Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-06-17T11:42:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese_Pos_defesa_Final_corrigida_Biblioteca.pdf: 3212146 bytes, checksum: 9c78ac9cc8cdb05df32aea81cd5d38d3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-17T11:42:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Tese_Pos_defesa_Final_corrigida_Biblioteca.pdf: 3212146 bytes, checksum: 9c78ac9cc8cdb05df32aea81cd5d38d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-09 / A presença de diferentes substâncias genotóxicas, como os produtos do decaimento do 210Pb, um elemento amplamente encontrado no cigarro, pode causar danos genéticos e contribuir para evolução de neoplasias malignas, o que evidencia a necessidade de monitoração constante dos fumantes. Bioindicadores, a exemplo de micronúcleos (MN’s) são largamente empregados nos estudos das ações de agentes genotóxicos em seres humanos. Normalmente, em grupos formados por fumantes, são utilizadas amostras da mucosa bucal para avaliação da frequência de micronúcleos. No entanto, raros são os estudos que procuram utilizar como matriz amostras de urina para essas determinações. O presente trabalho avaliou a frequência de micronúcleo em células esfoliativas na urina, bem como os teores de Chumbo-210 em urina coletada durante 24 horas de indivíduos fumantes e não fumantes, com o objetivo de avaliar a utilização desta matriz como indicadora da suscetibilidade a danos genéticos em voluntários fumantes. Foram coletadas amostras de urina de 30 voluntários (15 não fumantes e 15 fumantes). Para as análises de micronúcleo em urina foram obtidas células esfoliativas através de uma série de centrifugações e lavagens com NaCl a 0,9%. A fixação e coloração empregadas foram metanol/ácido acético e Giemsa, respectivamente. Para determinar as concentrações de 210Pb, utilizou-se a técnica da resina trocadora de íons. Nesse caso, o 210Pb foi precipitado na forma de PbCrO4. O detector Canberra Tennelec S5E foi utilizado para determinar o 210Pb. As concentrações de 210Pb na urina dos fumantes variaram de 49,7 a 158,65 mBq.L-1, enquanto os não fumantes apresentaram valores abaixo de 45 mBq (LD). Nesta pesquisa, os resultados relacionados ao 210Pb sugerem que fatores como a idade, tempo de tabagismo e quantidade de cigarros não exerceram influência estatisticamente significante sobre os valores de excreção do 210Pb, entretanto o hábito tabagista contribui para o aumento das concentrações encontradas na urina. Foi encontrada uma frequência média para micronúcleo em não fumantes de 0,0036 ± 0,001 e, em fumantes foi de 0,0068 ± 0,002. Os resultados indicam um aumento expressivo da frequência de micronúcleos em células esfoliativas de indivíduos fumantes em relação aos não fumantes, sendo este aumento estatisticamente significativo. A análise estatística dos componentes principais (ACP) sugere que a quantidade de cigarros está relacionada com os micronúcleos, no entanto, não houve correlação estatisticamente significante com as concentrações de Chumbo-210. Os resultados obtidos sugerem que a urina pode ser utilizada como matriz biológica para a avaliação da suscetibilidade a danos genéticos ocasionados pelos compostos presentes no cigarro, comportando-se como uma ferramenta eficiente para a monitoração humana. / The presence of different genotoxic substances in cigarette smoke can cause genetic damage and contribute to development of malignancies, which highlights the need for constant monitoring of smokers. Biological indicators, such as the frequency of micronuclei (MN) are widely used to study the action of genotoxic agents in human beings. Usually in groups formed by smokers, the buccal mucosa samples are used to assess the frequency of micronuclei. However, few studies that seeks to use as a template urine samples for these determinations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of micronuclei in exfoliated cells as well as Lead-210 levels in 24-hour urine from smokers and nonsmokers, in order to evaluate the use of this matrix as an indicator of susceptibility to genetic damage in smokers volunteers. Because it is an array easy to obtain and allow an analysis of various elements were collected urine samples from 30 volunteers (15 smokers and 15 non-smokers). For the analysis of micronucleus, exfoliative cells from urine were obtained by a series of centrifugations and washings with NaCl 0.9%. Carnoy I fixation and Giemsa staining were employed, respectively. To determine the 210Pb, we used the technique of ion exchange resin. In this case, the 210Pb was precipitated in the form of PbCrO4. 210Pb beta counts were conducted in a Canberra Tennelec S5E detector with a detection limit of 45 mBq. The results indicated that the urine is an excellent matrix for assessing the degree of exposure to lead-210, especially for smokers, the group of most interest to monitoring. The non-smokers present values above 45mBq and Smokers have shown higher values for 210Pb in urine that ranged from 49.7 to 158.65 mBq.L-1. In this research, the results related to this radionuclide suggest that factors such as age, smoking time and number of cigarettes have little influence on the 210Pb excretion values, though the tobacco habit contributes to the concentrations found in the urine. The average rate for micronucleus found in nonsmokers was 0.0036 ± 0.001 and 0.0068 ± 0.002 in the smokers. The results showed a significant increase in micronuclei frequency in exfoliated cells of smokers compared to nonsmokers, which is statistically significant increase. Statistical analysis also suggest that the number of cigarettes are related to the micronuclei, however there is no statistical correlation with the concentrations of Lead-210. The results suggest that urine can be used with biological matrix for assessing genetic susceptibility to damage caused by the present compounds on the cigarette, behaving as an efficient tool for human monitoring.

