Queer quit: a pilot study of a smoking cessation programme tailored to gay men.

Background: The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adult gay males is higher than that of heterosexuals. There is a need for interventions adapted to gay culture. We conducted a pilot study using a modified version of a British smoking intervention programme tailored to gay men in Switzerland.

The mechanism of Intralipid®-mediated cardioprotection complex IV inhibition by the active metabolite, palmitoylcarnitine, generates reactive oxygen species and activates reperfusion injury salvage kinases.

Background: Intralipid® administration at reperfusion elicits protection against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley rat hearts were exposed to 15 min of ischemia and 30 min of reperfusion in the absence or presence of Intralipid® 1% administered at the onset of reperfusion.

Multidimensional family therapy decreases the rate of externalising behavioural disorder symptoms in cannabis abusing adolescents: outcomes of the INCANT trial.

Background: US-based trials have shown that Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) not only reduces substance abuse among adolescents, but also decreases mental and behavioural disorder symptoms, most notably externalising symptoms. In the INCANT trial, MDFT decreased the rate of cannabis dependence among Western European youth. We now focus on other INCANT outcomes, i.

Immigrants are attracted by local pre-breeders and recruits in a seabird colony.

Immigration is a major demographic factor shaping population dynamics. However, due to methodological difficulties, the extent of immigration and factors affecting immigration are insufficiently studied. This is also true for seabird colonies.

Seasonal survival probabilities suggest low migration mortality in migrating bats.

Migration is adaptive if survival benefits are larger than costs of residency. Many aspects of bat migration ecology such as migratory costs, stopover site use and fidelity are largely unknown. Since many migrating bats are endangered, such information is urgently needed to promote conservation.

Group hypnosis vs. relaxation for smoking cessation in adults: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: Despite the popularity of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation, the efficacy of this method is unclear. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of a single-session of group hypnotherapy for smoking cessation compared to relaxation in Swiss adult smokers.

Methods: This was a cluster-randomised, parallel-group, controlled trial.

Impact of social-psychiatric services and psychiatric clinics on involuntary admissions.

Background: Germany provides a wide range of highly developed mental health care to its citizens. The aim of this study was to identify factors influencing the voluntariness of admissions to psychiatric hospitals. Especially the impact of demographic factors of the region, characteristics of the psychiatric hospitals and characteristics of the psychosocial services was analyzed.

To dope or not to dope: neuroenhancement with prescription drugs and drugs of abuse among Swiss university students.

Background: Neuroenhancement is the use of substances by healthy subjects to enhance mood or cognitive function. The prevalence of neuroenhancement among Swiss university students is unknown. Investigating the prevalence of neuroenhancement among students is important to monitor problematic use and evaluate the necessity of prevention programs.

Can reduce--the effects of chat-counseling and web-based self-help, web-based self-help alone and a waiting list control program on cannabis use in problematic cannabis users: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In European countries, including Switzerland, as well as in many states worldwide, cannabis is the most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol and tobacco. Although approximately one in ten users develop serious problems of dependency, only a minority attends outpatient addiction counseling centers. The offer of a combined web-based self-help and chat counseling treatment could potentially also reach those users who hesitate to approach such treatment centers and help them to reduce their cannabis use.

Development of an integrative cessation program for co-smokers of cigarettes and cannabis: demand analysis, program description, and acceptability.

Background: Tobacco and cannabis use are strongly interrelated, but current national and international cessation programs typically focus on one substance, and address the other substance either only marginally or not at all. This study aimed to identify the demand for, and describe the development and content of, the first integrative group cessation program for co-smokers of cigarettes and cannabis.

Methods: First, a preliminary study using expert interviews, user focus groups with (ex-)smokers, and an online survey was conducted to investigate the demand for, and potential content of, an integrative smoking cessation program (ISCP) for tobacco and cannabis co-smokers.

Strong contribution of immigration to local population regulation: evidence from a migratory passerine.

A mechanistic understanding of the dynamics of populations requires knowledge about the variation of the underlying demographic rates and about the reasons for their variability. In geographically open populations, immigration is often necessary to prevent declines, but little is known about whether immigration can contribute to its regulation. We studied the dynamics of a Red-backed Shrike population (Lanius collurio) over 36 years in Germany with a Bayesian integrated population model.

[Moderators of outcome in a text messaging (SMS)--based smoking cessation intervention for young people].

Background: The results of a cluster randomised trial testing the efficacy of a text messaging (SMS)-based program for smoking cessation in vocational school students showed no short-term effects on smoking cessation; however the program resulted in lower cigarette consumption. Furthermore, occasional smokers of the intervention group made more attempts to quit smoking than occasional smokers in the control group.

Methods: Moderator analyses were conducted to test whether program efficacy differed according to demographic, health- and smoking-related baseline variables of the participants.

