Socioeconomic status over the life course and stages of cigarette use: initiation, regular use, and cessation.

Study Objective: To investigate the association between multiple indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) over the life course and three stages of cigarette use: initiation, regular use, and cessation.

Design: Prospective birth cohort study.

Setting: Providence, Rhode Island.

Effect of negative emotions on frequency of coronary heart disease (The Normative Aging Study).

Negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, have been associated with the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). In multivariate models, negative emotions have predicted CHD outcomes, such as nonfatal myocardial infarction and CHD mortality. Few studies, however, have investigated this relation while controlling for variables associated with the metabolic syndrome or those indicative of sympathetic nervous system activity.

Associations between repression, general maladjustment, body weight, and body shape in older males: the Normative Aging Study.

We examined relationships between repression, general maladjustment, body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). The participants were 1,081 healthy older men from the Normative Aging Study. Repression and General Maladjustment Scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were composite measures of personality.

Allelic variation in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and cardiovascular reactivity in young adult male and female twins of European-American descent.

Objective: To examine the effect of length variation in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) on individual differences in cardiovascular response to psychological challenge.

Methods: Heart rate (HR) and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) responses to computerized versions of two psychological challenges, the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test and mental arithmetic, were measured among 131 monozygotic (MZ) and 60 dizygotic (DZ) male or female (same-sex) European-American twin pairs. Among the 382 participants, 140 were homozygous for the "long" allele (l/l) at 5-HTTLPR, 61 were homozygous for the "short" allele (s/s), and 181 participants had one long and one short allele (l/s).

Social support as a mediator of optimism and distress in breast cancer survivors.

Breast cancer patients can experience emotional distress as a result of diagnosis and treatment. Higher levels of optimism and social support are associated with less emotional distress in cancer patients. This 12-month prospective study followed 69 women who had completed treatment for Stages 0-II breast cancer.

American Headache Society members' assessment of headache diagnostic criteria.

Objective: We assessed the views of physicians interested in headache as to the diagnosis of the most commonly occurring and currently controversial headaches.

Background: The International Headache Society (IHS) classification system has received wide professional endorsement and considerable empirical support, but in the United States, their adoption by clinicians may be proceeding more slowly. Questions remain, including what diagnostic criteria for migraine and tension-type headache clinicians may continue to favor over those outlined by the IHS, to what extent is the "transformed migraine" diagnosis used in clinical practice, and how is analgesic rebound headache diagnosed with regard to the various quantitative measures of analgesic use.

Depressive symptoms and metabolic risk in adult male twins enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute twin study.

Objective: To determine the extent to which depressive symptoms are associated with metabolic risk factors and whether genetic or environmental factors account for this association.

Method: Twin structural equation modeling was employed to estimate genetic and environmental contributions to the covariation of depressive symptoms, as indexed by the Centers for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, and common variance among blood pressure, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and serum triglycerides and glucose among 87 monozygotic and 86 dizygotic male twin pairs who participated in the NHLBI twin study.

Results: Depressive symptoms were associated with individual components of the metabolic syndrome and common variance among the risk factors.

Assessing the transtheoretical model of change constructs for physicians counseling smokers.

Baseline data from a population-based sample of 259 primary care physicians were used to examine the interrelations of 3 central constructs of the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM; stages of change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance) in regard to smoking cessation counseling behavior. In this article we explore the potential use of the TTM for future interventions to help understand and guide physicians' behavior change toward increasing adoption of smoking cessation interventions with their patients. It was hypothesized that self-efficacy and the decisional balance of counseling would be significantly related to physicians' stages of change, which in turn would be related to self-reported physician counseling behavior.

Evaluation of an internet-based physical activity intervention: a preliminary investigation.

The Internet has the potential for delivering innovative, interactive physical activity (PA) interventions to large numbers of people. This study was designed to test the efficacy of an Internet intervention that consisted of a Web site plus 12 weekly e-mail tip sheets, compared with a waiting list control group. The Internet intervention was theory based and emphasized clear, graphical presentation of PA information.

