bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Impact of corrective health information on consumers’ perceptions of “reduced exposure” tobacco products
Authors: Biener Lois , Bogen Karen , Connolly Gregory 
Published: October 2007

Objective:To determine whether providing corrective health information can reduce the tendency of consumers to believe that the implied marketing message that two “potentially reduced exposure products” (PREPs) are safer than regular cigarettes.Design:Face-to-face interviews with smokers assigned to one of four conditions, which varied in terms of the presence or absence of health information that qualified claims made in advertising for two PREPs.Subjects:A convenience sample of 177 smokers in Boston area.Interventions:Health information detailed the extent to which exposure to toxins and health risks of the brands were unknown.Main outcome measures:Respondents’ assessments of the health risks and toxicity of the two combustible PREPs, Advance and Eclipse.Results:The health information had a modest but significant effect on ratings of health risk, and reduced perceptions that switching to the new brands would lower a smoker’s risk of cancer (OR 0.75; p<0.05). The health information had no effect on perceptions of toxicity.Conclusions:A small dose of corrective information was effective in tempering smokers’ perceptions. A higher dose of public health campaigns would be needed to affect misperceptions likely to follow a full-scale tobacco marketing effort.
Discrete choice experiment of smoking cessation behaviour in Japan
Authors: Goto Rei , Nishimura Shuzo , Ida Takanori 
Published: October 2007

Background:In spite of gradual increases in tobacco price and the introduction of laws supporting various anti-tobacco measures, the proportion of smokers in Japan’s population is still higher than in other developed nations.Objective:To understand what information and individual characteristics drive smokers to attempt to quit smoking. These determinants will help to realise effective tobacco control policy as a base for understanding of cessation behaviour.Method:Discrete choice experiments on a total of 616 respondents registered at a consumer monitoring investigative company.Results:The effect of price is greater on smokers with lower nicotine dependence. For smokers of moderate and low dependency, short term health risks and health risks caused by passive smoking have a strong impact, though the existence of penalties and long term health risks have little influence on smokers’ decisions to quit. For highly dependent smokers, non-price attributes have little impact. Furthermore, the effects of age, sex and knowledge are also not uniform in accounting for smoking cessation.Conclusion:Determinants of smoking cessation vary among levels of nicotine dependency. Therefore, how and what information is provided needs to be carefully considered when counselling smokers to help them to quit.
Community guide recommendations and state level tobacco control programmes: 1999–2004
Authors: Schmitt Carol L , Malarcher Ann M , Clark Pamela I , Bombard Jennifer M , Strauss Warren , Stillman Frances A 
Published: October 2007

Objective:To identify the level of effort state tobacco control programmes and partners have expended on interventions recommended by the community guide and how those efforts have changed over time between 1999 and 2004.Design:Longitudinal study.Setting:United States.Participants:State tobacco control partners, including the state health department, voluntary agencies and tobacco control coalitions.Main outcome measure:We used the Strength of Tobacco Control survey responses in 1999, 2002 and 2004 to calculate the mean proportion of state tobacco control partners working on recommended interventions and subsequently analysed changes in effort over time.Results:The proportion of state tobacco control partners working to promote clean indoor air legislation remained at more than 70% in all three years. The proportion working to increase taxes on tobacco rose significantly between 1999 and 2002 (from 54% to 70%), and those working to reduce patient costs for tobacco cessation treatments never exceeded 31% in any year. Use of mass media targeting youths decreased significantly in all years (from 40% to 32% to 26%), and the proportion of state tobacco control partners participating in a quitline has increased steadily and significantly in all years (from 24% to 36% to 41%). The level of effort in each area varied widely between states and over time.Conclusions:State tobacco control partners are implementing evidence based interventions, but more focus is needed on the tobacco cessation and mass media campaign components of comprehensive tobacco control programmes.
Trends in the prevalence of smoking in Russia during the transition to a market economy
Authors: Perlman Francesca , Bobak Martin , Gilmore Anna , McKee Martin 
Published: October 2007

