Incentivizing university students to quit smoking: a randomized controlled trial of a contingency management intervention in a developing country.

: Contingency management (CM) is an empirically supported behavioral treatment for tobacco use, but its efficacy with university student smokers in a developing country is unknown. : We evaluate a randomized controlled trial of a CM smoking cessation program conducted on a sample of treatment-seeking student smokers at the University of Cape Town.: The study included a recruitment period, a 6-week intervention period, and a 6-month follow-up period.

The "embowire" technique: concept and description of a novel embolization technique for narrow vessels.

We describe a new, useful embolization technique applied to occlude narrow vessel branches (≤ 1.5 mm (0.06") in diameter) by deployment of one hydrocoil, through a microcatheter, in a way similar to the way in which one might navigate through the vascular lumen with a guidewire.

Protective embolization of the gastroduodenal artery with a one-HydroCoil technique in radioembolization procedures.

Purpose: Protective occlusion of the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) is required to avoid severe adverse effects and complications in radioembolization procedures. Because of the expandable features of HydroCoils, our goal was to occlude the GDA with only one HydroCoil to provide particle reflux protection.

Methods: Twenty-three subjects with unresectable liver tumors, who were scheduled for protective occlusion of the GDA before radioembolization therapy, were included.

Effect of tumor size and tumor-to-liver contrast of hypovascular liver tumors on the diagnostic performance of hepatic CT imaging.

Objective: To assess the effect of tumor size and tumor-to-liver contrast of simulated hypovascular liver tumors on the diagnostic accuracy of hepatic computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was waived. A total of 153 simulated hypovascular liver tumors were embedded in 70 hepatic CT data sets that were acquired during the portal venous phase.

Iterative reconstruction algorithm for abdominal multidetector CT at different tube voltages: assessment of diagnostic accuracy, image quality, and radiation dose in a phantom study.

Purpose: To assess the diagnostic accuracy, image quality, and radiation dose of an iterative reconstruction algorithm compared with a filtered back projection (FBP) algorithm for abdominal computed tomography (CT) at different tube voltages.

Materials And Methods: A custom liver phantom with 45 simulated hypovascular liver tumors (diameters of 5, 10, and 15 mm; tumor-to-liver contrast of 10, 25, and 50 HU) was placed in a cylindrical water container that mimicked an intermediate-sized patient. The phantom was scanned at 120, 100, and 80 kVp.