Investigating the Potential Strategic Implications of COVID-19 for Biological Weapons Pursuit: A New Expert Simulation.

To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the strategic decisionmaking of leaders with respect to biological weapons, this study employed a prospective simulation technique called Asynchronous Strategic Dynamics Red Teaming. Using an immersive, multimedia simulation conducted remotely and asynchronously, the effort engaged 240 carefully selected and curated expert participants in either biological weapons or the countries of interest (as well as 60 naïve participants). Across our sample of 30 countries, simulated interest in pursuing some type of biological weapons program (defensive or offensive) remained low to moderate.

Comparison of L1-S1 neuroforaminal dimensions derived from plain film radiography versus computed tomography.

Purpose: To compare measurements of lumbar neuroforaminal dimensions (NFD) derived from plain film radiography (PFR) and computed tomography (CT) of young patients without spinal pathology.

Methods: We analyzed 213 patients between 18 and 35 years of age without spinal pathology who received PFR and CT within one year of each other. NFD were defined as foraminal height, sagittal anterior-to-posterior width, and area.

Do Tobacco Companies Have an Incentive to Promote "Harm Reduction" Products?: The Role of Competition.

Introduction: Some cigarette companies have started to talk about replacing cigarettes with less harmful alternatives, which might include nicotine vaping products (NVPs), heated tobacco products (HTPs), and oral nicotine delivery products. We consider market competition as a primary driver of whether cigarette companies follow through on their stated intentions.

Aims And Methods: We focus on the behavior of cigarette companies in the United States.

A Proposed Policy Agenda For Electronic Cigarettes In The US: Product, Price, Place, And Promotion.

Growth in the market for electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) raises complex questions about the devices' public health implications and, hence, challenging policy issues. We propose a policy agenda addressing concerns about preventing youth uptake of e-cigarettes and the desire to realize the potential of e-cigarettes to increase adult cigarette smoking cessation. We organize interventions according to the "four Ps" of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Health Effects of Electronic Cigarettes: An Umbrella Review and Methodological Considerations.

E-cigarettes are often marketed as a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes. However, their health effects, especially those associated with long-term use, remain largely uncertain. We conducted an umbrella review of the cardiopulmonary and carcinogenic risks of e-cigarette use, distinguishing between short-term and long-term health effects.

The Use of Expert Elicitation among Computational Modeling Studies in Health Research: A Systematic Review.

Background: Expert elicitation (EE) has been used across disciplines to estimate input parameters for computational modeling research when information is sparse or conflictual.

Objectives: We conducted a systematic review to compare EE methods used to generate model input parameters in health research.

Data Sources: PubMed and Web of Science.

A Virtual Smash Room for Venting Frustration or Just Having Fun: Participatory Design of Virtual Environments in Digitally Reinforced Cancer Rehabilitation.

Background: Cancer rehabilitation is central for helping patients and relatives create a functional everyday life based on the changes in life conditions. The needs are highly individual and include physical, mental, and social challenges. Cancer rehabilitation programs offer coping strategies, including guidelines on how to handle emotions.

An Analysis of the Altria-Juul Labs Deal: Antitrust and Population Health Implications.

On December 19, 2018, Altria announced an offer of $12.8 billion for Juul Labs, combining the largest U.S.

An Expert Elicitation on the Effects of a Ban on Menthol Cigarettes and Cigars in the United States.

Introduction: The US Food and Drug Administration announced its intention to ban menthol in cigarettes. However, information is needed on how a federal ban would affect population health.

Aims And Methods: We conducted an expert elicitation to gauge the impact of a menthol cigarette and cigar ban in the United States.

Trends in E-Cigarette Use by Age Group and Combustible Cigarette Smoking Histories, U.S. Adults, 2014-2018.

Introduction: The trends in e-cigarette prevalence and population count of users according to cigarette smoking histories are unknown. These data are needed to inform public health actions against a rapidly changing U.S.

Applying the Population Health Standard to the Regulation of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems.

Regulatory authorities have devoted increasing attention and resources to a range of issues surrounding the regulation of novel nicotine and tobacco products. This review highlights the inherent complexity of evaluating prospective policies that pertain to products that heat solutions containing nicotine, but not tobacco leaf, sometimes referred to as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is compelled to incorporate a set of public health criteria in their decision making, collectively referred to as the Population Health Standard.

An Analysis of the FTC's Attempt to Stop the Altria-Juul Labs Deal.

On 20 December 2018, Altria, the largest US cigarette company, announced an offer for a 35% share of the large and rapidly growing vaping product company, Juul Labs. On 2 April, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint that the deal was anticompetitive and should be voided. This paper analyzes the deal.