Lack of photosynthetic or stomatal regulation after 9 years of elevated [CO2] and 4 years of soil warming in two conifer species at the alpine treeline.

Alpine treelines are temperature-limited vegetation boundaries. Understanding the effects of elevated [CO2 ] and warming on CO2 and H2 O gas exchange may help predict responses of treelines to global change. We measured needle gas exchange of Larix decidua Mill.

A pre-post study on the appropriateness and effectiveness of a Web- and text messaging-based intervention to reduce problem drinking in emerging adults.

Background: Problem drinking, particularly risky single-occasion drinking (RSOD), also called "binge drinking", is widespread among adolescents and young adults in most Western countries. Few studies have tested the effectiveness of interventions to reduce RSOD in young people with heterogeneous and particularly lower educational background.

Objective: To test the appropriateness and initial effectiveness of a combined, individually tailored Web- and text messaging (SMS)-based intervention program to reduce problem drinking in vocational school students.

Efficacy of a text message-based smoking cessation intervention for young people: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Smoking prevalence remains high, particularly among adolescents and young adults with lower educational levels, posing a serious public health problem. There is limited evidence of effective smoking cessation interventions in this population.

Objective: To test the efficacy of an individually tailored, fully automated text messaging (short message service, SMS)-based intervention for smoking cessation in young people.

Live-fibroblast IR imaging of a cytoprotective PhotoCORM Activated with Visible Light.

Carbon monoxide releasing molecules (CORMs) are an emerging class of pharmaceutical compounds currently evaluated in several preclinical disease models. There is general consensus that the therapeutic effects elicited by the molecules may be directly ascribed to the biological function of the released CO. It remains unclear, however, if cellular internalization of CORMs is a critical event in their therapeutic action.

Voluntary versus involuntary hospital admission in child and adolescent psychiatry: a German sample.

Involuntary psychiatric admission is a central issue in mental health care, especially in the treatment of children and adolescents. Its legal regulations do not only differ between European countries, but also on a federal level. Only few studies so far dealt with rates of involuntary admission (RIA), mainly focusing on adults, rather than children and adolescents.

Building a European consensus on minimum quality standards for drug treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction.

Background/aims: The Study on the Development of an EU Framework for Minimum Quality Standards and Benchmarks in Drug Demand Reduction (EQUS) has set up an inventory of quality standards and initiated a consensus-building process, aiming at establishing a set of European minimum quality standards (MQS) for treatment/rehabilitation and harm reduction in the field of drug abuse and dependence.

Methods: Existing documents were collected by country-specific experts and integrated into a predefined framework of quality standards. Agreement, implementation status and expected implementation problems of the proposed standards were assessed by a survey of European stakeholders and the final lists of European MQS were established at a European conference.

Homeostatic generation of reactive oxygen species protects the zebrafish liver from steatosis.

Unlabelled: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common liver disease in both adults and children. The earliest stage of this disease is hepatic steatosis, in which triglycerides are deposited as cytoplasmic lipid droplets in hepatocytes. Through a forward genetic approach in zebrafish, we found that guanosine monophosphate (GMP) synthetase mutant larvae develop hepatic steatosis.

Predictors of hazardous drinking, tobacco smoking and physical inactivity in vocational school students.

Background: Tobacco smoking, hazardous drinking and physical inactivity during adolescence are risk factors that are associated with poorer health in adulthood. The identification of subgroups of young people with a high prevalence of one or more of these risk factors allows an optimised allocation of preventive measures. This study aimed at investigating hazardous drinking, tobacco smoking and physical inactivity as well as their associations and demographic predictors in vocational school students.

[Negative emotions and understanding - patients' perspective on coercion].

Objective: This study evaluated involuntarily admitted psychiatric patients' and their perception of coercive measures (i. e. involuntary admission and physical or pharmacological restraint) by asking retrospectively which emotions were induced during the process of coercion.

Two Lotus japonicus symbiosis mutants impaired at distinct steps of arbuscule development.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi form nutrient-acquiring symbioses with the majority of higher plants. Nutrient exchange occurs via arbuscules, highly branched hyphal structures that are formed within root cortical cells. With a view to identifying host genes involved in AM development, we isolated Lotus japonicus AM-defective mutants via a microscopic screen of an ethyl methanesulfonate-mutagenized population.

Modulation of the adrenocortical response to acute stress with respect to brood value, reproductive success and survival in the Eurasian hoopoe.

Reproducing parents face the difficult challenge of trading-off investment in current reproduction against presumed future survival and reproduction. Glucocorticoids are supposed to mediate this trade-off because the adrenocortical response to stress disrupts normal reproductive behaviour in favour of self-maintenance and own survival. According to the brood-value hypothesis, individuals with a low survival probability until the next reproductive season have to invest in current reproduction, a process driven by a down-regulation of their adrenocortical response.