社区吸烟者心理特质及其对尼古丁依赖程度的影响研究

背景　心理社会因素是影响尼古丁依赖的重要因素,关于吸烟原因和心理社会因素联合影响尼古丁依赖程度的研究较少见。目的　调查北京市社区吸烟人群心理健康状况,并探讨其对尼古丁依赖程度的影响。方法　2018-2019年,采用横断面研究方法,通过现场发放问卷调查北京市12家社区的吸烟者407人,纳入戒烟干预研究队列,采用自编社会人口学问卷收集吸烟者的人口学信息,采用尼古丁依赖量表评估吸烟者尼古丁依赖程度,采用拒烟自我效能问卷、Russell吸烟原因问卷、领悟社会支持量表及特质应对方式问卷进行吸烟者心理特质的调查。探讨人口学信息和心理特质得分与尼古丁依赖量表得分的相关关系;以尼古丁依赖程度为因变量,采用多重线性回归分析探讨影响尼古丁依赖程度的心理特质指标。结果　本调查共发放问卷407份,回收有效问卷309份,有效问卷回收率为75.9%。不同文化程度、平均月收入吸烟者尼古丁依赖程度比较,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。不同尼古丁依赖程度吸烟者拒烟自我效能问卷总分及积极/社会情景、消极/情绪情景、习惯/成瘾情景维度得分,Russell吸烟原因问卷中心理意向、手口活动、享乐、镇静、刺激、成瘾及自动因子得分比较,差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。Spearman秩相关分析结果显示,文化程度（rs=-0.224）、拒烟自我效能问卷总分（rs=-0.398）及积极/社会情景维度（rs=-0.292）、消极/情绪情景维度（rs=-0.226）、习惯/成瘾情景维度（rs=-0.465）得分与尼古丁依赖程度呈负相关（P<0.05）,Russell吸烟原因问卷中的心理意向（rs=0.120）、手口活动（rs=0.240）、享乐（rs=0.354,P<0.05）、镇静（rs=0.239）、刺激（rs=0.227）、成瘾（rs=0.426）和自动（rs=0.298）因子得分与尼古丁依赖程度呈正相关（P<0.05）。多重线性回归分析结果显示,文化程度（t=-3.151）、习惯/成瘾情景维度得分（t=-5.401）、享乐因子得分（t=2.736）和成瘾因子得分（t=3.111）是吸烟者尼古丁依赖程度的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论　影响吸烟者尼古丁依赖程度的因素包括文化程度、习惯成瘾情境下的拒烟自我效能和吸烟原因中的享乐因素以及成瘾因素,应从社会心理层面与成瘾方面入手进行吸烟者的戒烟干预。     

Drug resistance pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients of five provinces of Iran

Objective:To determine the patterns of resistance to first line anti-tuberculosis(TB)drugs among a collection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB)isolates from 5 provinces of Iran.Methods:A total of the 6 426 clinical specimens from patients suspected of active TB were collected from March 2010 to June 2012.All specimens were subjected for microscopy and culture tests in the TB centers of studies provinces.Drug susceptibility testing to the first line anti-TB drugs for culture positive MTB was performed on Lwenstein-Jensen(LJ)medium using proportion method.Results:Of 6 426 clinical specimens,261 were culture positive for mycobacteria,of which 252 were MTB and 9 were MOTT(mycobacteria other than tuberculosis).Of 252 MTB isolates.211(83.7%)were pan-susceptible and 41(16.3%)were resistant to at least one drug.Resistance was most common to streptomycin.30 isolates(12.0%),followed by isoniuzid,20isolates(8.0%),rifampin,15 isolates(6.0%)and ethambutol,14 isolates(5.5%).Sixteen(6.3%)MTB isolates were MDR.A clear evidence of heterogeneity amongst the 5 provinces in the proportions with resistance to one or more drugs was observed[χ~2=12.209(4 degrees of freedom),P values=0.015 9].Conclusions:The prevalence of drug resistance in this study area underscoring the need for further enforcement of TB control strategies in the Iran.Drug susceptibility testing for all TB cases to provide optimal treatment,establishing advanced diagnostic facilities for rapid detection of MDR-TB and continuous monitoring of drug resistance are recommended for prevention and control of drug-resistant TB.     

Thermophysical and Mechanical Properties of Hardened Cement Paste with Microencapsulated Phase Change Materials for Energy Storage

In this research, structural-functional integrated cement-based materials were prepared by employing cement paste and a microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) manufactured using urea-formaldehyde resin as the shell and paraffin as the core material. The encapsulation ratio of the MPCM could reach up to 91.21 wt%. Thermal energy storage cement pastes (TESCPs) incorporated with different MPCM contents (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight of cement) were developed, and their thermal and mechanical properties were studied. The results showed that the total energy storage capacity of the hardened cement specimens with MPCM increased by up to 3.9-times compared with that of the control cement paste. The thermal conductivity at different temperature levels (35–36 °C, 55–56 °C and 72–74 °C) decreased with the increase of MPCM content, and the decrease was the highest when the temperature level was 55–56 °C. Moreover, the compressive strength, flexural strength and density of hardened cement paste decreased with the increase in MPCM content linearly. Among the evaluated properties, the compressive strength of TESCPs had a larger and faster degradation with the increase of MPCM content.     

