Perception and intentions to quit among waterpipe smokers in Qatar: a cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of waterpipe (shisha) smokers in Qatar regarding the health risks associated with addiction and to determine their intentions to quit.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 181 self-reported waterpipe smokers. Participants were approached in public places as well as in shisha cafes in Qatar. The questionnaire included items related to perception, attitude and intention to quit. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for data analyses, with P ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

About 44% of the respondents believed that waterpipe smoking was safer than cigarette smoking, and more than 70% would not mind if their children became involved in waterpipe smoking. More than half of the current smokers wanted to quit smoking shisha at some point, and 17% identified health concerns as the main motivating factor for their intention to quit.

CONCLUSION

A large proportion of shisha smokers viewed shisha as a safer alternative to cigarettes, yet they admitted to intending to quit. These findings underscore the need to design educational interventions and awareness campaigns as well as impose stringent laws on waterpipe smoking in public places in Qatar.

Physicochemical characterization, cytotoxic effect and toxicity evaluation of nanostructured lipid carrier loaded with eucalyptol

Background

Eucalyptol is an active compound of eucalyptus essential oil and was reported to have many medical attributes including cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells. However, it has low solubility in aqueous solutions which limits its bioavailability and cytotoxic efficiency. In this study, nanostructured lipid carrier loaded with eucalyptol (NLC-Eu) was formulated and characterized and the cytotoxic effect of NLC-Eu towards breast cancer cell lines was determined. In addition, its toxicity in animal model, BALB/c mice was also incorporated into this study to validate the safety of NLC-Eu.

Methods

Eucalyptol, a monoterpene oxide active, was used to formulate the NLC-Eu by using high pressure homogenization technique. The physicochemical characterization of NLC-Eu was performed to assess its morphology, particle size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential. The in vitro cytotoxic effects of this encapsulated eucalyptol on human (MDA MB-231) and murine (4 T1) breast cancer cell lines were determined using the MTT assay. Additionally, acridine orange/propidium iodide assay was conducted on the NLC-Eu treated MDA MB-231 cells. The in vivo sub-chronic toxicity of the prepared NLC-Eu was investigated using an in vivo BALB/c mice model.

Results

As a result, the light, translucent, milky-colored NLC-Eu showed particle size of 71.800 ± 2.144 nm, poly-dispersity index of 0.258 ± 0.003, and zeta potential of − 2.927 ± 0.163 mV. Furthermore, the TEM results of NLC-Eu displayed irregular round to spherical morphology with narrow size distribution and relatively uniformed particles. The drug loading capacity and entrapment efficiency of NLC-Eu were 4.99 and 90.93%, respectively. Furthermore, NLC-Eu exhibited cytotoxic effects on both, human and mice, breast cancer cells with IC50 values of 10.00 ± 4.81 μg/mL and 17.70 ± 0.57 μg/mL, respectively at 72 h. NLC-Eu also induced apoptosis on the MDA MB-231 cells. In the sub-chronic toxicity study, all of the studied mice did not show any signs of toxicity, abnormality or mortality. Besides that, no significant changes were observed in the body weight, internal organ index, hepatic and renal histopathology, serum biochemistry, nitric oxide and malondialdehyde contents.

Conclusions

This study suggests that the well-characterized NLC-Eu offers a safe and promising carrier system which has cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cell lines.

Anti-Diabetic Effect of Lactobacillus Paracasei Isolated from Malaysian Water Kefir Grains

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is alarming because it is always linked to the increase in chronic diseases, mortality, and socioeconomic burden. Water kefir has a wide range of functional and probiotic characteristics attributed to the microorganisms present in the kefir grains. The present study aims to evaluate the in vivo anti-diabetic potential of the isolated Lactobacillus paracasei from Malaysian water kefir grains (MWKG) which was reported to have excellent probiotic properties and high antioxidant activities as reported previously. High-fat diet/streptozotocin (HFD/STZ) induction was used to obtain a T2DM model followed by treatment with the isolated L. paracasei from MWKG. The levels of glucose, insulin, and in vivo liver antioxidants were quantified after 14 weeks. Gene expression analysis of the liver was also carried out using microarray analysis, and several genes were selected for validation using quantitative real-time PCR. Insulin tolerance test demonstrated that the L. paracasei isolated from the MWKG alleviated T2DM by improving the area under the curve of the insulin tolerance test whereby low-dose and high-dose concentrations treated groups showed 2424.50 ± 437.02 mmol/L·min and 2017.50 ± 347.09 mmol/L·min, respectively, compared to untreated diabetic mice which was 3884.50 ± 39.36 mmol/L·min. Additionally, treatment with the isolated L. paracasei from MWKG regulated the expression of several genes related to glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism in diabetic mice. These results suggested that the isolated L. paracasei from MWKG could be a potential dietary supplement for T2DM.