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OBJECTIVE This study examines the extent to which cigarette taxes affect smoking behaviour and disparities in smoking among adolescents by gender, socioeconomic status (SES) and race/ethnicity. METHODS We used US nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional data from the 2005 to 2016 Monitoring the Future study to evaluate the relationship between state cigarette taxes and past 30-day current smoking, smoking intensity, and first cigarette and daily smoking initiation using modified Poisson and linear regression models, stratified by grade. We tested for interactions between tax and gender, SES and race/ethnicity on the additive scale using average marginal effects. RESULTS We found that higher taxes were associated with lower smoking outcomes, with variation by grade. Across nearly all of our specifications, there were no statistically significant interactions between tax and gender, SES or race/ethnicity for any grades/outcomes. One exception is that among 12th graders, there was a statistically significant interaction between tax and college plans, with taxes being associated with a lower probability of 30-day smoking among students who definitely planned to attend college compared with those who did not. CONCLUSION We conclude that higher taxes were associated with reduced smoking among adolescents, with little difference by gender, SES and racial/ethnicity groups. While effective at reducing adolescent smoking, taxes appear unlikely to reduce smoking disparities among youth. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.BACKGROUND Anti-smoking social norms are associated with subsequent quitting behaviours. We examined if exposure to tobacco control advertisements and policy changes predict subjective (perceived disapproval of smoking among close family and friends) and internalised injunctive norms (embarrassed about telling others you are a smoker). METHODS A serial cross-sectional population survey of Australian adult smokers (n=6649; 2012 to 2015). Logistic regression analyses examined associations of social norms with exposure to different types of tobacco control advertisements, tax increases and other tobacco control policies, adjusting for key demographic, smoking and media exposure covariates. Interaction analyses examined differences by age and socioeconomic status (SES). RESULTS Greater past month exposure to predominantly fear-evoking advertisements was associated with increased odds of perceiving disapproval (per 1000 gross rating points adjusted OR (AOR) 2.69, 95% CI 1.34 to 5.39), while exposure to advertisements evoking multiple negative emotions (fear, guilt, sadness) reduced perceived disapproval (AOR 0.61, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.87). Increased perceived disapproval was also associated with anticipation (AOR 1.38, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.88), and implementation of a series of annual 12.5% tobacco tax rises (AOR 1.41, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.94). Associations were consistent across age and SES. There were no associations nor subgroup interactions between advertisement exposure or policy changes and feeling embarrassed about telling others you are a smoker. CONCLUSION Smokers’ perceptions of family and friends’ disapproval of their smoking was more common after exposure to fear-evoking tobacco control campaigns and after large tobacco tax increases were announced and implemented. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.OBJECTIVES South Korea implemented an unprecedented cigarette tax increase in 2015, raising its cigarette price by 80%. This study evaluated the extent to which the 2015 cigarette tax increase affected Korean adult smokers in terms of quit attempts, successful quitting and smoking intensity. METHODS Data were drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study, the Korean Welfare Panel Study (waves 9-12, 2014-2017). Korean adults who smoked before the 2015 cigarette tax increase comprised the sample (n=2114). We used the multiple logistic regressions to examine factors of quit attempts and successful quitting and the generalised estimating equations to estimate changes in smoking intensity among continued smokers. selleck products RESULTS After the cigarette tax increase, 60.9% (n=1334) of baseline smokers attempted to quit and 34.7% of the attempters succeeded in quitting. The smokers aged ≥65 years and light smokers both attempted more (p less then 0.01) and succeeded more (p less then 0.05) in quitting than smokers aged 35-44 years and heavy smokers, respectively. The successful quitting was not significantly associated with income levels. Depressive symptoms, first cigarette use before age 19 and smoking a pack or more a day at baseline were associated with failures in quitting. Smoking intensity among continued smokers decreased after the cigarette tax increase (p less then 0.001), but such a decrease was not observed in light smokers, young smokers and high-income smokers. CONCLUSION The current study findings imply that the Korean government may consider implementing periodic increases in cigarette tax which should reflect the rate of inflation and income growth. Smoking cessation programmes need to address depressive symptoms. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.Arginase is a potential target for asthma treatment. However, currently there are no arginase inhibitors available for clinical use. Here a novel class of arginase inhibitors was synthesized and their efficacy was pharmacologically evaluated. The reference compound 2(S)-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH) and >200 novel arginase inhibitors were tested for their ability to inhibit recombinant human arginase 1 and 2 in vitro. The most promising compound were separated as enantiomers. Enantiomer-pairs SHK242 and SHK243, and SHK277 and SHK278 were tested for functional efficacy by measuring their effect on allergen-induced airway narrowing in lung slices of ovalbumin-sensitized guinea pigs ex vivo. A guinea pig model of acute allergic asthma was used to examine the effect of the most efficacious enantiopure arginase inhibitors on allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), early and late asthmatic reactions (EAR and LAR) and airway inflammation in vivo. The novel compounds were efficacious in inhibiting arginase 1 and 2 in vitro.