Performance evaluation of MR-proadrenomedullin and other scoring systems in severe sepsis with pneumonia

Background

In sepsis, risk assessment is as crucial as early and accurate diagnosis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) with other scoring systems in severe sepsis and septic shock patients due to community acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods

Patients were divided into 2 groups as severe sepsis and septic shock due to CAP (group 1, n=31) and only CAP group (group 2, n=26). Serum MR-proADM, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and d-dimer level were analyzed. Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) were performed for all patients.

Results

There was no difference between groups in terms of serum MR-proADM levels (P=0.780). Serum MR-proADM was not found a significant value for the prediction of death within the 4 and 8 weeks in all patients. SOFA score was the most significant to predict mortality in 4 and 8 weeks (P<0.001). The combination of SOFA score and serum MR-proADM was a strong factor to predict death in 4 weeks (specifity 86.8% and sensitivity 66.7%). The combination of MR-proADM, SOFA score, and APACHE II score was found 75.0% sensitive and 71.4% specific to predict mortality within 4 weeks in group 1.

Conclusions

The MR-proADM does not correlate with mortality or disease severity to predict mortality. The combination of SOFA, APACHE II scores, and MR-proADM was efficient to predict prognosis and mortality rate in severe sepsis or septic shock patients.     

Prevalence of fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis in slaughtered sheep and goats in Amol Abattoir,Mazandaran, northern Iran

Objective

The liver flukes, Fasciola spp. and Dicrocoelium dendriticum, infect ruminants and other mammalian extensively and cause major diseases of livestock that produce considerable economic losses.

Methods

A survey of 2391 sheep and goats slaughtered at an abattoir in Amol region, northern Iran was used to determine the prevalence of the liver flukes infection based on season, sex and specie of the animals.

Results

The results revealed that the prevalence rate of Fasciola spp. and Dicrocoelium dendriticum was 6.6% and 4.3% respectively. Dicrocoeliosis was more dominant in female animals (7.1%) whereas there was no sex-related difference in the prevalence of Fasciola spp. in male and female animals. Furthermore, Fasciolosis was significantly more prevalent than dicrocoeliosis in both sheep and goats. The Seasonal prevalence of Fasciola spp. was highest (P<0.005) during spring (8.3%) followed in order by autumn (8.1%), winter (5.9%) and summer (4.0%) but Dicrocoeliosis did not follow any seasonal pattern.

Conclusions

According to this study, it can be concluded that Amol is regarded as an endemic region for Fasciola spp and D. dandriticum infection. Moreover, Fasciola spp. is the most widespread liver fluke found in sheep and goats which is more dominant in sheep than goats.     

From the Cover: Conflict translates environmental and social risk into business costs

