Flavour spectrum of the Puff family of disposable e-cigarettes

BackgroundIn January 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration prohibited the sale of flavours (except for menthol and tobacco) in prefilled pod devices such as JUUL to decrease youth vaping. Excluded from the prohibition were disposable devices.ObjectivesTo determine the scope and scale of flavours marketed by Puff Bar, a leading disposable brand, and related products.MethodsDisposable e-cigarette flavours were identified via online searches encompassing vendor websites, wholesale distributors, manufacturers (eg, made-in-china.com), and social media channel, Instagram, between June and August 2020.ResultsThe ‘Puff’ brand name and iconic cloud logo appear on a variety of products of differing sizes and nicotine e-liquid volumes. Among Puff Bar and its copycats (Puff-a-Likes), 139 flavours were identified. Fruit flavours predominated comprising 82.2% of the flavour varieties (fruit 50%, fruit and menthol/mint 23.6%, and fruity drinks 8.6%). A prevalent new flavour category which combines fruit with menthol/mint (Ice) was offered in 33 varieties such as Lychee Ice, Lush Ice and Banana Ice. Disposable e-cigarette brands are undertaking measures to escape tobacco regulation (eg, non-tobacco-sourced nicotine) and flavour limitations via post-market flavour additions to unflavoured nicotine e-liquid.ConclusionsThe proliferation of flavoured disposable e-cigarette products, many of which are designed to emulate popular pod devices, illustrates that narrowly limited flavour regulations covering only a single category are destined to fail. To be effective in youth protection, flavour regulations need to apply to all recreational nicotine-containing products and need to include measures to counter post-market flavour addition.

Women’s Bodies and the Evolution of Anti-rape Technologies: From the Hoop Skirt to the Smart Frock

In this article, we explore smart deterrents and their historical precedents marketed to women and girls for the purpose of preventing harassment, sexual abuse and violence. Rape deterrents, as we define them, encompass customs, architectures, fashions, surveillant infrastructures, apps and devices conceived to manage and protect the body. Online searches reveal an array of technologies, and we engage with their prevention narratives and cultural construction discourses of the gendered body. Our critical analysis places recent rape deterrents in conversation with earlier technologies to untangle the persistent logics. These are articulated with reference to the ways that proto-digital technologies have been imported into the realm of ubiquitous computing and networks. Our conceptual framework offers novel pathways for discussing feminine bodies and their messy navigation of everyday life that include both threats to corporeal safety and collective imaginings of empowerment.

Potential Imaging Capability of Optical Coherence Tomography as Dental Optical Probe: A Mini-Review

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been emerging in the dental field as an alternative diagnostic imaging for “optical probes” owing to its micro-meter resolution and non-invasiveness. This review aims to answer the following question: what is the imaging capability of OCT to visualize the subgingival area? Online searches were performed on PubMed and SPIE digital library databases, followed by a manual screening of references listed in relevant studies. The feasibility and imaging performance of OCT to visualize the subgingival area, including the periodontal, peri-implant, and crown margins, are discussed. All of the literature reviewed in this study demonstrated that OCT has the ability to visualize periodontal, including hard and soft tissues, and peri-implant conditions with high resolution. Gingival sulcus depth, periodontal pocket, and calculus deposition can also be depicted. However, clinical evidence that support the imaging capability of OCT as a dental optical probe to visualize subgingival area is lacking. Limited availability, portability, and usability of OCT for clinical experiments in dentistry, particularly for the subgingival area, might be contributed to its limitations. Hence, further development of handheld OCT systems and controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the imaging capability of OCT reported in this review.

