bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Drug Refractory Epilepsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial in South Africa—A Pilot Study
Authors: Lundgren Tobias , Dahl JoAnne , Melin Lennart , Kies Bryan
Published: November 2006

Summary:  Purpose: Psychological interventions in the treatment of epilepsy have been developed and evaluated for many years but the amount of research has hardly made an impact on how epilepsy is treated. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a psychological treatment program consisting of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) together with some behavioral seizure control technology shown to be successful in earlier research.

Methods: The method consisted of a randomized controlled trial group design with repeated measures (n = 27). All participants had an EEG verified epilepsy diagnosis with drug refractory seizures. Participants were randomized into one of two conditions, ACT or supportive therapy (ST). Therapeutic effects were measured by examining changes in quality of life (SWLS and WHOQOL) and seizure index (frequency × duration). Both treatment conditions consisted of only nine hours of professional therapy distributed in two individual and two group sessions during a four‐week period.

Results: The results showed significant effects over all of the dependent variables for the ACT group as compared to the ST group at six‐ and twelve‐month follow‐ups.

Conclusions: The results from this study suggest that a short‐term psychotherapy program combined with anticonvulsant drugs may help to prevent the long‐term disability that occurs from drug refractory seizures.
Postictal Mania versus Postictal Psychosis: Differences in Clinical Features, Epileptogenic Zone, and Brain Functional Changes during Postictal Period
Authors: Nishida Takuji , Kudo Tatsuya , Inoue Yushi , Nakamura Fumihiro , Yoshimura Masaki , Matsuda Kazumi , Yagi Kazuichi , Fujiwara Tateki
Published: November 2006

Summary: Purpose:To clarify the differences between postictal mania (PIM) and postictal psychosis (PIP).

Methods:Five patients with PIM were compared to 17 patients with PIP, with respect to clinical, epileptological, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging features. PIM was distinguished from PIP by the symptoms observed in the postictal period based on the ICD‐10 criteria.

Results:Postictal manic episodes lasted for a longer period than postictal psychotic episodes. Patients with PIM had more recurrent postictal episodes than patients with PIP. The age at onset of epilepsy in patients with PIM was older than that in patients with PIP. PIM was associated with frontal lobe and temporal lobe epilepsies, whereas PIP was associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. The estimated epileptogenic zone was on the language dominant side in PIM, whereas there was no predominant hemispheric laterality in PIP. Electroencephalography (EEG) performed during the early period of postictal manic and psychotic episodes showed decreased frequency of interictal epileptiform discharges in both PIM and PIP. Single‐photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during postictal manic and psychotic episodes showed increased perfusion in the temporal and/or frontal lobes in both PIM and PIP. Three patients with PIM showed increased perfusion during postictal episodes on bilateral or the language nondominant side, which were contralateral to the estimated epileptogenic zone, whereas three patients with PIP showed increased perfusion on the areas, which were ipsilateral to the estimated epileptogenic zone.

Conclusions:PIM has a distinct position among the mental disorders observed in the postictal period.
Oral leishmaniasis: a clinicopathological study of 11 cases
Authors: Motta ACF , Lopes MA , Ito FA , Carlos‐Bregni R , De Almeida OP , Roselino AM
Published: November 2006

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease with diverse clinical manifestations, and considered a public health problem in endemic countries such as Brazil. Mucosal lesions usually involve the upper respiratory tract, with a predilection for nose and larynx. Oral involvement is unusual and in most cases it becomes evident after several years of resolution of the original cutaneous lesions. Oral lesions classically appear as mucosal ulcerations, mainly in the hard or soft palate. This report describes the clinicopathological data of 11 cases of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis with oral manifestations. Two cases of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and one case of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism or DNA sequencing in mucosal samples.
Molecular detection and identification of Synergistes phylotypes in primary endodontic infections
Authors: Siqueira JF , Rôças IN
Published: November 2006

Aim:  Uncultivated phylotypes from the Synergistes group have recently emerged as suspected endodontic pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the presence and identity of these bacteria in primary endodontic infections using a 16S rRNA gene‐based group‐specific heminested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol.

Materials and methods:  Genomic DNA was isolated directly from clinical samples and used as templates for PCR. Amplicons from positive specimens were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed to determine species identity.

Results:  Overall, about one‐third of the samples harbored Synergistes bacteria. The following phylotypes were disclosed: oral clones W028, BA121/P4G_18 P1, W090, BH017 and E3_33.

