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Key Points Question What is the level of investment by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund clinical research focused on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations? Findings This cross-sectional study found 529 clinical research projects focused on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander participants funded by the NIH between 1992 and 2018, composing 0.17% of the total NIH budget. This proportion of the total NIH budget has only increased from 0.12% before 2000 to 0.18% after 2000. Meaning These findings suggest that without overt direction from federal entities, dedicated funds for health disparities research, and parallel efforts to increase diversity in the biomedical workforce, investments may continue to languish for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander populations.

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Purpose A growing body of research documents the significance of siblings and sibling relationships for development, mental health, and behavioral risk across childhood and adolescence. Nonetheless, few well-designed efforts have been undertaken to promote positive and reduce negative youth outcomes by enhancing sibling relationships. Methods Based on a theoretical model of sibling influences, we conducted a randomized trial of Siblings Are Special, a group-format afterschool program for 5th graders with a younger sibling in 2nd through 4th grade, which entailed 12 weekly afterschool sessions and 3 Family Nights. We tested program efficacy with a pre-posttest design with 174 families randomly assigned to condition. In home visits at both time points we collected data via parent questionnaires, child interviews, and observer-rated videotaped interactions and teachers rated children’s behavior at school. Results The program enhanced positive sibling relationships, appropriate strategies for parenting siblings, and child self-control, social competence, and academic performance; program exposure was also associated with reduced maternal depression and child internalizing problems. Results were robust across the sample, not qualified by sibling gender, age, family demographics, or baseline risk. No effects were found for sibling conflict, collusion or child externalizing problems; we will examine follow-up data to determine if short-term impacts lead to reduced negative behaviors over time. Conclusions The breadth of the SAS program’s impact is consistent with research suggesting that siblings are an important influence on development and adjustment and supports our argument that a sibling focus should be incorporated into youth and family-oriented prevention programs.

The overall aim of the two school-based pilot studies was to evaluate whether an approach to prevention that focused on changing child impulse control, decision making, and social competence can be effective in changing attitudes toward food intake and physical activity as risk factors for obesity. The strategy used was to translate specific components of one evidence-based program for violence prevention (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies: PATHS) into an elementary school curriculum program for obesity prevention. Both studies demonstrated significant changes in positive attitudes toward self-regulation of appetitive behavior. In addition, Study 2 demonstrated positive changes in actual food choices and television viewing patterns. Implications are that comprehensive efforts to prevent youth risk for obesity should include as one component school-based curricula that target self-regulation and decision-making skills.

Our study highlights four counterintuitive observations related to the smoking risk profiles and chronic disease outcomes among African Americans. The extant literature provides strong evidence of their existence and shows that long-standing paradoxes have been largely unaffected by changes in the social environment. African Americans smoke menthols disproportionately, and menthol's role in the African American smoking paradox has not been thoroughly explored. We propose discrete hypotheses that will help to explain the phenomena and encourage researchers to empirically test menthol's role in smoking initiation, transitions to regular smoking and chronic disease outcomes in African Americans.

Siblings play a significant but neglected role in family socialization dynamics, and focusing on the sibling relationship is a non-stigmatizing point of entry into the family for prevention programming. Siblings are Special (SAS) was designed as a universal program that targets both sibling relationship and parenting mediating processes in middle childhood to prevent behavior problems in adolescence. We describe the theoretical framework underlying SAS, the SAS curriculum, and the feasibility of the program based on a study of 128 middle-childhood aged sibling dyads. Data on the quality of program implementation, program fidelity, siblings’ engagement, and ratings of impact indicated the SAS program was acceptable to families and schools, that the curriculum could be implemented with high fidelity, that siblings and parents participated at high levels and were highly engaged, and that, from the perspective of group leaders, school administrators and parents, the program had a positive impact on the siblings.

The oxidation state and coordination environment of antimony (Sb) incorporated into polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles were estimated based on X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) at Sb K-edge. Prior to XAFS analyses, Sb concentrations in 177 PET bottles collected in Japan and China were determined, showing that 30.5% and 100% of Japanese and Chinese PET bottles, respectively, contained more than 10 mg/kg of Sb. Most of the bottles used for aseptic cold filling and carbonated drinks contained a larger amount of Sb. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) showed that the first neighboring atom of Sb in PET was estimated to be oxygen with a coordination number of about three. In addition, the contribution of Sb to Sb shell was discounted in the EXAFS, showing that Sb was not present as Sb2O3 in PET, although Sb was initially added as Sb2O3 in the production of PET. This information is consistent with the coordination environment estimated from the polycondensation reaction catalyzed by Sb, where Sb can be present as either Sb glycolate or Sb glycolate binding to the end group of the PET polymer. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) showed that Sb(III) initially added as Sb2O3 into PET was partially oxidized and the Sb(V) fractions reached approximately 50% in some samples. However, the oxidation state and coordination environment of Sb in PET had no relationship with the concentrations of Sb that leached into water from PET. Based on the present XAFS results and previous studies on the effects of temperature and others, it was concluded that the leaching behavior of Sb into water is primarily due to the degradation of PET itself, but is not related to the Sb species in the PET bottles.