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1. Smart Electronic Cigarettes with Built-in Aerosol Sensors

   https://doi.org/10.1109/SENSORS52175.2022.9967159  

   Jiang, Hao ( October 2022 , 2022 IEEE Sensors)

   This work introduces an emerging application of aerosol sensors integrated inside electronic cigarettes. Using the aerosol sensors, particle size distribution, aerosol temperature, and target chemicals of the generated aerosols are measured before the aerosol is inhaled by a user. When a hazardous aerosol is detected, the user will be warned immediately to stop vaping. With extensive sensor data collected from every puff, an electronic cigarette becomes a smart mobile device, capable of tracking and improving a user's vaping habits. Experimental results on a prototype are presented and have shown great promises towards minimizing the health risks of vaping. 

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2. An Automated Aerosol Collection and Extraction System to Characterize Electronic Cigarette Aerosols

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2021.764730  

   Son, Yeongkwon ; Khlystov, Andrey ( November 2021 , Frontiers in Chemistry)

   Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) market increased by 122% during 2014–2020 and is expected to continue growing rapidly. Despite their popularity, e-cigarettes are known to emit dangerous levels of toxic compounds (e.g., carbonyls), but a lack of accurate and efficient testing methods is hindering the characterization of e-cigarette aerosols emitted by a wide variety of e-cigarette devices, e-liquids, and use patterns. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by developing an automated E-cigarette Aerosol Collection and Extraction System (E-ACES) consisting of a vaping machine and a collection/extraction system. The puffing system was designed to mimic e-cigarette use patterns (i.e., power output and puff topography) by means of a variable power-supply and a flow control system. The sampling system collects e-cigarette aerosols using a combination of glass wool and a continuously wetted denuder. After the collection stage, the system is automatically washed with absorbing and extracting liquids (e.g., methanol, an acetaldehyde-DNPH solution). The entire system is controlled by a computer. E-ACES performance was evaluated against conventional methods during measurements of nicotine and carbonyl emissions from a tank type e-cigarette. Nicotine levels measured using glass fiber filters and E-ACES were not significantly different: 201.2 ± 6.2 and 212.5 ± 17 μg/puff ( p = 0.377), respectively. Differences in formaldehyde and acetaldehyde levels between filter-DNPH cartridges and the E-ACES were 14% ( p = 0.057) and 13% ( p = 0.380), respectively. The E-ACES showed reproducible nicotine and carbonyl testing results for the selected e-cigarette vaping conditions. 

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3. E-Cigarette Use: Device Market, Study Design, and Emerging Evidence of Biological Consequences

   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222212452  

   Snoderly, Hunter T. ; Nurkiewicz, Timothy R. ; Bowdridge, Elizabeth C. ; Bennewitz, Margaret F. ( November 2021 , International Journal of Molecular Sciences)

   Electronic cigarettes are frequently viewed as a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes; however, evidence to support this perspective has not materialized. Indeed, the current literature reports that electronic cigarette use is associated with both acute lung injury and subclinical dysfunction to the lung and vasculature that may result in pathology following chronic use. E-cigarettes can alter vascular dynamics, polarize innate immune populations towards a proinflammatory state, compromise barrier function in the pulmonary endothelium and epithelium, and promote pre-oncogenic phenomena. This review will summarize the variety of e-cigarette products available to users, discuss current challenges in e-cigarette study design, outline the range of pathologies occurring in cases of e-cigarette associated acute lung injury, highlight disease supporting tissue- and cellular-level changes resulting from e-cigarette exposure, and briefly examine how these changes may promote tumorigenesis. Continued research of the mechanisms by which e-cigarettes induce pathology benefit users and clinicians by resulting in increased regulation of vaping devices, informing treatments for emerging diseases e-cigarettes produce, and increasing public awareness to reduce e-cigarette use and the onset of preventable disease. 