Conclusions:  These results demonstrated that as‐yet uncultivated Synergistes phylotypes are present in the endodontic microbiota and a role in causation of apical periodontitis is suggested though remains unproven.
Deal or No Deal?
Authors: Wolstenholme Linda , Haigh John
Published: November 2006

Deal or No Deal? , a game show fronted in the UK by TV smoothie Noel Edmonds, has been a surprise hit of TV scheduling. In the interests of statistical analysis Linda Wolstenholme sat through 30 hours of recordings of daytime television. With John Haigh she tells us what competitors should do to win.
Hepatocyte‐specific interplay of transcription factors at the far‐upstream enhancer of the carbamoylphosphate synthetase gene upon glucocorticoid induction
Authors: Hoogenkamp Maarten , Gaemers Ingrid C. , Schoneveld Onard J. L. M. , Das Atze T. , Grange Thierry , Lamers Wouter H.
Published: November 2006

Carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I is the flux‐determining enzyme of the ornithine cycle, and neutralizes toxic ammonia by converting it to urea. An 80 bp glucocorticoid response unit located 6.3 kb upstream of the transcription start site mediates hormone responsiveness and liver‐specific expression of carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I. The glucocorticoid response unit consists of response elements for the glucocorticoid receptor, forkhead box A, CCAAT/enhancer‐binding protein, and an unidentified protein. With only four transcription factor response elements, the carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I glucocorticoid response unit is a relatively simple unit. The relationship between carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I expression and in vivo occupancy of the response elements was examined by comparing a carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I‐expressing hepatoma cell line with a carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I‐negative fibroblast cell line. DNaseI hypersensitivity assays revealed an open chromatin configuration of the carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I enhancer in hepatoma cells only. In vivo footprinting assays showed that the accessory transcription factors of the glucocorticoid response unit bound to their response elements in carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I‐positive cells, irrespective of whether carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I expression was induced with hormones. In contrast, the binding of glucocorticoid receptor to the carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I glucocorticoid response unit was dependent on treatment of the cells with glucocorticoids. Only forkhead box A was exclusively present in hepatoma cells, and therefore appears to be an important determinant of the observed tissue specificity of carbamoylphosphate synthetase‐I expression. As the glucocorticoid receptor is the only DNA‐binding protein specifically recruited to the glucocorticoid response unit upon stimulation by glucocorticoids, it is likely to be directly responsible for the transcriptional activation mediated by the glucocorticoid response unit.
Allosteric monofunctional aspartate kinases from Arabidopsis
Authors: Curien Gilles , Laurencin Mathieu , Robert‐Genthon Mylène , Dumas Renaud
Published: November 2006

Plant monofunctional aspartate kinase is unique among all aspartate kinases, showing synergistic inhibition by lysine and S‐adenosyl‐l‐methionine (SAM). The Arabidopsis genome contains three genes for monofunctional aspartate kinases. We show that aspartate kinase 2 and aspartate kinase 3 are inhibited only by lysine, and that aspartate kinase 1 is inhibited in a synergistic manner by lysine and SAM. In the absence of SAM, aspartate kinase 1 displayed low apparent affinity for lysine compared to aspartate kinase 2 and aspartate kinase 3. In the presence of SAM, the apparent affinity of aspartate kinase 1 for lysine increased considerably, with K0.5 values for lysine inhibition similar to those of aspartate kinase 2 and aspartate kinase 3. For all three enzymes, the inhibition resulted from an increase in the apparent Km values for the substrates ATP and aspartate. The mechanism of aspartate kinase 1 synergistic inhibition was characterized. Inhibition by lysine alone was fast, whereas synergistic inhibition by lysine plus SAM was very slow. SAM by itself had no effect on the enzyme activity, in accordance with equilibrium binding analyses indicating that SAM binding to aspartate kinase 1 requires prior binding of lysine. The three‐dimensional structure of the aspartate kinase 1–Lys–SAM complex has been solved [Mas‐Droux C, Curien G, Robert‐Genthon M, Laurencin M, Ferrer JL & Dumas R (2006) Plant Cell18, 1681–1692]. Taken together, the data suggest that, upon binding to the inactive aspartate kinase 1–Lys complex, SAM promotes a slow conformational transition leading to formation of a stable aspartate kinase 1–Lys–SAM complex. The increase in aspartate kinase 1 apparent affinity for lysine in the presence of SAM thus results from the displacement of the unfavorable equilibrium between aspartate kinase 1 and aspartate kinase 1–Lys towards the inactive form.
Capital gains
Authors: Aguiar‐Conraria Luís , Shell Karl
Published: November 2006

We analyze a simple overlapping‐generations model with two capital goods. The dynamical system is defined by savings behavior and short‐run perfect‐foresight asset‐market clearing. Because lifetimes are finite, there is no transversality condition. If there is a bubble in asset pricing, it will burst in finite time: expectations will eventually be frustrated, but this might take several generations. This raises the question of whether (infinite) long‐run perfect foresight is a reasonable assumption for overlapping‐generations economies and, hence, whether bursting bubbles can occur in equilibrium.
Centennial history and leadership of College of Nursing, Yonsei University
Authors: LEE Chung Yul , HAM Ok Kyung
Published: November 2006

In 2006, the College of Nursing, Yonsei University, celerated its centennial history as being the first formal nursing education institution that has been producing graduates every year in Korea since 1906. The purpose of this paper was to illustrate the contribution to nursing education, nursing and health policy, international participation, and nursing leadership of the college. Based its contribution, the college can be recognized as the leading nursing school in South Korea, leading Korean nursing throughout the 20th century.
Ultrastructural investigations of the ovary and oogenesis in the pycnogonids Cilunculus armatus and Ammothella biunguiculata (Pycnogonida, Ammotheidae)
Authors: Miyazaki Katsumi , Biliński Szczepan M.
Published: November 2006

