Social Factors Related to Smoking among Rural, Low-Income Women: Findings from a Systematic Review

Objective: This systematic review of the literature assesses congruency of findings from descriptive, qualitative, and association studies focusing on factors influencing smoking and smoking cessation with findings from smoking cessation interventions that included low-income rural women. Design and Sample: Six databases relevant to the health and social sciences were searched in this systematic review using combinations of select keyword terms, specific inclusion criteria, and studies between 1997 and 2012. Results: Descriptive studies on this population of smokers provide economic, environmental, and social factors related to smoking patterns. Qualitative studies found social support received from an individual's social network was viewed as most beneficial when considering or maintaining smoking cessation while randomized controlled trials included in this review implemented social support through peripheral resources or resources with little personal connection to the sample and failed to produce significant results. Conclusions: Few studies have focused on the specific needs and difficulties of smoking cessation among rural low-income women and interventions have not targeted the complex social network of this population. Incongruence in study findings supports the need for smoking assessment and cessation interventions that incorporates the unique social and cultural meanings of smoking in rural low-income women

Social determinants of smoking in women from low-income rural backgrounds: Findings from a photovoice study

Smoking is well recognized as one of the most preventable causes of death and disease in the United States (U.S.), accounting for approximately 480,000 deaths each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). In addition, the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP, 2018) estimates that approximately 20–30% of individuals experimenting with cigarettes will meet criteria for tobacco use disorder within their lifetime while 60–80% of current cigarette smokers manifest classic drug dependence criteria. Associated annual healthcare cost of smoking are approximately133 billion dollars, with the additional cost in lost productivity estimated at 156 billion dollars annually (CDC, 2014; United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2014). Although recent national rates of cigarette smoking in adults have declined from 20.9% in 2005 to 13.7% in 2018, there remains significant disparity in smoking rates among rural populations (Creamer et al., 2019)

A Systematic Review of HIV Interventions for Young Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) ages (15–24 years old) in Southern and Eastern Africa account for nearly 30% of all new HIV infections. We conducted a systematic review of studies examining the effectiveness of behavioral, structural, and combined (behavioral + structural) interventions on HIV incidence and risky sexual behaviors among AGYW. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Global Health. Twenty-two studies met inclusion criteria conducted in Eastern and Southern Africa and comprised behavioral, structural, or combined (behavioral and structural) interventions. All findings are based on 22 studies. HIV incidence was significantly reduced by one structural intervention. All three types of interventions improved condom use among AGYW. Evidence suggests that structural interventions can reduce HIV incidence, while behavioral and combined interventions require further investigation

Real-time optoacoustic monitoring of stroke.

We investigate the applicability of real-time multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) as a tool for monitoring stroke progression in longitudinal functional imaging studies. The middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was used to induce stroke in mice. Along with visualizing major blood vessels in the whole head, the MSOT images show a decrease in cerebral blood volume in the cortex during occlusion. An asymmetry in the deoxygenated hemoglobin signal was identified as the penumbra – a hypoxic area surrounding the ischemic lesion. MSOT imaging thus may prove to be a valuable tool in designing and monitoring new treatments for stroke

Enhanced backward scattering by surface plasmons on silver film

Remarkable attention has been attracted recently due to novel properties of surface plasmon and its potential applications in nanotechnology. In this work we present an angularly resolved surface plasmon scattering study on a primitive metal surface. Using a reversed attenuated total reflection (RATR) setup in the experiment, a double-crescent shaped and enhanced scattering pattern is obtained at far field. The scattering pattern as a function on the variation of angle and polarization of incident beam are studied theoretically and experimentally and good agreement between them is demonstrated. Consequently, it is shown that this angularly resolved surface plasmon scattering measurement can be employed for resolving a richness of nanoscale surface texture

Adiabatic Nano-Focusing of Plasmons by Sharp Metallic Wedges

This paper demonstrates the possibility of efficient adiabatic nano-focusing of plasmons by a sharp triangular metal wedge. Geometrical optics approach and the approximation of continuous electrodynamics are used for the analysis. In particular, it is demonstrated that both the phase and group velocities of an incident anti-symmetric (with respect to the magnetic field) plasmon tend to zero at the tip of the wedge, and the plasmon adiabatically slows down, eventually dissipating in the metal. Typically, the amplitude of the plasmon significantly increases near the wedge tip, but this increase is finite even in the absence of dissipation in the metal. The dependence of the local field enhancement near the tip on structural parameters, dissipation in the metal, angle of incidence, etc. is analyzed in this paper. It is also shown that an anti-symmetric film plasmon can effectively be guided by a triangular metal wedge, forming a wedge plasmon mode that is localized near the tip of the wedge and propagates along this tip. A new existence condition for these localized wedge plasmons is derived and discussed