Understanding Factors Associated with Motivation to Quit Vaping among Vapers in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The prevalence of vaping worldwide is showing an upward trend. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with motivation to quit vaping among vapers in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through a cross-sectional, purposive sampling study. Respondents were required to complete a questionnaire consisting of vapers' sociodemographic questions, habitual behavioral pattern questions, the e-Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence, the Glover-Nilsson Smoking Behavioral Dependence Questionnaire, perception questions, motivation to quit questions, and withdrawal symptom questions. A total of 311 vapers participated in this study. The majority of the vapers were male (84.6%), younger (18-25 years) (55.3%), and with monthly income less than RM 4000 (USD 868; 83.9%). The level of motivation to quit vaping was found to have a significant association with the perception of vaping being as satisfying as cigarette smoking (p = 0.006) and mild to very strong nicotine dependence (p = 0.001). Participants who recorded moderate and strong habitual vaping behaviors had lower odds of having high motivation to quit vaping compared to those recording slight habitual behaviors (OR = 0.279, 95%CI(0.110-0.708), p = 0.007 and OR = 0.185, 95%CI(0.052-0.654), p = 0.009, respectively). Factors associated with higher motivation to quit vaping could be explored to gain better understanding of how to increase their motivation level for future quit attempts.

Chemometrics and antioxidant activity assisted nontargeted metabolomics for the identification of ginger species.

An ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method was developed for the separation and identification of phenols, organic acids, flavonoids and curcumin in different species of ginger. The parameters affecting the separation and response of liquid chromatography, including the stationary phase and mobile phase, were systematically investigated and optimized. To further identify the differential metabolites in the six types of samples, a chemometric approach was introduced. Principal component analysis, cluster analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis were used to identify the major components in the samples and to compare the compositional differences between the various samples. In addition, antioxidant experiments were designed to investigate the differences in antioxidant activity among the six ginger samples. The method showed good linearity (R2 ≥0.9903), satisfactory precision (RSD% ≤ 4.59 %), low LOD (0.35-25.86 ng/mL) and acceptable recovery (78-109 %) and reproducibility (RSD% ≤ 4.20 %). Therefore, the method has great potential for application in the compositional analysis and quality control of ginger.

Ectopic expression of B and T lymphocyte attenuator in gastric cancer: a potential independent prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer.

It has been confirmed that B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA; also known as CD272) is a novel co--inhibitory molecule that exhibits a critical role in restraining cell-mediated antitumor immunity. The present study aimed to investigate the expression and prognostic significance of BTLA in gastric adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed to investigate BTLA expression in gastric cancer tissues and normal mucosal tissues. In total, 123 pathologically confirmed specimens were obtained from stage IIIa gastric cancers. A correlation test, Kaplan-Meier curves, and a Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to analyze the data. No BTLA staining in the normal tissues was found, while BTLA-stained gastric carcinoma cells were detected in 75.6% (93/123) of the gastric cancer specimens. High expression levels of BTLA were detected in 31.7% (39/123) of the specimens, while low expression levels were detected in 68.3% (84/123) of the specimens. High BTLA expression levels were associated with shorter survival time, as confirmed by univariate and multivariate analyses. These findings provide a basis for the concept that high BTLA expression levels in gastric cancer, identified by IHC, are an independent biomarker for the poor prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.

4-(2,4-Dichloro-phen-yl)-5,5-dimethyl-2-(3-silatranyl-propyl-mino)-1,3,2-dioxa-phospho-rinane 2-oxide.

In the title compound, C(20)H(31)Cl(2)N(2)O(6)PSi, the dioxaphospho-rinane ring adopts a cis conformation. The silatrane fragment forms a cage-like structure in which there exists an intra-molecular Si-N donor-acceptor bond. In the crystal, centrosymmetrically related mol-ecules are linked by pairs of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into inversion dimers, generating rings with graph-set motif R(2) (2)(8). The dimers are further connected into ribbons parallel to the a axis by inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.