Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Smoking in Friends and Relatives of Patients in Emergency Room: A New Frontier in the Fight against Tobacco

Background: Emergency rooms (ERs) are usually crowded with friends and relatives (F&Rs) of the patients. This experience may result in changes in smoking behaviors and create opportunities for smoking cessation interventions. The study aims to investigate these changes and offers a new frontier in the fight against smoking.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the ERs of two universities in different cities. A questionnaire consisting of 18 questions was applied to F&Rs of the emergency patients. Statistical analysis was performed using Jamovi program.Findings: A total of 603 respondents were included in the study. Of them, 71.3% were first-degree relatives, 51.7% waited 5 or more times in ER before, and 68.6% spent 0-2 hours in a day around the ER. Upon witnessing patients in the ERs, 53.4% of the F&Rs had the idea of quitting smoking and 42.9% wanted to have smoking cessation therapy during their wait in the hospital. While 76.1% of the participants were not using different brands of cigarettes when offered in normal life, this rate was lower around the ERs (64.6%) (P < 0.001). Participants smoked 0.82 ± 0.34 cigarette per hour in normal life excluding sleeping time; this number raised almost 6 folds during the wait (4.85 ± 2.11) (P < 0.001).Conclusion: F&Rs smoked more during waiting around ERs. However, they also expressed desire to quit smoking and receive smoking cessation intervention during the wait. Providing smoking cessation counseling to F&Rs in the ER may be a valuable intervention

Acousto-holographic reconstruction of whole-cell stiffness maps

Accurate assessment of cell stiffness distribution is essential due to the critical role of cell mechanobiology in regulation of vital cellular processes like proliferation, adhesion, migration, and motility. Stiffness provides critical information in understanding onset and progress of various diseases, including metastasis and differentiation of cancer. Atomic force microscopy and optical trapping set the gold standard in stiffness measurements. However, their widespread use has been hampered with long processing times, unreliable contact point determination, physical damage to cells, and unsuitability for multiple cell analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, fast, label-free, and high-resolution technique using acoustic stimulation and holographic imaging to reconstruct stiffness maps of single cells. We used this acousto-holographic method to determine stiffness maps of HCT116 and CTC-mimicking HCT116 cells and differentiate between them. Our system would enable widespread use of whole-cell stiffness measurements in clinical and research settings for cancer studies, disease modeling, drug testing, and diagnostics.ISSN:2041-172