School Smoking Policy Characteristics and Individual Perceptions of the School Tobacco Context: Are They Linked to Students’ Smoking Status?

The purpose of this study was to explore individual- and school-level policy characteristics on student smoking behavior using an ecological perspective. Participants were 24,213 (51% female) Grade 10–11 students from 81 schools in five Canadian provinces. Data were collected using student self-report surveys, written policies collected from schools, interviews with school administrators, and school property observations to assess multiple dimensions of the school tobacco policy. The multi-level modeling results revealed that the school a student attended was associated with his/her smoking behavior. Individual-level variables that were associated with student smoking included lower school connectedness, a greater number of family and friends who smoked, higher perceptions of student smoking prevalence, lower perceptions of student smoking frequency, and stronger perceptions of the school tobacco context. School-level variables associated with student smoking included weaker policy intention indicating prohibition and assistance to overcome tobacco addiction, weaker policy implementation involving strategies for enforcement, and a higher number of students smoking on school property. These findings suggest that the school environment is important to tobacco control strategies, and that various policy dimensions have unique relationships to student smoking. School tobacco policies should be part of a comprehensive approach to adolescent tobacco use

Effects of second-generation and indoor sports surfaces on knee joint kinetics and kinematics during 45° and 180° cutting manoeuvres, and exploration using statistical parametric mapping and Bayesian analyses

Purpose: The aim of the current investigation was to examine the influence of second generation (2G) and indoor surfaces on knee joint kinetics, kinematics, frictional and muscle force parameters during 45° and 180° change of direction movements using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) and Bayesian analyses. Methods: Twenty male participants performed 45° and 180° change of direction movements on 2G and indoor surfaces. Lower limb kinematics were collected using an eight-camera motion capture system and ground reaction forces were quantified using an embedded force platform. ACL, patellar tendon and patellofemoral loading was examined via a musculoskeletal modelling approaches and the frictional properties of the surfaces were examined using ground reaction force information. Differences between surfaces were examined using SPM and Bayesian analyses. Results: Both SPM and Bayesian analyses showed that ACL loading parameters were greater in the 2G condition in relation to the indoor surface. Conversely, SPM and Bayesian analyses confirmed that patellofemoral/ patellar tendon loading alongside the coefficient of friction and peak rotational moment were larger in the indoor condition compared to the 2G surface. Conclusions: This study indicates that the indoor surface may improve change of direction performance owing to enhanced friction at the shoe-surface interface but augment the risk from patellar tendon/ patellofemoral injuries; whereas the 2G condition may enhance the risk from ACL pathologies

Stroke genetics informs drug discovery and risk prediction across ancestries

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of stroke — the second leading cause of death worldwide — were conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry1,2. Here, in cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analyses of 110,182 patients who have had a stroke (five ancestries, 33% non-European) and 1,503,898 control individuals, we identify association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci: 60 in primary inverse-variance-weighted analyses and 29 in secondary meta-regression and multitrait analyses. On the basis of internal cross-ancestry validation and an independent follow-up in 89,084 additional cases of stroke (30% non-European) and 1,013,843 control individuals, 87% of the primary stroke risk loci and 60% of the secondary stroke risk loci were replicated (P < 0.05). Effect sizes were highly correlated across ancestries. Cross-ancestry fine-mapping, in silico mutagenesis analysis3, and transcriptome-wide and proteome-wide association analyses revealed putative causal genes (such as SH3PXD2A and FURIN) and variants (such as at GRK5 and NOS3). Using a three-pronged approach4, we provide genetic evidence for putative drug effects, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as possible targets, with drugs already under investigation for stroke for F11 and PROC. A polygenic score integrating cross-ancestry and ancestry-specific stroke GWASs with vascular-risk factor GWASs (integrative polygenic scores) strongly predicted ischaemic stroke in populations of European, East Asian and African ancestry5. Stroke genetic risk scores were predictive of ischaemic stroke independent of clinical risk factors in 52,600 clinical-trial participants with cardiometabolic disease. Our results provide insights to inform biology, reveal potential drug targets and derive genetic risk prediction tools across ancestries