Rationale, design, and baseline data for Commit to Quit II: an evaluation of the efficacy of moderate-intensity physical activity as an aid to smoking cessation in women.

Background: Commit to Quit II is a 4-year randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment plus moderate-intensity physical activity with the same cessation treatment plus contact control.

Methods: Sedentary women smokers (n = 217) were randomized to receive 8 weeks of treatment followed by 12 months of follow-up. This article outlines the study design, presents baseline data about the sample, and compares the sample to national samples and to our previous study examining vigorous-intensity exercise as an aid to smoking cessation.

Implications of antimicrobial resistance in the empirical treatment of community-acquired respiratory tract infections: the case of macrolides.

Macrolide resistance among pneumococci is increasing worldwide and is associated with increasing macrolide use. Recent studies show that use of macrolides and azalides increases nasopharyngeal carriage of both macrolide-resistant and penicillin-resistant pneumococci. Carriage of a resistant pneumococcus may foster dissemination.

Targeting and tailoring physical activity information using print and information technologies.

With the large numbers of physically inactive individuals, it is important that interventions reach a broad spectrum of the population. This paper focuses on targeting and tailoring physical activity information, and the use of mediated interventions, specifically those using print, and other information technologies for promoting physical activity.

Variability within alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor genes as a predictor of cardiovascular function at rest and in response to mental challenge.

Objectives: To investigate the association between polymorphic variation in alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor genes and cardiovascular activity at rest and in response to psychological challenge in a sample in which the heritability of these cardiovascular phenotypes may be established.

Methods: Several common polymorphisms were characterized within ADRA1B (alpha1B), ADRA2A (alpha2A), ADRB1 (beta1) and ADRB2 (beta2) and examined in relation to heart rate (HR) and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, both at rest and in response to stress. Participants were 309 European-American, young adult men and women (including 101 monozygotic and 44 dizygotic twin pairs).

Influence of antidepressant pharmacotherapy on behavioral treatment adherence and smoking cessation outcome in a combined treatment involving fluoxetine.

The authors examined whether serum fluoxetine levels influence behavioral treatment adherence and smoking cessation outcome. Nondepressed smokers (N = 989) from 16 centers were randomized on a double-blind basis to receive either fluoxetine (30 or 60 mg) or placebo plus 9 sessions of behavioral smoking cessation treatment. Fluoxetine and norfluoxetine blood levels were assayed 1 week after the quit date.

The development of a decisional balance measure of physician smoking cessation interventions.

Background: Decreasing the prevalence of smoking is an important health care goal, and there is evidence that physicians' advice to quit is an important motivator for patients. However, fewer than half of smokers report that they have ever been advised to quit. This study was conducted to develop a decisional balance measure for physician delivery of smoking cessation interventions.

Does completing a craving questionnaire promote increased smoking craving? An experimental investigation.

The authors evaluated whether completing a multi-item assessment of smoking craving (the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges [QSU]) promoted increases in smoking craving. A sample of 39 regular smokers was randomly assigned to 1 of 3 manipulations (each of 3 min duration): (a) complete the QSU-Brief (10 items), (b) complete a noncraving questionnaire that was structurally identical to the QSU-Brief (scale-based control), and (c) a time-based control. Participants responded to an oral question assessing their degree of craving immediately before and after the manipulations.

Binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome: psychological and behavioral characteristics.

Objective: The present study was designed to examine the psychological and behavioral characteristics associated with both night eating syndrome (NES) and binge eating disorder (BED) in 42 males and 41 females who were enrolled in a university-based weight loss center.

Method: Individuals were classified into one of four groups: NES only (N = 23), BED only (N = 13), both NES and BED (N = 13), or no diagnoses of an eating disorder (N = 34). Analyses of covariance (covarying for age and gender) were conducted to compare patients with BED and NES.

A content analysis of smoking craving.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of smoking craving in order to investigate more precisely the subjective nature of the construct with the goal of informing assessment. Thirty-two smokers interested in cessation treatment provided free response written descriptions of the level of craving they normally experience. These responses were analyzed for subjective content along five theoretical domains: physiological, affective, cognitive, behavioral, and synonyms (of craving).