Randomized controlled trial testing a video-text tobacco cessation intervention among economically disadvantaged African American adults.

OBJECTIVE: This pilot study tested the acceptability and short-term outcomes of a culturally specific mobile health (mHealth) intervention (Path2Quit) in a sample of economically disadvantaged African American adults. We hypothesized that Path2Quit would demonstrate greater acceptability, biochemically verified abstinence, and promote nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) use compared with a standard text-messaging program. METHOD: In a 2-arm pilot randomized trial, adults who sought to quit smoking (N = 119) received either Path2Quit or the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) SmokefreeTXT, both combined with a brief behavioral counseling session plus 2 weeks of NRT. Outcomes included acceptability (intervention evaluation and use), NRT utilization, 24-hr quit attempts, self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence (ppa), and biochemically verified smoking abstinence at the 6-week follow-up. RESULTS: Participants were 52% female/48% male, mostly single (60%), completed ≥ 12 years of education (83%), middle-aged, and 63% reported a household income < $10K/year. Participants smoked 11 (SD = 8.2) cigarettes/day for 25 (SD = 16) years, and reported low nicotine dependence. There were no differences in intervention evaluations or use (ps > .05), yet Path2Quit led to significantly greater NRT utilization at follow-up (p < .05). There was no difference in quit attempts between conditions or 7-day ppa (p > .05). However, Path2Quit resulted in significantly greater carbon monoxide confirmed ppa (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.55; 95% CI [1.32, 9.54]) at the 6-week follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: A culturally specific mHealth intervention demonstrated positive effects on NRT use and short-term abstinence. Additional research in a larger sample and with long-term follow-up is warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A wireless modular multi-modal multi-node patch platform for robust biosignal monitoring.

In this paper a wireless modular, multi-modal, multi-node patch platform is described. The platform comprises low-cost semi-disposable patch design aiming at unobtrusive ambulatory monitoring of multiple physiological parameters. Owing to its modular design it can be interfaced with various low-power RF communication and data storage technologies, while the data fusion of multi-modal and multi-node features facilitates measurement of several biosignals from multiple on-body locations for robust feature extraction. Preliminary results of the patch platform are presented which illustrate the capability to extract respiration rate from three different independent metrics, which combined together can give a more robust estimate of the actual respiratory rate.

Microcirculatory changes during chronic adaptation to hypoxia.

Microcirculatory changes in the window chamber preparation in Syrian golden hamsters, secondary to chronic hypoxia adaptation, are presented herein. Adaptation was attained by keeping animals in a 10% oxygen environment for 1 wk and 5% the following week. The following groups were studied: group 1, adapted to chronic hypoxia and kept in a 5% oxygen environment throughout the experiment; group 2, adapted to chronic hypoxia and kept in a 21% oxygen environment 24 h before and during the experiment; and group 3, control. Adaptation caused venule enlargement and hematocrit increase (68.6 +/- 2.44 in group 1, 70 +/- 2.66 in group 2, and 43.27 +/- 2.30 in group 3; P < 0.05). Whereas heart rate decreased in adapted animals, blood pressure remained constant. Group 1 presented alkalosis, hypocapnia, and hypoxemia. The adapted groups had decreased blood flow velocity in arterioles and veins. We found no difference in microvasculature oxygen tension between groups 2 and 3; however, the number of capillaries with flow was markedly reduced in group 1 but significantly increased in group 2. Our findings suggest that, as an adaptation to hypoxia, erythropoiesis may prove beneficial by increasing blood viscosity and shear stress, leading to vasodilatation, in addition to the increase in oxygen-carrying capacity. Calculations show that oxygen extraction in the tissue of the window chamber model was significantly lowered in adapted animals breathing 5% oxygen, but was unchanged from the control when breathing 21% oxygen, even though blood hemoglobin content was increased from 14.5 +/- 0.07 g/dl at control to 21.04 +/- 1.24 g/dl in the adapted animals (P < 0.05).

Tensile destruction test as an estimation of partial proteolysis in fibrin clots.

We report a technique devised to evaluate the effects of partial proteolysis on the mechanical characteristics of acellular non-cross-linked fibrin clots. The destruction technique applies coaxial tension on mechanically preconditioned cylindrical molded clots and measures the number of mechanical failures vs the total number of samples at a given load (2, 3, and 4 grams force). We used different plasmin concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, and 0.08 U/mL) in the bathing medium to cause partial proteolysis. We monitored the fibrinolysis process by measuring the amount of protein released in the bathing medium. Our results showed no difference in the creep function in all the groups studied. We compare our technique with compaction, a commonly used mechanical technique that compresses the sample by centrifugation, and found that our technique is capable of detecting minor changes of fibrinolysis (the results of the least square fit for the destruction test at 2 grams force, as a function of plasmin concentration, has a coefficient of determination of R(2) = 0.55), while compaction did not show a statistically significant difference in the same conditions, suggesting that each individual fibrin fiber bears load only under tension. Our findings suggest that when the fibers are cleaved their capacity to withstand stress is seriously challenged; thus, in principle, tensile destruction test can detect a minimal degree of proteolysis.