Improved organic hydrogen carriers with superior thermodynamic properties.

By the incorporation of N atoms into naphthalene, we present a theoretical investigation to seek for improved organic hydrogen carriers with an explicit guideline, the release of H2 is found to be greatly favored thermodynamically and the corresponding cycloalkanes possess high hydrogen storage capacity, this offers extensive candidates for practical applications of the promising hydrogen energy.

Smoking prevention: obstacles and possibilities.

A brief overview is given of the disastrous effects of tobacco smoking on health, the environment and the economy. Obstacles for prevention are exemplified by the strong addictive property of nicotine, the ruthlessness and greed of the tobacco industry, and the ambivalence still demonstrated by the political and the health professional community in the fight against tobacco. A successful comprehensive tobacco control strategy is recognized and promoted by the first global health convention, the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and health effects among hospitality workers in Sweden--before and after the implementation of a smoke-free law.

Objectives: This study attempted to identify changes in exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, as well as symptoms and attitudes among hospitality workers after the introduction of extended smoke-free workplace legislation.

Methods: A total of 37 volunteers working in bingo halls and casinos (gaming workers) and 54 bars and restaurant employees (other workers) in nine Swedish communities participated in the study. Altogether 71 of 91 persons (14 daily smokers and 57 nonsmokers) participated in both the pre-ban baseline survey and the follow-up 12 months after the ban.

The effectiveness of brief advice and extended smoking cessation counseling programs when implemented routinely in hospitals.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of two in-hospital smoking cessation interventions -- brief advice and extended counseling with follow-up.

Methods: The subjects (n=770) were in-patients who were daily smokers or had stopped smoking 30 days preceding admission to 15 wards in five Swedish hospitals. All wards started with a control period.

Infrequent use of antidepressants in depressed individuals (an interview and prescription database study in a defined Swedish population 2001-2002).

Purpose: To investigate whether antidepressants are over-used, under-used, or misused, by determining to what extent the depressed individuals in a defined population are treated with antidepressant medication and, from the other end, to what extent prescribed antidepressants are aimed for the treatment of depression.

Subjects And Method: From an individual based prescription database in the County of Jämtland, 2048 individuals representative for the general population were selected. The presence of current depression in these individuals was screened by a mailed self-screening questionnaire.

Indications for and outcome of antidepressant medication in a general population: a prescription database and medical record study, in Jämtland county, Sweden, 1995.

Objective: To examine the indications for prescribing antidepressants and the clinical outcome when they are prescribed for the treatment of depression, and compare tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in these respects.

Method: A naturalistic study of a prospective prescription monitoring database and medical records.

Results: Depression was the indication for 23% of the tricyclic treatments and for 82% of the SSRI treatments.

[The cynical game of the tobacco industry. Many years' efforts to deny or cover-up the negative effects of tobacco are revealed by the forced publication of internal documents].

Scrutiny of internal tobacco industry documents, now available on the Internet, reveals that Sweden and Finland were classified as "priority 1" areas in which to intensify efforts to resist tobacco control measures. In the late 1980s Philip Morris increased its activities in Scandinavia in order to counteract penal taxation threats and marketing restrictions. Swedish scientists were engaged by the tobacco industry in the "White Coat" project, a program expected to shed doubt on research linking passive smoking to health risks.