Type of Milk Feeding and Introduction to Complementary Foods in Relation to Infant Sleep: A Systematic Review

Inconsistent conclusions from infant sleep and feeding studies may influence parents feeding-related decisions. This study aimed to systematically review the existing literature on infant sleep and its relation to the timing of introduction to complementary foods and type of milk feeding to better understand their role(s) in infant sleep. Cohort, longitudinal, cross-sectional studies, and controlled trials were identified using online searches of five databases up to April 2020. Twenty-one articles with a total of 6225 infants under 12 months-of-age were eligible. Exclusively breastfed infants (≤6 months-of-age) had a greater number of night wakings, but most studies (67%) reported no difference in night-time and 24 h sleep duration compared to formula-fed infants. However, after 6 months-of-age, most studies (>65%) reported breastfed infants to sleep less in the night-time and over 24 h compared to formula-fed infants. Furthermore, studies reported no association between the timing of introduction to complementary foods and infant sleep duration (<12 months-of-age). Future studies using standardized methodologies and definitions, transdisciplinary expertise, and longitudinal design are required to better understand the complex role of feeding on sleep.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Composition of Dietary Supplements and Functional Foods Notified in Poland

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted a strong impact on numerous areas of everyday life. The aim of this study was to check how the pandemic influenced the composition of dietary supplements and other functional food products placed on the market till March 2021, compared to 2019. For this purpose, data concerning the registered products and reports of popularity of online searches of terms connected with vitamins and minerals were used. The results of the study made it possible to determine the group of ingredients especially popular during the pandemic. Their use in products after the announcement of the pandemic was significantly higher than in the preceding period. In conclusion, it can be shown that the pandemic changed the ingredients used in functional foods—mainly as far as vitamins and minerals are concerned. The highest proportional increase in its use in dietary supplements was noted for potassium. Personalized therapy has also become more popular, promoted by one of the manufacturers of dietary supplements active during the pandemic. Moreover, different phases of the pandemic were characterized by the popularity of different ingredients among the consumers—first, these were immunity-boosting ingredients, then those that improved psychological functions, and finally mixtures with universal health effects.

A Review of Well-Known Robust Line Search and Trust Region Numerical Optimization Algorithms for Solving Nonlinear Least-Squares Problems

The conditional, unconditional, or the exact maximum likelihood estimation and the least-squares estimation involve minimizing either the conditional or the unconditional residual sum of squares. The maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) approach and the nonlinear least squares (NLS) procedure involve an iterative search technique for obtaining global rather than local optimal estimates. Several authors have presented brief overviews of algorithms for solving NLS problems. Snezana S. Djordjevic (2019) presented a review of some unconstrained optimization methods based on the line search techniques. Mahaboob et al. (2017) proposed a different approach to estimate nonlinear regression models using numerical methods also based on the line search techniques. Mohammad, Waziri, and Santos (2019) have briefly reviewed methods for solving NLS problems, paying special attention to the structured quasi-Newton methods which are the family of the search line techniques. Ya-Xiang Yuan (2011) reviewed some recent results on numerical methods for nonlinear equations and NLS problems based on online searches and trust regions techniques, particularly on Levenberg-Marquardt type methods, quasi-Newton type methods, and trust regions algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to review some online searches and trust region's more well-known robust numerical optimization algorithms and the most used in practice for the estimation of time series models and other nonlinear regression models. The line searches algorithms considered are: Gradient algorithm, Steepest Descent (SD) algorithm, Newton-Raphson (NR) algorithm, Murray’s algorithm, Quasi-Newton (QN) algorithm, Gauss-Newton (GN) algorithm, Fletcher and Powell algorithm (FP), Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) algorithm. While the only trust-region algorithm considered is the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. We also give some main advantages and disadvantages of these different algorithms.

Challenges for the fishing community on nutritional perspective in West Bengal coastal areas during the COVID-19 pandemic

Covid 19 pandemic has been affecting from March 2020 to 2021 onwards to all types of people globally. The fishing community is one of the most affected communities depend on their limited income. Their health, mental condition, and lifestyles are all adversely affected by this pandemic situation, mainly for middle or lower-level income groups, including India. Additionally, covid 19 also has disrupted the livelihood of fishing communities in socio-economic and nutrition, especially health perspectives. To review and analyze current literature trends on covid 19 concerning fishing communities’ life, food habits, and challenges. The study was designed based on current literature from 2020 March till 2021 August, focussing mainly on the West Bengal coastal areas. ‘Fishing communities,’ ‘West Bengal coastal areas,’ ‘covid-19 crisis’, ‘social and economic challenges,’ ‘nutrition crisis’ are significant keywords and phrases used for the online searches in open access all databases including Pubmed, Google scholars. Fishing communities are highly affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic economically and on nutritional perspectives due to various factors. Presently, there are scant data; hence more research and views are needed about the fishing community in Indian and global perspective as well.

