Michael Wilson

Aims: To investigate the relationships between tobacco dependence, biomarkers of nicotine and carcinogen exposure and biomarkers of nicotine and carcinogen exposure per cigarette in back and white smokers. Design, setting and participants: A total of 204 healthy black and white smokers were enrolled into two clinical studies. Measurement: Nicotine equivalents, 4--1-pyridyl-1-butanol and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites were measured in urine. The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence and time to first cigarette measured tobacco dependence. Findings: Average TFC and FTND for blacks and whites were not significantly different. Urine NNAL and nicotine equivalents increased with increasing FTND in whites but did not increase in blacks, FTND and TFC were not correlated significantly with urine nicotine equivalents and carcinogen exposure in blacks. We found moderate correlations between FTND and TFC and nicotine equivalents and carcinogen exposure among whites of low dependence and non-significant correlations among whites of high dependence. Conclusion: In the United States, tobacco dependence measures were related linearly to nicotine intake and carcinogen exposure in white but not in black smokers. The relationship between dependence measures and tobacco biomarkers in black smokers regardless of level of dependence resembled highly dependent white smokers. © 2012 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Background: Recent federal legislation gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the nicotine content of cigarettes. A nationwide strategy for progressive reduction of the nicotine content of cigarettes is a potential way to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes, to prevent new smokers from becoming addicted, and to facilitate quitting in established smokers. We conducted a trial of progressive nicotine content tapering over 6 months to determine the effects on smoking behaviors and biomarkers of tobacco smoke exposure and cardiovascular effects. Methods: One hundred and thirty-five healthy smokers were randomly assigned to one of two groups. A research group smoked their usual brand of cigarettes followed by five types of research cigarettes with progressively lower nicotine content, each smoked for one month. Acontrol group smoked their own brand of cigarettes for the same period of time. Results: Nicotine intake, as indicated by plasma cotinine concentration, declined progressively as the nicotine content of cigarettes was reduced. Cigarette consumption and markers of exposure to carbon monoxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as cardiovascular biomarkers remained stable, whereas urinary 4--1-- 1-butanol excretion decreased. No significant changes in biomarkers of exposure or cardiovascular effects were observed in controls. Conclusions: Our data support the proposition that the intake of nicotine from cigarettes of smokers can be substantially lowered without increasing exposure to other tobacco smoke toxins. Impact: These findings support the feasibility and safety of gradual reduction of the nicotine content in cigarettes. ©2012 AACR.

Hamster cheek pouches were exposed to 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide [CEES, half-mustard gas ] at a concentration of 0.4, 2.0, or 5.0 mg/ml for 1 or 5 min. Twenty-four hours post-HMG exposure, tissue damage was assessed by both stereomicrography and optical coherence tomography. Damage that was not visible on gross visual examination was apparent in the OCT images. Tissue changes were found to be dependent on both HMG concentration and exposure time. The submucosal and muscle layers of the cheek pouch tissue showed the greatest amount of structural alteration. Routine light microscope histology was performed to confirm the OCT observations. © 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Purpose: To assess noninvasive optical coherence tomography and optical Doppler tomography for early detection and evaluation of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Experimental Design: Cheek pouches of 10 Syrian golden hamsters were imaged using OCT/ODT during development of chemotherapy-induced mucositis. I.p. injections of 5-fluorouracil and mechanical irritation induced oral lesions. At 2, 4, 7, and 11 days, one hamster was sacrificed and processed for histopathology. OCT images were visually examined; ODT results were semiquantified. Imaging data were compared with histologic findings. Results: During the development of mucositis, OCT/ODT identified the following events: change in epithelial thickness, loss of surface keratinized layer continuity, loss of epithelial and submucosal integrity, changes in axial blood flow velocity, and changes in blood vessel size. The semiquantitative imaging-based scoring system identified the severity of mucositis as defined by histopathology. The combination of imaging criteria used allowed for the detection of early, intermediate, and late mucositic changes. Imaging data gave higher scores compared with clinical scores early on, suggesting that the imaging-based diagnostic scoring was more sensitive to early mucositic change than the clinical scoring system. Once mucositis was established, imaging and clinical scores converged. Conclusion: OCT/ODT identified chemotherapy-induced oral changes before their clinical manifestation, and the proposed scoring system for oral mucositis was validated for the semiquantification of mucositic change. © 2007 American Association for Cancer Research.

In an effort to further explore ostensible macroscopic psychokinesis (macro-PK) effects like those previously reported by Batcheldor (1966), Bourgeois (1994), Owen and Sparrow (1976), and Ullman (2001) in a sitter group setting, the first author designed and conducted a series of fifteen experimental sessions in which sitters claiming exceptional abilities attempted to generate a pseudo-spirit named "Daniel," to whom physical phenomena were attributed. To explore possible physical correlates of macro-PK, two approaches to measurement were utilized. In the first, sample data from a local random number generator (RNG) continuously running as part of the Global Consciousness Project were extracted and examined for statistical deviations from randomness occurring in conjunction with the sitter group sessions. In the second, the Multi-Energy Sensor Array (MESA) was used to collect onsite environmental data during one of the sessions. While displays of ostensible macro-PK were observed during several of the sitter group sessions, the RNG data did not show a significant overall correlation with the sessions. The MESA data indicated notable drops in infrared and visual light, as well as changes in DC magnetic field strength, that are comparable to those observed in field studies of haunts. Keywords: sitter groups--macroscopic psychokinesis (macro-PK)--random number generator (RNG)--Multi-Energy Sensor Array (MESA)

