An Overview of Tobacco Policies in Kansas Unified School Districts

Introduction. In 2019, 25.8% of Kansas high school youth reported using any form of tobacco product. Schools can prevent and reduce youth tobacco use by adopting comprehensive tobacco policies, which include all tobacco products, on school grounds and at school-sponsored, off-campus events, for all individuals at all times, and integrate cessation services for students who violate the tobacco policy. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of comprehensive tobacco policies in unified school districts (USD) across Kansas to determine how many schools have adopted such policies. Methods. All 286 USDs in Kansas were eligible to participate in this study; this includes elementary, middle, and high schools. Participating schools were asked to upload their policies to a website developed by Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). Frequencies and percentages were computed to identify the type of tobacco products prohibited, the locations where tobacco use is prohibited, who is prohibited from using tobacco, when tobacco is prohibited, and consequences of students’ violation of tobacco policy. Results. Several USD policies meet some of these recommendations; however, 97.9% (n = 280) do not. In other words, 2.1% of USD policies (n = 6) are comprehensive in Kansas. Conclusions. Nearly all USDs in Kansas have an opportunity to strengthen their tobacco policies. Relatively simple edits can be made to prohibit all tobacco products, prohibit use on school grounds and at school-sponsored, off-campus events, ensure these policies apply to everyone, at all times, and integrate cessation resources for students who violate the tobacco policy

ADHD Symptomology and Prescription Stimulant Misuse in College Students

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention. These symptoms result in impairments for individuals across multiple settings and are developmentally inappropriate. While common during childhood, symptoms have been shown to persist into adulthood for 50% or more of those diagnosed before reaching age 18. Although prescription stimulants have been shown to benefit those with ADHD, increased popularity of prescription stimulant misuse among those without ADHD has been reported, despite the potentially harmful side effects that may accompany this use. Specifically, nonmedical use of prescription stimulants during adolescence led to increased risk of crime commitment and increased risk for subsequent addictions to other substances. Despite the negative effects of prescription stimulants on those misusing them, as many as 7% of undergraduate college students reported prescription stimulant medication misuse. The present NIH R01 funded study, Trajectories Related to ADHD in College (TRAC) is a 5-year longitudinal study conducted by Dr. Arthur Anastopoulos at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (Lead Principal Investigator), Dr. George DuPaul at Lehigh University (Co-Principal Investigator), and Dr. Lisa Weyandt at the University of Rhode Island (Co-Principal Investigator). Through my work on this study, it became clear that although research concerning the patterns of misuse among college students has been performed and documented, the association between those with ADHD and nonmedical use of prescription stimulants has not been well studied. More specifically, research exploring the relationship between the severity of ADHD symptoms and prescription stimulant misuse is sparse. Therefore, the aim of this honors thesis is to assess the misuse among students both with, and without, ADHD, and to explore whether males and females differ in reported rates of prescription stimulant misuse

Why Assessment Matters: On the Road for Change

In higher education, assessment is used to intentionally develop, implement, and modify programs that are grounded in student learning outcomes (SLOs). Assessment results may highlight program effectiveness, or lack thereof. This gives educators the chance to revise components of the program in order to improve student learning (Meixner, 2016). Assessment also creates a sense of accountability by offering methods to justify the value of a program, especially when time and resources are limited. We offer a model for assessment as foundational to program development by highlighting our course-related consulting work with the Dux Leadership Center’s pilot On the Road for Change Spring Break Experience. This program challenged undergraduate students to apply leadership and ethical reasoning outside the classroom using the framework of the Student Leadership Challenge (SLC), by Kouzes and Posner, and JMU’s Eight Key Questions (8KQ) established by the Madison Collaborative. We developed specific, measurable learning outcomes, mapped programming components to learning outcomes, developed summative and formative assessment, and offered implementation appendices. In our presentation we will highlight the importance of assessment, our process, and best practices for program assessment in Student Affairs

Video-based data acquisition system for use in eye blink classical conditioning procedures in sheep

Pavlovian eye blink conditioning (EBC) has been extensively studied in humans and laboratory animals, providing one of the best-understood models of learning in neuroscience. EBC has been especially useful in translational studies of cerebellar and hippocampal function. We recently reported a novel extension of EBC procedures for use in sheep, and now describe new advances in a digital video-based system. The system delivers paired presentations of conditioned stimuli (CSs; a tone) and unconditioned stimuli (USs; an air puff to the eye), or CS-alone "unpaired" trials. This system tracks the linear distance between the eyelids to identify blinks occurring as either unconditioned (URs) or conditioned (CRs) responses, to a resolution of 5 ms. A separate software application (Eye Blink Reviewer) is used to review and autoscore the trial CRs and URs, on the basis of a set of predetermined rules, permitting an operator to confirm (or rescore, if needed) the autoscore results, thereby providing quality control for accuracy of scoring. Learning curves may then be quantified in terms of the frequencies of CRs over sessions, both on trials with paired CS-US presentations and on CS-alone trials. The latency to CR onset, latency to CR peak, and occurrence of URs are also obtained. As we demonstrated in two example cases, this video-based system provides efficient automated means to conduct EBC in sheep and can facilitate fully powered studies with multigroup designs that involve paired and unpaired training. This can help extend new studies in sheep, a species well suited for translational studies of neurodevelopmental disorders resulting from gestational exposure to drugs, toxins, or intrauterine distress

Understanding methanol dissociative adsorption and oxidation on amorphous oxide films

Interactions between a transition metal (oxide) catalyst and a support can tailor the number and nature of active sites, for instance in the methanol oxidation reaction. We here use ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) to identify and compare the surface adsorbates that form on amorphous metal oxide films that maximize such interactions. Considering Al(1-x)MxOy (M = Fe or Mn) films at a range of methanol : oxygen gas ratios and temperatures, we find that the redox-active transition metal site (characterized by methoxy formation) dominates dissociative methanol adsorption, while basic oxygen sites (characterized by carbonate formation) play a lesser role. Product detection, however, indicates complete oxidation to carbon dioxide and water with partial oxidation products (dimethyl ether) comprising a minor species. Comparing the intensity of methoxy and hydroxyl features at a fixed XPS chemical shift suggests methanol deprotonation during adsorption in oxygen rich conditions for high transition metal content. However, increasing methanol partial pressure and lower metal site density may promote oxygen vacancy formation and the dehydroxylation pathway, supported by a nominal reduction in the oxidation state of iron sites. These findings illustrate that AP-XPS and mass spectrometry together are powerful tools in understanding metal-support interactions, quantifying and probing the nature of catalytic active sites, and considering the link between electronic structure of materials and their catalytic activity

Resilience is Low among Both Military and Non-Military Populations with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects the lives of 12 million people in the United States. While commonly thought of in relation to military personnel and veterans, PTSD is also common among the general public. Resilience - the ability to cope with stressful events - is essential for recovering from PTSD. This data slice uses data from the National Wellbeing Survey to examine resilience among U.S. working-age adults with and without PTSD by their relationship to the military. Results show that those with PTSD have less resilience than those who have not experienced PTSD. In addition, those with military experience are more resilient than those without military experience