The question of whether or not advertising is effective has been a topic of research for decades. More specifically, this research asks the question of advertising effectiveness regarding anti-smoking advertising by the use of a method of advertising known as ‘fear-appeal advertising’. Due to the nature of this study, attention and focus are placed on the affective and emotional aspects of this type of advertising and aims to understand the perceptions that smokers have of anti-smoking advertisements. The respondents recruited for this study all classified themselves as smokers, and were selected to form a representative sample of the South African population, ranging between the ages of 24-49 years. The perceptions of these smokers are discussed against the backdrop of literature, in an attempt to highlight the effectiveness of these advertising campaigns and ultimately suggest a way forward. The value of this exploratory study lies in its potential for generating further questions about emotions, the complexity of human health-risk behaviour and the impact that exposure to health warnings will ultimately have on future actions. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

Many people use smoking as a weight control mechanism and do not want to quit because they fear weight gain. These weight-concerned smokers tend to be female, are significantly less likely to stop smoking, are less likely to join smoking cessation programs, and will relapse more often than smokers who are not weight-concerned. Research suggests that a woman’s confidence in her ability to control her weight after quitting relates positively with her intention to quit smoking. Likewise, success in smoking cessation has been associated with increased self-efficacy for weight control. It has been shown that success in changing one negative health behavior may trigger success in changing another, causing a synergistic effect. Recently research has focused on interventions for weight-concerned smokers who are ready to quit smoking. The present study investigated the effect of a cognitive based weight control program on self-efficacy for weight control and the effect on smoking behavior for a group of female weight concerned smokers. Two hundred and sixteen subjects who wanted to lose weight but who were not ready to quit smoking were recruited to participate in a 12-week, cognitive-behavioral weight control program consisting of twelve one-hour sessions. Subjects were randomly assigned to either 1) the weight-control program (intervention group), or 2) the control group. Results of this study demonstrated that subjects in the intervention group increased self-efficacy for weight control, which was associated with improved healthy eating index scores, weight loss, increased self-efficacy for quitting smoking, a decrease in number of cigarettes smoked and triggered positive movement in stage of change towards smoking cessation compared to the control subjects. For these subjects, positive changes in self-efficacy for one behavior (weight control) appeared to have a positive effect on their readiness to change another health behavior (smoking cessation). Further study of the psychological variables that influence weight-concerned female smokers’ decisions to initiate changes in these behaviors and their ability to maintain those changes are warranted.