Background:Changes in smoking, particularly an increase in women, were predicted to follow the aggressive campaigns of multinational tobacco companies in transitional Russia. However, such changes have not yet been demonstrated unequivocally.Objective:To examine smoking trends by gender, education and area of residence.Methods:Data from 10 rounds of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (1992–2003), consisting of more than 3000 men and 4000 women in each round, were used. The mean reported ages of first smoking in current smokers were compared between 10-year birth cohorts.Results:Between 1992 and 2003, smoking prevalence doubled among women from 6.9% (95% CI 6.3% to 7.6%) to 14.8% (13.9% to 15.7%) and increased among men from 57.4% (95% CI 56.0% to 58.8%) to 62.6% (61.1% to 64.1%). In both sexes, the rise was significantly greater in the least educated, markedly so in women (a doubling vs a 1.5-fold rise in the most educated). Although prevalence of smoking among women was considerably higher in Moscow and St Petersburg than in rural areas, the dramatic threefold increase in prevalence in rural women was significantly greater than in the main cities (36%, p<0.001). The mean age of first smoking was significantly lower in women born after 1960, but in men it was stable between cohorts.Conclusions:For the first time, it has been shown unequivocally that smoking among women increased markedly during the transition to a market economy in Russia. The already high prevalence of smoking among men has continued to rise. These changes are likely to reflect the activity of the tobacco industry and provide further evidence of the harms of privatisation. Effective tobacco control policies are urgently needed.
Exposure to fine and ultrafine particles from secondhand smoke in public places before and after the smoking ban, Italy 2005
Authors: Valente Pasquale , Forastiere Francesco , Bacosi Antonella , Cattani Giorgio , Di Carlo Simonetta , Ferri Monica , Figà-Talamanca Irene , Marconi Achille , Paoletti Luigi , Perucci Carlo , Zuccaro Piergiorgio 
Published: October 2007

Background:A smoking ban in all indoor public places was enforced in Italy on 10 January 2005.Methods:We compared indoor air quality before and after the smoking ban by monitoring the indoor concentrations of fine (<2.5 μm diameter, PM2.5) and ultrafine particulate matter (<0.1 μm diameter, UFP). PM2.5and ultrafine particles were measured in 40 public places (14 bars, six fast food restaurants, eight restaurants, six game rooms, six pubs) in Rome, before and after the introduction of the law banning smoking (after 3 and 12 months). Measurements were taken using real time particle monitors (DustTRAK Mod. 8520 TSI; Ultra-fine Particles Counter-TRAK Model 8525 TSI). The PM2.5data were scaled using a correction equation derived from a comparison with the reference method (gravimetric measurement). The study was completed by measuring urinary cotinine, and pre-law and post-law enforcement among non-smoking employees at these establishmentsResults:In the post-law period, PM2.5decreased significantly from a mean concentration of 119.3 μg/m3to 38.2 μg/m3after 3 months (p<0.005), and then to 43.3 μg/m3a year later (p<0.01). The UFP concentrations also decreased significantly from 76 956 particles/cm3to 38 079 particles/cm3(p<0.0001) and then to 51 692 particles/cm3(p<0.01). Similarly, the concentration of urinary cotinine among non-smoking workers decreased from 17.8 ng/ml to 5.5 ng/ml (p<0.0001) and then to 3.7 ng/ml (p<0.0001).Conclusion:The application of the smoking ban led to a considerable reduction in the exposure to indoor fine and ultrafine particles in hospitality venues, confirmed by a contemporaneous reduction of urinary cotinine.
Trends in nicotine yield in smoke and its relationship with design characteristics among popular US cigarette brands, 1997–2005
Authors: Connolly Gregory N , Alpert Hillel R , Wayne Geoffrey Ferris , Koh Howard 
Published: October 2007

