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Biomedical subjects

S H Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to S H Zhu.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Telephone counseling as adjuvant treatment for nicotine replacement therapy in a "real-world" setting.

BACKGROUND: Physicians prescribing nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), or health plans covering NRT, often want their patients to receive adjuvant behavioral treatment. However, how to do that in a "real world" is unclear. This paper reports results from a public health program that uses proactive telephone counseling as support for physician advice and provides adjuvant treatment for NRT users. METHODS: Participants were NRT users (N = 8,832) who called the California Smokers' Helpline, a statewide cessation service that provides proactive counseling, one session before NRT use and multisessions after the smokers received NRT. After receiving NRT, some participants discontinued the counseling while others continued with follow-up sessions. A subset of the 8,832 participants (n = 664) was interviewed 13 months later for quitting status. RESULTS: After receiving NRT, 79% of the participants continued with counseling and received 4.2 sessions on average, while 21% of them received only one session. Overall, 82.8% of all participants made a quit attempt. Nicotine patch users were more likely to make an attempt than nicotine gum users (85.2% vs 66.3%), but the relapse probability was the same for these attempts. Those who received multiple counseling were more likely to make an attempt than those receiving single counseling (84.4% vs 77.1%) and were more likely to stay quit for 1 year (25.6% vs 16.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Proactive telephone counseling is a promising adjuvant treatment for NRT users in a "real-world" setting: a convenient referral service for supporting health plans or physicians who advise their patients to quit smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

A centralised telephone service for tobacco cessation: the California experience.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of the California Smokers' Helpline, an increasingly popular telephone program for tobacco cessation in California since 1992. As many states, regions, and nations are contemplating various telephone programs as part of large scale anti-tobacco campaigns, this paper presents a practical model. DESIGN: The Helpline provides Californians with free cessation services that include counselling, self help quit kits, and cessation related information. Services are provided in six spoken languages plus a line for the hearing impaired. The program is promoted statewide by media campaigns, health care providers, local tobacco control programs, and the public school system. SETTING: The Helpline is centrally operated through the University of California, San Diego and provides services statewide via telephone. RESULTS: The Helpline has served over 100 000 tobacco users and has become the chief cessation resource for the Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program in California. Media was the most important referral source for Helpline callers (50%), followed by health care providers (20%). About one third of the callers were ethnic minorities and 17% were 24 years old or younger. Compared to California smokers in general, the callers were more dependent on nicotine and more likely to live with other smokers, but they were also more likely to have tried to quit recently and were more ready to try again. Two randomised trials have demonstrated the efficacy of the Helpline's counselling protocol. CONCLUSION: A centralised helpline operation can be an accessible and effective service for tobacco users and should be included in any large scale, comprehensive tobacco control program.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Predictors of smoking cessation in U.S. adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors that predict quitting among adolescent smokers. METHODS: Adolescent smokers aged 12-19 years (N = 633) from the national Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey I (1989), were followed up in the Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey II (1993). Multiple logistic regression was applied to identify the predictors of quitting. RESULTS: A total of 15.6% of adolescent smokers had quit smoking at the follow-up survey four years later. There was no significant difference in the quit rate by age, gender, or ethnicity. Five baseline factors were identified in a multivariate analysis as significant predictors of quitting: frequency of smoking, length of past quit attempts, self-estimation of likelihood of continuing smoking, mother's smoking status, and depressive symptoms. The more risk factors the adolescents had, the less likely they would succeed in quitting. CONCLUSIONS: Quitting smoking by adolescents is influenced by multiple biological, behavioral, and psychosocial variables. Identifying these variables can help tailor cessation programs to more effectively help adolescents quit smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

A method to obtain a randomized control group where it seems impossible. A case study in program evaluation.

Randomization of program participants into control and experimental groups is often not feasible in field settings. The researcher's desire to evaluate a program with a rigorous experimental design is often incompatible with the objective of serving the expressed needs of the program participants. However, opportunities do arise when a randomized control group can be constructed without disregarding the participants' wish to be included in the treatment group. This article describes a method that uses the participants' compliance to program instructions as a means of classifying participants and, thereby, obtains a randomized control group for a subset of participants. A large smoking intervention project is used to illustrate two variations of this method.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Does the US Navy attract young women who smoke?

