Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine
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Most restaurants serve customers excess calories which significantly contributes to the obesity epidemic. This pilot study tested the feasibility and acceptability of offering customers standardized portions to reduce caloric consumption when dining out in three restaurants. Portions were developed to limit quantity of food served, with lunches and dinners ≤ 700 cal and breakfast ≤ 500 cal. ⋯ A significant number of customers ordered from the Balanced Portions menus. Two of the three restaurants have decided to keep offering the Balanced Portions menus indefinitely. Following standardized portions guidelines is both feasible for restaurants and acceptable to customers.
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Few studies have investigated plants' healing effects, particularly through touch-based therapy, on older adults. As hypertension rates continue to climb worldwide, touch-based therapy for hypertension prevention has become a significant priority in public health initiatives. This study investigated the impact of tactile interaction with real grass (a landscape activity) versus artificial grass on older adults' physical and cognitive abilities. ⋯ Furthermore, the participants' brainwave patterns-measured in mean power units-exhibited an upward trend while interacting with real grass, whereas they exhibited a downward trend during the interaction with artificial grass. Moreover, the mean systolic blood pressure significantly decreased following interaction with real grass. These findings suggest that engaging with real grass through touch potentially alleviates mental stress, in contrast to the effects of artificial grass.
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Due to stigma or legal issues, populations with higher HIV risk are often hard to reach, which impedes accurate population estimation of HIV burden. To better sample hard-to-reach populations (HTRPs) for HIV surveillance, various sampling methods have been designed and/or used since HIV epidemic following the first reported AIDS cases in 1981. ⋯ However, current evidence is still inadequate for RDS to be considered the best option for sampling HTRPs. The field must continue to assess RDS and to develop new sampling approaches or modifications to existing approaches.
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Among sexual minority men (SMM), HIV and use of stimulants such as methamphetamine are linked with immune activation and systemic inflammation. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SMM encountered financial challenges and structural obstacles that might have uniquely contributed to immune dysregulation and systemic inflammation, beyond the impacts of HIV and stimulant use. Between August 2020 and February 2022, 72 SMM with and without HIV residing in South Florida enrolled in a COVID-19 prospective cohort study. ⋯ Homelessness (β = 0.25, p = 0.02) and history of arrest (β = 0.24, p = 0.04) independently predicted higher levels of sCD14 after adjusting for HIV status, SARS-CoV-2 infection, and recent stimulant use. Independent associations exist between structural barriers and immune activation and systemic inflammation in SMM with and without HIV. Future longitudinal research should further elucidate complex bio-behavioral mechanisms linking structural factors with immune activation and inflammation.
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Depression is a relevant mental illness affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. As urbanization accelerates, agglomeration of populations has altered individual social network distances and life crowding, which in turn affects depressive prevalence. However, the association between depression and population agglomeration (PA) remains controversial. ⋯ The higher the DD, the higher the risk of depression. Meanwhile, DD also played a moderating role in the association between PA and individual depression. Our observations suggest that the optimistic level of agglomeration for individual mental health is within 1500 to 2000 persons per square kilometer.