Objective imaging-based assessment of smoking behavior from used filters

描述（由申请人提供）：随着FDA实施其监管烟草制品的权力，特别是提出产品标准和考虑批准修改风险产品，吸烟行为和暴露的准确测量可能变得至关重要。近年来，数字图像分析系统已经被开发出来，它可以高精度地识别废旧香烟过滤嘴上的过滤嘴堵塞，并可以估计吸烟者的补偿程度。这种数字成像系统有很大的潜力可以不引人注目地推断出一组丰富的吸烟者地形变量以及吸烟者暴露于毒素。现有的基于过滤器的检测的文献正在增长，并指出这些方法在重要研究问题上的日益突出和适用性。我们建议修改现有的分析系统，并进行一系列的研究，以测试其可靠性、有效性和适用性，通过检查香烟过滤嘴上的焦油污渍来确定口腔水平的香烟烟雾暴露。具体目标旨在对系统的效用提供严格的评估，从使用机器吸烟建立预测方程到对人类吸烟样本进行交叉验证，以对抗其他已建立的口腔水平暴露测量。在这个项目结束时，我们计划向研究界发布一套经过验证的软件，以支持外部验证吸烟相关研究的数字图像分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate measurement of smoking behaviors and exposures may become critical as FDA implements its authority to regulate tobacco products, and in particular proposes product standards and considers approval of modified risk products. Recently, digital image analysis systems have been developed that can identify the blocking of filter vents on spent cigarette filters with high accuracy and can also estimate the degree of smoker compensation. There is strong potential for such digital imaging systems to unobtrusively infer a rich set of smoker topography variables as well as a smoker's exposure to toxins. The existing literature base on filter-based assays is growing and points to growing prominence and applicability of these approaches to important research questions. We propose to modify existing analysis systems and conduct a series of studies to test their reliability, validity, and applicability for determining mouth- level cigarette smoke exposure by examining tar stains on cigarette filter butts. The Specific Aims are designed to provide rigorous evaluations of the utility of the systems, from establishing prediction equations using machine-smoked cigarettes to cross- validation in human-smoked samples against other established measures of mouth-level exposure. At the conclusion of this project, we plan to release a validated suite of software to the research community to support external verification of digital image analysis for smoking-related research.