Tests of Graphic Visuals and Cigarette Package Warning Combinations: Implications for the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

The World Health Organization recently adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a groundbreaking public health treaty that will require that warning information in the form of text, pictures, or a combination of these two forms cover at least 30% of the front and back of cigarette packages. In three studies using smokers from the United States and Canada, the authors examine the effects of specific graphic visuals in the context of current U.S. verbal warnings. The findings indicate that including both graphic visual warnings, such as those used in Canada, and warning statements currently used in the United States can decrease the perceived attractiveness of the package and create higher levels of negative affect, such as fear or anxiety. The results also show that the addition of the specific visual warnings examined to the U.S. statements increases smokers’ perceived intentions of quitting smoking compared with warning statements alone. The authors offer implications for public policy and public health and provide suggestions for further research

Understanding How Graphic Pictorial Warnings Work on Cigarette Packaging

The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act requires cigarette packages to contain stronger warnings in the form of color, graphic pictures depicting the negative health consequences of smoking. The authors present results from a between-subjects experiment with more than 500 smokers that test (1) the effectiveness of pictorial warnings that vary in their graphic depiction of the warning and (2) an underlying mechanism proposed to drive potential effects of the manipulation of the graphic depiction. The findings indicate that more graphic pictorial warning depictions strengthen smokers’ intentions to quit smoking. Recall of warning message statements is reduced by moderately or highly graphic pictures compared with a no picture control or less graphic pictures. The results also show that the graphic warnings affect evoked fear, and in turn, fear mediates the effects of the graphic warning depiction on intentions to quit for the sample of smokers. This pattern of results indicates that though ighly graphic pictures may reduce specific message recall and limit the direct effect of recall on intentions to quit, highly graphic pictures increase intentions to quit smoking through evoked fear (i.e., fear fully mediates the effect of the graphic depiction level). The authors discuss implications for consumer health and policy decisions

The streptococcal collagen-like protein-1 (Scl1) is a significant determinant for biofilm formation by group a Streptococcus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Group A <it>Streptococcus </it>(GAS) is a human-specific pathogen responsible for a number of diseases characterized by a wide range of clinical manifestations. During host colonization GAS-cell aggregates or microcolonies are observed in tissues. GAS biofilm, which is an <it>in vitro </it>equivalent of tissue microcolony, has only recently been studied and little is known about the specific surface determinants that aid biofilm formation. In this study, we demonstrate that surface-associated streptococcal collagen-like protein-1 (Scl1) plays an important role in GAS biofilm formation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Biofilm formation by M1-, M3-, M28-, and M41-type GAS strains, representing an intraspecies breadth, were analyzed spectrophotometrically following crystal violet staining, and characterized using confocal and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The M41-type strain formed the most robust biofilm under static conditions, followed by M28- and M1-type strains, while the M3-type strains analyzed here did not form biofilm under the same experimental conditions. Differences in architecture and cell-surface morphology were observed in biofilms formed by the M1- and M41-wild-type strains, accompanied by varying amounts of deposited extracellular matrix and differences in cell-to-cell junctions within each biofilm. Importantly, all Scl1-negative mutants examined showed significantly decreased ability to form biofilm <it>in vitro</it>. Furthermore, the Scl1 protein expressed on the surface of a heterologous host, <it>Lactococcus lactis</it>, was sufficient to induce biofilm formation by this organism.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, this work (i) identifies variations in biofilm formation capacity among pathogenically different GAS strains, (ii) identifies GAS surface properties that may aid in biofilm stability and, (iii) establishes that the Scl1 surface protein is an important determinant of GAS biofilm, which is sufficient to enable biofilm formation in the heterologous host <it>Lactococcus</it>. In summary, the GAS surface adhesin Scl1 may have an important role in biofilm-associated pathogenicity.</p

Engineering Evaluation of Hot-Gas Desulfurization With Sulfur Recovery

Engineering evaluations and economic comparisons of two hot-gas desulfurization (HGD) processes with elemental sulfur recovery, being developed by Research Triangle Institute, are presented. In the first process, known as the Direct Sulfur Recovery Process (DSRP), the SO{sub 2} tail gas from air regeneration of zinc-based HGD sorbent is catalytically reduced to elemental sulfur with high selectivity using a small slipstream of coal gas. DSRP is a highly efficient first-generation process, promising sulfur recoveries as high as 99% in a single reaction stage. In the second process, known as the Advanced Hot Gas Process (AHGP), the zinc-based HGD sorbent is modified with iron so that the iron portion of the sorbent can be regenerated using SO{sub 2} . This is followed by air regeneration to fully regenerate the sorbent and provide the required SO{sub 2} for iron regeneration. This second-generation process uses less coal gas than DSRP. Commercial embodiments of both processes were developed. Process simulations with mass and energy balances were conducted using ASPEN Plus. Results show that AHGP is a more complex process to operate and may require more labor cost than the DSRP. Also capital costs for the AHGP are higher than those for the DSRP. However, annual operating costs for the AHGP appear to be considerably less than those for the DSRP with a potential break-even point between the two processes after just 2 years of operation for an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant using 3 to 5 wt% sulfur coal. Thus, despite its complexity, the potential savings with the AHGP encourage further development and scaleup of this advanced process

Group A Streptococcus

The streptococcal collagen-like protein-1 (Scl1) i