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4. Intrauterine exposure to nicotine through maternal vaping disrupts embryonic lung and skeletal development via the Kcnj2 potassium channel

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2023.06.002  

   Ozekin, Yunus H. ; Saal, Maxwell L. ; Pineda, Ricardo H. ; Moehn, Kayla ; Ordonez-Erives, Madison A. ; Delgado Figueroa, Maria F. ; Frazier, Caleb ; Korth, Kamryn M. ; Königshoff, Melanie ; Bates, Emily A. ; et al ( September 2023 , Developmental Biology)

   Smoking cigarettes during pregnancy is associated with adverse effects on infants including low birth weight, defective lung development, and skeletal abnormalities. Pregnant women are increasingly turning to vaping [use of electronic (e)-cigarettes] as a perceived safer alternative to cigarettes. However, nicotine disrupts fetal development, suggesting that like cigarette smoking, nicotine vaping may be detrimental to the fetus. To test the impact of maternal vaping on fetal lung and skeletal development in mice, pregnant dams were exposed to e-cigarette vapor throughout gestation. At embryonic day (E)18.5, vape exposed litter sizes were reduced and some embryos exhibited growth restriction compared to air exposed controls. Fetal lungs were collected for histology and whole transcriptome sequencing. Maternally nicotine vaped embryos exhibited histological and transcriptional changes consistent with impaired distal lung development. Embryonic lung gene expression changes mimicked transcriptional changes observed in adult mouse lungs exposed to cigarette smoke, suggesting that the developmental defects may be due to direct nicotine exposure. Fetal skeletons were analyzed for craniofacial and long bone lengths. Nicotine directly binds and inhibits the Kcnj2 potassium channel which is important for bone development. The length of the maxilla, palatal shelves, humerus, and femur were reduced in vaped embryos, which was further exacerbated by loss of one copy of the Kcnj2 gene. Nicotine vapor exposed Kcnj2KO/+ embryos also had significantly lower birth weights than unexposed animals of either genotype. Kcnj2 mutants had severely defective lungs with and without vape exposure, suggesting that potassium channels may be broadly involved in mediating the detrimental developmental effects of nicotine vaping. These data indicate that intrauterine nicotine exposure disrupts fetal lung and skeletal development likely through inhibition of Kcnj2. 

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5. Subtypes of Dual Users of Combustible and Electronic Cigarettes: Longitudinal Changes in Product Use and Dependence Symptomatology

   https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntac151  

   Buu, Anne ; Tong, Zhaoxue ; Cai, Zhanrui ; Li, Runze ; Yang, James J. ; Jorenby, Douglas E. ; Piper, Megan E. ( June 2022 , Nicotine & Tobacco Research)

   Cross-sectional surveys found behavioral heterogeneity among dual users of combustible and electronic cigarettes. Yet, prior classification did not reflect dynamic interactions between cigarette and e-cigarette consumption, which may reveal changes in product-specific dependence. The contexts of dual use that could inform intervention were also understudied.

   This study conducted secondary analysis on 13 waves of data from 227 dual users who participated in a 2-year observational study. The k-means method for joint trajectories of cigarette and e-cigarette consumption was adopted to identify the subtypes of dual users. The time-varying effect model was used to characterize the subtype-specific trajectories of cigarette and e-cigarette dependence. The subtypes were also compared in terms of use contexts.

   The four clusters were identified: light dual users, predominant vapers, heavy dual users, and predominant smokers. Although heavy dual users and predominant smokers both smoked heavily at baseline, by maintaining vaping at the weekly to daily level the heavy dual users were able to considerably reduce cigarette use. Yet, the heavy dual users’ drop in cigarette dependence was not as dramatic as their drop in cigarette consumption. Predominant vapers appeared to engage in substitution, as they decreased their smoking and increased their e-cigarette dependence. They were also more likely to live in environments with smoking restrictions and report that their use of e-cigarettes reduced cigarette craving and smoking frequency.

   Environmental constraints can drive substitution behavior and the substitution behavior is able to be sustained if people find the substitute to be effective.

   This study characterizes subtypes of dual users based on the dynamic interactions between cigarette use and e-cigarette use as well as product-specific trajectories of dependence. The subtypes differ in not only sociodemographic characteristics but also contexts of cigarette and e-cigarette use. Higher motivation to use e-cigarettes to quit smoking and less permissive environment for smoking may promote substitution of cigarettes by e-cigarettes.

    

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