Patient survey examining the experience of care of a hospital-based opt-out tobacco dependency treatment service (the CURE Project).

Introduction: Treating tobacco dependency in patients admitted to hospital is a key priority in the National Health Service long-term plan. This service evaluation assessed the perception, needs and experience of care within an opt-out hospital-based tobacco dependency treatment service (the Conversation, Understand, Replace, Experts and Evidence Base (CURE) team) in North-West England.

Methods: A survey was offered to all eligible patients between 1 July 2020 and 30 September 2020.

Improving antibiotic prescribing for pediatric acute respiratory tract infections: A cluster randomized trial to evaluate individual versus clinic feedback.

Objective: To assess the effect of individual compared to clinic-level feedback on guideline-concordant care for 3 acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) among family medicine clinicians caring for pediatric patients.

Design: Cluster randomized controlled trial with a 22-month baseline, 26-month intervention period, and 12-month postintervention period.

Setting And Participants: In total, 26 family medicine practices (39 clinics) caring for pediatric patients in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina were selected based upon performance on guideline-concordance for 3 ARTIs, stratified by practice size.

Distinguishing viruses responsible for influenza-like illness.

The many respiratory viruses that cause influenza-like illness (ILI) are reported and tracked as one entity, defined by the CDC as a group of symptoms that include a fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, a cough, and/or a sore throat. In the United States alone, ILI impacts 9-49 million people every year. While tracking ILI as a single clinical syndrome is informative in many respects, the underlying viruses differ in parameters and outbreak properties.

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating an intervention to boost decentering in response to distressing mental experiences during adolescence: the decentering in adolescence study (DECADES).

Introduction: Decentering describes the ability to voluntarily adopt an objective self-perspective from which to notice internal, typically distressing, stressors (eg, difficult thoughts, memories and feelings). The reinforcement of this skill may be an active ingredient through which different psychological interventions accrue reductions in anxiety and/or depression. However, it is unclear if decentering can be selectively trained at a young age and if this might reduce psychological distress.

Health economic analysis for the 'CURE Project' pilot: a hospital-based tobacco dependency treatment service in Greater Manchester.

Introduction: Treating tobacco dependency in patients admitted to acute care National Health Service (NHS) trusts is a key priority in the NHS 10-year plan. This paper sets out the results of a health economic analysis for 'The CURE Project' pilot; a new hospital-based tobacco dependency service.

Methods: A health economic analysis to understand the costs of the intervention (both for the inpatient service and postdischarge costs), the return on investment (ROI) and the cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) of the CURE Project pilot in Greater Manchester.

Understanding the enablers and barriers to implementing smoke-free NHS sites across acute care trusts in Greater Manchester: results of a hospital staff survey.

Introduction: The current study aims to identify enablers and barriers to implementing smoke-free NHS hospital grounds through a hospital staff survey.

Methods: Staff members from eight acute care NHS trusts in Greater Manchester were invited to complete a 15-minute web-based questionnaire.

Results: Five-hundred and eighty-eight participants completed the questionnaire.

High-Power Gallium Nitride HIFU Transmitter With Integrated Real-Time Current and Voltage Measurement.

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) therapy provides a non-invasive technique with which to destroy cancerous tissue without using ionizing radiation. To drive large single-element High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) transducers, ultrasound transmitters capable of delivering high powers at relevant frequencies are required. The acoustic power delivered to a transducers focal region will determine the treated area, and due to safety concerns and intervening layers of attenuation, control of this output power is critical.

Impact of Education and Peer Comparison on Antibiotic Prescribing for Pediatric Respiratory Tract Infections.

Introduction: Inappropriate prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics is a significant modifiable risk factor for the development of antibiotic resistance. The objective was to improve guideline-concordant care for 3 common acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and to reduce broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing in ambulatory pediatric patients.

Methods: Quality measures were developed for 3 ARTIs: viral upper respiratory infection (URI), acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS), and acute otitis media (AOM).

Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50years of research.

