BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Proteus mirabilis is a common pathogen responsible for complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) that sometimes causes bacteremia. Most cases of P. mirabilis bacteremia originate from a UTI; however, the risk factors for bacteremia and mortality rates from P. mirabilis UTI have not been determined. METHODS: A retrospective, case-control study ...

BACKGROUND: The last nationally representative assessment of kidney stone prevalence in the United States occurred in 1994. After a 13-yr hiatus, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reinitiated data collection regarding kidney stone history. OBJECTIVE: Describe the current prevalence of stone disease in the United States, and identify ...

Tobacco use, particularly active cigarette smoking, is a strong modifiable risk factor for periodontitis. Our primary aim is to provide a systematic review of the impact of environmental tobacco smoke on periodontal diseases. Nine publications were identified by electronic literature search up to September 2010. Epidemiological data for a US ...

Older smokers are often not encouraged to quit smoking due to the erroneous idea that it is too late for such interventions. To compare smoking cessation rates among older and younger treatment seekers, and to evaluate whether age is an obstacle to smoking cessation. Smokers (n = 987) were submitted ...

Establishments dedicated to hookah tobacco smoking recently have proliferated and helped introduce hookah use to U.S. communities. To conduct a comprehensive, qualitative assessment of websites promoting these establishments. In June 2009, a systematic search process was initiated to access the universe of websites representing major hookah tobacco smoking establishments. In ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between smoking and socio-demographic and behavioral factors among undergraduate students in the area of health at the State University of Paraíba, Brazil. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with a representative sample from each of the following courses: Dentistry, Nursing, ...

Objective: To determine the frequency, types and complications of genital tract trauma during child birth. Study Design: Case series. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Unit I, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, from June 2006 to May 2010. Methodology: All women who sustained ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: 2009 pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) influenza posed an increased risk of severe illness among pregnant women. Data on risk factors associated with death of pregnant women and neonates with pH1N1 infections are limited outside of developed countries. METHODS: Retrospective observational study in 394 severe or critical pregnant women admitted ...

BACKGROUND: Screening of peripheral atherosclerosis is increasingly used, but few trials have examined its clinical impact. We aimed to assess whether carotid plaque screening helps smokers to improve their health behaviors and cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS: We randomly assigned 536 smokers aged 40 to 70 years to carotid plaque ultrasonographic ...

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking aggravates asthma exacerbations, yet some patients with asthma continue to smoke. AIMS: To compare the quality of life of adult smokers and non-smokers with asthma. METHODS: Asthma Quality of Life (AQLQ) questionnaires were administered to adult patients with asthma managed in primary care in Singapore. The survey ...

INTRODUCTION: Research links normative influence to youth smoking in Egypt. This analysis assesses the association of descriptive norms at the household and neighborhood levels with the smoking behavior of 1,366 men aged 15-24 in rural Minya governorate, Egypt. METHODS: Data come from the 2004 Minya Village Health Survey of 6,096 ...

INTRODUCTION: Smoking outcome expectancies were investigated in treatment-seeking military Veteran smokers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The investigation of smoking outcome expectancies may enhance our understanding of the relationship between PTSD and cigarette smoking. METHODS: Participants were 943 military Veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD who were current smokers enrolled ...

Sugars, such as sucrose or invert sugar, have been used as tobacco ingredients in American-blend cigarettes to replenish the sugars lost during curing of the Burley component of the blended tobacco in order to maintain a balanced flavor. Chemical-analytical studies of the mainstream smoke of research cigarettes with various sugar ...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of smoking before, during, and after pregnancy among a representative sample of Massachusetts women with and without disabilities. METHODS: Data from the 2007 to 2009 Massachusetts Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey were used to estimate the prevalence of ...

Aims:  to identify predictors of short-term smokeless tobacco cessation in Bangladeshi women resident in the United Kingdom (UK). Design:  prospective cohort study. Setting:  a tobacco cessation service offering culturally tailored smokeless tobacco cessation support. Participants:  419 Bangladeshi women chewing paan with tobacco. Measurements:  demographics, tobacco use and dependence and cessation ...

OBJECTIVES: Smoking is the most prevalent modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases among HIV-positive persons. We assessed the effect on smoking cessation of training HIV care physicians in counselling. METHODS: The Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) is a multicentre prospective observational database. Our single-centre intervention at the Zurich centre included ...

OBJECTIVE:: This study examines associations of occupation with smoking status, amount smoked among current and former smokers (number of cigarettes per day and lifetime cigarette consumption (pack-years)), and workplace exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) independent from income and education. METHODS:: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data from a ...

