A new smoking cessation 'cascade' among women with or at risk for HIV infection

Objectives:The aim of this study was to define a smoking cessation 'cascade' among USA women with and without HIV and examine differences by sociodemographic characteristics.Design:An observational cohort study using data from smokers participating in the Women's Interagency HIV Study between 2014 and 2019.Methods:We followed 1165 women smokers with and without HIV from their first study visit in 2014 or 2015 until an attempt to quit smoking within approximately 3 years of follow-up, initial cessation (i.e. no restarting smoking within approximately 6 months of a quit attempt), and sustained cessation (i.e. no restarting smoking within approximately 12 months of a quit attempt). Using the Aalen-Johansen estimator, we estimated the cumulative probability of achieving each step, accounting for the competing risk of death.Results:Forty-five percent of smokers attempted to quit, 27% achieved initial cessation, and 14% achieved sustained cessation with no differences by HIV status. Women with some post-high school education were more likely to achieve each step than those with less education. Outcomes did not differ by race. Thirty-six percent [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 31-42] of uninsured women attempted to quit compared with 47% (95% CI: 44-50) with Medicaid and 49% (95% CI: 41-59) with private insurance.Conclusion:To decrease smoking among USA women with and without HIV, targeted, multistage interventions, and increased insurance coverage are needed to address shortfalls along this cascade

Genome-wide meta-analysis of myopia and hyperopia provides evidence for replication of 11 loci

Refractive error (RE) is a complex, multifactorial disorder characterized by a mismatch between the optical power of the eye and its axial length that causes object images to be focused off the retina. The two major subtypes of RE are myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness), which represent opposite ends of the distribution of the quantitative measure of spherical refraction. We performed a fixed effects meta-analysis of genome-wide association results of myopia and hyperopia from 9 studies of European-derived populations: AREDS, KORA, FES, OGP-Talana, MESA, RSI, RSII, RSIII and ERF. One genome-wide significant region was observed for myopia, corresponding to a previously identified myopia locus on 8q12 (p = 1.25610-8), which has been reported by Kiefer et al. as significantly associated with myopia age at onset and Verhoeven et al. as significantly associated to mean spherical-equivalent (MSE) refractive error. We observed two genomewide significant association

Strategies for Controlled Placement of Nanoscale Building Blocks

The capability of placing individual nanoscale building blocks on exact substrate locations in a controlled manner is one of the key requirements to realize future electronic, optical, and magnetic devices and sensors that are composed of such blocks. This article reviews some important advances in the strategies for controlled placement of nanoscale building blocks. In particular, we will overview template assisted placement that utilizes physical, molecular, or electrostatic templates, DNA-programmed assembly, placement using dielectrophoresis, approaches for non-close-packed assembly of spherical particles, and recent development of focused placement schemes including electrostatic funneling, focused placement via molecular gradient patterns, electrodynamic focusing of charged aerosols, and others

Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activity of zhankuic acids isolated from the fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorata

We have previously shown that a concentrated ethanol extract of the fruiting bodies of Antrodia camphorata exhibited immunomodulating effects in human leukocytes and fourteen compounds including zhankuic acids A, B, C, and antcin K were identified in the extract. In this study, an acute cellular model in isolated peripheral human neutrophils was established to elucidate the anti-inflammatory effects of these compounds. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and firm adhesion by neutrophils display two important responses during inflammation. To evaluate whether these compounds could prevent inflammatory responses by neutrophils, their effects on N-formyl-methionylleucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) or phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-activated peripheral human neutrophils were examined. Pretreatment with 1-25 muM of zhankuic acids A, B, C, or antcin K concentration-dependently diminished fMLP- or PMA-induced ROS production, as measured by a lucigenin-amplified chemiluminescence, with IC50 (muM) around 5-20 muM. Zhankuic acids A, B, C, or antcin K also effectively inhibited the fMLP- or PMA-induced firm adhesion without interfering with the up-expression of surface Mac-1 (CD11b/CD-18), a beta2 integrin mediating the firm adhesion of neutrophils to endothelium. The anti-inflammatory actions of these drugs were not due to cytotoxic effects because no significant difference in cell viability was observed compared to vehicle control. These data suggest that inhibition of both ROS production and firm adhesion by neutrophils has no significant cytotoxic effect that could give these drugs the potential to be anti-inflammatory agents for the clinical treatment