Sustainability science has grown as a field of inquiry, but has said little about the role of large-scale private sector actors in socio-ecological systems change. However, the shaping of global trends and transitions depends greatly on the private sector and its development impact. Market-based and command-and-control policy instruments have, along with corporate citizenship, been the predominant means for bringing sustainable development priorities into private sector decision-making. This research identifies conflict as a further means through which environmental and social risks are translated into business costs and decision making. Through in-depth interviews with finance, legal, and sustainability professionals in the extractive industries, and empirical case analysis of 50 projects worldwide, this research reports on the financial value at stake when conflict erupts with local communities. Over the past decade, high commodity prices have fueled the expansion of mining and hydrocarbon extraction. These developments profoundly transform environments, communities, and economies, and frequently generate social conflict. Our analysis shows that mining and hydrocarbon companies fail to factor in the full scale of the costs of conflict. For example, as a result of conflict, a major, world-class mining project with capital expenditure of between US$3 and US$5 billion was reported to suffer roughly US$20 million per week of delayed production in net present value terms. Clear analysis of the costs of conflict provides sustainability professionals with a strengthened basis to influence corporate decision making, particularly when linked to corporate values. Perverse outcomes of overemphasizing a cost analysis are also discussed.Large-scale natural resource extraction projects (including exploration and processing activities) profoundly transform environments, communities, and economies, and often generate social conflict (2, 3). Previous studies of resource extraction and conflict have highlighted the relationship between mining and hydrocarbon resources and broader civil conflict (4, 5) and individual cases of project level conflict (6, 7). In this study, we investigate the importance of company–community conflict in the context of regulation of the sustainability performance of mining and hydrocarbon companies. We estimate the cost of social conflict to companies, determine how companies interpret this conflict, and explain how they respond to conflict. Costs were understood broadly as the negative impacts of company–community conflict on a company’s tangible and intangible assets, including value erosion. Conflict is defined as the coexistence of aspirations, interests, and world views that cannot be met simultaneously, or that actors do not perceive as being subject to simultaneous satisfaction, and is viewed in this assessment as ranging from low-level tension to escalated situations involving a complete relationship breakdown or violence (8).There is growing appreciation that unmitigated environmental and social risks have the potential to negatively influence the financial success of large-scale developments in the extractive industries. A 2008 study of 190 projects operated by the major international oil companies showed that the time taken for projects to come on-line nearly doubled in the preceding decade, causing significant increases in costs (9), although this increase reflects project remoteness, scale, technical difficulty, and input price, as well as social conflict. A follow-up of a subset of those projects found that nontechnical risks accounted for nearly one-half of the total risks faced by these companies, and that risks related to company relationships with other social actors constituted the single largest category (10). A separate empirical study of 19 publicly traded junior gold-mining companies found two-thirds of the market capitalization of these firms was a function of the firm’s stakeholder engagement practices, whereas only one-third was a function of the value of gold in the ground (11).In its analysis of socio-ecological systems (SESs), the sustainability science literature has said little about the large-scale private sector as an important actor within, and regulator of, SES behavior. A review of the 450 sustainability science articles published in PNAS, for example, finds just 23 referring to “corporate,” “industry,” “private sector,” or “company” in their texts. An extensive word cloud produced by a historical review of 20,000 papers related to sustainability science (12) notes just five terms implying a focus on the private sector (“corporate social,” “corporate sustainability,” “social responsibility,” “industrial ecology,” and “supply chain”), with none of these terms invoking core company decision making, culture, or calculations. However, large-scale corporate actors are obviously of central importance to the “major questions” for research in sustainability science (13), and perhaps especially the questions: “What shapes the long-term trends and transitions that provide the major directions for this century?” and “What determines the adaptability, vulnerability, and resilience of human–environment systems?” (13).The relevance of private sector actors is particularly clear in the extractive industries where, given the evolution of technology and industrial structure in these sectors, large enterprises have become highly influential actors in SES dynamics. Dramatic events and disasters, such as the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, make this clear. Such enterprises can also be critical actors in slower processes of SES change, such as those mediating the relationships among water, agriculture, livelihoods, mining, and climate change (14, 15). Companies in the extractive industries have, to greater or lesser extent, developed policies for sustainable development and used sustainability professionals to respond to the changes induced by their activities on SESs. It is therefore important to understand the drivers of company behavior to build adequate models of socio-ecological change.This study addresses one potential driver of company behavior: conflicts motivated by the social and environmental risks created by, and the impacts of, corporate activities. More specifically, the study understands social conflict as a means through which populations communicate perceptions of risk and which generate costs for companies. The study refers to risk from the perspective of the entity experiencing the risk (i.e., environmental risks are risks to the environment; social risks are risks to society, social groups, or individuals; and business risks are the risks to the business). We ask about the significance of the costs associated with community conflict to companies, how far companies are prepared to respond to these costs by seeking strategies to reduce the environmental and social risk that they generate within SESs, and the conditions that can induce regulatory and strategic change within the corporate sector itself such that it reduces any negative environmental and social impacts.Although the report addresses just one dimension of large-scale private sector activity, the purpose is to suggest the importance of paying far more attention to corporate behavior in studies of socio-ecological dynamics. Emerging research on large-scale land acquisitions, or “land grabs” (16), and the implications for land-change science (17) suggests the same need to attend to corporate actors in sustainability science. In addressing this theme, our primary purpose is to map out, explore, and identify (rather than test) particular relationships between large-scale business and SES dynamics. The intent of the research is to build SES theory in ways that treat corporate behavior as endogenous to these systems.Through in-depth confidential interviews with corporate finance, legal, and sustainability professionals, and empirical case analysis, we investigate the extent to which recognition of the costs of conflict has the potential to change the ways in which companies address the environmental and social risks of mining and hydrocarbon development. Case studies combined desk-based analysis of secondary materials with key informant interviews to confirm or supplement the analysis. Case studies were used to characterize the types of company–community conflicts affecting mining projects, the point at which conflict took effect within the project cycle, and the types of effects that conflict appeared to have on projects. Key informant interviews were used to address how large-scale mining and hydrocarbon companies interpret these conflicts, how they respond to them, the factors determining different types of company response, and the extent to which calculations of the financial costs of conflict change the ways in which companies respond.     

The Peculiar Epidemiology of Dracunculiasis in Chad

Dracunculiasis was rediscovered in Chad in 2010 after an apparent absence of 10 years. In April 2012 active village-based surveillance was initiated to determine where, when, and how transmission of the disease was occurring, and to implement interventions to interrupt it. The current epidemiologic pattern of the disease in Chad is unlike that seen previously in Chad or other endemic countries, i.e., no clustering of cases by village or association with a common water source, the average number of worms per person was small, and a large number of dogs were found to be infected. Molecular sequencing suggests these infections were all caused by Dracunculus medinensis. It appears that the infection in dogs is serving as the major driving force sustaining transmission in Chad, that an aberrant life cycle involving a paratenic host common to people and dogs is occurring, and that the cases in humans are sporadic and incidental.