Smoking behaviour, involuntary smoking, attitudes towards smoke-free legislations, and tobacco control activities in the European Union

The six most important cost-effective policies on tobacco control can be measured by the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS). The objective of our study was to describe the correlation between the TCS and smoking prevalence, self-reported exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) and attitudes towards smoking restrictions in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU27)

Glottal Source Cepstrum Coefficients Applied to NIST SRE 2010

Through the present paper, a novel feature set for speaker recognition based on glottal estimate information is presented. An iterative algorithm is used to derive the vocal tract and glottal source estimations from speech signal. In order to test the importance of glottal source information in speaker characterization, the novel feature set has been tested in the 2010 NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation (NIST SRE10). The proposed system uses glottal estimate parameter templates and classical cepstral information to build a model for each speaker involved in the recognition process. ALIZE [1] open-source software has been used to create the GMM models for both background and target speakers. Compared to using mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients (MFCC), the misclassification rate for the NIST SRE 2010 reduced from 29.43% to 27.15% when glottal source features are use

Are smokers 'hardening' or rather 'softening'? An ecological and multilevel analysis across 28 European Union countries

Background: tobacco control policies can reduce smoking prevalence. These measures may be less effective where smoking prevalence has significantly declined, as the remaining smokers have 'hardened'. Our aim was to empirically evaluate the 'hardening hypothesis' at the population level in the European Union (EU) and explore factors associated with hardcore smoking. Methods: we conducted two separate analyses in the EU using data on smoking from the Eurobarometer surveys (2009-2017, n=112 745). 1) A panel-data fixed-effects linear regression to investigate changes over time in the percentage of hardcore smokers in relation to standardised smoking prevalence at the country level. 2) A multilevel logistic regression analysis with hardcore (daily smokers, ≥15 cigarettes per day who have not attempted to quit in the last 12 months) or light (<5 cigarettes per day) smoking as the dependent variable and time as the main independent variable, controlling for individual and ecological variables. Results: we studied 29 010 current smokers (43.8% hardcore smokers and 14.7% light smokers). The prevalence of hardcore smoking among adult smokers increased by 0.55 (95% CI 0.14-0.96) percentage points per each additional percentage point in the overall smoking prevalence. The odds of being a hardcore smoker increased over time and were higher in middle-aged males and people with financial difficulties, while the odds of being a light smoker significantly declined among females. Conclusion: this study does not support the 'hardening hypothesis' in the EU between 2009 and 2017, but suggests a softening of the smoking population. Existing tobacco control policies are likely to be suitable to further decrease smoking prevalence in Europe

Tobacco control policies in the 21 st century: achievements and open challenges

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, are responsible for almost 70% of all deaths worldwide. Tobacco use is a risk factor common to most NCDs. This article discusses tobacco control policies and highlights major achievements and open challenges to reduce smoking prevalence and attributable morbidity and mortality in the 21st century. The introduction of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2005 has been a key achievement in the field and has already facilitated a drop in both smoking prevalence and exposure to secondhand smoke. Indicatively, the size of the worldwide population benefiting from at least one cost-effective tobacco control policy has quadrupled since 2007. In addition, plain cigarette packaging has been successfully introduced as a tobacco control policy, surmounting efforts of the tobacco industry to challenge this based on trade and investment law. Nevertheless, tobacco control still faces major challenges. Smoking prevalence needs to be further reduced in a rather expedited manner. Smoke-free environments should be extended, and the use of plain tobacco packaging with large pictorial health warnings for all tobacco products should be further promoted in some parts of the world. Some of these measures will require prompt determination and diligence. For example, bold political decisions are needed to significantly increase real prices of tobacco products through excise taxes, ban added ingredients that are currently used to increase the attractiveness of tobacco products and ban the tobacco industry's corporate social responsibility initiatives. Finally, the debate on harm reduction strategies for tobacco control still needs to be resolved

Sistema integrado de movilidad, espacio público y equipamientos como estrategia de articulación entre los planes maestros allí comprometidos y los planes de desarrollo de la ciudad : Bogotá un caso de estudio 2004-2016

