Biomedical subjects

S M Carter

Publications and source records attributed to S M Carter.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Tobacco document research reporting.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the use of internal tobacco industry documents in the peer reviewed health literature. DESIGN: Interpretive analysis of published research. SAMPLE: 173 papers indexed in Medline between 1995 and 2004 that cited tobacco industry documents. ANALYSIS: Information about year published, journal and author, and a set of codes relating to methods reporting, were managed in N*Vivo. This coding formed the basis of an interpretation of tobacco document research reporting. RESULTS: Two types of papers were identified. The first used tobacco documents as the primary data source (A-papers). The second was dedicated to another purpose but cited a small number of documents (B-papers). In B-papers documents were used either to provide a specific example or to support an expansive contention. A-papers contained information about purpose, sources, searching, analysis, and limitations that differed by author and journal and over time. A-papers had no clear methodological context, but used words from three major traditions--interpretive research, positivist research, and history--to describe analysis. INTERPRETATION: A descriptive mainstream form of tobacco document reporting is proposed, initially typical but decreasing, and a continuum of positioning of the researcher, from conduit to constructor. Reporting practices, particularly from experienced researchers, appeared to evolve towards researcher as constructor, with later papers showing more complex purposes, diverse sources, and detail of searching and analysis. Tobacco document research could learn from existing research traditions: a model for planning and evaluating tobacco document research is presented.

Authorship↗

PubMed2003

"Australia is one of the darkest markets in the world": the global importance of Australian tobacco control.

"Australia is one of the darkest markets in the world... it probably is the darkest, I mean ourselves and Canada fight every month for who's got the darkest conditions to do tobacco manufacturing and marketing. And one of the things we can offer the world is what we do best, which is how to work, maximize, proactively drive our market position in a market that's completely dark. Now that takes a different skillset... a different type of learning. We need to export that... we know we have a lot of expatriates who come down to Australia for learning. they can come here and learn these techniques and take them back to Europe or Latin America or to the United States or to Africa... But the other thing that is really good for us is that we are also a huge net exporter of Australian talent. about 30 or 40 people currently off-shore... We do things really differently here than most other BAT organizations." David Crowe, Marketing Director, British American Tobacco (BAT) Australia(1).

Australia↗

PubMed2003

"Avoid health warnings on all tobacco products for just as long as we can": a history of Australian tobacco industry efforts to avoid, delay and dilute health warnings on cigarettes.

OBJECTIVE: To review critically the history of Australian tobacco industry efforts to avoid, delay, and dilute pack warnings on cigarettes. DESIGN: Systematic keyword and opportunistic website searches of tobacco industry internal documents made available through the Master Settlement Agreement. RESULTS: Four industry strategies and six recurrent arguments used by the industry are described, which were used to thwart the passage of three generations of health warnings (implemented in 1973, 1987, and 1995). These strategies are shown to have been associated with major delays in the implementation of the warnings and in keeping them inconspicuous, unattributed to the industry and non-specific, and particularly in delaying the use of warnings about addiction. The industry today continues to oppose warnings, which might "repel" smokers from tobacco use. CONCLUSIONS: Efforts by governments to introduce potent health warnings will be resisted by the tobacco industry. Tobacco control advocates should anticipate and counter the strategies and arguments used by the industry, which are described in this paper if they wish to maximise the use of the pack as a vehicle for raising awareness about the harms of smoking.

Australia↗

PubMed2003

Smoking, disease, and obdurate denial: the Australian tobacco industry in the 1980s.

OBJECTIVE: To contrast the Australian tobacco industry's awareness of the diseases caused by smoking with their aggressive public denial on the relation between smoking and disease in the 1980s. DESIGN: Analysis of 325 industry documents from the world wide web. RESULTS: In the 1980s Australian cigarette manufacturers were informed constantly by the international industry of the medical consensus that smoking caused disease. In addition Philip Morris (Australia) Limited received reports of Philip Morris' international biological research programme and visited its Richmond research facility; and WD&HO Wills part funded, co-managed, and contributed research to the British American Tobacco groups' biological research programme. Despite this knowledge, the Australian manufacturers had a policy of arguing to their employees, decision makers, and the general public that questions of smoking and disease were unresolved. The industry catalogued the literature, developed arguments against the main claims made by health groups, and attacked public health advocates who made statements linking smoking to death and disease. Industry studies suggested that a 20-30% minority of the Australian public agreed with the industry on smoking and disease, diminishing across the decade. CONCLUSION: Australian manufacturers were clearly negligent in the 1980s, deliberately working to undermine Australians' understandings of the diseases caused by smoking despite their own private knowledge. Continuing scepticism about smoking and disease, corresponding with the industry's deceptions, exists in Australian smokers today, suggesting that their actions may have slowed the rate of decline in smoking prevalence. These revelations provide important evidence for Australian litigation and advocacy.