Smoke-free and tobacco-free colleges and universities in the United States.

Objective: To describe the number and proportion of accredited, degree-granting institutions with 100% smoke-free and 100% tobacco-free protections across the USA and by state.

Methods: Data on postsecondary education institutions from the US Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System 2015, and smoke-free and tobacco-free campus protections from the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation's Smokefree and Tobacco-Free Colleges and Universities List 2017, were integrated to calculate the number and proportion of: (1) smoke-free and tobacco-free accredited, degree-granting institutions and (2) students and staff protected by campus policies and state laws. Campus protections are given a 100% smoke-free designation if smoking is not allowed on campus anywhere, at any time; 100% tobacco-free designations extend smoke-free protections to include non-combustible products such as smokeless tobacco.

Benign Giant Cell Lesion of C1 Lateral Mass: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Primary osseous tumors of the spinal column account for approximately 1% of the total number of spinal tumors found in the pediatric patient population. The authors present a case of a C1 benign giant cell lesion that was incidentally found in a 15-year-old patient. A transoral biopsy was performed followed by treatment with denosumab, with definitive management in the form of transoral tumor resection with subsequent occiput-cervical three posterior instrumented fusion.

A blueprint for the primary prevention of cancer: Targeting established, modifiable risk factors.

In the United States, it is estimated that more than 1.7 million people will be diagnosed with cancer, and more than 600,000 will die of the disease in 2018. The financial costs associated with cancer risk factors and cancer care are enormous.

Who's still smoking? Disparities in adult cigarette smoking prevalence in the United States.

The continuing high prevalence of cigarette smoking among specific subpopulations, many of them vulnerable, is one of the most pressing challenges facing the tobacco control community. These populations include individuals in lower education and/or socioeconomic groups; from certain racial/ethnic groups; in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; with mental illness; and in the military, particularly among those in the lowest pay grades. Although traditional tobacco control measures are having positive health effects for most groups, the effects are not sufficient for others.

Key issues surrounding the health impacts of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and other sources of nicotine.

Answer questions and earn CME/CNE Over the last decade, the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including the electronic cigarette or e-cigarette, has grown rapidly. More youth now use ENDS than any tobacco product. This extensive research review shows that there are scientifically sound, sometimes competing arguments about ENDS that are not immediately and/or completely resolvable.

Epidemiology of the third wave of tobacco litigation in the United States, 1994-2005.

Objective: To describe the epidemiology of litigation against the tobacco industry in the United States during the years 1994-2005 (described as the "third wave" of tobacco litigation). "Epidemiology" refers to the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in populations. We apply the term "epidemiology" to the litigation context for purposes of characterising qualitatively and, to the extent possible, quantitatively the variety of cases litigated against tobacco manufacturers and allied tobacco interests during the third wave and their impact on the tobacco industry.

Consumer acceptable risk: how cigarette companies have responded to accusations that their products are defective.

Objective: To describe arguments used by cigarette companies to defend themselves against charges that their cigarettes were defective and that they could and should have done more to make cigarettes less hazardous.

Methods: The data for this paper come from the opening statements made by defendants in four court cases: two class action lawsuits (Engle 1999, and Blankenship 2001) and two individual cases (Boeken 2001, and Schwarz 2002). The transcripts of opening statements were reviewed and statements about product defect claims, product testing, and safe cigarette research were excerpted and coded.

The Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) project: origins, aims, and methods.

Research on previously secret tobacco industry documents has grown substantially during the past decade, since these documents first became available as the result of private and governmental litigation and investigations by the US Congress and the US Food and Drug Administration. Complementary research on tobacco litigation testimony is now being conducted through the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) project. We obtained transcripts of depositions and trial testimony, deposition and trial exhibits, expert reports, and other litigation documents from law firms, court reporter firms, individual lawyers and witnesses, tobacco company websites, and other sources.

Tobacco manufacturers' defence against plaintiffs' claims of cancer causation: throwing mud at the wall and hoping some of it will stick.

Background: In the late 1990s and the early part of this decade, the major US cigarette manufacturers admitted, to varying degrees, that smoking causes cancer and other diseases.

Objective: To examine how tobacco manufacturers have defended themselves against charges that their products caused cancer in plaintiffs in 34 personal injury lawsuits, all but one of which were litigated between the years 1986 and 2003.

Methods: Defence opening and closing statements, trial testimony, and depositions for these cases were obtained from the Tobacco Deposition and Trial Testimony Archive (http://tobaccodocuments.