When Agency Turns Into a Risk Factor: A Literature Review of the Negative Consequences of Children’s Agentic Behaviors on Their Physical and Psychological Well-Being

Background: Research has widely documented how, even in conditions of extreme poverty, deprivation, or oppression, children are competent and situated actors, capable of actively mobilizing internal, external, or social resources to protect themselves from their environments and safeguard their everyday lives. Yet, the ways in which their agency might support their well-being or instead increase their own vulnerability has remained underexplored. Aims: The present study aims to provide an assessment of all those contributions which, over the past 20 years, have focused on both the positive and negative consequences of children’s actionability, revealing children’s self-destructive acts alongside their self-empowering and protective ones. In the process, it highlights several major theoretical breakthroughs and findings in this area of research. Method: We provide an assessment of peer-reviewed studies that have focused on both positive and negative consequences of children’s actionability, through a qualitative narrative literature review. Results: Of the 168 studies identified from online searches of the literature and the three additional sources gathered through bibliography mining, 76 qualified for full review, with 12 studies included in the final synthesis. Overall, the literature explored the different conditions in which children’s agentic practices expose them to trauma symptoms and to dangerous or self-harmful situations, thereby failing to safeguard their health and overall well-being. Conclusion: The review highlights the need to focus on the dangerous effect of the agentic practices activated by children in terms of their physical and psychological health.

Breathe into Believing

This begins before 1896. This begins before Arkansas. But “this can't be right grandmother. who are our Ancestors! she said, shit gal, i don't know” (Bridgforth 2012). One of my ancestors walks toward me. She be Gertrude. Gertrude Grant. I have no pictures of her. I have no living memories of her. Yet I remember. Her. My Nana's mama, born around 1890 in the lumber town of Canfield in southern Arkansas. Canfield, Arkansas, 1896 We're children Babies really when the fires start A mob is always ready to take our wages Run us away Always ready to lynch us When a volley of shots be my lullabies I won't live to see 36 I learn about the Canfield Race War of 1896 through online searches, old newspaper clippings, doctoral dissertations. Great-Grandma Gertrude would have been around six when the rioting happened, when white laborers became jealous of Black laborers and tried to push them, beat them, burn them out of town. Free library access to census documents and land deeds tells me that Gertrude's daddy, James W. Grant, purchased eighty acres of land in Canfield on February 1, 1893, perhaps thanks to the Southern Homestead Act, which made millions of acres of land available to homesteaders, including migrating and free Negroes. James and his wife, Susie A. Lewis, raised their children on their land in Canfield. How did the riots affect them, their land, their kin, their safety, their daily lives? I ask all the questions. I was raised with the permission to ask all the questions. I ask all the questions before I'm trained in the academy to ask all the questions.

How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency

The importance and centrality of the construct of agency is wellknown amongst social scientists. Yet, there is still little agreement on how this construct should be understood and defined, as demonstrated by the diversity of instruments that are used to investigate it. Indeed, there is no current consensus or standardized methodology to assess agency. This paper provides a synthetic overview of the studies that have evaluated and measured individuals' agency. More specifically, the purpose is to review research that quantitatively investigates the agency of adults, as well as children and youth, across different social contexts. In the process, it offers recommendations to inform future research, practice, and policy. We identified published peer-reviewed studies relating to the assessment of agency across countries and across age through a narrative literature review. The findings were grouped according to whether agency was measured in its most comprehensive conception or in a precise single domain or dimension, which was then discussed separately for children, adults, and women. Of the 3879 studies identified from online searches of the literature and the five additional sources gathered through bibliography mining, 106 qualified for full review, with 34 studies included in the final synthesis. Multiple different instruments were found to be currently adopted or developed to assess agency. The present review offers an exhaustive overview of the different conceptualizations of agency and of the available instruments to assess it, providing critical information for researchers and policymakers to improve intervention and empowerment programs.