping. We probe the material from the parent compound to beyond the supercon- ducting dome with increased Cu doping and from superconducting temperatures towell above the structural transition temperatures. Using our novel strain, temperature, scanning tunneling microscopy technique we nanoscopically identified the region of long-range nematic order and the region of nematic fluctuations in the phase diagram and find that true long range nematic order sets in at the tetragonal to orthorhombic structural transition temperature but nematic fluctuations continue at higher temperatures and also into the overdoped regime, then seemingly disappearing at the edge of the superconducting dome. We further find that our applied stain increasing the amplitude of the nematic fluctuations showing strong nonlinear coupling between strain and electronic nematicity. The power of our novel strain, temperature, scanning tunneling microscopy tech- nique in probing quasiparticle interference proves ideal for studying the topological, Weyl semimetal 1T’-MoTe 2 . In it’s orthorombic phase the material has topologically nontrivial protected surface Fermi arcs. By measuring quasiparticle interference in this material at different temperatures we can probe both topologically nontrivial phase (orthorhombic phase) and the topologically trivial phase (monoclinic phase). In the topologically nontrivial phase we see quasiparticle interference measurements in good agreement with angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. In the topologically trivial phase we see the lack of the quasiparticle interference coming from the trivial surface state

Physiological and practical implications of different forms of nitrogen nutrition in maize

A series of field, greenhouse, and growth chamber experiments were conducted to study the physiological and practical implications of different forms of nitrogen nutrition;Nutrient uptake by corn plants is strongly regulated toward a balanced cation-anion uptake. The form of nitrogen absorbed clearly affects the uptake of other ions, and similarly, the availability of other nutrients influences the NO(,3)-N/NH(,4)-N ratio absorbed. Moreover, when nitrogen is supplied as an unbalanced NO(,3)-N/NH(,4)-N ratio, corn plants favor absorption of the less abundant nitrogen form;Cytoplasmic pH is not affected by the form of nitrogen and it does not seem to be involved in the cation-anion balance effect. Organic acid synthesis or breakdown may directly respond to H(\u27+) or OH(\u27-) efflux during unbalanced cation-anion uptake, without changes in cytoplasmic pH. Moreover, excess anion uptake, for example, would generate electropotential differences that would reduce anion uptake and stimulate cation uptake while electrochemical gradients would favor leaking of those anions absorbed in excess. Nitrogen assimilation into organic compounds in the roots would produce H(\u27+) or OH(\u27-) (for NH(,4)(\u27+) and NO(,3)(\u27-), respectively) that would be exchanged for further nitrogen uptake. The combination of these mechanisms together with the effect of the external pH on nutrient uptake would explain most of the results obtained in this work;Nitrate retarded the acidification of the cytoplasm during development of anaerobic conditions. Part of the NO(,2)(\u27-) generated under these conditions is extruded to the rhizosphere. This could have important implications in denitrification due to the higher reactivity of NO(,2)(\u27-) in the soil;Under field conditions, the form of nitrogen has different implications. By using NH(,4)(\u27+) plus a nitrification inhibitor or by splitting the applications, the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer can be significantly improved given that losses of nitrogen by leaching are important