13 Things that Don’t Make Sense: The Most Baffl ing Scientific Mysteries of Our Time by Michael Brooks. New York: Doubleday, 2008. 240 pp. $23.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-385-52068-3. - CORLISS Heretical Verities: Mathematical Themes in Physical Description by Thomas E. Phipps, Jr. Classic Non-Fiction Library, Urbana, 1986. 637 pp. (hard cover). ISBN 0-9606540-0-7. - GRANEAU The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural and the Healing Power of Hope by Allan J. Hamilton. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Putman, 2008. Xi + 254 pp. $23.95 (hardcover). ISBN 8791-58542-615-7. - GRAFF Spiritual Encounters with Unusual Light Phenomena: Lightforms by Mark Fox. The University of Wales Press, 2008. 203 pp. £75 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0-7083-2157-7. - PUHLE The Outline of Parapsychology by Jesse Hong Xiong. University Press of New York, 2008. 368 pp. $35.95 (paper). ISBN 13-978-0-7618-4043-5. - GROSSO Explorers of the Infi nite: The Secret Spiritual Lives of Extreme Athletes— and What They Reveal About Near-Death Experiences, Psychic Communication, and Touching the Beyond by Maria Coffey. New York: Tarcher Penguin, 2008. 289 pp. $26.95 (hardcover). ISBN 978-1-58542-651-5. - SCHMICKER Science and the Unseen World by Arthur Stanley Eddington. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1929. 56 pp. (Swarthmore Lecture) - BATTEN Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are by Daniel Nettle. Oxford University Press, 2007. 304 pp. $21.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0199211426. - DINEEN Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact by Jacques Vallee. New York: Anomalist Books, 2008. 320 pp. $15.95 (paper). ISBN 1933665289. - RUTKOWSKI Confrontations: A Scientist’s Search for Alien Contact by Jacques Vallee. New York: Anomalist Books, 2008. 280 pp. $15.95 (paper). ISBN 1933665297. - RUTKOWSKI Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception by Jacques Vallee. New York: Anomalist Books, 2008. 288 pp. $15.95 (paper). ISBN 1933665300. - RUTKOWSKI Strange Company: Military Encounters with UFOs in WWII by Keith Chester. Anomalist Books, 2007. 308 pp. $17.95 (paper). ISBN 1-933665-20-3. - RANDLE Chapter 13 of: Plotting the Globe: Stories of Meridians, Parallels, and the International Date Line1 by Avraham Ariel and Nora Ariel Berger. Explorations in World Maritime History. Praeger Publishers, 2005. Xii + 235 pp. $49.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0-275-98895-3. - JETT Shamanism in North America by Norman Bancroft Hunt. Buffalo, NY: Firefl y Books, 2003. 232 pp. $49.95 (hardcover). ISBN 1-55297-678-5. - WILLIAMS Parapsicologia [Parapsychology] by Massimo Biondi and Patrizio E. Tressoldi. Bologna: Il Mulino, 2007. 190 pp. 11.50 Euros (paper). ISBN 978-88-15- 12021-2. - ALVARADO Rebels, Mavericks, and Heretics in Biology edited by Oren Harman and Michael R. Dietrich. Yale University Press, 2008. 400 + viii pp. $40.00 (hardcover). ISBN 978-0300116397. - BAUER Conversations on Consciousness by Susan Blackmore. New York: Oxford Press, 2006. 288 pp. $23.00. ISBN 0-19-517958-7. - WILSON “Testing the Speed of ‘Spooky Action at a Distance,’ ” by Daniel Salart et al. Nature, 454, 861–864, 2008; and “Quantum Mechanics: The Speed of Instantly,” by Terence G. Rudolph. Nature, 454, 831–832, 2008. -CORLISS “Nuclear Physics: A Neutrino’s Wobble?,” by Philip M. Walker. Nature, 453, 864–865, 2008. -CORLISS “Half-Life (More or Less),” by Davide Castelvecchi. Science News, 174, 20, November 22, 2008. - CORLISS “Sovereignty and the UFO,” by Alexander Wendt and Raymond Duvall. Political Theory, 36(4), 607–633, August 2008. - Haisch.

Introduction: The emergency medical evaluation of psychiatric patients presenting to United States emergency departments, usually termed “medical clearance,” often varies between EDs. A task force of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, consisting of physicians from emergency medicine, physicians from psychiatry and a psychologist, was convened to form consensus recommendations for the medical evaluation of psychiatric patients presenting to U.S.EDs. Methods: The task force reviewed existing literature on the topic of medical evaluation of psychiatric patients in the ED and then combined this with expert consensus. Consensus was achieved by group discussion as well as iterative revisions of the written document. The document was reviewed and approved by the AAEP Board of Directors.Results: Eight recommendations were formulated. These recommendations cover various topics in emergency medical examination of psychiatric patients, including goals of medical screening in the ED, the identification of patients at low risk for co-existing medical disease, key elements in the ED evaluation of psychiatric patients including those with cognitive disorders, specific language replacing the term “medical clearance,” and the need for better science in this area.Conclusion: The evidence indicates that a thorough history and physical examination, including vital signs and mental status examination, are the minimum necessary elements in the evaluation of psychiatric patients. With respect to laboratory testing, the picture is less clear and much more controversial.