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether the United States Navy is disproportionately attracting and recruiting female smokers from the civilian sector. METHODS: Standardised comparisons of cigarette use among Navy women recruits and civilian women were conducted with data from a 1996-97 Department of Defense study and the 1994 National Health Interview Survey. RESULTS: Young Navy women recruits (18-22 years) had significantly higher rates of current and heavy smoking than their civilian counterparts after adjusting for differences in sociodemographic characteristics. Smoking rates among older recruits and civilian women (23-30 years) were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that the Navy attracts young civilian women who already smoke, many of whom smoke heavily.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Perception of foreign cigarettes and their advertising in China: a study of college students from 12 universities.

OBJECTIVE: To examine how deeply foreign cigarette advertising had penetrated the Chinese market when a new ban on cigarette advertising was enacted in February 1995. DESIGN: A survey using self-completion questionnaires administered in college classrooms from November 1994 to March 1995. SETTINGS: Eight universities and four medical schools in three Chinese cities: Beijing, Wenzhou, and Hangzhou. SUBJECTS: 1896 college students who agreed to complete a written questionnaire. The mean age was 21.2 years; 39.5% of respondents were female. RESULTS: Four of the top eight cigarette brands most familiar to the respondents were foreign: Marlboro, 555, Kent, and Hilton. Advertisements for the foreign brands were much more likely to be seen than those for the domestic brands; those for Marlboro were reported most often (29.7%), followed by 555 (21.8%) and Kent (18.1%). Among smokers, Marlboro was the most preferred foreign brand, by 44.2%. The preference for Marlboro was also correlated with smokers having seen its advertisements. Most respondents, 71.8%, believed that cigarette advertising should be banned. CONCLUSIONS: The previous restrictions on cigarette advertising in China failed to prevent a large portion of the population from seeing and understanding the advertisements. Before the 1995 advertising ban took effect, strict limitations on imports of foreign cigarettes notwithstanding, certain highly advertised brands such as Marlboro achieved wide recognition and even consumer preference. Stricter restrictions are suggested as previous ones have failed to achieve their intended effects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Telephone counseling for smoking cessation: effects of single-session and multiple-session interventions.

Smokers (N = 3,030) were randomized to receive 1 of 3 interventions: (a) a self-help quit kit, (b) a quit kit plus 1 telephone counseling session, or (c) a quit kit plus up to 6 telephone counseling sessions, scheduled according to relapse probability. Both counseling groups achieved significantly higher abstinence rates than the self-help group. The rates for having quit for at least 12 months by intention to treat were 5.4% for self-help, 7.5% for single counseling, and 9.9% for multiple counseling. The 12-month continuous abstinence rates for those who made a quit attempt were 14.7% for self-help, 19.8% for single counseling, and 26.7% for multiple counseling. A dose-response relation was observed, as multiple sessions produced significantly higher abstinence rates than a single session. The first week after quitting seems to be the critical period for intervention.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Addiction versus stages of change models in predicting smoking cessation.

Prospective data from the California Tobacco Surveys (n = 2066) were used to perform a critical test of the Prochaska et al. (1991) stages of change model. When the stages of change model was used as a stand alone predictor, smokers in preparation at baseline were more likely to be in cessation at follow-up than smokers in pre-contemplation at baseline (ORadj = 1.9). When stage membership was combined with baseline measures of addiction including smoking behaviors and quitting history, it was not a significant predictor of future cessation. A prediction equation that combined daily vs. occasional smoking, cigarettes per day smoked, life-time quits of at least a year, and quits of more than 5 days in the previous year discriminated smokers in cessation at follow-up of 1 to 2 years better than did the stages of change model. The area under the ROC curve for the equation based on addiction measures was 69.3% vs. 55.1% for the stages of change. Cessation rates ranged from 7.7% to 35.7% for the four-category addiction equation compared with 15.1% to 24.9% for stages of change model.

