Adult obesity rates rise in 28 states; significant racial and ethnic disparities persist.
F as in Fat 2010 Finds Continued Rise in Nation’s Obesity Rates
Adjustment of Nicotine Replacement Therapies According to Saliva Cotinine Concentration: the ADONIS* trial: A Randomised Study in Smokers with Medical Comorbidities
ABSTRACT
Aim: To assess the efficacy of nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) when their daily dose was adapted according to saliva cotinine concentrations.
Design: Randomized, multicentre, single-blind, controlled trial.
Setting: 21 smoking cessation clinics in France.
Participants: 310 smokers with medical comorbidities, motivated to quit, smoking ≥ 10 cigarettes/day, for whom smoking cessation was mandatory.
Interventions: NRT were administered for 3 months. The Standard Care group (SCG) received nicotine patches with monthly dose decreases; buccal absorption NRT could be coadministered at the discretion of the investigator. In the Dose Adaptation group (DAG), the aim was a 100 ± 5 % nicotine substitution with respect to the smoking state based on the determination of saliva cotinine concentrations. NRT daily doses were prescribed according to the previous week’s saliva cotinine concentrations in the DAG; saliva cotinine concentrations were not provided in the SCG.
Measurements: Prolonged abstinence rate (week 9-12, main outcome measure), point prevalence and continuous abstinence rate, saliva cotinine concentration, NRT daily dose, craving for cigarettes.
Findings: The median daily prescribed NRT dose was 30 and 31 mg/day on the first study week and 17.25 and 35.5 mg/day during weeks 9 to 12 in the SCG and DAG, respectively. Saliva cotinine remained stable in the DAG and decreased in the SCG (p < 0.01) by weeks 9 to 12. The cotinine substitution rate was significantly lower in the SCG than in the DAG.
Despite differences in NRT doses and cotinine substitution rates, prolonged (SCG: 26.4 %, DAG: 30.3 %), continuous (SCG: 8 %, DAG: 12 %), and point prevalence abstinence rates were similar.
Conclusion: In smokers with medical comorbidities and highly motivated to quit, the adaptation of the NRT daily dose according to saliva cotinine does not appear to be substantially superior to standard NRT use.
Enabling access to new WHO essential medicines: the case for nicotine replacement therapies
Nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are powerful tools for the successful treatment of nicotine addiction and tobacco use. The medicines are clinically effective, supported by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and are now World Health Organization-approved essential medicines. Enabling global access to NRT remains a challenge given ongoing confusion and misperceptions about their efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and availability with respect to other tobacco control and public health opportunities. In this commentary, we review existing evidence and guidelines to make the case for global access to NRT highlighting the smoker’s right to access treatment to sensibly address nicotine addiction.
Sprouting Healthy Kids Promotes Local Produce and Healthy Eating Behavior in Austin, Texas, Middle Schools
The Sustainable Food Center partnered with six middle schools in Austin, Texas, to implement a program to increase children’s knowledge of the food system, their consumption of fruits and vegetables and their access to local farm produce.
Foster care reunification: An exploration of non-linear hierarchical modeling
Publication year: 2010
Source: Children and Youth Services Review, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 21 November 2010
Emily, Putnam-Hornstein , Terry V., Shaw
Hierarchical models are based on the same fundamental concepts that apply to simple linear models. The linear forms of these models can be interpreted with relative ease as parameter estimates do not differ in magnitude or interpretation from standard non-hierarchical models. However, non-linear hierarchical models are more complex as the introduction of a random intercept means that parameter estimates must be interpreted as “subject-specific” rather than “population-averaged”. Depending on the specifics of the data being modeled, these parameters may be very different in magnitude. In this paper we provide two examples of non-linear hierarchical modeling using administrative child welfare data….