A Pragmatic Trial of E-Cigarettes, Incentives, and Drugs for Smoking Cessation.

Background: Whether financial incentives, pharmacologic therapies, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) promote smoking cessation among unselected smokers is unknown.

Methods: We randomly assigned smokers employed by 54 companies to one of four smoking-cessation interventions or to usual care. Usual care consisted of access to information regarding the benefits of smoking cessation and to a motivational text-messaging service.

Versatile thin-film reactor for photochemical vapor generation.

A novel thin-film reactor is described and evaluated for its analytical performance with photochemical vapor generation (TF-PVG). The device, comprising both the generator and a gas-liquid separator, utilizes a vertical central quartz rod onto which the sample is pumped to yield a thin liquid film conducive to the rapid escape of generated hydrophobic species. The rod is housed within a concentric quartz tube through which a flow of argon carrier/stripping gas is passed to remove and transport the generated species to a detector, which in this study is an inductively coupled argon plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES).

High-yield UV-photochemical vapor generation of iron for sample introduction with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry.

A novel approach to the generation of volatile iron compounds (likely the pentacarbonyl) with high efficiency is described, wherein solutions containing either Fe(2+) or Fe(3+) and low molecular weight organic acids such as formic, acetic or propionic are exposed to a UV source. An optimum generation efficiency of 60 +/- 2% was achieved in 50% formic acid at pH 2.5 with an irradiation time of 250 s by use of a 17 W low-pressure mercury grid lamp.