Objectives:To determine whether nicotine yields in the smoke of cigarettes would show an overall increase over time or an increasing trend limited to any particular market category (eg, full flavour vs light, medium (mild) or ultralight; mentholated vs non-mentholated), manufacturer, or brand family or brand style, and whether nicotine yields in smoke would be associated with measurable trends in cigarette design.Methods:Machine-based measures of nicotine yield in smoke and measures of cigarette design features related to nicotine delivery (ventilation, nicotine content in the tobacco rod and number of puffs), as well as market category descriptors, were obtained from annual reports filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public by tobacco manufacturers for 1997–2005. Trends in nicotine yield and its relationship with design features and market parameters were analysed with multilevel mixed-effects regression modelling procedures.Results:A statistically significant trend was confirmed in increased nicotine yield, of 0.019 (1.1%) mg/cig/year over the period 1997–2005 and 0.029 (1.6%) mg/cig/year over the period 1998–2005. The increasing trend was observed in all major market categories (mentholated vs non-mentholated, and full flavour vs light, medium (mild) or ultralight). Nicotine yield in smoke was positively associated with nicotine concentration in the tobacco and number of puffs per cigarette, both of which showed increasing trends during the study period.Conclusions:This study confirms increased machine-measured levels of nicotine, the addictive agent in cigarettes, in smoke, to be a result of increased nicotine in the tobacco rod and other design modifications.
Working to make an image: an analysis of three Philip Morris corporate image media campaigns: Table 1
Authors: Szczypka Glen , Wakefield Melanie A , Emery Sherry , Terry-McElrath Yvonne M , Flay Brian R , Chaloupka Frank J 
Published: October 2007

Objective:To describe the nature and timing of, and population exposure to, Philip Morris USA’s three explicit corporate image television advertising campaigns and explore the motivations behind each campaign.Methods:: Analysis of television ratings from the largest 75 media markets in the United States, which measure the reach and frequency of population exposure to advertising; copies of all televised commercials produced by Philip Morris; and tobacco industry documents, which provide insights into the specific goals of each campaign.Findings:Household exposure to the “Working to Make a Difference: the People of Philip Morris” averaged 5.37 ads/month for 27 months from 1999–2001; the “Tobacco Settlement” campaign averaged 10.05 ads/month for three months in 2000; and “PMUSA” averaged 3.11 ads/month for the last six months in 2003. The percentage of advertising exposure that was purchased in news programming in order to reach opinion leaders increased over the three campaigns from 20%, 39% and 60%, respectively. These public relations campaigns were designed to counter negative images, increase brand recognition, and improve the financial viability of the company.Conclusions:Only one early media campaign focused on issues other than tobacco, whereas subsequent campaigns have been specifically concerned with tobacco issues, and more targeted to opinion leaders. The size and timing of the advertising buys appeared to be strategically crafted to maximise advertising exposure for these population subgroups during critical threats to Philip Morris’s public image.
Heightened bronchial hyperresponsiveness in the absence of heightened atopy in children with current wheezing and low-income status.
Authors: Mallol Javier , Castro-Rodriguez Jose A. , Cortez Eliana , Aguirre Viviana , Aguilar Pedro , Luis Barrueto 
Published: October 2007

Background: Although global studies as ISAAC have provided with valuable data on the prevalence of asthma in children of Latin America, there is very few information on the relationship between asthma symptoms, pulmonary function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and atopy in the region.
Methods: This study examined the relationship between self-reported wheezing in the last 12 months, pulmonary function, airway responsiveness and atopy in children from a low-income population neighborhood in Santiago, Chile. Two random samples (100 each) of children aged 13-14 years who participated in ISAAC Phase One were selected according to whether they have reported or not, wheezing in the last 12 months. Spirometry, methacholine bronchial challenge test and prick test were performed in all individuals.
Results: Children who reported current wheezing had significantly higher bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to methacholine as compared to those without wheezing (71.6% vs.52.6%, respectively; p=0.007,) and no significant difference was found in FEV1 (116.7„b12.3% vs. 120.3„b14.5%, respectively, p=0.11). The prevalence of atopy was not significantly different between those children who reported wheezing as compared to those who did not (44.2% vs. 42.3%; respectively, p=0.89). Multiple regression analysis showed that only BHR to methacholine (OR 2.72, 95% CI: 1.25-4.13, p=0.01) and maternal asthma (OR 3.1, 95%CI 1.2-8.3, p=0.03) were significant risk factors for current wheezing.
Conclusions: Our results support previous findings suggesting that in adolescents from unprivileged populations, self-reported current wheezing is related to BHR but not to atopy.
Assessing the Impact of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Functional Status in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Authors: Laviolette Louis , Bourbeau Jean , Bernard Sarah , Lacasse Yves , Pepin Véronique , Breton Marie-Josée , Baltzan Marc , Rouleau Michel , Maltais François 
Published: October 2007

