612 research outputs found
Predictors of Readiness to Quit Among a Diverse Sample of Sexual Minority Male Smokers
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Readiness to quit smoking - a pattern of attitudes, intentions, and behaviors that reflect a likelihood of engaging in cessation activities—is a useful heuristic for understanding smoking disparities based on sexual orientation. This study examined demographic, tobacco-use patterns, psychosocial and cognitive factors associated with readiness to quit among gay and bisexual male smokers.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted as part of a larger Tobacco Elimination and Control Collaboration (Q-TECC) initiative in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Readiness to quit was measured by a composite score created from four variables (motivation to quit, importance of quitting, plan to quit, and confidence in quitting) (alpha=.87, M=3.42, SD=.96, range 1-5).
Results: The sexual minority smokers in the sample (N=208; M=33 years) were racially/ethnically diverse. Latino men had significantly lower levels of readiness to quit compared to African American and White men. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to explore the relative contributions of sociodemographic, tobacco-use patterns, psychosocial and cognitive factors on Readiness to Quit. In the final model, the following variables were associated with readiness to quit scores: Latino ethnicity, fewer quit attempts, positive expectancies for the beneficial effects of smoking, and lower perceived importance of smoking as an important LGBT health issue. None of the psychosocial factors were associated with readiness to quit.
Discussion: Readiness to quit scores were largely predicted by modifiable attitudes, behaviors, and expectancies. Study findings have implications for improving outreach and awareness and for the development of effective treatment approaches
1970 performance of corn hybrids in Illinois : with 1968-1969 averages
Cover title.Chiefly tables
Reexamining nonstandard interaction effects on supernova neutrino flavor oscillations
Several extensions of the standard electroweak model allow new four-fermion
interactions (nu_a nu_b * ff) with strength eps_ab*G_F, where (a,b) are flavor
indices. We revisit their effects on flavor oscillations of massive
(anti)neutrinos in supernovae, in order to achieve, in the region above the
protoneutron star, an analytical treatment valid for generic values of the
neutrino mixing angles (omega,phi,psi)=(theta_12,theta_13,theta_23). Assuming
that eps_ab<<1, we find that the leading effects on the flavor transitions
occurring at high (H) and low (L) density along the supernova matter profile
can be simply embedded through the replacements phi-->phi+eps_H and
omega-->omega+eps_L, respectively, where eps_H and eps_L are specific linear
combinations of the eps_ab's. Similar replacements hold for eventual
oscillations in the Earth matter. From a phenomenological point of view, the
most relevant consequence is a possible uncontrolled bias (phi-->phi+eps_H) in
the value of the mixing angle phi inferred by inversion of supernova neutrino
data. Such a drawback, however, does not preclude the discrimination of the
neutrino mass spectrum hierarchy (direct or inverse) through supernova neutrino
oscillations.Comment: Text clarified, one figure added. To appear in PR
Effects of new physics in neutrino oscillations in matter
A new flavor changing electron neutrino interaction with matter would always
dominate the nu_e oscillation probability at sufficiently high neutrino
energies. Being suppressed by theta_{13}, the energy scale at which the new
effect starts to be relevant may be within the reach of realistic experiments,
where the peculiar dependence of the signal with energy could give rise to a
clear signature in the nu_e --> nu_tau channel. The latter could be observed by
means of a coarse large magnetized detector by exploiting tau --> mu decays. We
discuss the possibility of identifying or constraining such effects with a high
energy neutrino factory. We also comment on the model independent limits on
them.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Biochemical parameters of silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen) after transport with eugenol or essential oil of Lippia alba added to the water
The transport of live fish is a routine practice in aquaculture and constitutes a considerable source of stress to the animals. The addition of anesthetic to the water used for fish transport can prevent or mitigate the deleterious effects of transport stress. This study investigated the effects of the addition of eugenol (EUG) (1.5 or 3.0 mu L L-1) and essential oil of Lippia alba (EOL) (10 or 20 mu L L-1) on metabolic parameters (glycogen, lactate and total protein levels) in liver and muscle, acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE) in muscle and brain, and the levels of protein carbonyl (PC), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and nonprotein thiol groups (NPSH) and activity of glutathione-S-transferase in the liver of silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen; Quoy and Gaimard, 1824) transported for four hours in plastic bags (loading density of 169.2 g L-1). The addition of various concentrations of EUG (1.5 or 3.0 mu L L-1) and EOL (10 or 20 mu L L-1) to the transport water is advisable for the transportation of silver catfish, since both concentrations of these substances increased the levels of NPSH antioxidant and decreased the TBARS levels in the liver. In addition, the lower liver levels of glycogen and lactate in these groups and lower AChE activity in the brain (EOL 10 or 20 mu L L-1) compared to the control group indicate that the energetic metabolism and neurotransmission were lower after administration of anesthetics, contributing to the maintenance of homeostasis and sedation status.Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (FAPERGS/PRONEX) [10/0016-8]; Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cientifico (CNPq) [470964/2009-0]; Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES); CNPqinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Neutrino Masses, Mixing and New Physics Effects
We introduce a parametrization of the effects of radiative corrections from
new physics on the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, studying how
several relevant quantities describing the pattern of neutrino masses and
mixing are affected by these corrections. We find that the ratio omega = sin
theta / tan theta_atm is remarkably stable, even when relatively large
corrections are added to the original mass matrices. It is also found that if
the lightest neutrino has a mass around 0.3 eV, the pattern of masses and
mixings is considerably more stable under perturbations than for a lighter or
heavier spectrum. We explore the consequences of perturbations on some flavor
relations given in the literature. In addition, for a quasi-degenerate neutrino
spectrum it is shown that: (i) starting from a bi-maximal mixing scenario, the
corrections to the mass matrices keep tan theta_atm very close to unity while
they can lower tan theta_sol to its measured value; (ii) beginning from a
scenario with a vanishing Dirac phase, corrections can induce a Dirac phase
large enough to yield CP violation observable in neutrino oscillations.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures. Uses RevTeX4. Added several comments and
references. Final version to appear in PR
Probing neutrino non-standard interactions with atmospheric neutrino data
We have reconsidered the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in light of the laetst
data from Super-Kamiokande contained events and from Super-Kamiokande and MACRO
up-going muons. We have reanalysed the proposed solution to the atmospheric
neutrino anomaly in terms of non-standard neutrino-matter interactions (NSI) as
well as the standard nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations (OSC). Our statistical
analysis shows that a pure NSI mechanism is now ruled out at 99%, while the
standard nu_mu -> nu_tau OSC mechanism provides a quite remarkably good
description of the anomaly. We therefore study an extended mechanism of
neutrino propagation which combines both oscillation and non-standard
neutrino-matter interactions, in order to derive limits on flavour-changing
(FC) and non-universal (NU) neutrino interactions. We obtain that the
off-diagonal flavour-changing neutrino parameter epsilon and the diagonal
non-universality neutrino parameter epsilon' are confined to -0.03 < epsilon <
0.02 and |epsilon'| < 0.05 at 99.73% CL. These limits are model independent and
they are obtained from pure neutrino-physics processes. The stability of the
neutrino oscillation solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly against the
presence of non-standard neutrino interactions establishes the robustness of
the near-maximal atmospheric mixing and massive-neutrino hypothesis. The best
agreement with the data is obtained for Delta_m^2 = 2.3*10^{-3} eV^2,
sin^2(2*theta) = 1, epsilon = 6.7*10^{-3} and epsilon' = 1.1*10^{-3}, although
the chi^2 function is quite flat in the epsilon and epsilon' directions for
epsilon, epsilon' -> 0.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX file using REVTeX4, 1 table and 12 figures included.
Added a revised analysis which takes into account the new 1489-day
Super-Kamiokande and final MACRO data. The bound on NSI parameters is
considerably improve
Implications of the HERA Events for the R-Parity Breaking SUSY Signals at Tevatron
The favoured R-parity violating SUSY scenarios for the anomalous HERA events
correspond to top and charm squark production via the and
couplings. In both cases the corresponding electronic
branching fractions of the squarks are expected to be . Consequently the
canonical leptoquark signature is incapable of probing these scenarios at the
Tevatron collider over most of the MSSM parameter space. We suggest alternative
signatures for probing them at Tevatron, which seem to be viable over the
entire range of MSSM parameters.Comment: 20 pages Latex file with 4 ps files containing 4 figure
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