Objective: To determine the prevalence and odds ratios for cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) among infants prenatally exposed to opioids with or without neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). Design: This study represents an exploratory, retrospective cohort study design of newborn medical health records from 2011 to 2016. Setting: Records were drawn from a regional health system located in South Central Appalachia. Population and Study Sample: The original population yielded 3 cohorts of infants: (1) infants with opioid exposure (OE) but not requiring pharmacological intervention (OE; N = 168); (2) infants with NOWS requiring pharmacological intervention (N = 294); and (3) infants with no opioid exposure (NOE; N = 16 090), the primary comparison group. Main Outcome: Infants in the NOWS and OE groups showed significantly increased prevalence and odds ratios for CL/P when compared to those in the NOE group. Results: Prevalence rates per 1000 live births for infants with OE (35.71) and infants with NOWS (6.80) were significantly higher than those for infants with NOE (1.37). Comparison of infants with OE to the NOE group revealed significantly increased odds for CL/P, isolated cleft palate (CP), cleft lip (CL), and cleft lip and palate (CLP) (27.05, 41.81, 19.26, 19.37, respectively; all Ps <.008). The odds ratios for infants with NOWS compared to the NOE group were significantly higher for CL/P and CP (5.00 and 10.98, respectively; Ps <.03) but not for CL and CLP. Conclusion: The results provide additional evidence that prenatal OE should be considered among the critical environmental risk factors that can contribute to CL/P.

Background: No previous study has focused on the inter-relationship among alcohol and drug use variables in the past year. This study aimed to classify the past year alcohol and drug use variables and investigate the selected variables in past year alcohol and drug use with the unmet need for mental health services among US adults. Methods: Data came from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Oblique principal component cluster analysis (OPCCA) was used to classify 37 variables on alcohol and drug use in the past year into disjoint clusters. Weighted multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations of selected variables with the unmet need. Results: 37 alcohol and drug use variables were divided into 7 clusters. The variable with the lowest 1-R2 ratio (R2 is the squared correlation) from each cluster was selected as follows: tobacco use, pain reliever use, tranquilizer use, stimulant use, zolpidem products use, illicit drug and alcohol use, and benzodiazepine tranquilizers misuse. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that pain reliever use (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.17–1.50), tranquilizer use (OR = 2.49, 95% CI = 2.16–2.86), stimulant use (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.01–1.47), and illicit drug and alcohol use (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.34–1.77) revealed positive associations with the unmet need for mental health services. Conclusion: This is the first study using OPCCA to reduce the dominations of alcohol and drug use; several alcohol and drug use variables in the past year were associated with unmet need of mental health services.

Drug injection is an increasingly important risk factor in the transmission of blood-borne pathogens, including the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of social network factors on HCV and HIV. The study was grounded in social network theory and sought to determine whether social network characteristics affect high-risk sexual and drug injection behavior as well as self-reported HIV and HCV status. The study design was a quantitative cross-sectional survey. A total of 181 participants in a needle exchange program completed a survey in Spanish assessing individual drug and sex risk practices as well as gathering information to describe the characteristics of participants' personal networks from an egocentric perspective. General estimating equation techniques were used to analyze the data. Results showed that only social network size was related to risky sexual behavior. Injecting risk behaviors were only impacted by personal network exposures, measured by the average number of years network members had injected. HIV self-reported serum status was correlated with trust, closeness, and number of family members named among the closest 5 network members. Last, HCV self-reported serum status was only related to the years that network members had been injecting drugs. This study has implications for positive social change in that public health practitioners may gain a better understanding of the social network characteristics associated with high-risk behaviors of those infected with HCV and HIV in order to develop health promotion programs to lower infections and mortality.

