A text message intervention for quitting cigarette smoking among young adults experiencing homelessness: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundCigarette smoking is much more prevalent among young people experiencing homelessness than in the general population of adolescents and young adults. Although many young homeless smokers are motivated to quit, there are no empirically-evaluated smoking cessation programs for this population. It is important that any such program address the factors known to be associated with quitting-related outcomes among homeless young people, to provide ongoing support in a way that accommodates the mobility of this population, and does not rely on scarce service provider resources for its delivery. The objective of this project is to develop and pilot test a text messaging-based intervention (TMI), as an adjunct to brief cessation counseling and provision of nicotine patches, to help homeless young people who want to quit smoking.Methods/designThis pilot study will utilize a cluster cross-over randomized controlled design with up to 80 current smokers who desire to quit and are recruited from three drop-in centers serving young people experiencing homelessness in the Los Angeles area. All participants will be provided with a minimum standard of care: a 30-min group-based smoking cessation counseling session and free nicotine replacement. Half of these smokers will then also receive the TMI, as an adjunct to this standard care, which will provide 6 weeks of ongoing support for quitting. This support includes continued and more intensive education regarding nicotine dependence, quitting smoking, and relapse; does not require additional agency resources; can be available "on demand" to users; and includes features to personalize the quitting experience. This study will investigate whether receiving the TMI adjunct to standard smoking cessation care results in greater reductions in cigarette smoking compared to standard care alone over a 3-month period.DiscussionThis study has the potential to address an important gap in the clinical research literature on cigarette smoking cessation and provide empirical support for using a TMI to provide ongoing assistance and support for quitting among young smokers experiencing homelessness. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03874585. Registered March 14, 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT03874585

Karyotype of a Bagrid catfish, Mystus vittatus, from the freshwater system of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India

Karyological characters of Mystus vittatus (Bagridae) in the freshwater system of Chidambaram were studied by examining metaphase chromosome spreads from the gill tissues. The examination of 149 metaphase spreads prepared from 25 fingerling specimens indicated that the chromosome number of this species was 2n=54 and the arm number was 12 for metacentric, 36 for submetacentric, and 30 for acrocentric type. The prepared karyotypes of this species consisted, of 3 pairs of metacentric (m), 9 pairs of submetacentric (sm) and 15 pairs of acrocentric (a) chromosomes. The chromosome formula can be represented as 2n = 3m + 9sm + 15a. This karyotype is significantly different from same species reported by others. Karyological parameters showed that centrometric index, arm ratio, relative length, and length variation range of chromosome of this fish species are between 14.97-50.00, 1.00-5.68, 3.12-18.48, and 0.60-3.56, respectively. The largest chromosome in this species is a pair of submetacentric chromosomes. Considering the number of chromosomes, it seems likely that M. vittatus, is a diploid origin fish

Endometrioma mimicking ovarian malignancy in a post-menopausal woman

Endometriosis is an estrogen dependant disorder of reproductive-age women. It is uncommon after menopause, however, peripheral estrogen production may account for endometriosis in post-menopausal women. We reported a case of a 68 year old post-menopausal woman with an adnexal mass suspected malignant ovarian tumor on imaging and normal serum CA 125 levels. Total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was done. The final histopathology revealed the diagnosis of ovarian endometriosis. Rarely, ovarian endometrioma can mimic ovarian malignancy in a post-menopausal woman

LCDG4 and DigiSim - Simulation activities at NICADD/NIU

We present two software packages developed to support detector R&D studies for the International Linear Collider. LCDG4 is a full-detector simulator that provides energy deposits from particles traversing the sensitive volumes of the detector. It has been extensively used within the American ILC community, providing data for algorithm development and detector optimization studies. DigiSim models real-life digitization effects, converting the idealized response into simulated detector readout. It has many useful features to improve the realism in modeling detector response. The main characteristics of these two complementary packages are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to LCWS05 conference proceedings. Uses slac_one.rt

A method for examining corporate social responsibility descriptions on SME websites

There is growing IS research concerning SME use of websites and limited but growing research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) by SMEs. However, to-date these two bodies of literature have remained largely separate. This paper links these fields by presenting an SME website content analysis method. Melville in his seminal MIS Quarterly article called for such methods which provide a nexus of IS, organisations and environment (which we extend to CSR). The method involves four steps: 1) identifying sources of SME websites; 2) determining if websites are describing CSR (based on the literature CSR by SMEs); 3) archiving website content for analysis; and 4) coding the website content using a structured framework (combining the literature on IS and CSR in an SME context). The paper also provides suggestions on how IS researchers can apply the method for quantitative and qualitative/exploratory objectives for future research.<br /

LCDG4 and DigiSim – Simulation activities at NICADD/NIU

We present two software packages developed to support detector R&D studies for the International Linear Collider. LCDG4 is a full-detector simulator that provides energy deposits from particles traversing the sensitive volumes of the detector. It has been extensively used within the American ILC community, providing data for algorithm development and detector optimization studies. DigiSim models real-life digitization effects, converting the idealized response into simulated detector readout. It has many useful features to improve the realism in modeling detector response. The main characteristics of these two complementary packages are discussed