Cigarette yields and human exposure: a comparison of alternative testing regimens.

Objective: There is general agreement that the testing protocol for measuring cigarette smoke constituents-the International Organization for Standardization regimen-is an inappropriate mechanism for evaluating human exposure. Alternative smoking regimens have been introduced in Canada and Massachusetts; however, these regimens have not been evaluated against human smoking behavior and biomeasures of exposure. The objective of this study was to compare measures of smoke volume and nicotine uptake among human smokers against the puffing variables and nicotine yields generated by five different machine smoking regimens: (a) International Organization for Standardization, (b) Massachusetts, (c) Canadian, (d) a Compensatory regimen, and (e) a Human Mimic regimen.

Changes in nicotine intake and cigarette use over time in two nationally representative cross-sectional samples of smokers.

Population surveys have observed decreases in cigarette use over time among smokers. These decreases have probably been influenced by tobacco control measures implemented over the past several decades, but few data exist on whether smokers have also reduced their nicotine intake. The authors examined data from two cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), conducted in 1988-1994 and 1999-2002.

Comparing smoking behaviors and exposures from flavored and unflavored cigarettes.

Cigarettes with flavors such as mocha and citrus have been introduced in growing numbers. Besides their potential marketing appeal to nonsmokers, there is concern that flavors might mask smoke harshness, making inhalation easier. This pilot study evaluates differences in puff topography and cigarette ratings among 20 college student smokers smoking Camel Light (10mg Tar, 0.

An examination of early smoking experiences and smoking status in a national cross-sectional sample.

Aims: To extend previous work showing lightheadedness from and liking for smoking to be associated with continued smoking while controlling for demographics and social influences that can also contribute to progression to established smoking.

Design And Setting: Random digit dialing telephone survey conduced on 3383 never smokers, non-smokers, former smokers and current smokers in the continental United States.

Measurements: Demographic information (sex, race, age, education level), smoking history, reactions to early experiences with smoking (lightheadedness, liking), whether parents, siblings or friends smoked when respondent was a teenager.

Smoker awareness of and beliefs about supposedly less-harmful tobacco products.

Background: Cigarette manufacturers in the United States have begun marketing cigarette brands claiming to reduce smokers' exposure to selected toxins in tobacco smoke. Little data exist on smokers' awareness, use, and beliefs about these products.

Methods: Data from the U.

A digital image analysis system for identifying filter vent blocking on ultralight cigarettes.

Filter ventilation is the dominant design feature on modern cigarettes, diluting the mainstream smoke with air and reducing tar and nicotine yields in the standard assay. Smokers are generally unaware of vent holes and often cover them with lips or fingers while smoking, reducing or eliminating the air dilution effect and increasing intake of tar and nicotine particularly on ultra-low tar brands. A digital imaging and analysis system for the detection of vent blocking was developed.

Most smokeless tobacco use does not cause cigarette smoking: results from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Those who either never progress from smokeless tobacco (SLT) to smoking or smoked before using SLT logically cannot have smoking caused by SLT use. The prevalence of such use permits strong inferences about the overall importance of the potential causal effects of SLT on cigarette smoking. We found that the majority of SLT ever users (66%) in the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) were noncausal users.

Effect of drop size on the degradation of VX in concrete.

The effect of drop size on the degradation rate of VX, O-ethyl S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl]methylphosphonothioate, in fresh concrete has been examined using (31)P NMR. Drops of neat VX, ranging in size from 4 microL to 0.2 microL, applied to small concrete coupons (8 mm x 15 mm) were observed to degrade at different rates, with the 1 microL and smaller drops reacting in less than 4 days, and the larger droplets reacting in less than 11 days.

Regular smokeless tobacco use is not a reliable predictor of smoking onset when psychosocial predictors are included in the model.

Tomar analyzed the CDC's Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey (TAPS) and reported smokeless tobacco may act as a starter product for or gateway to cigarettes. Regular smokeless tobacco users at baseline were said to be 3.45 times more likely than never users of smokeless tobacco to become cigarette smokers after 4 years (95% CI=1.

Most smokeless tobacco use is not a causal gateway to cigarettes: using order of product use to evaluate causation in a national US sample.

Aims: To evaluate non-causal and causal patterns of smokeless tobacco (SLT) and cigarette use; to assess the prevalence of 'non-gateway' and possible 'gateway' patterns of SLT use.

Design And Setting: Data from the Cancer Control Supplement to the 1987 National Health Interview Survey, a representative survey of non-institutionalized adults in the United States. From reported age at first use, participants were categorized by type and sequence of tobacco product use.

Evidence for a relationship between daily caffeine consumption and accuracy of time estimation.

The present study examined the relationship between regular caffeine consumption and time estimation. Sixty participants (aged 18-57 years, mean 24 years) completed a 47 s time estimation exercise and questionnaires related to daily caffeine consumption and perceptions of time. We hypothesized that the effects of caffeine on time estimation would follow a U-shaped pattern such that individuals who reported moderate amounts of daily caffeine would be more accurate in their perceptions of time than would those who reported high amounts of caffeine intake or no daily caffeine consumption.

Using a telephone survey to acquire genetic and behavioral data related to cigarette smoking in "made-anonymous" and "registry" samples.

In the Smokers and Nonsmokers Study, the authors investigated the feasibility of using random digit dialing telephone interviews to locate adults in the continental United States who were willing to provide DNA from buccal swabs through the mail. Interviews with 3,383 adults regarding their smoking-related behaviors (response rate = 70%) were conducted in 1999-2000; swab returns continued into early 2001. Overall, 57% of interviewees agreed to receive mailed information explaining the study.