Australia↗

PubMed2003

"A deep fragrance of academia": the Australian Tobacco Research Foundation.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To review the history of the tobacco industry supported Australian Tobacco Research Foundation (ATRF)(1970-1994) for evidence of the industry's use of the Foundation to further its objectives that "more research was needed" on smoking and health and to promulgate the view that nicotine was not addictive. (2) To review efforts by public health advocates to discredit the ATRF as a public relations tool used by the Australian industry. METHODS: Systematic search of previously internal industry documents released through the US Master Settlement Agreement. RESULTS: The ATRF was headed by prestigious Australian medical scientists, with at least one considered by the industry to be "industry positive". An international ATRF symposium on nicotine was vetted by the industry and heavily attended by industry approved scientists. Following sustained criticism from the health and medical community about the industry's creation of the ATRF to further its objectives, the ATRF's scientific committee was provoked to publicly declare in 1988 that smoking was a causative agent in disease. This criticism led to growing ATRF boycotts by scientists and substandard applications, causing the industry to see the ATRF as being poor value-for-money and eventually abandoning it. CONCLUSIONS: The raison d'etre for the ATRF's establishment was to allow the Australian industry to point to its continuing commitment to independent medical research, with the implied corollary that tobacco control measures were premature in the face of insufficient evidence about tobacco's harms. Sustained criticism of tobacco industry funded research schemes can undermine their credibility among the scientific community.

Australia↗

PubMed2003

Cooperation and control: the Tobacco Institute of Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the history of the Tobacco Institute of Australia (TIA), particularly regarding connections between local and international cigarette manufacturers and tobacco organisations. DESIGN: Analysis of 4541 industry documents from the world wide web. RESULTS: From 1978 to 1983 the TIA built strong international networks via ICOSI/INFOTAB and the US Tobacco Institute, and defended existing industry freedoms. 1983 to 1989 was the TIA's aggressive heyday, led primarily by John Dollisson. From 1989 to 1994, following the decision in Australian Federation of Consumer Organisations vs TIA, local and international industry lawyers assumed control. Between 1994 and 1997 a brief revival led into decline and then dissolution, as previously common ground became commercially competitive issues for the manufacturers. The TIA facilitated interconnectedness: between local manufacturers; via individuals who played multiple roles; to international tobacco organisations; through the industry's local and international counsel; and by acting as a conduit for information. CONCLUSION: The local tobacco industry was comprehensively informed on issues including smoking and health, and connected to the international industry, via the TIA. The manufacturers were closely involved in the TIA's activities, and cooperated through the TIA in a manner detrimental to Australian consumers. The TIA's conduct was the responsibility of local and international manufacturers and their counsel.

Academies and Institutes↗

PubMed2003

The Australian tar derby: the origins and fate of a low tar harm reduction programme.

OBJECTIVE: To document the development of the low tar harm reduction programme in Australia, including tobacco industry responses. DATA SOURCES: Tobacco industry documents, retail tobacco journals, newspapers, medical journals, and Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria (ACCV) newsletters and archival records. STUDY SELECTION: Documents on the strategies and knowledge bases of the ACCV, other Australian health authorities, and the tobacco industry. RESULTS: The ACCV built a durable system for measuring and publicising the tar and nicotine yields of Australian cigarettes and influencing their development. The tobacco industry initially sought to block the development of this system but later appeared to cooperate with it, as is evidenced by the current market dominance of low tar brands. However, behind the scenes, the industry used its substantial knowledge advantage regarding compensatory smoking and its ability to re-engineer cigarettes to gain effective control of the system and subvert the ACCV's objectives. CONCLUSIONS: Replacement of the low tar programme with new means of minimising the harms from cigarette smoking should be a policy priority for the Australian government. This will require regulation, rather than further voluntary agreements, and stringent monitoring of successor programmes will be necessary.