We report a quality effects meta-analysis on studies from the period 1966-2016 measuring either (a) lucid dreaming prevalence (one or more lucid dreams in a lifetime); (b) frequent lucid dreaming (one or more lucid dreams in a month) or both. A quality effects meta-analysis allows for the minimisation of the influence of study methodological quality on overall model estimates. Following sensitivity analysis, a heterogeneous lucid dreaming prevalence data set of 34 studies yielded a mean estimate of 55%, 95% C.

Clinical Perineal Streptococcal Infection in Children: Epidemiologic Features, Low Symptomatic Recurrence Rate after Treatment, and Risk Factors for Recurrence.

Objectives: To evaluate the epidemiology of perineal streptococcal infection and recurrence rates following amoxicillin treatment.

Study Design: We used laboratory logs in a single pediatric practice to identify patients 0-18 years of age with perineal cultures positive for group A Streptococcus (GAS) and reviewed their medical charts. We described epidemiologic features, determined recurrence rates following antibiotic treatment, and performed a case-control study to identify possible risk factors for recurrence in patients treated with amoxicillin.

CHCHD2 inhibits apoptosis by interacting with Bcl-x L to regulate Bax activation.

Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) is a critical control point during apoptosis that results in the release of pro-apoptotic mitochondrial contents such as cytochrome c. MOMP is largely controlled by Bcl-2 family proteins such as Bax, which under various apoptotic stresses becomes activated and oligomerizes on the outer mitochondrial membrane. Bax oligomerization helps promote the diffusion of the mitochondrial contents into the cytoplasm activating the caspase cascade.

The impact of soil organic matter and soil sterilisation on the bioaccessibility of 14C-azoxystrobin determined by desorption kinetics.

As soils represent a major sink for most pesticides, factors influencing pesticide degradation are essential in identifying their potential environmental risk. Desorption of (14)C-azoxystrobin was investigated over time in two soils under sterile and non-sterile conditions using exhaustive (solvent) and non-exhaustive (aqueous) methods. Desorption data were fitted to a two-compartment model, differentiating between fast and slow desorbing fractions.

Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of group A streptococcal pharyngitis: 2012 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The guideline is intended for use by healthcare providers who care for adult and pediatric patients with group A streptococcal pharyngitis. The guideline updates the 2002 Infectious Diseases Society of America guideline and discusses diagnosis and management, and recommendations are provided regarding antibiotic choices and dosing. Penicillin or amoxicillin remain the treatments of choice, and recommendations are made for the penicillin-allergic patient, which now include clindamycin.

Clinical practice guideline for the diagnosis and management of group A streptococcal pharyngitis: 2012 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The guideline is intended for use by healthcare providers who care for adult and pediatric patients with group A streptococcal pharyngitis. The guideline updates the 2002 Infectious Diseases Society of America guideline and discusses diagnosis and management, and recommendations are provided regarding antibiotic choices and dosing. Penicillin or amoxicillin remain the treatments of choice, and recommendations are made for the penicillin-allergic patient, which now include clindamycin.

Mdm2 RING mutation enhances p53 transcriptional activity and p53-p300 interaction.

The p53 transcription factor and tumor suppressor is regulated primarily by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Mdm2, which ubiquitinates p53 to target it for proteasomal degradation. Aside from its ubiquitin ligase function, Mdm2 has been believed to be capable of suppressing p53's transcriptional activity by binding with and masking the transactivation domain of p53. The ability of Mdm2 to restrain p53 activity by binding alone, without ubiquitination, was challenged by a 2007 study using a knockin mouse harboring a single cysteine-to-alanine point mutation (C462A) in Mdm2's RING domain.

Status and mating success amongst visual artists.

Geoffrey Miller has hypothesized that producing artwork functions as a mating display. Here we investigate the relationship between mating success and artistic success in a sample of 236 visual artists. Initially, we derived a measure of artistic success that covered a broad range of artistic behaviors and beliefs.

Regulation of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway: the problems and promises of studying Mdm2's E3 ligase function.