Abstract. Ovarian ultrastructure and oogenesis in two pycnogonid species, Cilunculus armatus and Ammothella biunguiculata, were investigated. The ovary is morphologically and functionally divided into trunk and pedal parts. The former represents the germarium and contains very young germ cells in a pachytene or postpachytene phase, whereas the latter houses developing previtellogenic and vitellogenic oocytes and represents the vitellarium. Intercellular bridges were occasionally found between young (trunk) germ cells. This indicates that in pycnogonids, as in other animal groups, at the onset of oogenesis clusters of germ cells are generated. As nurse cells are absent in the ovaries of investigated species, the clusters must secondarily split into individual oocytes. In the vitellarium, the oocytes are located outside the ovary. Each oocyte is connected to the ovarian tissue by a stalk composed of several somatic cells. The stalk cells directly associated with the oocyte are equipped with irregular projections that reach the oocyte plasma membrane. This observation suggests that the stalk cells may play a nutritive role. The ooplasm of vitellogenic oocytes comprises mitochondria, free ribosomes, stacks of annulate lamellae, active Golgi complexes, and vesicles derived from these complexes. Within the latter, numerous electron‐dense bodies are present. We suggest that these bodies contribute to yolk formation.
First e-VLBI observations of GRS 1915+105
Authors: Rushton A. , Spencer R. E. , Strong M. , Campbell R. M. , Casey S. , Fender R. P. , Garrett M. A. , Miller-Jones J. C. A. , Pooley G. G. , Reynolds C. , Szomoru A. , Tudose V. , Paragi Z.
Published: November 2006

We present results from the first successful open call electronic very-long-baseline interferometry (e-VLBI) science run, observing the X-ray binary GRS 1915+105. e-VLBI science allows the rapid production of VLBI radio maps, within hours of an observation rather than weeks, facilitating a decision for follow-up observations. A total of six telescopes observing at 5 GHz across the European VLBI Network (EVN) were correlated in real time at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). Constant data rates of 128 Mbps were transferred from each telescope, giving 4 TB of raw sampled data over the 12 hours of the whole experiment. Throughout this, GRS 1915+105 was observed for a total of 5.5 h, producing 2.8 GB of visibilities of correlated data. A weak flare occurred during our observations, and we detected a slightly resolved component of 2.7 × 1.2 ms with a position angle of 140°± 2°. The peak brightness was 10.2 mJy per beam, with a total integrated radio flux of 11.1 mJy.
Guestworkers in Europe: A Resurrection?
Authors: Castles Stephen
Published: November 2006

Around 1974, most Western European countries abandoned migrant labor recruitment, and introduced restrictive entry rules. Today, policymakers are reexamining temporary migrant worker programs. This article examines demographic, economic, and social pressures for labor recruitment, discusses temporary migrant worker programs in Germany and the United Kingdom, and examines the European Commission's 2005 Policy Plan for Legal Migration. Current approaches differ significantly from the past and there is no question of a general return to labor recruitment policies. However, today's policies do share some common features with past guestworker programs, and may lead to negative social outcomes in both receiving and sending countries.
A Country on the Move: International Migration in Post-Communist Albania
Authors: Carletto Calogero , Davis Benjamin , Stampini Marco , Zezza Alberto
Published: November 2006

Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of transition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians live abroad, mostly in nearby Greece and Italy, with the vast majority coming from a limited number of districts located at the coastal and transport gateways to these destination countries, as well as Tirana. The available data also suggest that a similar number have considered migrating, and of these, half have tried and failed. Almost one-half of the children who since 1990 no longer live with their parents are now living abroad, a number of almost exodus proportions. This article also identifies clear patterns of temporary migration, with Greece being by far the most important destination and rural areas from the Center and NorthEast of the country being the primary origins of these flows. Although migration, with the resulting remittances, has become an indispensable part of Albanian economic development, there is increasing consensus on the necessity to devise more appropriate, sustainable strategies to lift households out of poverty and promote the country's growth.
Conversion as a Migration Strategy in a Transit Country: Iranian Shiites Becoming Christians in Turkey
Authors: Akcapar Sebnem Koser
Published: November 2006

The role of religion during migration processes has been overlooked by scholars in the past although the relationship between religion and migration has a long history. Normally, religion is considered as an integrating agent, but for some Iranian asylum seekers in Turkey, religion and especially religious conversion is used as a tool for migration. This article draws on the migration histories of Iranian asylum seekers in Turkey who initially intended to go further west only to have stayed in Turkey either because of the long procedures of asylum application in Turkey or because they were rejected and have become “illegal aliens” who do not want to return to Iran. Turkey still preserves geographic limitation of the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees. Therefore it does not accept non-European asylum seekers to settle on Turkish soil. Ironically, however, most asylum applications were made by people from the Middle East, mainly from Iran. Based on the extensive fieldwork carried out in various cities in Turkey where the Iranian migrants are heavily concentrated, this article demonstrates how conversion from Shi'a Islam to Christianity is used as a migration strategy and how and to what extent these asylum seekers use religion and their newly acquired social and religious networks within churches of the transit country to reach ultimately the West as refugees. As conversion is sustained through social networks as well as churches and missionaries, this unique situation can be explained by employing the social capital theory within the context of an institutional component.
Occupational Mobility among Legal Immigrants to the United States
Authors: Akresh Ilana Redstone
Published: November 2006

