Tobacco use among low-income housing residents: does hardship motivate quit attempts?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine material hardship among smokers to determine whether such hardship was positively associated with current attempts to quit tobacco use. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the Health in Common (HIC) study, an observational study to investigate social and physical determinants of cancer risk-related behaviors among residents of low-income housing in three cities in the Boston metropolitan area. In this study, three indicators of hardship were used: food hardship, financial hardship, and material hardship (food and financial hardship combined). Logistic regression models were used to obtain the odds of currently trying to quit among current smokers in the HIC (n = 170) across hardship types experienced, adjusting for sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. RESULTS: Fully adjusted models revealed no statistically significant association between trying to quit tobacco use and indicators of material hardship: food hardship and financial hardship present (OR 1.33 (0.42-4.2); food hardship and no financial hardship OR 3.83 (0.97-15.13); and financial hardship but no food hardship OR 0.5 (0.1-2.39). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that even in the presence of material hardship, low-income housing resident tobacco users are not more likely to quit tobacco use; therefore, cessation efforts focused on the financial benefits of quitting may be insufficient to motivate quit attempts among low-income smokers.

Acylcarnitines: drug absorption-enhancing agents in the gastrointestinal tract.

Acylcarnitines were tested as potential absorption-enhancing agents for drugs that are poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. Urethan-anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats and conscious Beagle dogs were used. Palmitoyl-DL-carnitine was the most effective acylcarnitine tested, although significant increases in drug absorption were observed with acylcarnitines containing C12 through C18 fatty acid chains. Palmitoyl-DL-carnitine afforded significant increases in the absorption of cefoxitin, gentamicin, cytarabine, somatostatin analogue, and alpha-methyldopa. The response to palmitoyl-DL-carnitine was concentration dependent and reversible within 60-120 min. Histological examination of the intestinal tissue revealed no apparent change in mucosal structural integrity at doses of palmitoyl-DL-carnitine that resulted in increased drug absorption. The acylcarnitines were effective in increasing drug absorption from the small intestine and the rectal compartment of both rats and dogs. The data also demonstrated effectiveness with aqueous and solid dosage forms (Witepsol H-15 suppositories). The data suggest that acylcarnitines may be effective and safe absorption-enhancing agents for a variety of drugs.

Acyloxyamines as prodrugs of anti-inflammatory carboxylic acids for improved delivery through skin.

An N,N-dialkylhydroxylamine derivative of indomethacin has been synthesized. It has been shown to improve the delivery of indomethacin through mouse skin (compared to indomethacin itself) by a factor of two, to be more effective than indomethacin in inhibiting thermal inflammation (two to three times) in animal models, but to be only as effective as indomethacin in inhibiting UV-B radiation erythema in human volunteers.

Comparative antimicrobial activity, in vitro and in vivo, of soft N-chloramine systems and chlorhexidine.

Antimicrobial activity of the following four new N-chloramine compounds was evaluated: two chlorinated simple amino acids, a chlorinated half-ester of succinic acid, and a chlorinated half-ester of glutaric acid. For comparison, the known bactericidal agents 3-chloro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolidinone and chlorhexidine were evaluated by the same procedure. The contact germicidal efficiency screen was used to examine the in vitro bactericidal activity of all six compounds in the absence and presence of 5% horse serum or 5% Triton X-100. The four new compounds were found to have greater germicidal activity than the other compounds tested and to exhibit low toxicity and skin irritation values. The in vivo bactericidal activity was evaluated in two studies. In the occlusion test, three of the four new compounds plus chlorhexidine diacetate were tested. The N-chloramines were significantly superior to chlorhexidine in preventing the expansion of the normal flora under occlusion. In the scrub test, a gloved-hand wash method was used to compare the antimicrobial effect of a 1% solution of the chlorinated half-ester of succinic acid in triacetin with that of a commercial germicidal hand wash containing 4% chlorhexidine gluconate. The two preparations exhibited essentially the same hand-degerming activity.

Soft drugs. 1. Labile quaternary ammonium salts as soft antimicrobials.

Strategies for the design of safer drugs are discussed. The various classes of "soft drugs" are designed to avoid undesired metabolic disposition (primarily various oxidative routes, occurring via possible toxic intermediates) and to be metabolized by a predictable manner with controlled rates. As a first example for the "soft analogue" type drugs, a new class of antimicrobial, surface-active quaternary salts of the type RCOOCHR1--N+ comes from X- was developed. These "soft" quaternary salts are isosteric analogues of known "hard" quaternary surfactants and are characterized by predictable and controllable cleavage (metabolism) to nontoxic components, while showing good activity against a wide range of bacteria. Due to their soft nature (low toxicity), the new antimicrobials are much safer than the conventional, hard analogues.

Elimination of a quaternary pyridinium salt delivered as its dihydropyridine derivative from brain of mice.

1-Methylpyridine-2-carbaldehyde oxime, a quaternary pyridinium salt, can be delivered efficiently through the blood-brain barrier in its dihydropyridine prodrug form. This redox system was used to study the elimination rate from the brain of a small quaternary salt. It was found that the oxime is eliminated relatively fast from the brain, which supports a hypothesis for the existence of an active transport mechanism for eliminating organic ions from the brain. The possibilities of using the pyridinium salt in equilibrium dihydropyridine redox system for specific delivery of drugs to the brain are discussed.

N-Halo derivatives V: Comparative antimicrobial activity of soft N-chloramine systems.

Comparative antimicrobial activity studies for certain new classes of soft N-chloramines derived from alpha-aminiisobutyric acid and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol were examined using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and/or the contact germicidal efficiency (CGE) procedures. Several factors significantly aliphatic chain length in a homologous series, (b) the degree of chlorination of thenitrogen atom, (c) the solution pH, (d) the presence of a denaturant, and (e) the nature of a positive charge.

N-Halo derivatives VI: Microbiological and chemical evaluations of 3-chloro-2-oxazolidinones.

Comparative antimicrobial activity of 3-chloro-2-oxazolidinone (I), 3-chloro-4-methyl-2-oxazolidinone (II), 3-chloro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolidinone (III), and N-chlorosuccinimide (IV) was evaluated in aqueous buffers in the absence and presence of 5% horse serum. All four compounds had similar bactericidal activity in the absence of horse serum, but I and III had superior activity relative to IV when serum was present. Compound III was considerably more stable with respect ot loss of positive chlorine and bactericidal activity than I and II when stored in 0.1 M sodium dihydrogen phosphate buffered to pH 7.0 at 40 degrees. Thus, III is potentially the most useful bactericidal agent of those evaluated. The chlorine potentials of I, II, and III, the rate constants for transfer of positive chlorine from I and III to morpholine in aqueous solutions, and the hydrolytic stabilities of I and III with respect to loss of positive chlorine were evaluated. These data, together with previously calculated data for IV, are used to rationalize the observed bactericidal activities.