Mdm2 is a major negative regulator of the tumor suppressor p53 and has long been thought to inhibit p53 in two ways: by ubiquitinating p53 to signal for its degradation, and by binding to p53, masking its transactivation domain. Mdm2 is also believed to control its own levels by autoubiquitination. Despite the widespread acceptance of these hypotheses, the supporting data were drawn primarily from in vitro and ectopic expression studies, which have not always been corroborated when tested in the more physiologically relevant setting of a knock-in or knock-out mouse model.

ARF in the mitochondria: the last frontier?

The tumor suppressor ARF carries out different functions in different cellular compartments. In the nucleus, ARF interacts physically and functionally with Mdm2 to inhibit cell cycle progression through activation of p53. In the nucleolus, ARF interacts with B23/NPM to inhibit ribosomal biogenesis through control of rRNA processing.

Behavioural and physiological effects of virginiamycin in the diets of horses with stereotypies.

The effects of dietary supplements of virginiamycin on the behaviour and physiology of 17 thoroughbred geldings (five cribbers, six weavers and six control horses) were compared with the effects of a placebo over a period of 16 weeks. Virginiamycin had no effect on the horses' stereotypic behaviour, but it reduced their explorative behaviour, possibly owing to a reduction in feeding motivation. Virginiamycin increased the water intake of the cribbers and decreased the water intake of the control horses, but it was not possible to eliminate possible confounding factors for this effect.

Unlocking the Mdm2-p53 loop: ubiquitin is the key.

Mdm2 has been thought to regulate the tumor suppressor p53 in two ways: by masking p53's access to transcriptional machinery, and by ubiquitinating p53, targeting it for proteasomal degradation. This dogma was recently challenged by data generated from knockin mice in which Mdm2's RING E3 ubiquitin ligase activity was abrogated by a single point mutation. The RING mutant Mdm2 is fully capable of binding with p53, yet cannot suppress p53 activity, suggesting that Mdm2 cannot block p53 by binding alone, without ubiquitination.

Targeted inactivation of Mdm2 RING finger E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in the mouse reveals mechanistic insights into p53 regulation.

It is believed that Mdm2 suppresses p53 in two ways: transcriptional inhibition by direct binding, and degradation via its E3 ligase activity. To study these functions physiologically, we generated mice bearing a single-residue substitution (C462A) abolishing the E3 function without affecting p53 binding. Unexpectedly, homozygous mutant mice died before E7.

Improving pediatric practice immunization rates through distance-based quality improvement: a feasibility trial from PROS.

The feasibility and effectiveness of a distance-based quality improvement model were examined in a cohort of Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) practices, with the goal of improving immunization rates and practitioner behaviors and attitudes. Of an initially assessed 82 practices, 29 with baseline rates of < or =88% for children 8 to 15 months of age were randomized into year-long paper-based education or distance-based quality improvement intervention groups. Outcomes were utility/helpfulness of quality improvement modalities, immunization rate change, and behavior/attitude change.

The human protein kinase C gamma gene (PRKCG) as a susceptibility locus for behavioral disinhibition.

This study explores the association between a highly heritable behavioral disinhibition phenotype and the protein kinase C gamma (PRKCG) gene in an ethnically diverse youth sample from Colorado, USA. The rationale for this study was based on the impulsive behavior and increased ethanol consumption observed in the protein kinase C gamma (PKC-gamma)-deficient mouse model. Two composite behavioral disinhibition phenotypes and their component behavioral scores [conduct disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), substance experimentation (SUB) and novelty-seeking] were examined for association with five independent PRKCG single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Association of the neuronal nicotinic receptor beta2 subunit gene (CHRNB2) with subjective responses to alcohol and nicotine.

Nicotine addiction and alcohol dependence are highly comorbid disorders that are likely to share overlapping genetic components. We have examined two neuronal nicotinic receptor subunit genes (CHRNA4 and CHRNB2) for possible associations with nicotine and alcohol phenotypes, including measures of frequency of use and measures of initial subjective response in the period shortly after first using the drugs. The subjects were 1,068 ethnically diverse young adults participating in ongoing longitudinal studies of adolescent drug behaviors at the University of Colorado, representing both clinical and community samples.