ObjectiveThis study presents estimates of the impact of changes in California tobacco control funding on healthcare expenditures for 2012-2016 under four funding scenarios.MethodsSmoking prevalence is projected using a cointegrated time series regression model. Smoking-attributable healthcare expenditures are estimated with econometric models that use a prevalence-based annual cost approach and an ...

BackgroundPrevious studies indicate an association between tobacco smoking and infectious diseases. However, large population-based follow-up studies including both accurate measurements of smoking behaviour and confounders and a reliable register-based follow-up of infections are lacking.ObjectiveTo examine the effect of smoking on use of antibacterials as an indicator of infections among working-aged ...

BackgroundTo date, no research exists on the role that different sources of exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) have on 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and nicotine uptake, assessed via urinary 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) and cotinine concentrations of non-smoking pregnant women, nor the differences in NNAL concentrations among pregnant women who quit smoking in comparison ...

INTRODUCTION: The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act provides an unprecedented opportunity to regulate tobacco in the United States. However, restrictions on little cigars, cigarillos, and large cigars are notably absent from the Act, which may create a favorable environment for increased dual usage of cigars. The purpose of ...

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol and marijuana are among the most commonly used substances together with tobacco worldwide, but their relationship to smoking cessation is unclear. Although alcohol use decreases the likelihood of abstinence from tobacco, mechanisms of this effect have not been identified. Moreover, a small literature has yielded inconsistent findings regarding ...

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about preferences, intentions, and behaviors regarding evidence-based cessation treatment for smoking cessation among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) adults. METHODS: We obtained and analyzed questionnaire responses from GLBT smokers (n= 1,633) surveyed in 129 GLBT-identified Colorado venues and online during 2007. RESULTS: Most respondents (80.4%) ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether cigarette smoking in Chinese urban areas was respectively associated with exposure to tobacco advertising and smoking bans in households, workplaces, and public places. METHODS: Participants were 4735 urban residents aged 15 years and older, who were identified through multi-stage quota-sampling conducted in six Chinese cities. Data ...

INTRODUCTION: Numerous epidemiological and clinical studies have found that tobacco use and gambling frequently cooccur. Despite high rates of smoking among regular gamblers, the extent to which tobacco potentially influences gambling behavior and vice versa is poorly understood. The current study aimed to provide more insight into this relationship by ...

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have demonstrated that both smoking and diabetes are risk factors for mortality and caused-specific cardiovascular events. However, few studies systematically investigated to what extent the excess risk could be attributed to smoking among diabetic patients. METHODS: Literature references were searched up to April 2011 in MEDLINE and ...

AimsTo use association rule mining methods to investigate prescribing of smoking cessation medication in the UK primary care and to identify the characteristics of numerically important groups of patients who typically do, or do not, receive cessation therapy.DesignAn association rule mining study using The Health Improvement Network Database.Settings and participants282 433 ...

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated the factor structure of the Brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU-Brief) within a sample of Black light smokers (1-10 cigarettes per day). METHODS: The QSU-Brief was administered to 540 (mean age = 46.5; 66.1% women) urban Black light smokers upon entering a smoking cessation clinical trial. ...

BACKGROUND: Continued cigarette smoking after small cell lung cancer (SCLC) diagnosis has been shown to shorten patients' survival, but little is known about the impact of smoking and cessation on quality of life (QOL) profile (e.g., overall QOL, pain, fatigue, cough, dyspnea, appetite change, and performance status) in SCLC survivors ...

The authors evaluated the association between smoking and the incidence of psoriasis among 185,836 participants from a cohort of older women (the Nurses' Health Study, 1996-2008), a cohort of younger women (the Nurses' Health Study II, 1991-2005), and a cohort of men (Health Professionals' Follow-up Study, 1986-2006). Information on smoking ...

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cigarette smoking has been implicated in the etiology of esophageal adenocarcinoma, but it is not clear if smoking is a risk factor for Barrett's esophagus (BE). We investigated whether tobacco smoking and other factors increase risk for BE. METHODS: We analyzed data from 5 case-control studies included ...

Marijuana smoke contains many of the same constituents as tobacco smoke, but whether it has similar adverse effects on pulmonary function is unclear. To analyze associations between marijuana (both current and lifetime exposure) and pulmonary function. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a longitudinal study collecting ...

ObjectiveTo examine the population effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapies (NRTs), either with or without professional counselling, and provide evidence needed to better inform healthcare coverage decisions.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted in three waves on a probability sample of 787 Massachusetts adult smokers who had recently quit smoking. The baseline ...