Using data from the New Immigrant Survey Pilot, which follows immigrants for one year after receiving green cards, occupation in the U.S. is compared with that of the last job abroad. Fifty percent of immigrants experience downgrading. Among the highest-skilled immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, more than three-fourths end up in lower-skilled jobs than what they had abroad. Human capital acquired in Latin America and the Caribbean is valued less than that from Europe, Australia, and Canada in the U.S. labor market, while immigrants with some U.S. education can increase the returns to that acquired previously abroad.
Antiviral Activities of Novel 5-Phosphono-Pent-2-en-1-yl Nucleosides and Their Alkoxyalkyl Phosphonoesters
Authors: Choo Hyunah , Beadle James R. , Kern Earl R. , Prichard Mark N. , Keith Kathy A. , Hartline Caroll B. , Trahan Julissa , Aldern Kathy A. , Korba Brent E. , Hostetler Karl Y.
Published: November 2006

Three acyclic nucleoside phosphonates are currently approved for clinical use against infections caused by cytomegalovirus (Vistide), hepatitis B virus (Hepsera), and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (Viread). This important antiviral class inhibits viral polymerases after cellular uptake and conversion to their diphosphates, bypassing the first phosphorylation, which is required for conventional nucleoside antivirals. Small chemical alterations in the acyclic side chain lead to marked differences in antiviral activity and the spectrum of activity of acyclic nucleoside phosphonates against various classes of viral agents. We synthesized a new class of acyclic nucleoside phosphonates based on a 5-phosphono-pent-2-en-1-yl base motif in which the oxygen heteroatom usually present in acyclic nucleoside phosphonates has been replaced with a double bond. Since the intrinsic phosphonate moiety leads to low oral bioavailability and impaired cellular penetration, we also prepared the hexadecyloxypropyl esters of the 5-phosphono-pent-2-en-1-yl nucleosides. Our earlier work showed that this markedly increases antiviral activity and oral bioavailability. Although the 5-phosphono-pent-2-en-1-yl nucleosides themselves were not active, the hexadecyloxypropyl esters were active against DNA viruses and hepatitis B virus, in vitro. Notably, the hexadecyloxypropyl ester of 9-(5-phosphono-pent-2-en-1-yl)-adenine was active against hepatitis B virus mutants resistant to lamivudine, emtricitabine, and adefovir.
Putative Role of β-1,3 Glucans in
Candida albicans
Biofilm Resistance
Authors: Nett Jeniel , Lincoln Leslie , Marchillo Karen , Massey Randall , Holoyda Kathleen , Hoff Brian , VanHandel Michelle , Andes David
Published: November 2006

Biofilms are microbial communities, embedded in a polymeric matrix, growing attached to a surface. Nearly all device-associated infections involve growth in the biofilm life style. Biofilm communities have characteristic architecture and distinct phenotypic properties. The most clinically important phenotype involves extraordinary resistance to antimicrobial therapy, making biofilm infections very difficulty to cure without device removal. The current studies examine drug resistance in
Candida albicans
biofilms. Similar to previous reports, we observed marked fluconazole and amphotericin B resistance in a
C. albicans
biofilm both in vitro and in vivo. We identified biofilm-associated cell wall architectural changes and increased β-1,3 glucan content in
C. albicans
cell walls from a biofilm compared to planktonic organisms. Elevated β-1,3 glucan levels were also found in the surrounding biofilm milieu and as part of the matrix both from in vitro and in vivo biofilm models. We thus investigated the possible contribution of β-glucans to antimicrobial resistance in
Candida albicans
biofilms. Initial studies examined the ability of cell wall and cell supernatant from biofilm and planktonic
C. albicans
to bind fluconazole. The cell walls from both environmental conditions bound fluconazole; however, four- to fivefold more compound was bound to the biofilm cell walls. Culture supernatant from the biofilm, but not planktonic cells, bound a measurable amount of this antifungal agent. We next investigated the effect of enzymatic modification of β-1,3 glucans on biofilm cell viability and the susceptibility of biofilm cells to fluconazole and amphotericin B. We observed a dose-dependent killing of in vitro biofilm cells in the presence of three different β-glucanase preparations. These same concentrations had no impact on planktonic cell viability. β-1,3 Glucanase markedly enhanced the activity of both fluconazole and amphotericin B. These observations were corroborated with an in vivo biofilm model. Exogenous biofilm matrix and commercial β-1,3 glucan reduced the activity of fluconazole against planktonic
C. albicans
in vitro. In sum, the current investigation identified glucan changes associated with
C. albicans
biofilm cells, demonstrated preferential binding of these biofilm cell components to antifungals, and showed a positive impact of the modification of biofilm β-1,3 glucans on drug susceptibility. These results provide indirect evidence suggesting a role for glucans in biofilm resistance and present a strong rationale for further molecular dissection of this resistance mechanism to identify new drug targets to treat biofilm infections.
Potential reduced exposure products (PREPs) in industry trial testimony
Authors: Wayne Geoffrey Ferris
Published: November 2006

Objective:To identify patterns in trial testimony that may reflect on the intentions or expectations of tobacco manufacturers with regard to the introduction of potential reduced exposure products (PREPs).

