H igh blood pressure is a major risk factor for global disease burden.1 Even modest reductions in blood pressure are important and would reduce the risk of associated morbidity and premature mortality. [2][3][4] In settings where health care and medicines are freely available, a substantial burden of cardiovascular disease may be attributable to suboptimal adherence to blood pressure-lowering treatments. 5 Missed appointments for collection of medicine and challenges with taking lifelong treatment are some of the major reasons for suboptimal Background-We assessed the effect of automated treatment adherence support delivered via mobile phone short message system (SMS) text messages on blood pressure. Methods and Results-In this pragmatic, single-blind, 3-arm, randomized trial (SMS-Text Adherence Support [StAR]) undertaken in South Africa, patients treated for high blood pressure were randomly allocated in a 1:1:1 ratio to information only, interactive SMS text messaging, or usual care. The primary outcome was change in systolic blood pressure at 12 months from baseline measured with a validated oscillometric device. All trial staff were masked to treatment allocation. Analyses were intention to treat. Between June 26, 2012, and November 23, 2012, 1372 participants were randomized to receive information-only SMS text messages (n=457), interactive SMS text messages (n=458), or usual care (n=457). Primary outcome data were available for 1256 participants (92%). At 12 months, the mean adjusted change in systolic blood pressure compared with usual care was −2.2 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, −4.4 to −0.04) with informationonly SMS and −1.6 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, −3.7 to 0.6) with interactive SMS. Odds ratios for the proportion of participants with a blood pressure <140/90 mm Hg were 1.42 (95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.95) for information-only messaging and 1.41 (95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.95) for interactive messaging compared with usual care. Conclusions-In this randomized trial of an automated adherence support program delivered by SMS text message in a general outpatient population of adults with high blood pressure, we found a small reduction in systolic blood pressure control compared with usual care at 12 months. There was no evidence that an interactive intervention increased this effect. Clinical Trial Registration-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

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Investment into photovoltaic (PV) research has accelerated over the past decade as concerns over energy security and carbon emissions have increased. The types of PV technology in which the research community is actively engaged are expanding as well. This review focuses on the burgeoning field of atomic layer deposition (ALD) for photovoltaics. ALD is a self-limiting thin film deposition technique that has demonstrated usefulness in virtually every sector of PV technology including silicon, thin film, tandem, organic, dye-sensitized, and next generation solar cells. Further, the specific applications are not limited. ALD films have been deposited on planar and nanostructured substrates and on inorganic and organic devices, and vary in thickness from a couple of angstroms to over 100 nm. The uses encompass absorber materials, buffer layers, passivating films, anti-recombination shells, and electrode modifiers. Within the last few years, the interest in ALD as a PV manufacturing technique has increased and the functions of ALD have expanded. ALD applications have yielded fundamental understanding of how devices operate and have led to increased efficiencies or to unique architectures for some technologies. This review also highlights new developments in high throughput ALD, which is necessary for commercialization. As the demands placed on materials for the next generation of PV become increasingly stringent, ALD will evolve into an even more important method for research and fabrication of solar cell devices.

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