Being lonely or using substances with friends? A cross-sectional study of Hungarian adolescents’ health risk behaviours

BACKGROUND: Studying adolescents' health risk behaviours is oddly significant in Central and Eastern European countries, where the prevalence of smoking and drinking among 14-18 year old students is significantly high. The goal of our study is to examine the role of social psychological and social behavioural variables in health risk behaviours among Hungarian adolescents. METHODS: Our sample was comprised of three high schools of Debrecen (the second largest city of Hungary). In all, 501 students filled in the questionnaire from 22 classes (14-22 years old). Students aged above 18 years were excluded for the purpose of the study, giving a total sample size of 471 high school students. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: According to our results (1) social behavioural factors (namely, smoking and alcohol use of the best friend and peer group) proved to be better predictors of adolescents' health risk behaviours as compared to the included social psychological attributes (2); among the latter ones, loneliness and shyness were negatively related with both smoking and drinking, while competitiveness was a predictor of drinking prevalence among boys. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that social behavioural factors, including smoking and drinking of friends, are oddly important predictors of Hungarian adolescents' health risk behaviours. According to our results, health policy should pay more attention to peer norms related to smoking and drinking during school health promotion. Developing health protective social norms may be an indispensable component of effective health promotion in high schools

Social inequalities in changes in health-related behaviour among Slovak adolescents aged between 15 and 19: A longitudinal study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lower socioeconomic position is generally associated with higher rates of smoking and alcohol consumption and lower levels of physical activity. Health-related behaviour is usually established during late childhood and adolescence. The aim of this study is to explore changes in health-related behaviour in a cohort of adolescents aged between 15 and 19, overall and by socioeconomic position.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample consisted of 844 first-year students (42.8% males, baseline in 1998 – mean age 14.9, follow-up in 2002 – mean age 18.8) from 31 secondary schools located in Kosice, Slovakia. This study focuses on changes in adolescents' smoking, alcohol use, experience with marijuana and lack of physical exercise with regard to their socioeconomic position. Four indicators of socioeconomic position were used – adolescents' current education level and employment status, and the highest education level and highest occupational status of their parents. We first made cross tabulations of HRB with these four indicators, using McNemar's test to assess differences. Next, we used logistic regression to assess adjusted associations, using likelihood ratio tests to assess statistical significance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Statistically significant increases were found in all health-related behaviours. Among males, the most obvious socioeconomic gradient was found in smoking, both at age 15 and at 19. Variations in socioeconomic differences in health-related behaviour were more apparent among females. Although at age 15, almost no socioeconomic differences in health-related behaviour were found, at age 19 differences were found for almost all socioeconomic indicators. Among males, only traditional socioeconomic gradients were found (the lower the socioeconomic position, the higher the prevalence of potentially harmful health-related behaviour), while among females reverse socioeconomic gradients were also found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We confirmed an increase in unhealthy health-related behaviour during adolescence. This increase was related to socioeconomic position, and was more apparent in females.</p

Influence of parental employment status on Dutch and Slovak adolescents' health

BACKGROUND: Recent research shows the possibility that the link between parental employment status and children's health can be affected by different cultural or societal settings. The aim of this study was to explore whether the effect of father's and mother's employment status on several aspects of adolescents' health differs between Slovakia and the Netherlands. METHODS: Two data sets were used: 2616 Slovak adolescents (mean age 14.9) and 2054 Dutch adolescents (mean age 16.3). Self-rated health, GHQ-12, long-term well-being and Rosenberg self-esteem scale were used to assess the health of adolescents. Parental employment status was classified into the following categories: employed, unemployed, disabled, housewife (among mothers only). Logistic regression analyses were done separately for males and females. RESULTS: Results indicate that having an unemployed father negatively influences self-rated health and long-term well-being of Slovak male adolescents, but has no effect on the health of Dutch adolescents. Secondly, having a disabled father has a negative effect on the psychological well-being of Dutch males and the self-rated health of females, but does not influence the health of Slovak adolescents. Thirdly, having a mother who is disabled, unemployed or a housewife has a negative effect on the self-esteem of Slovak adolescents. Fourthly, Dutch males whose mother was a housewife had worse long-term well-being than those with an unemployed mother, whereas Dutch females whose mother was a housewife reported better psychological well-being than those with an employed mother. CONCLUSION: To conclude briefly our results, father's unemployment seems to be a better predictor of health for Slovak adolescents, father's disablement of health for Dutch ones. Mother's employment status seemed to be important for the self-esteem of Slovak adolescents and mother as a housewife for the health of Dutch ones. This suggests that the link between parental employment status and the health of their children may vary between countries, and therefore further studies involving various cultures are needed