Design:Research was conducted using the Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) collection of trial testimony and depositions housed online at Tobacco Documents Online (www.tobaccodocuments.org). Relevant testimony was identified through full-text searches of terms indicating PREPs or harm reduction strategies. The role and function of PREPs in testimony were classified according to common and contrasting themes. These were analysed in the context of broader trial arguments and against changes in time period and the market.

Results:Analysis of testimony suggests that the failure of PREPs in the market tempered initial industry enthusiasm and made protection of the conventional cigarette market its major priority. The “breakthrough” character of PREPs has been de-emphasised, with trial arguments instead positioning PREPs as simply another choice for consumers. This framework legitimises the sale of conventional brands, and shifts the responsibility for adoption of safer products from the manufacturer to the consumer. Likewise, testimony has abandoned earlier dramatic health claims made with regard to PREPs, which had undermined industry arguments regarding efforts to reduce harm in conventional products. More recent testimony advocates the broad acceptance of independent guidelines that would validate use of health claims and enable the industry to market PREPs to consumers.

Conclusion:Trial testimony reflects the changing role and positioning of PREPs by the tobacco industry. The findings are of particular importance with regard to future evaluation and potential regulation of reduced harm products.
Consumer acceptable risk: how cigarette companies have responded to accusations that their products are defective
Authors: Cummings K Michael , Brown Anthony , Douglas Clifford E
Published: November 2006

Objective:To describe arguments used by cigarette companies to defend themselves against charges that their cigarettes were defective and that they could and should have done more to make cigarettes less hazardous.

Methods:The data for this paper come from the opening statements made by defendants in four court cases: two class action lawsuits (Engle 1999, and Blankenship 2001) and two individual cases (Boeken 2001, and Schwarz 2002). The transcripts of opening statements were reviewed and statements about product defect claims, product testing, and safe cigarette research were excerpted and coded.

Results:Responses by cigarette companies to charges that their products were defective has been presented consistently across different cases and by different companies. Essentially the arguments made by cigarette companies boil down to three claims: (1) smoking is risky, but nothing the companies have done has made cigarettes more dangerous than might otherwise be the case; (2) nothing the companies have done or said has kept someone from stopping smoking; and (3) the companies have spent lots of money to make the safest cigarette acceptable to the smoker.

Conclusions:Cigarette companies have argued that their products are inherently dangerous but not defective, and that they have worked hard to make their products safer by lowering the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes as recommended by members of the public health community. As a counter argument, plaintiff attorneys should focus on how cigarette design changes have actually made smoking more acceptable to smokers, thereby discouraging smoking cessation.
“Everyone knew but no one had proof”: tobacco industry use of medical history expertise in US courts, 1990–2002
Authors: Proctor Robert N
Published: November 2006

Historians have played an important role in recent tobacco litigation, helping the industry with its defence of “common knowledge” and “open controversy”. Historians re-narrate the past, creating an account for judges and juries that makes it appear that “everyone has always known” that cigarettes are harmful, meaning that smokers have only themselves to blame for their illnesses. Medical historians are also employed to argue that “honest doubts” persisted in the medical community long past the 1950s, justifying as responsible the industry’s longstanding claim of “no proof” of hazards. The industry’s experts emphasise the “good science” supported by the industry, and ignore the industry’s role in spreading doubts about the reality of tobacco hazards.
The temporal relationship between advertising and sales of low-tar cigarettes
Authors: Reed Mark B , Anderson Christy M , Burns David M
Published: November 2006

Objective and hypothesis:To determine whether a temporal relationship exists between the advertising and sales of low-tar cigarettes. It was hypothesised that increases in the advertising of low-tar cigarettes would precede increases in sales for these cigarettes.

Methods:The themes of cigarette advertisements were reviewed and coded for 20 low-tar cigarette brands advertised in 13 widely read magazines in the US between 1960 and 1996. These 20 brands represented most of the low-tar cigarette advertisements and cigarette sales from 1967 to 1996. Cigarette sales data were obtained from the 1994 Maxwell report that summarises all cigarette sales from 1925 to 1990. If the advertisement referred to the low-tar attributes of the cigarette advertised, the advertisement was coded as having a low-tar theme and was included in the analysis.

Results:Five different graphical presentations of the relationship between the advertising and sales of the 20 low-tar cigarette brands showed a temporal relationship between low-tar advertising and sales for these brands. This relationship was observed for brands that introduced a low-tar alternative into an existing brand family (eg, Marlboro Light) and for new exclusively low-tar brands (eg, Carlton). Despite large increases in the advertising for the exclusively low-tar brands, sales of these brands remained low relative to sales of the low-tar alternative brands.