Stroke genetics informs drug discovery and risk prediction across ancestries

Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of stroke - the second leading cause of death worldwide - were conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry(1,2). Here, in cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analyses of 110,182 patients who have had a stroke (five ancestries, 33% non-European) and 1,503,898 control individuals, we identify association signals for stroke and its subtypes at 89 (61 new) independent loci: 60 in primary inverse-variance-weighted analyses and 29 in secondary meta-regression and multitrait analyses. On the basis of internal cross-ancestry validation and an independent follow-up in 89,084 additional cases of stroke (30% non-European) and 1,013,843 control individuals, 87% of the primary stroke risk loci and 60% of the secondary stroke risk loci were replicated (P < 0.05). Effect sizes were highly correlated across ancestries. Cross-ancestry fine-mapping, in silico mutagenesis analysis(3), and transcriptome-wide and proteome-wide association analyses revealed putative causal genes (such as SH3PXD2A and FURIN) and variants (such as at GRK5 and NOS3). Using a three-pronged approach(4), we provide genetic evidence for putative drug effects, highlighting F11, KLKB1, PROC, GP1BA, LAMC2 and VCAM1 as possible targets, with drugs already under investigation for stroke for F11 and PROC. A polygenic score integrating cross-ancestry and ancestry-specific stroke GWASs with vascular-risk factor GWASs (integrative polygenic scores) strongly predicted ischaemic stroke in populations of European, East Asian and African ancestry(5). Stroke genetic risk scores were predictive of ischaemic stroke independent of clinical risk factors in 52,600 clinical-trial participants with cardiometabolic disease. Our results provide insights to inform biology, reveal potential drug targets and derive genetic risk prediction tools across ancestries.</p

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: Methodological developments and current tensions

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Psychometric validation of the revised family affluence scale: a latent variable approach

The aim was to develop and test a brief revised version of the family affluence scale. A total of 7120 students from Denmark, Greenland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland and Slovakia reported on a list of 16 potential indicators of affluence. Responses were subject to item screening and test of dimensionality. Bifactor analysis revealed a strong general factor of affluence in all countries, but with additional specific factors in all countries. The specific factors mainly reflected overlapping item content. Item screening was conducted to eliminate items with low discrimination and local dependence, reducing the number of items from sixteen to six: Number of computers, number of cars, own bedroom, holidays abroad, dishwasher, and bathroom. The six-item version was estimated with Samejima’s graded response model, and tested for differential item functioning by country. Three of the six items were invariant across countries, thus anchoring the scale to a common metric across countries. The six-item scale correlated with parental reported income groups in six out of eight countries. Findings support a revision to six items in the family affluence scale

Equating the HBSC Family Affluence Scale across survey years: a method to account for item parameter drift using the Rasch model

Purpose To investigate the measurement invariance (MI) of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) measured in the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, and to describe a method for equating the scale when MI is violated across survey years. Methods This study used a sample of 14,076 Norwegian and 17,365 Scottish adolescents from the 2002, 2006 and 2010 HBSC surveys to investigate the MI of the FAS across survey years. Violations of MI in the form of differential item functioning (DIF) due to item parameter drift (IPD) were modeled within the Rasch framework to ensure that the FAS scores from different survey years remain comparable. Results The results indicate that the FAS is upwardly biased due to IPD in the computer item across survey years in the Norwegian and Scottish samples. Ignoring IPD across survey years resulted in the conclusion that family affluence is increasing quite consistently in Norway and Scotland. However, the results show that a large part of the increase in the FAS scores can be attributed to bias in the FAS because of IPD across time. The increase in the FAS was more modest in Scotland and slightly negative in Norway once the DIF in the computer item was accounted for in this study. Conclusions When the comparison of family affluence is necessary over different HBSC survey years or when the longitudinal implications of family affluence are of interest, it is necessary to account for IPD in interpretation of changes in family affluence across time

Associations between Students' Perceptions of the Psychosocial School Environment and Indicators of Subjective Health in Finnish Comprehensive Schools

The study examined how far students’ perceptions of the psychosocial school environment are associated with self‐rated health, life satisfaction and subjective health complaints. Students’ perceptions were associated with one or more indicators of subjective health. Perceived health was better in direct proportion to positive perceptions. Student relations and school strain were the factors that stood out in both genders, with regard to all the health indicators. School engagement, parental support and educational aspiration were found to be important for overall perceived health of the students. This study indicates the importance of the psychosocial school environment for students’ health.peerReviewe