EXAMINING CANADIAN SMOKING RELATED BEHAVIOURS AND ASSOCIATED HEALTH OUTCOMES

Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature death worldwide. To address the growing tobacco epidemic, the World Health Organization introduced the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. However, there has been an evolution in tobacco products with flavoured tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). Furthermore, the tobacco industry continues to disproportionately target vulnerable populations to recruit new users. As such, it is critical to be aware of paradigm shifts in Canadian smoking behaviours to identify vulnerable populations and to assess the potential harms related to changing smoking behaviours. When examining flavoured tobacco use the prevalence was elevated among Canadian high school students and being males, exposed to peer pressure and having increased weekly spending money were identified as significant determinants of flavoured tobacco use. The lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) population is vulnerable to tobacco use due to intrinsic factors, social factors and targeted tobacco advertising. Results of this study showed the prevalence of smoking was higher in the Canadian LGB population compared to national rates. There was a significant association between sexual orientation and smoking status for lesbians and bisexuals compared to heterosexuals, but no significant association between gay and bisexuals and heterosexual males. Health effects of e-cigarettes have not been well characterized. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey, an exploratory study examining the association between past 30-day e-cigarette use and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was examined. A sex-based interaction effect with female e-cigarette users reporting higher rates of COPD compared to males was identified. Furthermore, dual use behaviour was most strongly associated with COPD. In the systematic review and meta-analysis examining if e-cigarette use among baseline never conventional tobacco users predicted tobacco initiation at follow up, the meta-analysis indicated ever e-cigarette users were significantly more likely to initiate tobacco use and current (past 30-day) tobacco use compared to never e-cigarette users

Differences in mental health status between individuals living with diabetes, and pre-diabetes in Qatar : A cross-sectional study

Funding Information: The research fund of AFG College with the University of Aberdeen funded the publication of this article. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Dr. Amel Mustafa and Ms. Katie Nahas from the Qatar Diabetes Association, and from Dr. Manal Othman, and Ms. Wisal Salih from the University of Doha for Science and Technology.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of deficit irrigation and partial rootzone drying on growth, dry matter partitioning and water use efficiency in young coffee plants(Coffea arabica L.) plants

The effects of three irrigation regimes (partial root zone drying, PRD; normal deficit irrigation, NDI and full irrigation or well watering, WW) on vegetative growth, dry matter yield and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L. cv. F-59) were studied under a rain shelter in Ethiopia. Relative water content (RWC) of leaves and stomatal conductance decreased by NDI and PRD treatments, but plants grown in PRD had leaf RWC values closer to those of WW plants on some measurement occasions. Shoot growth and total dry matter yield were significantly reduced by NDI and PRD. Root: shoot ratio was higher for plants in the PRD compared with WW or NDI. PRD also saved 50% of the water required for full irrigation and resulted in significantly (21 to 43%) higher IWUE compared to NDI and WW treatments. Therefore, it was concluded that PRD could be practically advantageous for the production of coffee seedlings in areas where water is scarce for irrigation and dry spells are prolonged

Breast ductal carcinoma metastasis to jaw bones: a case report

 Malignant tumors of the oral cavity which are metastatic are very rare and consist of 1% of malignancies of the oral cavity. Numbness or paresthesia of the lower lip or the chin is the main feature of presence of metastasis in the jaw. Our patient was a 38 year old woman with chief complaint of pain in the right half of her face, jaw and teeth. Her medical history revealed a radical mastectomy with lymphadenectomy in the left breast because of invasive ductal carcinoma grade II/III and stage IIIA (T2N2M0) without distant metastasis, followed by chemotherapy (before and after the surgery) and radiotherapy two years ago. Following complementary examinations a malignant bone lesion in particular osteosarcoma was suspected. According to this evidence, possibility of early diagnosis of malignant tumors is very important for dentists and maxillofacial surgeons. Symptoms such as paresthesia of the lip and chin is very helpful in differential diagnosis of metastatic lesions from other similar clinical cases especially in patients with history of malignancies which minimize surgical and mental injuries and increase life expectancy of patients

Risk factors for mortality of patients with ceftriaxone resistant E. coli bacteremia receiving carbapenem versus beta lactam/beta lactamase inhibitor therapy