Australia↗

PubMed2003

From legitimate consumers to public relations pawns: the tobacco industry and young Australians.

OBJECTIVE: To document the Australian tobacco industry's activities regarding youth smoking to support tobacco control. METHOD: 492 industry documents from primary and secondary websites were abstracted and analysed. RESULTS: Australian legislation and rhetoric on youth and tobacco has changed dramatically over the last 50 years, from an unproblematic association of teenagers and smoking in the 1960s, through the industry's aggressive attacks and denials in the 1980s, to the 1990s, when industry became newly compliant with "societal expectations" and youth became a dominant bargaining issue in the industry's public relations strategy. The industry's current policy is to simultaneously blame others for underage smoking, frame the industry as socially responsible via voluntary marketing codes, youth access programmes, and school education, and market actively to young adults. CONCLUSIONS: The arbitrary distinction between 17 and 18 year olds is, particularly in Australia's dark market, a liability for tobacco control and an opportunity for the industry, which is attempting to claim the high moral ground traditionally occupied by tobacco control on the youth issue. The current review of Australia's Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act of 1992 should prohibit all forms of industry communication targeting young people, including retail access and schools programmes and below-the-line marketing. Tobacco control advocacy should highlight the industry's attempts to use the youth issue in its own favour while laying the blame elsewhere.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The Australian cigarette brand as product, person, and symbol.

OBJECTIVE: To examine, for dominant Australian cigarette brands, brand identity (overriding brand vision), brand positioning (brand identity elements communicated to the consumer), brand image (consumers' brand perceptions) and brand equity (financial value). DESIGN: Tobacco industry documents, articles from retail trade publications since 1990, and current brand advertising from retail trade publications were searched for information about Australian brands. RESULTS: Cigarette manufacturers benefit from their competitors' brand equity as well as their own. The industry sees Australian smokers as far less brand loyal and strongly oriented to "low tar". A few predominantly local brands dominate the market, with variation by state. Successful Australian brands exist in one of three categories: premium, mainstream, and supervalue. Their brand identity essence is as follows. Premium: quality. Mainstream: a good humoured "fair go" for ordinary Australians. Supervalue: value for money. All supervalue brand identities also include freedom, escape, mildness, an aspirational attitude, blue tones, and waterside scenes. Brand image and brand identity is frequently congruent, even when marketing is restricted, and brand image is generally more positive for a smoker's own brand. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco control activities have undermined cigarette brand equity. Further research is needed regarding brand loyalty, low tar, and brand categories. Smokers may respond more positively to tobacco control messages consistent with the identities of their chosen brand, and brand-as-organisation elements may assist. Further marketing restrictions should consider all elements of brand identity, and aim to undermine brand categories.

Advertising↗

PubMed2003

Going below the line: creating transportable brands for Australia's dark market.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate non-point-of-sale cigarette marketing in Australia, one of the "darkest" markets in the world. DESIGN: Analysis of 172 tobacco industry documents. RESULTS: The tobacco industry has continued to market their products despite severe restrictions on legal marketing activity. They made careful plans to circumvent regulation well in advance. In preparation for bans, they chose and strengthened existing brands to enable their continued success in a dark market and prepared the consumer for bans by increasing their spending on below the line activities. Bans reduced the industry's effectiveness and efficiency. After bans new brand launches stopped: instead key existing brands were strengthened via alterations to the product, line extensions, and stretching loopholes in the legislation as far as possible. In line with the general trend towards integrated marketing, a range of activities have been used in combination, including guerrilla marketing, advertising in imported international magazines, altering the pack, sponsorships, brand stretching, event promotions, lifestyle premiums, and the development of corporate websites. CONCLUSIONS: The tobacco industry acknowledges that marketing restrictions have an impact, validating their continued use in tobacco control. The industry is extremely creative in circumventing these marketing restrictions, requiring tobacco marketing regulations to be informed by marketing expertise, regularly updated, and to adopt the broadest possible scope. Tobacco control advocates, particularly those communicating with young people, could learn from the creativity of the tobacco industry.