Conclusions:Increases in print advertising of 20 of the most popular low-tar cigarette brands were followed by increases in sales for these cigarettes. Despite increases in the advertising of exclusively low-tar brands in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the sales of these brands never matched the sales of the low-tar alternative brands. This suggests that it may have been easier to get smokers to switch to low-tar brands within a brand family compared with entirely new low-tar brands. Over the past 30 years, the marketing of low-tar cigarettes as a healthier alternative to higher-tar cigarettes has resulted in these brands dominating the market, and may have kept concerned smokers from quitting.
Marlboro UltraSmooth: a potentially reduced exposure cigarette?
Authors: Laugesen Murray , Fowles Jefferson
Published: November 2006

Aim:To compare relative toxic emissions scores (RTE) of the carbon filter cigarette Marlboro UltraSmooth (MUS), against regular Marlboro, Holiday, and British Columbian brands.

Method:MUS cigarettes were purchased in Tampa, Florida; Marlboro regular and Holiday were purchased in Auckland, New Zealand, and all emissions tested by Labstat International Inc, Kitchener, Ontario under Health Canada Intensive (HCI) machine-smoking conditions (55 ml puff per 30 seconds, filter ventilation holes blocked) against: (1) previous same brand emissions tested under ISO (International Organization for Standardization) conditions; (2) ISO and HCI average emissions for 16 regular brands sold in British Columbia (BC), the reference standard. Toxicants, selected by toxicological risk assessment, enabled estimation of an RTE per brand, and RTE per mg of nicotine.

Results:The BC standard for RTE in both ISO and HCI test modes, including metals and nitrosamines, was set at 100. Hereafter excluding them, RTE in ISO mode for BC was 97, MUS 4, Marlboro 102, and Holiday regular 99; and in HCI test mode BC was 97, MUS 42, Marlboro regular 107, and Holiday 95. From ISO to HCI, MUS total puff volume increased 50%, from 252 ml to 380 ml; nicotine yield increased 2.6 fold. Normalising for nicotine (RTE per mg nicotine), in ISO test mode, the BC standard was 97, MUS 10, Marlboro regular 124, and Holiday regular 107. In HCI mode, however, MUS/nicotine at 104 exceeded the average BC standard of 97; Marlboro regular was 137, and Holiday regular 97; MUS ranked sixth highest among 18 regular brands. MUS contained 103 mg of carbon in its 304 mg filter, which was 55% ventilated.

Conclusion:The combined acetate-carbon filter of MUS performed best at low smoke volumes on ISO testing. Under more smoker-realistic intensive machine testing, and correcting for relative nicotine concentration and compensatory smoking, MUS increased the RTE, for all toxicants combined, for carcinogens, and for cardiovascular toxicants, compared with most regular brands. MUS was not a potentially reduced-exposure product (PREP) under smoker-realistic test conditions, and thus would not be expected to reduce overall harm. It is unrealistic to expect that even major design changes, as seen in MUS, or a regulatory framework to enforce such changes, could reduce cigarette smoking mortality risks to acceptable levels.
An uncontrolled trial of cytisine (Tabex) for smoking cessation: Table 1
Authors: Zatonski Witold , Cedzynska Magdalena , Tutka Piotr , West Robert
Published: November 2006

Objectives:Cytisine (Tabex) has been licensed in Eastern Europe as an aid to smoking cessation for 40 years. Cytisine is a partial agonist with high affinity binding to the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor believed to be central to the rewarding effect of nicotine. There is insufficient information on effectiveness to warrant licensing by modern standards. To assess whether full-scale controlled trials are warranted, this study sought to obtain an estimate of the 12-month continuous abstinence rates of smokers using cytisine with minimal behavioural support.

Design:An uncontrolled, open-label trial.

Setting:A smokers’ clinic in an oncology centre in Warsaw, Poland.

Subjects:436 consecutive attendees of the smokers’ clinic of whom 191 were male. The mean dependence score (Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence) was 6.1.

Intervention:The standard regimen of Tabex (cytisine) was used, involving 25 days of treatment with minimal behavioural support.

Main outcome measure:Self-reported continuous abstinence for 12 months; with abstinence verified by carbon monoxide at the final follow up (after 12 months).

Results:60 participants (13.8% of the total sample) were abstinent for 12 months. Of the 315 subjects, who had taken the drug, 49 (15.5%) stopped cytisine because of adverse effects (mostly gastric disturbances and nausea), although they were not serious. The frequency of the minor adverse effects, primarily gastric disturbance, was similar to that observed in previous studies with the drug.

Conclusions:The long-term abstinence rates were similar to those observed in smokers receiving nicotine replacement therapy. Full-scale randomised trials of cytisine (Tabex), conducted to the standards required by regulatory authorities, are warranted.
Sidestream cigarette smoke toxicity increases with aging and exposure duration
Authors: Schick Suzaynn , Glantz Stanton A
Published: November 2006

Objectives:To determine the effects of aging on the toxicity of sidestream tobacco smoke, the complex chemical mixture that enters the air from the lit end of burning cigarettes and constitutes the vast bulk of secondhand smoke.

Design:Statistical analysis of data from controlled experimental exposures of Sprague Dawley rats to fresh and aged (for more than 30 minutes) sidestream smoke for up to 90 days followed by histological sectioning of the respiratory epithelium. The data were obtained from a series of experiments conducted at Philip Morris’ formerly secret INBIFO (Institut für Biologische Forschung) laboratory in Germany.