The aim of current analysis was to identify socio-demographic correlates of heavy smoking. Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), a nationally representative household study was implemented in Poland between 2009 and 2010. We used data on representative sample of 1915 adults, age 25 years and older. The Odds Ratios (OR) and ...

The purpose of this study was to assess whether cytochrome P450 enzyme 2A6 (CYP2A6) genotypes moderate the association between smoking and hypertension. In this study, 954 Chinese male current smokers from a community-based chronic disease screening project in Guangzhou were interviewed with a structured questionnaire about socio-demographic status, smoking and ...

RATIONALE: Diffusion tensor imaging has been used before in testing associations between cigarette smoking and white matter integrity, with inconsistent results. Published reports indicate higher fractional anisotropy (FA, a measure of linear water diffusion) in some brain regions and lower FA in others in adult smokers compared to nonsmokers. Adolescent ...

Objectives: Exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS) through cigarette smoking is thought to contribute to the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Metabolic enzymes are involved in ROS production. The aim of this study was to evaluate the modifying effect of metabolic polymorphisms on the association of cigarette smoking with ...

INTRODUCTION: Cue-induced cigarette cravings have been oft studied as potentially important predictors of smoking cessation outcomes. The literature on the relationship between cue-induced cravings and cessation, however, remains mixed. One possible explanation for the discrepant results in the literature may be the as-yet untested variability in expectancies of craving. Indeed, ...

BACKGROUND: Results of a pooled analysis of case-control studies show a higher risk of head and neck cancer (HNC) associated with a low body mass index (BMI) and a lower risk associated with being overweight or obese, compared to being normal weight. However, these results are prone to bias due ...

INTRODUCTION: To understand the reasons behind gifting and sharing cigarettes in China's rural areas and how these practices contribute to smoking initiation and hamper smoking cessation efforts. METHODS: A convenience sample of 31 current smokers and nonsmokers was selected from a rural farming town in Hunan, China. Participants were divided ...

ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether smokers adjust their beliefs in a pattern that is consistent with Cognitive Dissonance Theory. This is accomplished by examining the longitudinal pattern of belief change among smokers as their smoking behaviours change.MethodsA telephone survey was conducted of nationally representative samples of ...

There is scant information on nicotine dependence in smokers not seeking cessation treatment. This study analyses the relationship between nicotine dependence, measured by the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and salivary cotinine concentration in a sample of smokers from the general population. We conducted a cross-sectional study (2004-2005) of ...

: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the number of packs smoked per day and specific uptake ratio (SUR) in the striatum on Tc-99m TRODAT, and frequency of hand tremor. : It was a prospective, cross-sectional study. In all, 23 healthy nonsmokers and 37 current ...

To assess the cost-utility of hypertension treatment versus a hypothetical 'no-treatment' strategy in Greece. A six-state Markov model simulated the occurrence of major cardiovascular events for hypertensive patients over a 20-year period. Baseline population consisted of a cohort of 1453 patients (46.92% men) that were followed up for a 1-year ...

Blunts are hollowed-out cigars or leaf tobacco filled with marijuana. Use of blunts has increased since the 1990s and, in 2005, 3.5% of all American youth were estimated to have used blunts in the past month. Blunt smokers may have greater odds of cannabis and tobacco dependency and are at ...

Smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of disease, disability, and death in the USA and leads to more than 400,000 preventable deaths per year. Nicotine is the major alkaloid present in tobacco smoke, and many of the negative effects of smoking are attributed to nicotine. Nicotine is not ...

Waterpipe smoking is increasing worldwide. Nevertheless, little is known about nicotine dependence in tobacco smokers who use waterpipes. To assess evidence of dependence among non-cigarette smoking waterpipe smokers in Egypt. A total of 154 male exclusive current waterpipe smokers were enrolled for the present study. We adapted the Fagerström test ...

To determine factors associated with dual use of tobacco products in a population of black South African adolescents. Data were obtained from a self-administered questionnaire completed by a representative sample of grade 8 students from 21 randomly selected secondary state schools in the Limpopo Province, South Africa (n=1878). Of the ...

Most people who stop smoking gain weight. There are some interventions that have been designed to reduce weight gain when stopping smoking. Some smoking cessation interventions may also limit weight gain although their effect on weight has not been reviewed. To systematically review the effect of: (1) Interventions targeting post-cessation ...

This study examines middle-aged and older women's smoking practices and identifies factors associated with tobacco use and cessation in this population. Data of 593 women were analyzed from a seven-county random household sample in Texas. Sequential multinomial logistic regression compared associations with having never smoked, having quit smoking, and currently ...