Australia↗

PubMed2003

New frontier, new power: the retail environment in Australia's dark market.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of the retail environment in cigarette marketing in Australia, one of the "darkest" markets in the world. DESIGN: Analysis of 172 tobacco industry documents; and articles and advertisements found by hand searching Australia's three leading retail trade journals. RESULTS: As Australian cigarette marketing was increasingly restricted, the retail environment became the primary communication vehicle for building cigarette brands. When retail marketing was restricted, the industry conceded only incrementally and under duress, and at times continues to break the law. The tobacco industry targets retailers via trade promotional expenditure, financial and practical assistance with point of sale marketing, alliance building, brand advertising, and distribution. Cigarette brand advertising in retail magazines are designed to build brand identities. Philip Morris and British American Tobacco are now competing to control distribution of all products to retailers, placing themselves at the heart of retail business. CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette companies prize retail marketing in Australia's dark market. Stringent point of sale marketing restrictions should be included in any comprehensive tobacco control measures. Relationships between retailers and the industry will be more difficult to regulate. Retail press advertising and trade promotional expenditure could be banned. In-store marketing assistance, retail-tobacco industry alliance building, and new electronic retail distribution systems may be less amenable to regulation. Alliances between the health and retail sectors and financial support for a move away from retail dependence on tobacco may be necessary to effect cultural change.

Advertising↗

PubMed2001

Prenatal diagnosis of Bardet-Biedl syndrome by targeted second-trimester sonography.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by mental retardation, obesity, retinal degeneration, polydactyly and syndactyly, diabetes mellitus, hypogenitalism, renal dysplasia and short stature. Definitive molecular diagnosis for BBS is not currently available and counseling of affected families is based on the 25% recurrence risk consistent with autosomal recessive inheritance. Our case presents the first successful use of second trimester targeted sonographic anatomy scanning to prospectively identify a fetus affected with BBS, and indicates that ultrasound can be of critical importance in providing precise as well as timely prenatal diagnosis for families at risk for this serious disorder.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) transport across human intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cell monolayers.

1. Transintestinal absorption of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) via a pH-dependent mechanism is demonstrated in the model human intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2. 2. Experiments with BCECF [2',7',-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)- carboxyfluorescein]-loaded Caco-2 cells demonstrate that GABA transport across the apical membrane is coupled to proton flow into the cell. 3. Short-circuit current (ISC) measurements using Caco-2 cell monolayers under voltage-clamped conditions demonstrate that pH-dependent GABA transport is a rheogenic process even in the absence of extracellular Na+, consistent with H+/GABA symport. 4. A range of GABA analogues were tested for their abilities to: (a) inhibit pH-dependent [3H]GABA uptake across the apical membrane; (b) stimulate H+ flow across the apical surface of BCECF-loaded Caco-2 cell monolayers; (c) increase inward ISC across voltage-clamped Caco-2 cell monolayers. 5. Nipecotic acid, isonipecotic acid, D,L-beta-aminobutyric acid, and 3-amino-1-propanesulphonic acid each caused a marked acidification of intracellular pH and an increase in ISC when superfused at the apical surface of Caco-2 cell monolayers. In contrast L-alpha-amino-n-butyric acid failed to induce proton flow or ISC. The ability of these compounds to induce proton or current flow across the apical surface of this intestinal epithelium was closely related to the relative inhibitory effects on [3H]GABA uptake. 6. These observations demonstrate H+/GABA symport and suggest that this transport mechanism may be accessible as a route for oral absorption of therapeutically-useful GABA analogues.

Biological Transport↗

PubMed1999

Increased production of antigen-specific immunoglobulins G and M following in vivo treatment with the medicinal plants Echinacea angustifolia and Hydrastis canadensis.

A number of immunomodulatory effects have been attributed to the medicinal plants Echinacea angustifolia and Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis); however, little is known about whether treatment with these plants can enhance antigen-specific immunity. We investigated the antigen-specific in vivo immunomodulatory potential of continuous treatment with Echinacea and Goldenseal root extract over a period of 6 weeks using rats that were injected with the novel antigen keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and re-exposed to KLH after the initial exposure. Immunoglobulin production was monitored via ELISA continuously over a period of 6 weeks. The Echinacea-treated group showed a significant augmentation of their primary and secondary IgG response to the antigen, whereas the Goldenseal-treated group showed an increase in the primary IgM response during the first 2 weeks of treatment. Our results suggest that medicinal plants like Echinacea or Goldenseal may enhance immune function by increasing antigen-specific immunoglobulin production.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

PubMed1999

Nonselective beta blockade attenuates the recruitment of CD62L(-)T lymphocytes following exercise.