Results:Using total particulate material as the measure of smoke exposure, aging sidestream cigarette smoke for at least 30 minutes increases its toxicity fourfold for 21 day exposures and doubles the toxicity for 90 day exposures, relative to fresh sidestream smoke.

Conclusions:These results help explain the relatively large biological effects of secondhand smoke compared to equivalent mass doses of mainstream smoke.
The US Public Health Service “treating tobacco use and dependence clinical practice guidelines” as a legal standard of care: Table 1
Authors: Torrijos Randy M , Glantz Stanton A
Published: November 2006

Background:The important factors in evaluating the role of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in medical malpractice litigation have been discussed for several years, but have focused on broad policy implications rather than on a concrete example of how an actual guideline might be evaluated. There are four items that need to be considered in negligence torts: legal duty, a breach of that duty, causal relationship between breach and injury, and damages.

Objective:To identify the arguments related to legal duty.

Results:The Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence (revised 2000) CPG, sponsored by the US Public Health Service, recommends effective and inexpensive treatments for nicotine addiction, the largest preventable cause of death in the US, and can be used as an example to focus on important considerations about the appropriateness of CPGs in the judicial system. Furthermore, the failure of many doctors and hospitals to deal with tobacco use and dependence raises the question of whether this failure could be considered malpractice, given the Public Health Service guideline’s straightforward recommendations, their efficacy in preventing serious disease and cost-effectiveness.

Conclusion:Although each case of medical malpractice depends on a multitude of factors unique to individual cases, a court could have sufficient basis to find that the failure to adequately treat the main cause of preventable disease and death in the US qualifies as a violation of the legal duty that doctors and hospitals owe to patients habituated to tobacco use and dependence.
Epidemiology of the third wave of tobacco litigation in the United States, 1994–2005
Authors: Douglas Clifford E , Davis Ronald M , Beasley John K
Published: November 2006

Objective:To describe the epidemiology of litigation against the tobacco industry in the United States during the years 1994–2005 (described as the “third wave” of tobacco litigation). “Epidemiology” refers to the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in populations. We apply the term “epidemiology” to the litigation context for purposes of characterising qualitatively and, to the extent possible, quantitatively the variety of cases litigated against tobacco manufacturers and allied tobacco interests during the third wave and their impact on the tobacco industry.

Methods:The data for this paper come from legal cases identified in the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) collection (http://tobaccodocuments.org/datta), transcripts of testimony and related documents found in DATTA, government-mandated reports filed by tobacco manufacturers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, investment company reports, reports and analyses published by the news media, a variety of informational documents produced by the Tobacco Control Resource Center at the Northeastern University School of Law, and legal settlement documents provided by the National Association of Attorneys General.

Results:The US tobacco industry faced a far greater number of lawsuits, and a greater variety of types of lawsuit, between 1994 and 2005 than it had in previous years. Plaintiffs won 31 (41%) of the 75 cases that were tried to verdict during the years 1995–2005. Seven plaintiffs have been paid awards totalling US$115 million, including interest, following the exhaustion of appeals. Based on an evaluation of litigation brought against US industry leader Philip Morris, the total number of cases pending peaked in 2000, dropping off modestly since then. For example, 36 class actions were pending in 2000, while 33 were pending in 2005. In the same time period, individual actions fell from a total of 3385 to 2863. While the playing field has been levelled to some degree in the tobacco litigation arena with respect to the resources brought to bear by plaintiffs and defendants, tobacco industry defendants continue to employ far greater financial and human resources than their adversaries.

Conclusions:The third wave of tobacco litigation has represented a sea change in efforts to hold the tobacco industry in the United States accountable in American courtrooms. While tobacco manufacturers continue to do their utmost to make these cases difficult to pursue, many of the cases that have gone to trial have met with success in recent years, which suggests that plaintiffs’ lawyers are now better equipped to persuade juries of the defendants’ culpability.
Geology, geochronology, and geochemistry of basaltic flows of the Cat Hills, Cat Mesa, Wind Mesa, Cerro Verde, and Mesita Negra, central New Mexico
Authors: Maldonado Florian , Budahn James R , Peters Lisa , Unruh Daniel M
Published: November 2006

The geochronology, geochemistry, and isotopic compositions of basaltic flows erupted from the Cat Hills, Cat Mesa, Wind Mesa, Cerro Verde, and Mesita Negra volcanic centres in central New Mexico indicate that each of these lavas had unique origins and that the predominant mantle involved in their production was an ocean-island basalt type. The basalts from Cat Hills (0.11 Ma) and Cat Mesa (3.0 Ma) are similar in major and trace element composition, but differences in MgO contents and Pb isotopic values are attributed to a small involvement of a lower crustal component in the genesis of the Cat Mesa rocks. The Cerro Verde rock is comparable in age (0.32 Ma) to the Cat Hills lavas, but it is more radiogenic in Sr and Nd, has higher MgO contents, and has a lower La/Yb ratio. This composition is explained by the melting of an enriched mantle source, but the involvement of another crustal component cannot be disregarded. The Wind Mesa rock is characterized by similar age (4.01 Ma) and MgO contents, but it has enriched rare-earth element contents compared with the Cat Mesa samples. These are attributed to a difference in the degree of partial melting of the Cat Mesa source. The Mesita Negra rock (8.11 Ma) has distinctive geochemical and isotopic compositions that suggest a different enriched mantle and that large amounts of a crustal component were involved in generating this magma. These data imply a temporal shift in magma source regions and crustal involvement, and have been previously proposed for Rio Grande rift lavas.
Age of the Cabonga nepheline syenite, Grenville Province, western Quebec
Authors: Hudon Pierre , Friedman Richard M , Gauthier Gilles , Martignole Jacques
Published: November 2006