Defending the genome from the enemy within:mechanisms of retrotransposon suppression in the mouse germline

The viability of any species requires that the genome is kept stable as it is transmitted from generation to generation by the germ cells. One of the challenges to transgenerational genome stability is the potential mutagenic activity of transposable genetic elements, particularly retrotransposons. There are many different types of retrotransposon in mammalian genomes, and these target different points in germline development to amplify and integrate into new genomic locations. Germ cells, and their pluripotent developmental precursors, have evolved a variety of genome defence mechanisms that suppress retrotransposon activity and maintain genome stability across the generations. Here, we review recent advances in understanding how retrotransposon activity is suppressed in the mammalian germline, how genes involved in germline genome defence mechanisms are regulated, and the consequences of mutating these genome defence genes for the developing germline

γ-Tubulin 2 Nucleates Microtubules and Is Downregulated in Mouse Early Embryogenesis

γ-Tubulin is the key protein for microtubule nucleation. Duplication of the γ-tubulin gene occurred several times during evolution, and in mammals γ-tubulin genes encode proteins which share ∼97% sequence identity. Previous analysis of Tubg1 and Tubg2 knock-out mice has suggested that γ-tubulins are not functionally equivalent. Tubg1 knock-out mice died at the blastocyst stage, whereas Tubg2 knock-out mice developed normally and were fertile. It was proposed that γ-tubulin 1 represents ubiquitous γ-tubulin, while γ-tubulin 2 may have some specific functions and cannot substitute for γ-tubulin 1 deficiency in blastocysts. The molecular basis of the suggested functional difference between γ-tubulins remains unknown. Here we show that exogenous γ-tubulin 2 is targeted to centrosomes and interacts with γ-tubulin complex proteins 2 and 4. Depletion of γ-tubulin 1 by RNAi in U2OS cells causes impaired microtubule nucleation and metaphase arrest. Wild-type phenotype in γ-tubulin 1-depleted cells is restored by expression of exogenous mouse or human γ-tubulin 2. Further, we show at both mRNA and protein levels using RT-qPCR and 2D-PAGE, respectively, that in contrast to Tubg1, the Tubg2 expression is dramatically reduced in mouse blastocysts. This indicates that γ-tubulin 2 cannot rescue γ-tubulin 1 deficiency in knock-out blastocysts, owing to its very low amount. The combined data suggest that γ-tubulin 2 is able to nucleate microtubules and substitute for γ-tubulin 1. We propose that mammalian γ-tubulins are functionally redundant with respect to the nucleation activity

Family structure, parent-child conversation time and substance use among Chinese adolescents

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The family plays a vital role in shaping adolescent behaviours. The present study investigated the associations between family structure and substance use among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 32,961 Form 1 to 5 (grade 7-12 in the US) Hong Kong students participated in the Youth Smoking Survey in 2003-4. An anonymous questionnaire was used to obtain information about family structure, daily duration of parent-child conversation, smoking, alcohol drinking and drug use. Logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios (OR) for each substance use by family structure.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Adjusting for sex, age, type of housing, parental smoking and school, adolescents from non-intact families were significantly more likely to be current smokers (OR = 1.62), weekly drinkers (OR = 1.72) and ever drug users (OR = 1.72), with significant linear increases in ORs from maternal, paternal to no-parent families compared with intact families. Furthermore, current smoking (OR = 1.41) and weekly drinking (OR = 1.46) were significantly more common among adolescents from paternal than maternal families. After adjusting for parent-child conversation time, the ORs for non-intact families remained significant compared with intact families, but the paternal-maternal differences were no longer significant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Non-intact families were associated with substance use among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The apparently stronger associations with substance use in paternal than maternal families were probably mediated by the poorer communication with the father.</p

At the coalface and the cutting edge: general practitioners’ accounts of the rewards of engaging with HIV medicine

The interviews we conducted with GPs suggest that an engagement with HIV medicine enables clinicians to develop strong and long-term relationships with and expertise about the care needs of people living with HIV ‘at the coalface’, while also feeling connected with a broader network of medical practitioners and other professionals concerned with and contributing to the ever-changing world of science: ‘the cutting edge’. The general practice HIV prescriber is being modelled here as the interface between these two worlds, offering a rewarding opportunity for general practitioners to feel intimately connected to both community needs and scientific change