E-cigarettes, Hookah Pens and Vapes: Adolescent and Young Adult Perceptions of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Table 1.

Most studies have assessed use of “e-cigarettes” or “electronic cigarettes,” potentially excluding new electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), such as e-hookahs and vape pens. Little is known about how adolescents and young adults perceive ENDS and if their perceptions vary by sub-type. We explored ENDS perceptions among these populations

An Examination of Social Host Policies: Relationship with Social Drinking Context and Alcohol Use among Adolescents

Underage drinking continues to be a major public health concern, partially due to the ease in which adolescents obtain alcohol and consume it in private locations. States and municipalities have implemented a variety of strategies to counteract this, including adopting public policies focused on underage alcohol use in residential settings, termed social host policies. The purpose of this study was to 1) conduct a critical analysis of social host policies and the factors they are intended to change; and 2) examine social host policies focused on hosting underage drinking parties as an environmental predictor for drinking location, peer drinking group size, heavy episodic drinking and associated non-violent consequences. Three waves of cross sectional data from 11,205 14-20 year olds, nested within 68 communities in five states, who participated in the national evaluation of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Randomized Community Trial (EUDL-CT), was analyzed using multi-level modeling. Social host policy status was categorized as passed prior to the EUDL-CT intervention, passed during the intervention, or no policy. Pre-existing social host policies or policies passed during the intervention were not associated with drinking location, decreasing heavy episodic drinking or decreasing alcohol related, non-violent consequences among adolescents. However, youth from communities that had a pre-existing social host policy had lower odds of drinking in large groups compared to youth from communities without a policy at baseline (OR=0.827, CI:0.69-0.99; p=0.04). At follow-up, youth from communities that passed a social host policy during the intervention had higher odds of drinking in large groups compared to youth from communities without a policy (OR=1.26; CI=1.05-1.51; p=0.009) and youth from communities with a pre-existing policy (OR=1.23; CI=1.01-1.49; p=0.034). Findings suggest that these policies require additional attention before conclusions can be drawn about their effectiveness. Additional research should focus on the differences in state versus local policies, liability associated with the policies, as well as the intensity of policy implementation by local communities. Future studies should also consider behavior change, not just of adolescents, but of other stakeholders, such as parents and local law enforcement

Adolescent and Young Adult Perceptions of Hookah and Little Cigars/Cigarillos: Implications for Risk Messages

Use of hookah and little cigars/cigarillos (LCCs) is high among adolescents and young adults. Although these products have health effects similar to cigarettes, adolescents and young adults believe them to be safer. This study examined adolescent and young adult perceptions of hookah and LCCs to develop risk messages aimed at discouraging use among users and at-risk nonusers. Ten focus groups with 77 adolescents and young adults were conducted to explore their perceptions about the perceived risks and benefits of hookah and LCC use. Participants were users of other (non-cigarette) tobacco products (n=47) and susceptible nonusers (n=30). Transcripts were coded for emergent themes on participants’ perceptions of hookah and LCCs. Participants did not perceive health effects associated with hookah and LCC use to be serious or likely to happen given their infrequency of use and perceptions that they are less harmful than cigarettes. Participants generally had positive associations with smoking hookah and LCCs for several reasons, including that they are used in social gatherings, come in various flavors, and can be used to perform smoke tricks. Because adolescents and young adults underestimate and discount the long-term risks associated with hookah and LCC use, effective messages may be those that focus on the acute/immediate health and cosmetic effects

Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Knowledge and Beliefs About Constituents in Novel Tobacco Products

Novel tobacco products, such as little cigars, cigarillos, hookah, and e-cigarettes, and their smoke or aerosol contain chemicals which the FDA has determined to be Harmful or Potentially Harmful Constituents. We explored adolescents’ and young adults’ knowledge and beliefs about constituents in novel tobacco products and their smoke or aerosol, in order to inform risk communication messages

Impact of a Randomized Campus/Community Trial to Prevent High-Risk Drinking Among College Students

High-risk drinking by college students continues to pose a significant threat to public health. Despite increasing evidence of the contribution of community-level and campus-level environmental factors to high risk drinking, there have been few rigorous tests of interventions that focus on changing these interlinked environments. The Study to Prevent Alcohol Related Consequences (SPARC) assessed the efficacy of a comprehensive intervention using a community organizing approach to implement environmental strategies in and around college campuses. The goal of SPARC was to reduce high-risk drinking and alcohol-related consequences among college students

CMB-S4: Forecasting Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves

CMB-S4---the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment---is set to significantly advance the sensitivity of CMB measurements and enhance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the Universe, from the highest energies at the dawn of time through the growth of structure to the present day. Among the science cases pursued with CMB-S4, the quest for detecting primordial gravitational waves is a central driver of the experimental design. This work details the development of a forecasting framework that includes a power-spectrum-based semi-analytic projection tool, targeted explicitly towards optimizing constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, in the presence of Galactic foregrounds and gravitational lensing of the CMB. This framework is unique in its direct use of information from the achieved performance of current Stage 2--3 CMB experiments to robustly forecast the science reach of upcoming CMB-polarization endeavors. The methodology allows for rapid iteration over experimental configurations and offers a flexible way to optimize the design of future experiments given a desired scientific goal. To form a closed-loop process, we couple this semi-analytic tool with map-based validation studies, which allow for the injection of additional complexity and verification of our forecasts with several independent analysis methods. We document multiple rounds of forecasts for CMB-S4 using this process and the resulting establishment of the current reference design of the primordial gravitational-wave component of the Stage-4 experiment, optimized to achieve our science goals of detecting primordial gravitational waves for $r > 0.003$ at greater than $5\sigma$, or, in the absence of a detection, of reaching an upper limit of $r < 0.001$ at $95\%$ CL.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, 9 tables, submitted to ApJ. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1907.0447

CMB-S4: Forecasting Constraints on Primordial Gravitational Waves

Abstract: CMB-S4—the next-generation ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment—is set to significantly advance the sensitivity of CMB measurements and enhance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe. Among the science cases pursued with CMB-S4, the quest for detecting primordial gravitational waves is a central driver of the experimental design. This work details the development of a forecasting framework that includes a power-spectrum-based semianalytic projection tool, targeted explicitly toward optimizing constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, in the presence of Galactic foregrounds and gravitational lensing of the CMB. This framework is unique in its direct use of information from the achieved performance of current Stage 2–3 CMB experiments to robustly forecast the science reach of upcoming CMB-polarization endeavors. The methodology allows for rapid iteration over experimental configurations and offers a flexible way to optimize the design of future experiments, given a desired scientific goal. To form a closed-loop process, we couple this semianalytic tool with map-based validation studies, which allow for the injection of additional complexity and verification of our forecasts with several independent analysis methods. We document multiple rounds of forecasts for CMB-S4 using this process and the resulting establishment of the current reference design of the primordial gravitational-wave component of the Stage-4 experiment, optimized to achieve our science goals of detecting primordial gravitational waves for r > 0.003 at greater than 5σ, or in the absence of a detection, of reaching an upper limit of r < 0.001 at 95% CL

E-cigarettes, Hookah Pens and Vapes: Adolescent and Young Adult Perceptions of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems: Table 1.

Most studies have assessed use of “e-cigarettes” or “electronic cigarettes,” potentially excluding new electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), such as e-hookahs and vape pens. Little is known about how adolescents and young adults perceive ENDS and if their perceptions vary by sub-type. We explored ENDS perceptions among these populations