El POT y los Planes Maestros se inscriben en el primer nivel del sistema del ordenamiento territorial; estos últimos contribuyen en el ordenamiento, orientan la inversión y prevén el suelo necesario para el desarrollo de grandes infraestructuras (vías, servicios públicos, etc.) y equipamientos (parques, colegios, hospitales, etc.) en la ciudad. Contar con éste sistema de planeamiento, le permite a la administración distrital orientar jerárquica y sistémicamente la reglamentación de cada uno de sus instrumentos en función de su ámbito de aplicación y papel en la función reguladora. Sin embargo, este propósito del sistema, no se ha cumplido en Bogotá, ya que por ejemplo, la ciudad inició con la reglamentación de las UPZ sin haber aprobado los Planes Maestros y los Planes Zonales que son instrumentos de mayor jerarquía y, por tanto, cumplen la función de orientar la formulación de la norma específica que se produce en la UPZ. Esta situación ha generado contradicciones en las reglamentaciones y, por consiguiente, ha aumentado el marco de incertidumbre jurídica en los tres niveles del sistema.The POT and Master Plans are enrolled in the first level of the system of land use; the latter contribute to the system, guide investment and provide the necessary ground for the development of major infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc.) and facilities (parks, schools, hospitals, etc.) in the city. Having this planning system, allows the district administration guide systemically hierarchical and regulations of each of their instruments depending on their scope and role in the regulatory function. However, the purpose of the system is not met in Bogotá, as for example, the city began with the regulation of UPZ without passing the Master Plans and Zonal Plans are instruments of senior and therefore, function as guide the formulation of the specific rule that occurs in the UPZ. This situation has led to inconsistencies in regulations and therefore increased the framework of legal uncertainty in the three levels of the system.Magíster en Planeación Urbana y RegionalMaestrí

Isohexide and sorbitol-derived, enzymatically synthesized renewable polyesters with enhanced Tg

Sugar-based polyesters derived from sorbitol and isohexides were obtained via solvent-free enzymatic catalysis. Pendant hydroxyl groups, coming from the sorbitol units, were present along the polyester backbone, whereas the two isohexides, namely, isomannide and isoidide dimethyl ester monomers, were selected to introduce rigidity into the polyester chains. The feasibility of incorporating isomannide as a diol compared to the isoidide dimethyl ester as acyl-donor via lipase-catalyzed polycondensation was investigated. The presence of bicyclic units resulted in enhanced Tg with respect to the parent sorbitol-containing polyester lacking isohexides. The different capability of the two isohexides to boost the thermal properties confirmed the more flexible character provided by the isoidide diester derivative. Solvent-borne coatings were prepared by cross-linking the sugar-based polyester polyols with polyisocyanates. The increased rigidity of the obtained sugar-based polyester polyols led to an enhancement in hardness of the resulting coatings.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Are circulating cytokines reliable biomarkers for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that has no effective treatment. The lack of any specific biomarker that can help in the diagnosis or prognosis of ALS has made the identification of biomarkers an urgent challenge. Multiple panels have shown alterations in levels of numerous cytokines in ALS, supporting the contribution of neuroinflammation to the progressive motor neuron loss. However, none of them is fully sensitive and specific enough to become a universal biomarker for ALS. This review gathers the numerous circulating cytokines that have been found dysregulated in both ALS animal models and patients. Particularly, it highlights the opposing results found in the literature to date, and points out another potential application of inflammatory cytokines as therapeutic targets

Secondhand smoke risk perception and smoke-free rules in homes: a cross-sectional study in Barcelona (Spain)

Objective: to describe the voluntary adoption of smoke-free homes in Spain among general population and to identify variables associated with its voluntary adoption. Methods: cross-sectional study of a representative sample (n=731) of the adult population (>26 years) of Barcelona, Spain, in 2013-2014. We defined smoking rules inside the households as complete indoor rules (when smoking was not allowed inside the house), and partial or absent indoor rules (when smoking was allowed in some designated places inside the house or when smoking was allowed everywhere) and described them according to the perceived risk of the secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. We calculated the prevalence and prevalence ratios (PR) according to sociodemographic variables. Results: 57.4% of households had complete indoor smoke-free rules. The prevalence of households with complete indoor rules was higher among women (PRa: 1.15; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.33), married (PRa: 1.18; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.38), never-smokers (PRa: 2.68; 95% CI 2.06 to 3.50) and in households where a minor lived (PRa: 1.40; 95% CI: 1.20-1.65). Believe that breathing tobacco smoke from smokers is dangerous for non-smokers (PRa: 1.77; 95% CI: 1.06-2.97) is associated with the voluntary adoption of complete indoor smoke-free home. Conclusions: risk perceptions of SHS exposure were associated with the voluntary adoption of indoor smoke-free homes