The aim of this research was to demonstrate the potential of the novel pre-concentration device, capillary microextraction of volatiles (CMV), for breath analysis. The CMV offers dynamic sampling of volatile organic compounds with its simple coupling to a GC inlet for GC/MS analysis, avoiding expensive thermal desorption instrumentation needed for sorbent tubes, as well as an increased surface area over a single SPME fiber. CMV collectively identified 119 compounds in the breath of 13 self-reported smokers and 7 nonsmokers. The presence and intensity of twelve compounds were used to classify all the nonsmokers 100% of the time using Principal Component Analysis to elucidate the groupings. In some cases, nicotine was not detected in smokers and they were confused with the nonsmokers. Nicotine was detected in the breath of 69% of smokers with an average mass of 143 ± 31 pg for cigarette smokers from the approximate 5 L sample of breath collected. The successful use of the CMV sampler and preconcentration of breath to distinguish between smokers and nonsmokers served as a proof of concept for future applications of the CMV for detection of marijuana smokers’ breath for impaired driver management.

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Smoking during pregnancy is not only harmful to the mother, but the unborn baby as well. In East Tennessee, smoking rates during pregnancy are more than three times the national average. Smoking cessation interventions have been shown to assist in lowering smoking levels during pregnancy. More successful intervention strategies may be developed if pregnant mothers’ beliefs on how smoking harms themselves and their child are examined and addressed. It was hypothesized that there is a significant difference between smoking status (smoker or non-smoker) and perceptions of the amount of harm smoking can cause to the baby, and to themselves. Participants included 577 pregnant women, both smokers and nonsmokers, enrolled in the Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers program. Participants met with a case worker during a first trimester interview, and answered several questionnaires. The questionnaires included several items regarding their perceptions of harm from cigarette smoking to their unborn baby and to themselves. For the overall analysis of differences in smoking status, participants who answered that smoking was “somewhat” or “no, not harmful at all” were compared to those that answered “yes, a great deal harmful”. Two Chi-square tests for independence indicated a significant association between smoking status and perception of how smoking harms the baby, χ2 (1, 578) = 65.85, p < .001, and a significant association between smoking status and perception of how smoking harms the participants’ heath χ2 (1, 578) = 26.07, p < .001. Non-smokers were more likely than smokers to answer that smoking is “yes, a great deal harmful” to the baby and to themselves. The results also suggest that participants as a whole, regardless of smoking status, believe that smoking is more harmful to themselves than to their unborn baby. Qualitative analysis revealed the top five categories of responses (most to least frequent) given by participants on how they believed smoking harmed their unborn baby: low birth weight, lung and respiration problems, premature birth, developmental problems, and birth defects. The most frequent responses given by participants on how they believed smoking was personally harmful were: lung and respiration problems, cancer, heart and blood problems, physical appearance concerns, and life expectancy or death. Non-smokers gave proportionally more responses overall than smokers. One interesting observation is that while smokers seemed aware of the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight, it was non-smokers who were more likely to state that smoking could cause developmental problems and birth defects. Perhaps cessation interventions would be improved by focusing on women’s perceptions of these possible consequences of smoking during pregnancy to their unborn child. This knowledge is beneficial because analyzing perceptions of harm from smoking could lead to more successful smoking cessation interventions during pregnancy.

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Nicotine titration was studied in cigarette smokers not interested in cutting down or quitting smoking. Forty smokers were classified as high nicotine dependent (n=20) and low nicotine dependent (n=20) using a validated tolerance questionnaire. Subjects were randomized into baseline (n=10) or nicotine fade conditions (n=10) within their dependency group. Subjects in the baseline conditions smoked their preferred brand of cigarette throughout the experiment. Smokers in the fade conditions switched to a reduced nicotine brand in the latter half of the procedure. Multiple in vivo and in vitro measures of smoking rate and topography were collected over a four day period. Based on analyses of these data, it was concluded that no compensatory changes in smoking behavior occurred that were clearly attributable to nicotine titration. It was found that smokers classified as high nicotine dependent smoked more intensively that low dependent smokers. The implications of these findings given the design and experimental controls employed in this experiment are discussed, and directions for future research explored. / M.S.