Gender differences in success at quitting smoking: Short- and long-term outcomes.

Smoking cessation treatments are effective in men and women. However, possible sex-related differences in the outcome of these treatments remain a controversial topic. This study evaluated whether there were differences between men and women in the success of smoking cessation treatment, including gender-tailored components, in the short and long term (> 1 year).

Can we modify the enrollment in a postpartum smoking cessation intervention in Spain?

Objective: it is known that very few women who continue to smoke at the time of delivery stop smoking during the postpartum period. Discovering strategies that can be incorporated during pregnancy to help improve women's participation in postpartum interventions could increase the number of women non-smokers. The aim of this study is to identify the predictors of participation by pregnant women smokers in a postpartum smoking cessation intervention.

[Predictors of outcome of a smoking cessation treatment by gender].

Objective: To identify factors predictive of the outcome of a smoking cessation program by gender.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of smokers starting treatment in a smoking cessation clinic from 2002 to 2007 was conducted. The variables consisted of data on sociodemographic factors, smoking habits, the social context of smoking and psychiatric comorbidity prior to or during the smoking cessation process.

A proactive smoking cessation intervention in postpartum women.

Objective: to analyse the efficacy of a proactive intervention during the postpartum period to prevent a relapse in recent quitters and to promote progress in the behavioural process of change in smokers.

Design: randomised controlled trial designed for women at the end of the pregnancy using a proactive intervention. Motivational Interviewing (MI) and relapse prevention served as principles for the programme.

[Evolution of anxiety during the smoking cessation process at a Smoking Cessation Clinic].

Objective: To assess the evolution of anxiety during the smoking cessation process (3 months) and early smoking relapse, in a group of smokers seeking treatment for giving up smoking.

Method: Analytical, prospective and longitudinal study.

Study Variables: sex, age, marital status, educational level, anxiety and depression background, use of psychopharmacological drugs, cigarettes smoked per day, co-oximetry, nicotine dependence (Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence) and state and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).

Assessment of Labrasol/Labrafil/Transcutol (4/4/2, v/v/v) as a non-clinical vehicle for poorly water-soluble compounds after 4-week oral toxicity study in Wistar rats.

Drug safety research is frequently faced with the challenge of the selection of appropriate vehicles for use in in vivo non-clinical safety assessment studies. Reported here are the results of blend Labrasol, Labrafil and Transcutol, [L/L/T, (4/4/2, v/v/v)], excipients used as bioavailability enhancer and solubilizer for poorly water-soluble compounds and tested daily for 4 weeks by oral route in Wistar rats (10/sex/group) at dose volumes of 5, 10 or 20 mL/kg/day and compared to controls given 20 mL/kg/day of 1% (w/v) hydroxyethylcellulose in purified water. L/L/T was broadly well tolerated at 5 mL/kg/day and lethal at 20 mL/kg/day in 1 of 20 rats treated at this level.

[Results of smoking cessation therapy in a specialist unit].

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the results of smoking cessation therapy in a specialist unit by calculating the probability of continued abstinence at 6-month follow-up and analyzing differences according to the characteristics of the individuals.

Patients And Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was undertaken in smokers who received multicomponent smoking-cessation therapy over a period of 3 months. Continued abstinence was assessed on the basis of self-report by participants and confirmed by measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide levels.

[Weight gain and anxiety levels in recent ex-smokers].

Objective: To evaluate weight gain and its relation to anxiety in a group of smokers after 3 months of cessation treatment.

Patients And Methods: The target population for this prospective, analytical, longitudinal study was smokers being treated in a specialist smoking cessation clinic who were still abstinent at the conclusion of a 3-month treatment program. The following variables were analyzed: age, sex, nicotine dependence (Fagerström test), daily cigarette consumption, number of pack-years, pharmacological treatment (nicotine replacement/bupropion), use of nicotine gum (yes/no), weight gain, body mass index, and degree of state and trait anxiety.

[Assessment of behavioral dependence with the Glover-Nilsson test in smoking cessation treatment].

Objective: To assess behavioral dependence using the Glover-Nilsson test and determine its association with successful smoking cessation.

Material And Methods: An analytical longitudinal study was carried out, the target population of which consisted of smokers who enrolled in a smoking cessation clinic for treatment. The following variables were examined: age, sex, nicotine dependence (Fagerström test), psychoactive drug use, prior attempts at quitting, and behavioral dependence measured with the Glover-Nilsson test.

Value of in vitro models for the assessment of drug-induced haematotoxicity.

Background: A new antipsychotic compound induced unexpected red cell hypoplasia (reticulocytopenia, red marrow hypoplasia) in rats dosed orally for 7 days.

Materials And Methods: Since an erythropoietin-mediated pathogenesis was excluded, in vitro tests on rat and human bone marrow cells were performed with measurement of formation of late erythroid (CFU-E) and granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) colony-forming units after incubation with the drug. CFU-E together with growth factors were cultured for 2 days (rat) or 7 days (human) and CFU-GM was cultured for 7 days (rat) or 10 days (human).

[Predictors of success at 6-month follow-up for smokers treated at a smoking cessation clinic].

Objective: To identify the predictors of successful outcome in a smoking cessation program at 6-month follow-up.

Material And Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study of a sample of smokers who attended a smoking cessation clinic for combined medical and cognitive-behavioral group therapy. The independent variables assessed included age, sex, level of education, nicotine dependence (Fagerström test), prior attempts to quit smoking, medication prescribed, compliance with group therapy regimen, and success at one week and 3 months.

[Apropos of clinical manifestations suggestive of a pheochromocytoma with dominant dopaminergic secretion: tumor or metabolic abnormality?].

The case of a young woman with clinical and biological manifestations suggestive of a pheochromocytoma primarily producing dopamine is reported. Whether endogenous production of dopamine was due to a tumor or to a metabolic abnormality remained unclear.

[Application of derivative spectrophotometry for determining plasma hemoglobin and semi-quantitative evaluation of urinary porphyrins].

We described a method using second-derivative spectrophotometry with a spectrophotometer Uvikon (Kontron) for the assay of plasma hemoglobin and urinary porphyrins. We evaluated the procedure for sensitivity, linearity, analytical recovery. Non specific interference is not significant and reproductibility is excellent.

[Assay of vanilmandelic acid (VMA) by gas chromatography using a capillary tube].

The authors describe a method for the determination of urinary VMA as trimethylsilyl derivative by gas-chromatography with a capillary column (OV1 phase). They evaluated the procedure for sensitivity, linearity, analytical recovery and they studied correlation with a spectrophotometric method. The results obtained for normal adults and children are reported.