Objective: Extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae predominantly E. coli and K. pneumoniae bacteremia have limited treatment options and high mortality. The objective was to determine the risk factors for in-hospital mortality particularly treatment with carbapenem versus beta lactam/beta lactamase combination (BL/BLI) in patients with ceftriaxone resistant E. coli bacteremia. A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Adult patients with sepsis and monomicrobial ceftriaxone resistant E. coli bacteremia were enrolled. Factors associated with mortality in patients were determined using logistic regression analysis. Results: Mortality rate was 37% in those empirically treated with carbapenem compared to 20% treated with BL/BLI combination therapy (p-value: 0.012) and was 21% in those treated with a carbapenem compared to 13% in patients definitively treated with BL/BLI combination therapy (p-value: 0.152). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, only Pitt bacteremia score of ≥ four was significantly associated with mortality (OR: 7.7 CI 2.6-22.8) while a urinary source of bacteremia was protective (OR: 0.26 CI 0.11-0.58). In-hospital mortality in patients with Ceftriaxone resistant E. coli bacteremia did not differ in patients treated with either a carbapenem or BL/BLI combination. However, Pitt bacteremia score of ≥ 4 was strongly associated with mortality

The morphology, physiology and biochemical changes in Oryza sativa planted under cyclic water stress with different potassium input

Four levels of potassium rates (Control, 80 kg K2O/ha, 120 kg K2O/ha and 160 kg K2O/ha) and two types of potassium (KCl and K2SO4) were exposed to rice to investigate the influence of potassium fertilization in minimizing the impact of cyclic water stress in rice production. It was observed that panicle dry weight/hill, root dry weight, rice yield, Catalase activity, proline, maliondialdehyde and harvest index were influenced by potassium rates. The leaf numbers, total tillers and 1000-grain weight, was influenced by potassium types. Interaction effects (potassium rate x potassium type) was observed in shoot dry weight, leaf area, total spikelet/ panicle, net assimilation rate, transpiration rate and instantaneous water use efficiency. It was found as fertilization rates increased from 80120>160 kg K2O /ha the transpiration rate was observed to be increased in both MOP and K2SO4. The result suggested that high potassium rates would reduce water stress effects by having high transpiration rate. The study has showed that application of potassium fertilizer would minimize the effects on rice growth and physiology under cyclic water stress condition

The Exploitation of Root-sourced Signals to Reduce Irrigation and to Regulate Leaf Growth of Pepper Plants Capsicum annuum L.

The effect of partial root drying (PRD) on growth and physiological responses of pepper plants Capsicum annuum L. cultivar MC12 was investigated under high temperatures and a humid tropical climate. The leaf water potential, photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of Capsicum plants grown under PRD over a period of 10 days were lower than those grown under well watered conditions. Removal of the droughted roots resulted in resumption of all leaf gas exchange parameters confirming the presence of signals coming directly from the droughted roots. Leaf growth rate was negatively affected by PRD techniques; as a consequence leaf area per plant was reduced. Total fruit yield ofPRD plants was about 73% of the control plants' fruit yield while the amount of water added to the PRD plants was half the quantity added to the controls

Physical and chemical properties of coconut coir dust and oil palm empty fruit bunch and the growth of hybrid heat tolerant cauliflower plant

This research report is about the physical and chemical properties of coconut coir dust (CD) and oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), and their potential for use as growing media for hybrid cauliflower grown under humid tropical greenhouse conditions. The physical properties showed that both the EFB and CD provided optimum plant growth conditions at the start of the growing the period. However, the readily available water value for CD was 34% whereas that for EFB was 19%. The air filled porosity containing more pores larger than 300 11m were higher in EFB compared to CD. The chemical properties data suggested that EFB was more alkaline (PH of 6.9) than CD (PH of 5.3) and had lower electrical conductivity (EC) of 1.3 dSm-1 than CD (l.9 dSm,l). The results also indicated higher nutrient contents in CD than in EFB. Despite a high initial EC value for CD than EFB, the hybrid cauliflower plant dry weights and total leaf area for CD grown plants were double those grown in EFB. The appearance offungus and mushroom on the EFB medium surface and the early sign of decomposition may account for the lower plant growth in the EFB medium. Hence, CD is a more suitable growing medium for growing hybrid cauliflower compared to EFB