Objective To determine the effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking.Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials.Data sources Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Science Citation Index, registries of ongoing trials, reference lists, the drug company that sponsored most of the trials, and clinical experts.Review methods Eligible studies were published or unpublished randomised controlled trials that enrolled smokers who declared no intention to quit smoking in the short term, and compared nicotine replacement therapy (with or without motivational support) with placebo, no treatment, other pharmacological therapy, or motivational support, and reported quit rates. Two reviewers independently applied eligibility criteria. One reviewer assessed study quality and extracted data and these processes were checked by a second reviewer. The primary outcome, six months sustained abstinence from smoking beginning during treatment, was assessed by individual patient data analysis. Other outcomes were cessation and reduction at end of follow-up, and adverse events.Data synthesis Seven placebo controlled randomised controlled trials were included (four used nicotine replacement therapy gum, two nicotine replacement therapy inhaler, and one free choice of therapy). They were reduction studies that reported smoking cessation as a secondary outcome. The trials enrolled a total of 2767 smokers, gave nicotine replacement therapy for 6-18 months, and lasted 12-26 months. 6.75% of smokers receiving nicotine replacement therapy attained sustained abstinence for six months, twice the rate of those receiving placebo (relative risk (fixed effects) 2.06, 95% confidence interval 1.34 to 3.15; (random effects) 1.99, 1.01 to 3.91; five trials). The number needed to treat was 29. All other cessation and reduction outcomes were significantly more likely in smokers given nicotine replacement therapy than those given placebo. There were no statistically significant differences in adverse events (death, odds ratio 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.25 to 4.02; serious adverse events, 1.16, 0.79 to 1.50; and discontinuation because of adverse events, 1.25, 0.64 to 2.51) except nausea, which was more common with nicotine replacement therapy (8.7% v 5.3%; odds ratio 1.69, 95% confidence interval 1.21 to 2.36).Conclusions Available trials indicate that nicotine replacement therapy is an effective intervention in achieving sustained smoking abstinence for smokers who have no intention or are unable to attempt an abrupt quit. Most of the evidence, however, comes from trials with regular behavioural support and monitoring and it is unclear whether using nicotine replacement therapy without regular contact would be as effective.

Background and Purpose-Microglial activation is an important component of the neuroinflammatory response to ischemic stroke. Experimental studies have outlined such patterns temporally and spatially. In vivo studies in stroke patients have relied on positron emission tomography and (R)-PK11195, a ligand that binds peripheral benzodiazepine binding sites. In this study we sought to establish temporal and spatial patterns of microglial activation in ischemic stroke with particular emphasis on a defined peri-infarct zone. Methods-Using this technique, we studied carotid territory ischemic stroke patients in 3 time windows up to 30 days after ictus. Controls were studied in a single session. [ 11 C](R)-PK11195 injection was followed by 3-dimensional acquisition over 60 minutes. Cerebral blood volume (CBV) was measured afterward with the use of standard C 15 O paradigms. Analysis employed the reference tissue model in which ipsilateral cerebellum was used to generate parametric binding potential maps corrected for CBV. Data were coregistered to T1-based MRI. Using control data to identify 99% confidence limits, a region of interest analysis was applied to identify significant binding in core infarction, contralateral hemisphere, and within a defined peri-infarct zone. Results-Four patients (mean age, 66 years) were imaged across 9 sessions. Four age-matched controls were studied.Within this model, ipsilateral cerebellum was validated as a reference tissue. With the use of control-derived confidence limits and correction for CBV, significant binding potential rises were identified beyond 72 hours and extending to 30 days in core infarction, contralateral hemisphere, and peri-infarct zone. Conclusions-In ischemic stroke patients, minimal activation of microglia is seen before 72 hours. Beyond this, binding potential rises in core infarction, peri-infarct zone, and contralateral hemisphere to 30 days. This may represent a therapeutic opportunity that extends beyond time windows traditionally reserved for neuroprotection. (Stroke. 2006;37: 1749-1753.)