Rationale - The optimal way of assessing the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on functional status in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently unknown. The minimal clinically important difference for the constant workrate cycling exercise also needs to be investigated to facilitate its interpretation.
Objective – Evaluate the changes in the 6-minute walking test and in the constant workrate cycle endurance test immediately following and 1-year after pulmonary rehabilitation, along with the importance of these changes in term of health status in patients with COPD.
Methods - Patients with COPD (age: 65  8 years, mean  SD; FEV1: 45  15 % predicted) were recruited from a multicenter prospective cohort study and were evaluated at baseline, immediately after a pulmonary rehabilitation program (n=157) and at 1 year (n=106). The 6-min walking test and the cycle endurance test were performed at each evaluation. Health status was evaluated with the St. Georges Respiratory Questionnaire.
Measurements and Main Results - Following pulmonary rehabilitation, cycle endurance time increased (198  352s, p<0.0001) and stayed over baseline values at 1 year (p<0.0001). The 6-minute walking distance also showed improvements following rehabilitation (25  52m, p<0.0001) but returned to baseline values at the 1 year follow-up. Changes in cycle endurance time were more closely associated with changes in health status than those of the 6-min walking test. A 100-200s improvement in the cycle endurance time was associated with clinically meaningful changes in the St. Georges Respiratory Questionnaire scores.
conclusions - The cycle endurance test was more responsive that the 6-min walking test to detect improvement in exercise tolerance following pulmonary rehabilitation and was also better correlated with improvements in health status. An improvement in the cycle endurance time ranging from 100-200s appeared to be clinically meaningful.
A nurse led intermediate care package in patients who have been hospitalised with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Sridhar M , Taylor R , Dawson S , Roberts N J , Partridge M R 
Published: October 2007

Objectives:To determine the effects of a nurse led intermediate care programme in patients who have been hospitalised with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD).Design:Randomised controlled trial.Setting:Community and hospital care in west London.Participants:122 patients with COPD.Intervention:A care package incorporating initial pulmonary rehabilitation and self-management education, provision of a written, personalised COPD action plan, monthly telephone calls and 3 monthly home visits by a specialist nurse for a period of 2 years.Main outcome measure:Hospital readmission rate.Secondary outcomes:Unscheduled primary care consultations and quality of life.Results:There were no differences in hospital admission rates or in exacerbation rates between the two groups. Self-management of exacerbations was significantly different and the intervention group were more likely to be treated with oral steroids alone or oral steroids and antibiotics, and the initiators of treatment for exacerbations were statistically more likely to be the patients themselves. 12 patients in the control group died during the 2 year period, eight as a result of COPD, compared with six patients in the intervention group, of whom one died from COPD. This is a significant difference. When the numbers were adjusted to reflect the numbers still alive at 2 years, in the intervention group patients reported a total of 171 unscheduled contacts with their general practitioner (GP) and in the control group, 280 contacts. The number needed to treat was 0.558—ie, for every one COPD patient receiving the intervention and self-management advice, there were 1.79 fewer unscheduled contacts with the GP.Conclusions:An intermediate care package incorporating pulmonary rehabilitation, self-management education and the receipt of a written COPD action plan, together with regular nurse contact, is associated with a reduced need for unscheduled primary care consultations and a reduction in deaths due to COPD but did not affect the hospital readmission rate.
The relation between dietary intake of individual fatty acids, FEV1 and respiratory disease in Dutch adults
Authors: McKeever T M , Lewis S A , Cassano P A , Ocké M , Burney P , Britton J , Smit H A 
Published: October 2007