Nonmedical prescription drug (NMPD) use is a well-documented problem among college students, but few studies have examined nursing students' attitudes regarding NMPD. The purpose of this study was to compare nursing and non-nursing students' attitudes, risk factors, and current substance use. This descriptive, comparative design utilized a convenience sampling and social media to reach students over 18 years of age and enrolled in a Midwestern university. Twenty-nine students, 14 non-nursing and 15 nursing students, participated in this online survey. Substance use attitudes were measured using the Drug Attitude Scale (DAS). Risk factors for substance use were used as demographic questions and current drug use was measured using the Drug Abuse Screening Tool (DAST). Logistic regression (Chi-Square/Fisher's Exact) analyses were used to observe the association between risk factors for substance abuse and nursing/non-nursing students. Additionally, a Simple Linear Regression (Two-Sample T-tests) was used to assess the relationship between DAS and DAST scores between nursing/non-nursing students. Prior to discussing the results of the statistical tests, descriptive statistics of the demographic variables of the participants are presented. Data analysis revealed no significant difference in attitude, risk factors, and substance use among nursing students and non-nursing students. Limitations included the low number of participants and access to students via social media only. The fact that nursing students receive additional training in pharmacology, we presume these students know the risks of drug use, therefore nursing students would have a lower rate of substance use; however, this study revealed no significant difference in attitudes or current substance use among nursing and non-nursing students.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are a class of medications used in the treatment of pain, inflammation, and illness. These medications are common, affordable, and easy to access. For these reasons, NSAIDs are commonly used by athletes of all backgrounds for treating injuries and as ergogenic aids. However, despite these behaviors, NSAIDs have well-documented side effects and the efficacious nature of these medications has been brought into question. Despite this, many athletes continue to use these medications frequently and indiscriminately. It is not known why athletes use these medications in light of their questionable effectiveness and cited adverse effects. Therefore, this study was designed to (1) further investigate the prevalence of NSAID use in collegiate-level athletes, (2) investigate attitudes and behaviors toward the use of NSAIDs cross-tabulated by sport, gender, and competition level, and (3) investigate athletes' general knowledge of NSAIDs. Subjects for this study included 79 student-athletes (44 male; 25 female) attending Portland State University (PSU). The majority of the athletes started taking NSAIDs before high school (72% of the males and 64% of the females). Thirty-three percent of males and 32% of females reported that they had been taking NSAIDs within the past week. High in-season use of NSAIDs was reported by 52% of the male athletes and 48% of the female athletes, whereas off-season use was reported by 21% and 12% of the males and females, respectively. Cited reasons for NSAID use both in-season and off-season were relief of pain due to injury, prevention, recovery, soreness, and tightness. In total, 83% of males and 76% of females reported obtaining NSAIDs primarily through means other than health-care professionals. With regard to dosage, athletes reported taking NSAIDs based on product directions, instructions of an athletic trainer or perceived pain levels. An overwhelming majority of athletes (83% male; 76% female) were not aware of any side-effects from taking NSAIDs In summary, this study revealed a pattern of high NSAID use in athletes competing in-season compared to a high prevalence of low NSAID use in athletes off-season. It also revealed a high prevalence of non-prescription NSAID use. Additionally, there was a high prevalence of self-purchasing of NSAIDs, combined with self-medication and a long history of NSAID use. This study also revealed a general lack of knowledge about NSAIDs.

Parkinson' Disease (PD) is a motor disorder characterized by rigidity, tremor, and hypokinesia with secondary manifestations like defective posture and gait, mask like face and dementia. Over the years it may lead to inability to move, breath and ultimately patient may succumb to chest infection and embolism. Prevalence studies show that more than six million people around the world suffer from PD. At present, there is no cure for PD but there are effective treatments that can slow the progression of the disease and regulate its affects. PD results from a deficiency of dopamine so most drugs that produce a salutary effect in PD either potentiate dopamine or work as dopamine agonists. Hence, to keep the symptoms of PD to a minimum it is very important that the medications be consumed regularly, so that the dopamine level is maintained in the body of the subject. Electronic pillbox logger is a device that has been designed to ensure this very much required medication adherence in PD subjects, which can also be used to measure the response to oral medication. This work describes the design and implementation of an electronic pillbox logger for use by people suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD). The pillbox logger is designed to track medication adherence and prompt the user to take medication on time. It is pocket-sized, portable, and compartmented. It has a variety of alarm systems to remind the user to take the correct dose of their medication at the correct time. Most importantly, it keeps an electronic log of the time of dosage consumption by detecting the presence/absence of pills in the pillbox. This overcomes major limitations of other pillboxes with a logging function that are often too large to carry, contain a single compartment, or only record the time the container was opened rather than the presence or absence of pills. The proposed pillbox logger complements a wearable device under development for people with Parkinson's disease that continuously monitors impaired movement. The combination of the pillbox logger with the wearable sensor will permit clinicians to determine the response to oral therapies, which can be used to optimize therapy. People with PD consume similar pills throughout the day hence the pillbox logger has been designed to detect the presence/absence of pills in general in the pillbox rather than which specific pills are absent or present in the pillbox logger. This feature of the current design that the device records knowledge about pills in general in the pillbox logger and not about any specific pills is a major reason why the current design is specific to PD subjects only. However, though the current design of the pillbox logger is designed for people with Parkinson's Disease, the pillbox is suitable for other maladies in which the timing of the medication is critical. The described pillbox logger was built and the design was validated after running a number of tests. The battery powered pillbox logger is able to accurately store the information about the actual presence/absence of pills in each compartment of the pillbox. It is capable of sending out reminder alarms at the right time of the day and can be connected to a host computer using a USB cable to read the stored information from it. The proper functional working of the pillbox logger after thorough testing proves that the design of pillbox logger was successful.

