Promoting tobacco cessation utilizing pre-health professional students as research associates in the emergency department.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which volunteer research associates (RAs) can be utilized to screen emergency department patients and their visitors for tobacco use and effectively refer tobacco users requesting help to state Tobacco Quitlines.

Methods: A sample of 19,149 individuals in 10 emergency departments around the country was enrolled into a prospective, interventional study on tobacco cessation by pre-health professional RAs. Participants who screened positive for tobacco use were provided a brief description of Tobacco Quitline programs and then offered a faxed referral to their respective state Quitline.

Serotonin induces four pharmacologically separable contractile responses in the pharynx of the leech Hirudo medicinalis.

Stimulation of the serotoninergic innervation of the leech pharynx or application of serotonin to the isolated pharynx induced four distinct types of contractile activity: an increase in basal tonus, large phasic contractions of 10-15 s in duration, smaller phasic contractions occurring at approximately 1 Hz, and a relaxation after washout of serotonin. Application to the isolated pharynx of the selective serotonin agonists (+/-)-8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin, N-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine, 1-(m-chlorophenyl)-piperazine, (+/-)-2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine, 2-methyl-5-hydroxytrypamine, alpha-methyl-5-hydroxytryptamine, and 5-methoxytryptamine induced distinct types of pharyngeal contractile activity. The results of this study suggest that the leech pharynx possesses more than one type of serotonin receptor.