Background:A reduced dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids, in association with increased n-6 fatty acid intake, has been proposed as a potential aetiological factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. However, the relative importance of individual fatty acids within the n-3 and n-6 categories on this effect has not been widely investigated. We have studied the relation between individual fatty acid intakes, lung function and self-reported respiratory symptoms and diagnoses in a representative sample of more than 13 000 Dutch adults.Methods:Intake of individual fatty acids was estimated by a food frequency questionnaire and analysed in relation to measures of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and to questionnaire reported wheeze, asthma and COPD symptoms.Results:After adjusting for confounding, we found no protective association between individual n-3 fatty acid intakes and FEV1. Higher intakes of some n-6 fatty acids were associated with lower FEV1, this effect being most marked for c22:4 n-6 docosatetraenoic acid (reduction in FEV1 between the highest and lowest quintile of intake 54.5 ml (95% CI −81.6 to −27.4)). Most of the n-6 fatty acid effects interacted significantly with smoking, their effects being strongest in current smokers. Individual n-3 fatty acid intakes were generally associated with a higher risk of wheeze in the past year, but otherwise there was little or no association between fatty acid intake and wheeze, doctor diagnosed asthma or other respiratory symptoms.Conclusions:A high intake of n-3 fatty acids does not appear to protect against COPD or asthma, but a high intake of several n-6 fatty acids is associated with a significant reduction in FEV1, particularly in smokers. These findings indicate that high dietary intake of n-6 fatty acids, rather than reduced n-3 intake, may have an adverse effect on lung health.
A novel XML music information retrieval method using graph invariants
Authors: Pinto Alberto , Haus Goffredo 
Published: October 2007

The increasing diffusion of XML languages for the encoding of domain-specific multimedia information raises the need for new information retrieval models that can fully exploit structural information. An XML language specifically designed for music like MX allows queries to be made directly on the thematic material. The main advantage of such a system is that it can handle symbolic, notational, and audio objects at the same time through a multilayered structure. On the model side, common music information retrieval methods do not take into account the inner structure of melodic themes and the metric relationships between notes.
In this article we deal with two main topics: a novel architecture based on a new XML language for music and a new model of melodic themes based on graph theory.
This model takes advantage of particular graph invariants that can be linked to melodic themes as metadata in order to characterize all their possible modifications through specific transformations and that can be exploited in filtering algorithms. We provide a similarity function and show through an evaluation stage how it improves existing methods, particularly in the case of same-structured themes.
Reducing human interactions in Web directory searches
Authors: Gerstel Ori , Kutten Shay , Laber Eduardo Sany , Matichin Rachel , Peleg David , Pessoa Artur Alves , Souza Criston 
Published: October 2007

Consider a website containing a collection of webpages with data such as in Yahoo or the Open Directory project. Each page is associated with a weight representing the frequency with which that page is accessed by users. In the tree hierarchy representation, accessing each page requires the user to travel along the path leading to it from the root. By enhancing the index tree with additional edges (hotlinks) one may reduce the access cost of the system. In other words, the hotlinks reduce the expected number of steps needed to reach a leaf page from the tree root, assuming that the user knows which hotlinks to take. The
hotlink enhancement
problem involves finding a set of hotlinks minimizing this cost.

This article proposes the first exact algorithm for the hotlink enhancement problem. This algorithm runs in polynomial time for trees with logarithmic depth. Experiments conducted with real data show that significant improvement in the expected number of accesses per search can be achieved in websites using this algorithm. These experiments also suggest that the simple and much faster heuristic proposed previously by Czyzowicz et al. [2003] creates hotlinks that are nearly optimal in the time savings they provide to the user.
The version of the hotlink enhancement problem in which the weight distribution on the leaves is unknown is discussed as well. We present a polynomial-time algorithm that is optimal for any tree for any depth.