California↗
PubMed1993

The effect of mangxiao (natrii sulphas) in the relief of stasis and swelling after implantation of cardiac pacer.

Sixteen patients with local stasis and swelling after implanting cardiac pacemaker were treated with Mangxiao (Natrii Sulphas) on the implanted local surface for 4-14 days. The effect was satisfactory. Reopening of the skin for the cleaning of the stasis and swelling and removal of the pacemakers could thus be avoided in these patients. The mechanism of action of Mangxiao in relieving stasis and swelling was studied preliminarily.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1992

[Effects of astragalus (ASI, SK) on experimental liver injury].

The saponins (ASI, SK) used in this study was extracted from the root of Astragalus membranaceous Bge and Astragalus sieversianus Pull. ASI and SK were found to protect liver from chemical injury induced by CCl4, D-galactosamine and acetaminophen in mice. The two saponins were shown to impede the elevation of SGPT level, decrease the MDA content and increase the GSH concentration in mouse liver. Obvious improvement of histological changes were also observed. The protective action of ASI and SK against the hepatotoxicity was also shown in experiments using primary cultured rat hepatocytes. The average value of GPT in the medium treated with different concentration of ASI and SK (0.00075-0.18 mmol/L) was lower than that in control. Analyzing through multiple linear correlation, we showed that the lowering of SGPT was negatively related to the increase of GSH, positively related to the decrease of MDA in mice given CCl4 or acetaminophen in combination with ASI or SK. These results indicate that the hepato-protective effects of ASI and SK may be due to their anti-oxidation activities, since the content of liver protein in mice given ASI or SK was more than that in the controls. Moreover, the level of hepatic microsomal cytochrome P-450 in all mice given the two saponins were significantly increased, the liver metabolism and immunoregulating action produced by ASI and SK may be also involved in their hepato-protective effects.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1989

Induction of c-fos-like protein in the rat adrenal cortex by acute stress--immunocytochemical evidence.

The effect of immobilization stress on the expression of c-fos protein in the adrenal cortex of adult rats was investigated immunocytochemically. After immobilization stress lasting for longer than 30 min, an enhanced c-fos-like immunoreactivity was observed in the cortical cells of the zona fasciculata and zona reticulata. Compared to unstressed controls, an about 5-fold increase in the density of the immunoreactive cells in a unit of the cortical area was seen following a 1-h immobilization. The enhanced immunoreactivity lasted for at least 3 h after 1-h immobilization and it began to diminish 5 h after the stress. Furthermore, administration of dexamethasone 2 h prior to 1-h immobilization attenuated the stress-enhanced immunostaining for the c-fos-like protein. These results suggest that an acute stress may cause a dramatic and long-persisting induction of c-fos-like protein in the cortical cells of rat adrenals. The characteristic zonal distribution of the c-fos induction in rat adrenals as well as the effect of dexamethasone suggest involvement of the pituitary adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in the induction.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMed1989

Imaging diagnostic value of myxoma in cardiac chamber. An analysis of 23 cases.

Twenty-three patients with myxoma in the cardiac chamber were analysed from their clinical manifestations and imaging diagnoses. All the patients were confirmed pathologically and 22 of them were further confirmed by operation. In this series, 18 patients had the tumors in the left atria, 3 in the right atria, and 2 in the right ventricles. Diagnosing myxoma by CT and two-dimensional echocardiography was evaluated. The results suggest that to diagnose myxoma in the cardiac chamber, CT is as effective as sonography because it can display clear image, precise location and mobility of the tumor with the flowing blood stream in the cardiac chamber, and provide reliable indications for surgery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

[Histochemical studies on some enzymes in Clonorchis sinensis].

The localization of some enzyme in adult worms of Clonorchis sinensis was studied by histochemical method in this paper. Acid phosphatase was detected mainly in digestive duct, subtegument and the walls of testis, uterus and ovary; acetylcholinesterase was found in oral sucker, ventral sucker, pharynx; and ATPase was found to exist in oral sucker, ventral sucker, pharynx and muscle layer in the subtegument. The eggs of C. sinensis possessed the above three enzymes.

Acetylcholinesterase↗