Background: Cannabis drugs are the most used illicit drug in the Czech Republic. About 1,78 million people use cannabis, most of them are young people aged 15-34 years (Mravčík et al., 2020). Use in the young age, regular and intensive use of large amounts of cannabis is associated with the negative impact on health and life of users. Previous studies have described the harm redcution strategies, less is known about relative occurrence of the hram reduction stategies, especially in the czech environment. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate what kind of harm reduction strategies are used by cannabis users. Methods: The research was conducted as a quantitative study. This mapping study was aimed to describe the behaviour of cannabis users in relation to use of the harm reduction strategies, and to explore the relative occurrence of these strategies. As a method of data collection was used a questionnaire survey. Results: Most frequently emerged harm reduction strategies among cannabis users are in relation to the effects of use on physical health. Most of these strategies focus on minimising the harms associated with smoking cannabis, particularly marijuana cigarettes. Mental health strategies are based on the concept of set, where users often do not use if they observe negative feelings...

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Literature on stereotypes and implications of stereotype threat has grown considerably over the past decade. While numerous studies examine college major biases, they predominantly focus on STEM and business students. For Music Majors (MMs), some of the conventional musician stereotypes include susceptibility to heavy drinking, drug use, and their nonpecuniary advantages as artists. In this study, Q methodology, which incorporates a combination of quantitative and qualitative properties, was used to identify Non-Music Majors’ (NMMs) shared subjectivity among their opinions of MMs. The primary research questions were as follows: (a) What current stereotypes do Non-Music Majors hold regarding the Music Majors? (b) Which themes emerge based on Non-Music Majors’ detailed descriptions of Music Majors? The researcher additionally sought to explore the impetus behind dominant musician stereotypes, including their portrayals as perpetual starving artists, overly emotional, prone to heavy drinking and drug use, and financially irresponsible. The study had two main objectives: (a) to identify NMMs’ current stereotypes of MMs; and (b) to explore ways in which NMMs and MMs can implement a more close-knit alliance and cross-disciplinary partnerships and collaborations in college settings. The study was conducted in Spring 2023 with 30 NMMs from a large U.S. graduate school of education. The participants comprised only graduate-level students who had formally declared one primary major and participated remotely using an online Q Method Software. The study findings, which utilized Q analyses, thematic analyses of post-Q-sort surveys and interviews, provided a nuanced yet wide-ranging validation of the cross-disciplinary biases in college settings. The research revealed that NMMs viewed MMs as being born with innate talent/gift, who were eclectic, disciplined, and coming from high-income backgrounds. NMMs also perceived MMs as being perfectionists with many hobbies outside of music, who were endlessly curious but more prone to recreational drug use compared to NMMs. All participants shared that musician stereotypes, whether positive or negative, were pervasive in college settings. Stereotypes are universal: however, discussions of lesser-known stereotypes, such as college major biases, are seldom considered. Q methodology, in this respect, facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the diverse perspectives within a social group. When combined with post-Q-sort surveys and interviews, Q can be a powerful tool to help elucidate subjective perspectives—for educators and students alike—in dynamic and evolving educational contexts. The researcher hopes this study will encourage others to explore, analyze, and optimize the use of Q in the field of music and music education.

Using questionnaire survey generated data from a single school district, this study investigated the effects of family factors, peer factors, school problem behaviors, and psychosocial factors on adolescents' use of or abstinence from alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Following a review of literature, a theoretical framework incorporating family socialization theory was use to operationalize variables, develop indices, and generate hypotheses to be tested, as well as develop a general model of adolescent alcohol and other drug use and abstinence, incorporating the predictor variables. Using SPSSx procedures, factor analysis was used to develop the indices; the hypotheses were tested using Oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and F-ratio tests associated with regression analysis. The path analysis models were developed using multiple regression analysis and bivariate decomposition tables. For both junior high school students and high school students, users of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs were found to score higher on the Family Factors index, the Peer Factors index, School Problems index, and the Psychosocial Factors index. The model differed between alcohol and marijuana users, defining the conditions under which an adolescent is more likely to use or abstain from marijuana. While both family and peer factors effected the adolescents' choices of use or abstinence, the strongest predictor of use/abstinence was the peer use and attitudes factor. Family factors tended to be stronger in the younger age/grade levels than in the higher age/grade levels, as predicted from the theoretical framework.