Tobacco Control Measures to Reduce Socioeconomic Inequality in Smoking: The Necessity, Time-Course Perspective, and Future Implications

Previous systematic reviews of population-level tobacco control interventions and their effects on smoking inequality by socioeconomic factors concluded that tobacco taxation reduce smoking inequality by income (although this is not consistent for other socioeconomic factors, such as education). Inconsistent results have been reported for socioeconomic differences, especially for other tobacco control measures, such as smoke-free policies and anti-tobacco media campaigns. To understand smoking inequality itself and to develop strategies to reduce smoking inequality, knowledge of the underlying principles or mechanisms of the inequality over a long time-course may be important. For example, the inverse equity hypothesis recognizes that inequality may evolve in stages. New population-based interventions are initially primarily accessed by the affluent and well-educated, so there is an initial increase in socioeconomic inequality (early stage). These inequalities narrow when the deprived population can access the intervention after the affluent have gained maximum benefit (late stage). Following this hypothesis, all tobacco control measures may have the potential to reduce smoking inequality, if they continue for a long term, covering and reaching all socioeconomic subgroups. Re-evaluation of the impact of the interventions on smoking inequality using a long time-course perspective may lead to a favorable next step in equity effectiveness. Tackling socioeconomic inequality in smoking may be a key public health target for the reduction of inequality in health

In-situ growth of superconducting NdFeAs(O,F) thin films by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The recently discovered high temperature superconductor F-doped LaFeAsO and related compounds represent a new class of superconductors with the highest transition temperature (Tc) apart from the cuprates. The studies ongoing worldwide are revealing that these Fe-based superconductors are forming a unique class of materials that are interesting from the viewpoint of applications. To exploit the high potential of the Fe-based superconductors for device applications, it is indispensable to establish a process that enables the growth of high quality thin films. Efforts of thin film preparation started soon after the discovery of Fe-based superconductors, but none of the earlier attempts had succeeded in an in-situ growth of a superconducting film of LnFeAs(O,F) (Ln=lanthanide), which exhibits the highest Tc to date among the Fe-based superconductors. Here, we report on the successful growth of NdFeAs(O,F) thin films on GaAs substrates, which showed well-defined superconducting transitions up to 48 K without the need of an ex-situ heat treatment

Pressure-induced unconventional superconductivity near a quantum critical point in CaFe2As2

75As-zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements are performed on CaFe2As2 under pressure. At P = 4.7 and 10.8 kbar, the temperature dependences of nuclear-spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T1) measured in the tetragonal phase show no coherence peak just below Tc(P) and decrease with decreasing temperature. The superconductivity is gapless at P = 4.7 kbar but evolves to that with multiple gaps at P = 10.8 kbar. We find that the superconductivity appears near a quantum critical point under pressures in the range 4.7 kbar < P < 10.8 kbar. Both electron correlation and superconductivity disappear in the collapsed tetragonal phase. A systematic study under pressure indicates that electron correlations play a vital role in forming Cooper pairs in this compound.Comment: 5pages, 5figure

DC superconducting quantum interference devices fabricated using bicrystal grain boundary junctions in Co-doped BaFe2As2 epitaxial films

DC superconducting quantum interference devices (dc-SQUIDs) were fabricated in Co-doped BaFe2As2 epitaxial films on (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O3 bicrystal substrates with 30deg misorientation angles. The 18 x 8 micro-meter^2 SQUID loop with an estimated inductance of 13 pH contained two 3 micro-meter wide grain boundary junctions. The voltage-flux characteristics clearly exhibited periodic modulations with deltaV = 1.4 micro-volt at 14 K, while the intrinsic flux noise of dc-SQUIDs was 7.8 x 10^-5 fai0/Hz^1/2 above 20 Hz. The rather high flux noise is mainly attributed to the small voltage modulation depth which results from the superconductor-normal metal-superconductor junction nature of the bicrystal grain boundary

Analysis of interdiffusion between SmFeAsO0.92F0.08 and metals for ex situ fabrication of superconducting wire

We demonstrate the fabrication of superconducting SmFeAsO1-xFx (Sm-1111) wires by using the ex-situ powder-in-tube technique. Sm-1111 powder and a binder composed of SmF3, samarium arsenide, and iron arsenide were used to synthesize the superconducting core. Although the F content of Sm-1111 is reduced in the process of ex-situ fabrication, the binder compensates by sufficiently supplementing the F content, thereby preventing a decrease in the superconducting transition temperature and a shrinking of the superconducting volume fraction. Thus, in the superconducting Sm-1111 wire with the binder, the transport critical current density reaches the highest value of ~4000 A/cm2 at 4.2 K

Effect of Lactobacillus casei on the production of pro-inflammatory markers in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

It has been demonstrated that probiotic supplementation has positive effects in several murine models of disease through influences on host immune responses. This study examined the effect of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (L. casei Shirota) on the blood glucose, C-reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-4 (IL-4), and body weight among STZ-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced by streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg BW) in male Sprague–Dawley rats. Streptozotocin caused a significant increase in the blood glucose levels, CRP, and IL-6. L. casei Shirota supplementation lowered the CRP and IL-6 levels but had no significant effect on the blood glucose levels, body weight, or IL-4. Inflammation was determined histologically. The presence of the innate immune cells was not detectable in the liver of L. casei Shirota-treated hyperglycemic rats. The probiotic L. casei Shirota significantly lowered blood levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, CRP) and neutrophils in diabetic rats, showing a lower risk of diabetes mellitus and its complications

Influence of growth rate and temperature on InP/GaInAs interface structure analyzed by X-ray CTR scattering measurement

Most of high performance III-V compound semiconductor devices are fabricated utilizing heterostructures. However, when the heterostructures are grown by OMVPE, a compositional grading arises at a hetero-interfaces. The compositional grading may deteriorate the performance of the compound semiconductor devices. We have investigated the degree of the compositional grading at the interfaces using X-ray crystal truncation rod (CTR) scattering measurement. The X-ray CTR scattering measurement is a powerful technique to investigate the buried interfaces and determine the distributions of atoms quantitatively at an atomic-scale. In this work, we studied on the distributions of group-III atoms at InP/GaInAs interfaces grown by OMVPE with different growth rates, focusing on the influence of the exchange reaction of the group-III atoms near the surface during the growing. The experimental results showed that the degree of distributions of Ga atoms increased with the decrease of the growth rate. It suggested that the distribution of Ga atoms at interfaces were influenced by the exchange reaction. In order to discuss the exchange reaction, a calculation to simulate the distribution of Ga atoms was conducted considering potential energy of Ga in InP layers. The results showed that Ga atoms should exchange during the growth in top-most 3 atomic layers.journal articl