Use of e-cigarettes and smoked tobacco in youth aged 14-15 years in New Zealand: findings from repeated cross-sectional studies (2014-19).

BACKGROUND: Media reports of a vaping epidemic among youth have raised concerns about the creation of a new generation of nicotine-dependent individuals who could graduate to cigarette smoking. We investigated the use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes in the youth of New Zealand from 2014 to 2019, with focus on daily use of these products as an indicator of potential dependence. METHODS: We analysed data from the Action for Smokefree 2025 Year-10 survey, an annual cross-sectional survey of tobacco use undertaken by almost half of all school students aged 14-15 years (21 504-31 021 students). The survey includes questions on whether students had ever smoked (even just a few puffs) and their current smoking behaviour (at least once a day, week, or month, or less often than once a month). In 2014, a question was added asking if students had ever tried an e-cigarette. Subsequent surveys asked about e-cigarette use at least once a day, week, or month, or less often than once a month. We compared the frequency of e-cigarette use with cigarette smoking by survey year, age, gender, ethnicity, and school decile (a proxy for socioeconomic status). We did χ2 analyses to compare categorical variables and Cochran-Armitage trend tests to assess changes over time. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine predictors of e-cigarette and cigarette use in 2019. FINDINGS: All measures of e-cigarette use increased and all measures of cigarette use decreased or remained static over time. Although the proportion of students who had ever tried e-cigarettes in 2019 (37·3%, 10 093 of 27 083), exceeded the proportion who had ever smoked (19·6%, 5375 of 27 354), daily use of products was low: e-cigarettes (3·1%, 832 of 26 532), cigarettes (2·1%, 575 of 27 212), both (0·6%, 159 of 27 633). In 2019, daily use of e-cigarettes was very low in never-smokers (0·8%, 175 of 21 385). Students who were Maori, Pacific, gender diverse, or from low-decile and mid-decile schools were more likely to be daily users of e-cigarettes or cigarettes, and males were more likely to be daily e-cigarette users, but less likely to smoke daily than females. INTERPRETATION: The overall decline in smoking over the past 6 years in New Zealand youth suggests that e-cigarettes might be displacing smoking. Ongoing monitoring will be important to determine whether the liberalisation of e-cigarette availability and marketing in New Zealand has any effect on long-term patterns of daily e-cigarette and cigarette use. FUNDING: New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Ranked Importance of Childhood Obesity Determinants: Parents' Views across Ethnicities in New Zealand.

Maori, Pacific, Indian, and New Zealand European pre-school children's caregivers' views on determinants of childhood obesity are needed to inform strategies that will reduce disparities in prevalence. Nineteen focus groups were conducted to explore the relative influence of factors contributing to body weight in children. Predetermined and participant-suggested factors were ranked. Discussion data were inductively analysed. The cost of healthy foods was the highest ranked factor across all groups. Ranked similarly were ease of access to takeaways and lack of time for food preparation. Cultural factors followed by screen time induced sedentariness in children and lack of time to ensure children exercised was next. Participant-raised factors included lack of familial, social, and health promotion support, and others' behaviour and attitudes negatively impacting what children ate. All groups rejected stereotyping that blamed culture for higher obesity rates. Compared to the Maori and NZ European groups, the Pacific Island and Indian participants spoke of losing culture, missing extended family support, and not having access to culturally appropriate nutrition education or social support and services. Public health policies need to mitigate the negative effects of economic deprivation on food insecurity. Complementary interventions that increase access to healthier meal choices more often are needed.

The Complexity of Food Provisioning Decisions by Maori Caregivers to Ensure the Happiness and Health of Their Children.

Obesity in children is a global health concern. In New Zealand, one in three school entrant children are overweight or obese. Maori, the indigenous people, are disproportionately represented among the lowest economic group and have a disproportionately high incidence of obesity. This study explored Maori parents' and caregivers' views of the relative importance of weight to health, and the facilitators and barriers to a healthy weight in children aged 6 months to 5 years. Using a grounded qualitative method, in-depth information was collected in focus groups with mostly urban parents and other caregivers. A general inductive thematic analysis (content driven) was used. Insufficient money was an overriding food provisioning factor, but cost interacted with the lack of time, the number of people to feed, their appetites, and allergies. Other factors included ideologies about healthy food, cultural values relating to food selection, serving, and eating, nutrition literacy, availability of food, cooking skills, and lack of help. Childhood obesity was not a priority concern for participants, though they supported interventions providing education on how to grow vegetables, how to plan and cook cheaper meals. Holistic interventions to reduce the negative effects of the economic and social determinants on child health more broadly were recommended.

Cell separation in kiwifruit without development of a specialised detachment zone.

BACKGROUND: Unlike in abscission or dehiscence, fruit of kiwifruit Actinidia eriantha develop the ability for peel detachment when they are ripe and soft in the absence of a morphologically identifiable abscission zone. Two closely-related genotypes with contrasting detachment behaviour have been identified. The 'good-peeling' genotype has detachment with clean debonding of cells, and a peel tissue that does not tear. The 'poor-peeling' genotype has poor detachability, with cells that rupture upon debonding, and peel tissue that fragments easily. RESULTS: Structural studies indicated that peel detachability in both genotypes occurred in the outer pericarp beneath the hypodermis. Immunolabelling showed differences in methylesterification of pectin, where the interface of labelling coincided with the location of detachment in the good-peeling genotype, whereas in the poor-peeling genotype, no such interface existed. This zone of difference in methylesterification was enhanced by differential cell wall changes between the peel and outer pericarp tissue. Although both genotypes expressed two polygalacturonase genes, no enzyme activity was detected in the good-peeling genotype, suggesting limited pectin breakdown, keeping cell walls strong without tearing or fragmentation of the peel and flesh upon detachment. Differences in location and amounts of wall-stiffening galactan in the peel of the good-peeling genotype possibly contributed to this phenotype. Hemicellulose-acting transglycosylases were more active in the good-peeling genotype, suggesting an influence on peel flexibility by remodelling their substrates during development of detachability. High xyloglucanase activity in the peel of the good-peeling genotype may contribute by having a strengthening effect on the cellulose-xyloglucan network. CONCLUSIONS: In fruit of A. eriantha, peel detachability is due to the establishment of a zone of discontinuity created by differential cell wall changes in peel and outer pericarp tissues that lead to changes in mechanical properties of the peel. During ripening, the peel becomes flexible and the cells continue to adhere strongly to each other, preventing breakage, whereas the underlying outer pericarp loses cell wall strength as softening proceeds. Together these results reveal a novel and interesting mechanism for enabling cell separation.