Transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research: opportunities, barriers, and innovations.

The translation of basic behavioral science discoveries into practical strategies represents a promising approach to developing more effective preventive interventions to improve health. Since translational research inevitably involves making use of diverse perspectives from multiple disciplines, it is best conducted as a transdisciplinary enterprise. In this paper, we discuss current strategies used by NIH to support transdisciplinary translational behavioral (TDTB) research, summarize successful efforts, and highlight challenges encountered in conducting such work (ranging from conceptual to organizational to methodological).

Pioneering the Transdisciplinary Team Science Approach: Lessons Learned from National Cancer Institute Grantees.

The National Cancer Institute has been a leader in supporting transdisciplinary (TD) team science. From 2005-2010, the NCI supported Transdisciplinary Research on Energetic and Cancer I (TREC I), a center initiative fostering the TD integration of social, behavioral, and biological sciences to examine the relationships among obesity, nutrition, physical activity and cancer. In the final year of TREC I, we conducted qualitative in-depth-interviews with 31 participating investigators and trainees to learn more about their experiences with TD team science, including challenges, facilitating factors, strategies for success, and impacts.

Influence of a National Cancer Institute transdisciplinary research and training initiative on trainees' transdisciplinary research competencies and scholarly productivity.

Over the past several decades, there has been burgeoning interest and investment in large transdisciplinary (TD) team science initiatives that aim to address complex societal problems. Despite this trend, TD training opportunities in the health sciences remain limited, and evaluations of these opportunities are even more uncommon due to funding constraints. We had the unique opportunity to conduct an exploratory study to examine the potential outcomes and impacts of TD training in a National Cancer Institute-supported initiative for TD research and training-the Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer I (TREC I) initiative.

The relationship among smoking, sleep, and chronic rheumatic conditions commonly associated with pain in the National Health Interview Survey.

Chronic rheumatic conditions are typically characterized by chronic pain and are uniquely associated with increased rates of cigarette smoking and poor sleep quality. However, no study has examined the possible additive or interactive effects of these two health behaviors in individuals diagnosed with a chronic rheumatic condition. The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between cigarette smoking and sleep in a population sample of individuals diagnosed with a chronic rheumatic condition and related functional impairment.

Assessing the value of team science: a study comparing center- and investigator-initiated grants.

Background: Large cross-disciplinary scientific teams are becoming increasingly prominent in the conduct of research.

Purpose: This paper reports on a quasi-experimental longitudinal study conducted to compare bibliometric indicators of scientific collaboration, productivity, and impact of center-based transdisciplinary team science initiatives and traditional investigator-initiated grants in the same field.

Methods: All grants began between 1994 and 2004 and up to 10 years of publication data were collected for each grant.

Biological mechanisms underlying the relationship between stress and smoking: state of the science and directions for future work.

Theories of addiction implicate stress as a crucial mechanism underlying initiation, maintenance, and relapse to cigarette smoking. Examinations of the biological stress systems, including functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the autonomic nervous system (ANS), have provided additional insights into the relationship between stress and smoking. To date, convergent data suggests that chronic cigarette smoking is associated with alterations in HPA and ANS functioning; however, less is known about the role of HPA and ANS functioning in smoking initiation and relapse following cessation.

An examination of recent non-clinical panic attacks, panic disorder, anxiety sensitivity, and emotion regulation difficulties in the prediction of generalized anxiety disorder in an analogue sample.

Both non-clinical panic attacks and panic disorder (PD) have been found to be associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This study examined a proxy risk factor model of the relationship between non-clinical panic attacks, PD, and GAD. Specifically, it was proposed that non-clinical panic attacks and PD predict GAD only due to their shared association with anxiety sensitivity (AS) and difficulties in emotion regulation.

Distress tolerance and pre-smoking treatment attrition: examination of moderating relationships.

This study focused on the understudied group of smokers who commit to a smoking research study and then subsequently drop out before completing even one session of treatment (pre-inclusion attrition). This is an important group typically not examined in their own right, leaving little knowledge about the characteristics that differentiate them from those who complete treatment. As an initial investigation, the current study examined affective risk factors for attrition in a sample of 53 adults (79% African-American; median income=$30,000-$39,999) enrolled in a smoking cessation study.

The interactive effects of antisocial personality disorder and court-mandated status on substance abuse treatment dropout.

The present study sought to examine the interactive effects of court-mandated (CM) treatment and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on treatment dropout among 236 inner-city male substance users receiving residential substance abuse treatment. Of the 236 participants, 39.4% (n = 93) met criteria for ASPD and 72.