Exercise induces a selective redistribution of CD62L(-) T lymphocytes. This study examined the effects of beta adrenergic receptor blockade on this phenomenon. Twelve healthy men were exercised to exhaustion on a treadmill prior to and following 1 week of treatment with the nonselective beta antagonist propranolol or the beta1 selective antagonist metoprolol. Dynamic exercise resulted in a significant lymphocytosis (p < 0.001). CD8(+)CD62L(-) T cells showed a greater than 3-fold increase in response to exercise (p < 0.001) as compared to CD8(+)CD62L(+) T cells, which showed a more modest increase. Treatment with the nonselective beta antagonist propranolol significantly attenuated the preferential increase of circulating CD8(+)CD62L(-) lymphocytes (p = 0.01) but had no effect on CD8(+)CD62L(+) T cells. Treatment with the beta1 selective antagonist metoprolol did not affect the response of either subset. Our findings replicate a prior study indicating that CD62L expression influences T lymphocyte trafficking in response to exercise and extends those findings by showing that this phenomenon is mediated, in part, via the beta2-adrenergic receptor.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMed1999

Second-trimester molecular prenatal diagnosis of sporadic Apert syndrome following suspicious ultrasound findings.

Apert syndrome, an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by craniosynostosis, mid-facial malformations, symmetric bony syndactyly of hands and feet, and varying degrees of mental retardation, is most frequently caused by a de novo mutation. Two missense mutations in the fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene have been found to account for the disorder in approximately 98% of affected patients. Seven cases of prenatal ultrasound diagnosis have been reported. Although one earlier diagnosis has been made in a familial case, sporadic cases have not been definitively diagnosed until the third trimester when craniosynostosis is usually detected. We report a second-trimester molecular diagnosis of a sporadic case, based on the ultrasound observation of fetal 'mitten hands' and craniosynostosis. We discuss the approach to such ultrasound features, given the current availability of molecular diagnosis for Apert syndrome.

Abortion, Therapeutic↗

PubMed1997

Dynamic exercise leads to an increase in circulating ICAM-1: further evidence for adrenergic modulation of cell adhesion.

Acute mental and physical stress lead to a marked lymphocytosis, with circulating natural killer cell numbers showing the most prominent increase. Many studies have linked these acute stress effects on lymphocytes with an increase in catecholamine levels. However, the molecular mechanisms which mediate this redistribution of lymphocytes from lymphocyte reservoirs into the circulation remain unknown. We hypothesized that this form of lymphocytosis was in part due to shedding of cell adhesion molecules from the cell surface and a subsequent detachment of lymphocytes adhering to the vascular endothelium in lymphocyte reservoirs. In this study, healthy human volunteers (n = 12) were exercised on a treadmill until exhaustion. The circulating levels of the soluble cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and E-Selectin were determined by ELISA. The subjects were then randomly assigned to treatment with either propranolol or metoprolol and repeated the exercise protocol after 1 week of treatment. Prior to drug treatment, soluble ICAM-1 levels rose from 258 +/- 19 to 321 +/- 28 ng/ml following exercise and returned to approximate baseline levels of 263 +/- 22 ng/ml after 1 h of rest. This highly significant effect of exercise on circulating ICAM-1 levels (p < .005) was mitigated after treatment with the beta-adrenergic antagonists. Soluble E-Selectin levels were not significantly affected by exercise. These results suggest that dynamic exercise leads to shedding of the cell adhesion molecule ICAM-1 via adrenergic mechanisms. We believe that these findings will contribute to the understanding of how physical and mental stress modulate lymphocyte migration and adhesion.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

PubMed1997

The effects of die-spacing on post-cementation crown elevation and retention.

This paper reviews the relevant dental literature concerning the effect of die-spacing on crown elevation and pre- and post-cementation crown retention. Techniques of providing die-spacing and measurement of the thickness of die-spacer are discussed. A review of the role of the provision of a cement space in reducing post-cementation crown elevation is presented. Factors which may affect crown retention prior to and following cementation are also reviewed. The influence of variables in techniques and experimental design on the results of the studies reviewed is discussed.

Cementation↗