IntroductionPhilip Morris International introduced ‘IQOS’ to the Korean market in June 2017. To monitor the use of IQOS among young Korean adults, we identified their awareness, experience and current use of IQOS.MethodsThree months after the introduction of IQOS in Korea, we conducted an online survey with 228 general young adults, aged 19–24 years.Results87 participants (38.1%) were aware of IQOS, 13 (5.7%) were IQOS ever users and 8 (3.5%) were current IQOS users. All the current IQOS users were triple users of conventional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). There were no IQOS-only users and one IQOS ever user was a non-cigarette smoker. Among the eight current IQOS users who smoked 9.1 conventional cigarettes a day on average, four smoked 10–20 HEETS sticks a day. The current IQOS users decided to use IQOS because they believed it was less harmful or to stop smoking. The current conventional cigarette smokers were much more likely to be aware of IQOS (OR 4.496; 95% CI 2.185 to 9.250) and to be IQOS ever users (OR 11.649; 95% CI 1.024 to 132.564).ConclusionAwareness, experience and use of IQOS among young Korean adults were relatively higher than among their Japanese counterparts. Current IQOS users were more likely to smoke conventional cigarettes and/or e-cigarettes, which contradicts the tobacco industry’s claims that conventional cigarette smokers will switch to heated tobacco products. Until obtaining robust evidence concerning heated tobacco products, the government should regulate the tobacco industry’s marketing tactics and health claims.

Purpose -This research seeks to focus on the benefits of social networking service (SNS) based on the principle of six degrees of separation. Since the inception of web 2.0, the popularity of social networks (SNS) has continued to increase. Some SNS are based on six degrees of separation (6SNS), and these have emerged as the most frequently visited WWW sites. Design/methodology/approach -Using a randomized control group pre-test-post-test experimental design, responses to a questionnaire to test the differences among 6SNS users and non-users on 12 issues of benefit were analyzed. Findings -The tests show, first, that, compared with traditional virtual communities, SNS evoke higher ratings for "trust in website," "trust in other members," and "quality of friends." Second, SNS can provide users with entertainment and greater social involvement. People who use these sites express positive attitudes about them. Third, no significant differences were found between SNS and traditional internet media on "meeting new friends," "maintaining relationships," "searching for friends," "searching for information," and "understanding and learning." These results can be attributed to language differences. Originality/value -The value of 6SNS is recognized by the business world. In October 2007, Microsoft invested $240 million to buy 1.6 percent shares of Facebook. Today Facebook alone has more than 300 million users. In addition to the perspective from the business world, how the users themselves view 6SNS and what benefits they can get are crucial to its sustainability.

In this work, a high-performance sensor capable of effectively detecting nerve gas, a type of chemical warfare agent, was realized by conductive paper with polyaniline (PANI) nanofiber and graphene sheet. To realize the high-performance nerve gas sensor, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) was used as a model of nerve gas, and the conductive paper sensor was used to detect DMMP at a concentration of parts per billion within a few seconds. Improvements in electrical properties and sensor performance of conductive papers were realized by the addition of optimized amounts of graphene (0.14 wt %) and polyethylene oxide (13.1 wt %). In addition, poly(vinylbutyral-co-vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) (P(VB-co-VA-co-VAc)) copolymer significantly improved the intermolecular forces between PANI nanofiber, graphene sheet, and cellulosic paper. Conductive patterns containing PANI nanofiber/graphene cofillers were fabricated into sensor electrodes of various sizes and shapes by screen printing. The prepared conductive papers were exposed under DMMP at various concentrations of at least 3 to at most 30 000 ppb. The conductive paper sensor containing PANI nanofiber/graphene cofillers exhibited a minimum detectable level of 3 ppb, a response time of 2 s, and a recovery time of 35 s, and the sensor realized a high life cycle. Furthermore, the conductive paper sensor demonstrated excellent selectivity to selectively detect DMMP from other harmful substances, such as methanol and chloroform. It is expected that the conductive paper sensor will be a very useful means to protect the safety of people when it is widely spread.

We used a nationwide cohort sample of data from 2002 to 2013, representing approximately 1 million patients to investigate the prospective association between migraine and dementia. The migraine group (n = 1472) included patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2004, aged over 55 years; the comparison group was selected using propensity score matching (n = 5888). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs). The incidence of dementia was 13.5 per 1000 person-years in the migraine group. Following adjustment for sociodemographic and comorbidities variables, patients with migraine developed dementia more frequently than those in the comparison group (adjusted HR = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–1.61). In the subgroup analysis, we found a higher HR of dementia events in male, the presence of comorbidities, and older age (≥65) patients with migraine, compared to those without migraine. Moreover, patients with migraine had a significantly higher incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (adjusted HR = 1.31, 95% CI, 1.08–1.58), but not vascular dementia, than those without migraine. Therefore, our findings suggest that mid- and late-life migraines may be associated with an increased incidence of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but not vascular dementia.