Playing 'Tetris' reduces the strength, frequency and vividness of naturally occurring cravings.

Elaborated Intrusion Theory (EI) postulates that imagery is central to craving, therefore a visually based task should decrease craving and craving imagery. This study provides the first laboratory test of this hypothesis in naturally occurring, rather than artificially induced, cravings. Participants reported if they were experiencing a craving and rated the strength, vividness and intrusiveness of their craving. They then either played 'Tetris' or they waited for a computer program to load (they were told it would load, but it was designed not to). Before task completion, craving scores between conditions did not differ; after, however, participants who had played 'Tetris' had significantly lower craving and less vivid craving imagery. The findings support EI theory, showing that a visuospatial working memory load reduces naturally occurring cravings, and that Tetris might be a useful task for tackling cravings outside the laboratory. Methodologically, the findings show that craving can be studied in the laboratory without using craving induction procedures

Estimating the true effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions under variable comparator conditions: A systematic review and meta-regression

Background and aims: Behavioural smoking cessation trials have used comparators that vary considerably between trials. Although some previous meta-analyses made attempts to account for variability in comparators, these relied on subsets of trials and incomplete data on comparators. This study aimed to estimate the relative effectiveness of (individual) smoking cessation interventions while accounting for variability in comparators using comprehensive data on experimental and comparator interventions. Methods: A systematic review and meta-regression was conducted including 172 randomised controlled trials with at least 6 months follow-up and biochemically verified smoking cessation. Authors were contacted to obtain unpublished information. This information was coded in terms of active content and attributes of the study population and methods. Meta-regression was used to create a model predicting smoking cessation outcomes. This model was used to re-estimate intervention effects, as if all interventions have been evaluated against the same comparators. Outcome measures included log odds of smoking cessation for the meta-regression models and smoking cessation differences and ratios to compare relative effectiveness. Results: The meta-regression model predicted smoking cessation rates well (pseudo R2 = 0.44). Standardising the comparator had substantial impact on conclusions regarding the (relative) effectiveness of trials and types of intervention. Compared with a ‘no support comparator’, self-help was 1.33 times (95% CI = 1.16–1.49), brief physician advice 1.61 times (95% CI = 1.31–1.90), nurse individual counselling 1.76 times (95% CI = 1.62–1.90), psychologist individual counselling 2.04 times (95% CI = 1.95–2.15) and group psychologist interventions 2.06 times (95% CI = 1.92–2.20) more effective. Notably, more elaborate experimental interventions (e.g. psychologist counselling) were typically compared with more elaborate comparators, masking their effectiveness. Conclusions: Comparator variability and underreporting of comparators obscures the interpretation, comparison and generalisability of behavioural smoking cessation trials. Comparator variability should, therefore, be taken into account when interpreting and synthesising evidence from trials. Otherwise, policymakers, practitioners and researchers may draw incorrect conclusions about the (cost) effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions and their constituent components

Светодиодная распределительная система освещения

Полезная модель относится к светотехнике, а именно к регулированию интенсивности освещения, и предназначено для создания длинных распределенных источников освещения с управлением яркостью свечения, например, для освещения клеток для содержания птиц и др., а также для управления удаленных от оператора источников освещения. Технической задачей полезной модели является упрощение конструкции и повышение удобства в эксплуатации с одновременным понижением себестоимости системы и монтажа. Для решения поставленной задачи предлагается светодиодная распределительная система освещения содержащая входную цепь переменного тока, источники питания и "n" блоков освещения на светодиодах, отличающаяся тем, что в нее введены блоки регулирования яркости и микроконтроллер с выходной цепью М со следующими соединениями: входная цепь переменного тока соединена с источниками питания, выходы которых соединены с вторыми входами блоков регулирования, первые входы которых соединены с выходной шиной М микроконтроллера, выходы блоков регулирования двухжильными кабелями соединены со светодиодными блоками, причем количество источников питания и блоков регулирования равно числу светодиодных блоков; конструктив размещения светодиодов содержит для каждого светодиода печатную плату, на которой размещен светодиод, защитный диод и регулировочный резистор, соединенные последовательно, а вся эта цепочка подсоединена параллельно к двухжильному кабелю, а сам кабель с цепочкой светодиодов помещен термоусаживаемую прозрачную трубку, причем на каждый светодиод может быть установлена линза для создания светового потока нужной силы света и направления

Estimating the true effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions under variable comparator conditions: A systematic review and meta‐regression

Background and aims: Behavioural smoking cessation trials have employed comparators that vary considerably between trials. Although some previous meta-analyses made attempts to account for variability in comparators, these relied on subsets of trials and incomplete data on comparators. This study aimed to estimate the relative effectiveness of (individual) smoking cessation interventions, while accounting for variability in comparators using comprehensive data on experimental and comparator interventions. Methods: Systematic review and meta-regression including 172 randomised controlled trials with at least 6 months’ follow-up and biochemically verified smoking cessation. Authors were contacted to obtain unpublished information. This information was coded in terms of active content and attributes of the study population and methods. Meta-regression was used to create a model predicting smoking cessation outcomes. This model was used to re-estimate intervention effects, as if all interventions have been evaluated against the same comparators. Outcome measures included log odds of smoking cessation for the meta-regression models and smoking cessation differences and ratios to compare relative effectiveness. Results: The meta-regression model predicted smoking cessation rates well (pseudo R2=.44). Standardizing the comparator had substantial impact on conclusions regarding the (relative) effectiveness of trials and types of intervention. Compared with a ‘no support comparator’, self-help was 1.33 times (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.16-1.49), brief physician advice 1.61 times (95%CI=1.31-1.90) nurse individual counselling 1.76 times (95%CI=1.62-1.90), psychologist individual counselling 2.04 times (95%CI=1.95-2.15), and individual group psychologist interventions 2.06 times (95%CI=1.92-2.20) more effective. Notably, more elaborate experimental interventions (e.g., psychologist counselling) were typically compared with more elaborate comparators, masking their effectiveness. Conclusions: Comparator variability and underreporting of comparators obscures the interpretation, comparison and generalisability of behavioural smoking cessation trials. Comparator variability should thus be taken into account when interpreting and synthesising evidence from trials. Otherwise, policy makers, practitioners and researchers may draw incorrect conclusions about the (cost)effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions and their constituent components