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Microwave radiation was used as the heating source in southern pine wood liquefaction with PEG/ glycerin binary solvent. It was found that microwave heating was more efficient than conventional oil bath heating for wood liquefaction. The wood residue content of the H 2 SO 4 catalyzed liquefied wood dropped to zero within 5 min with microwave heating. The resulting liquefied wood polyols have suitable hydroxyl values for the preparation of rigid PU foams. Both the compressive strength and apparent modulus of the liquefied-wood-based PU foams increased as the isocyanate index increased from 80 to 120. The foams from H 3 PO 4 catalyzed polyols had lower densities than those from H 2 SO 4 and the petroleum-based controls. They also showed lower strength and modulus than those from H 2 SO 4 . Liquefied-wood-based PU foams generally have lower compressive strength and apparent modulus than the petroleumbased controls. However, they showed better restorability from deformation than the petroleum-based controls. Zusammenfassung Mittels Mikrowellenstrahlung als Wär-mequelle wurde Southern Pine Holz mit PEG/Glycerin als binärem Lösungsmittelsystem verflüssigt. Es zeigt sich, dass Holz mittels Mikrowellenerhitzung effizienter verflüssigt werden kann als mittels konventioneller Erhitzung im Ölbad. Der Restholzanteil des mit Katalysator H 2 SO 4 verflüssigten Holzes fiel nach fünfminütiger Mikrowellenbeheizung auf Null. Die Hydroxylzahlen der so verflüssigten Holzpolyole sind für die Herstellung von PUHartschaumstoff geeignet. Sowohl die Druckfestigkeit als auch die Steifigkeit der PU-Schaumstoffe aus verflüssigtem Holz nahmen mit steigendem Isocyanatindex von 80 auf 120 zu. Die Schaumstoffe der mit Katalysator H 3 PO 4 erzeugten Polyole wiesen geringere Dichten auf als diejenigen mit Katalysator H 2 SO 4 und als Schaumstoffe auf Mineralölbasis. Die Festigkeit und der E-Modul waren ebenfall geringer. PU-Schaumstoffe auf Basis von verflüssigtem Holz wiesen generell eine niedrigere Druckfestigkeit und eine niedrigere Steifigkeit auf als die Kontrollproben auf Mineralölbasis. Allerdings zeigten sie ein besseres Rückverformungsverhal-ten als die Kontrollproben auf Mineralölbasis.

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Our objective was to accurately predict, from complex mutation patterns, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 resistance to the protease inhibitor lopinavir, by use of artificial intelligence. Two neural network models were constructed: 1 based on changes at 11 positions in the protease that were previously recognized as being significant for lopinavir resistance and another based on a newly derived set of 28 mutations that were identified by performing category prevalence analysis. Both models were trained, validated, and tested with 1322 clinical samples. A procedure of determining the optimal neural network parameters was proposed to speed up the training processes. The results suggested that the 28-mutation set was a more accurate predictor of lopinavir susceptibility (correlation coefficient, R2=0.88). We identified potentially significant new mutations associated with lopinavir resistance and demonstrated the utility of neural network models in predicting phenotypic susceptibility from complex genotypes.

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Reverse electrodialysis is a promising method to harvest the osmotic energy stored between seawater and freshwater, but it has been a long-standing challenge to fabricate permselective membranes with the power density surpassing the industry benchmark of 5.0 W m -2 for half a century. Herein, we report a vertically-oriented graphene oxide membranes (V-GOMs) with the combination of high ion selectivity and ultrafast ion permeation, whose permeation is three orders of magnitude higher than the extensively studied horizontally stacked GOMs (H-GOMs). By mixing artificial seawater and river water, we obtained an unprecedented high output power density of 10.6 W m -2 , outperforming all existing materials. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations reveal the mechanism of the ultrafast transport in V-GOMs results from the quick entering of ions and the large accessible area as well as the apparent short diffusion paths in V-GOMs. These results will facilitate the practical application of