Cardiovascular benefits of lycopene: fantasy or reality?

Epidemiological evidence indicates that high consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products reduces the risk of chronic diseases such as CVD and cancer. Such potential benefits are often ascribed to high concentrations of lycopene present in tomato products. Mainly from the results of in vitro studies, potential biological mechanisms by which carotenoids could protect against heart disease and cancer have been suggested.

Creating smoke-free homes for children.

This article describes a tool that was designed to help nurses deliver health education on the subject of passive smoking. The tool is based on a Scottish study, which encouraged mothers to identify their own strategies for reducing smoking in the home in order to protect their children from being exposed to second-hand smoke. It is designed to give nurses and other health professionals who work with families and children the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to raise the issue of second-hand smoke with parents and help them to find their own solutions to reducing smoking in the home.

'I'm not doing this for me': mothers' accounts of creating smoke-free homes.

This article explores mothers' narratives of changing home smoking behaviours after participating in an intervention (Reducing Families' Exposure to Smoking in the Home [REFRESH]) aimed at reducing families' exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in homes in Scotland. An analysis of qualitative findings illuminates quantitative changes in levels of SHS exposure. Prospective quantitative and qualitative data were drawn from 21 smoking mothers with at least one child under 6 years.

Lycopene inhibits lymphocyte proliferation through mechanisms dependent on early cell activation.

Scope: Epidemiological evidence suggests that lycopene is potentially cardio-protective. Recruitment and activation of T cells in the arterial wall is a critical process during atherogenesis, but the effects of lycopene on T-cell response remain to be elucidated. We aimed to determine whether lycopene could modulate T-cell function and activity.

REFRESH--reducing families' exposure to secondhand smoke in the home: a feasibility study.

Objective: To study a novel intervention (REFRESH) aimed at reducing children's exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in their homes.

Design: A randomised feasibility study.

Setting: Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire.

Factors influencing exposure to secondhand smoke in preschool children living with smoking mothers.

Introduction: The health effects on young children of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) are well described. Recent work suggests that over one quarter of school-aged children in Scotland are regularly exposed to SHS in the home. The study was designed to describe SHS exposure in preschool children whose mothers smoked and identify factors that influence exposure.