This study presents isotope dilution – thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID–TIMS) U–Pb data for megacrystic zircon from the Cabonga Nepheline Syenite Complex of the Réservoir Cabonga terrane (Grenville Province). This terrane is an allochthonous slab metamorphosed under granulite-grade conditions ~1.18–1.14 Ga and transported onto migmatites of the Grenvillian Parautochthon at about 1.02 Ga. The very low uranium and lead concentrations of zircon from the Cabonga nepheline syenite (CNS) did not permit determination of a statistically significant crystallization age using laser ablation microbeam techniques. Consequently, extensive microsampling (15 zircon chips), guided by X-ray and electronic imaging, followed by ID–TIMS analyses were carried out on a single megacrystic zircon. A regression of 13 out of 15 U–Pb isotopic analyses results in a crystallization age of 1171 ± 3 Ma for the CNS. Criteria based on zircon morphologies, zoning patterns, varying Th/U ratios (0.3–0.9), and a highly fractionated Zr/Hf ratio (68) suggest an igneous derivation for the CNS. The Cabonga alkaline rocks, intruded under high-grade metamorphic conditions, preceded the onset of the widespread and ubiquitous (1.15 ± 0.01 Ga) anorthosite–mangerite–charnockite–granite magmatism in the southern part of the Grenville Province.
The Aral Sea Disaster
Authors: Micklin Philip
Published: November 2006

The Aral Sea is a huge terminal lake located among the deserts of Central Asia. Over the past 10 millennia, it has repeatedly filled and dried, owing both to natural and human forces. The most recent desiccation started in the early 1960s and owes overwhelmingly to the expansion of irrigation that has drained its two tributary rivers. Lake level has fallen 23 m, area shrunk 74%, volume decreased 90%, and salinity grew from 10 to more than 100g/l, causing negative ecological changes, including decimation of native fish species, initiation of dust/salt storms, degradation of deltaic biotic communities, and climate change around the former shoreline. The population residing around the lake has also been negatively impacted. There is little hope in the foreseeable future to fully restore the Aral Sea, but measures to preserve/rehabilitate parts of the water body and the deltas are feasible.
Characterization of Atomic-Beam Deposited GeO1-xNx/HfO2 Stacks on Ge
Authors: Houssa M. , Conard Thierry , Van Steenbergen Jan , Mavrou G. , Panayiotatos Y. , Dimoulas Thanasis , Meuris Marc , Caymax Matty , Heyns Marc , Nicholas G.
Published: November 2006

The electrical properties of GeO1-xNx/HfO2 stack deposited by atomic beam on Ge are reported. The incorporation of N in the GeOx layer is found to be quite beneficial in reducing the gate leakage current, improving the uniformity of the device characteristics and reducing the equivalent oxide thickness of the gate stack down to about 0.8 nm. On the other hand, N incorporation also leads to a large density of fixed positive charges and slow states, which can be reduced by post- deposition anneals in O2 or N2. These gate stacks were successfully integrated into a simple transistor flow with TiN gates. Both n and p-channel transistors show promising electrical characteristics, with Ion/Ioff ratios of about 4 to 5 orders of magnitude. However, the mobility of the n-channel devices is found to be extremely low, which is most likely due to a large density of acceptor-like interface states in the upper-part of the Ge band-gap.
Characteristics of Thermally Oxidized-Ti as a High-k Gate Dielectric on SiC Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Devices
Authors: Mahapatra Rajat , Poolamai Nipapan , Wright Nick , Chakraborty Amit K. , Coleman Karl S. , Das K. , Ray S. K. , Coleman Paul , Burrows Paul
Published: November 2006

We have investigated the structural and electrical properties of thermally oxidized-Ti gate dielectric stacks on 4H-SiC films. In addition, SiO2 films were used as an interfacial layer between TiO2 films and 4H-SiC substrate. The TiO2 films were grown by oxidising evaporated Ti films at the temperature range of 700-1000 ºC for 1 hour. The films remain amorphous up to oxidation temperature of 900 ºC while oxidation at 1000 ºC transforms the film to be polycrystalline. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms the formation of stoichiometric TiO2 films. Capacitance-voltage characteristics exhibit the shift of flatband voltage attributing the presence of oxide charges. The TiO2/SiO2 4H-SiC capacitors in which Ti was oxidized at 800 ºC give the less fixed oxide charge density with moderate value of interface state density and less leakage current density.