How can hospitals change practice to better implement smoking cessation interventions? A systematic review

Smoking cessation reduces the risk of death, improves recovery, and reduces the risk of hospital readmission. Evidence and policy support hospital admission as an ideal time to deliver smoking-cessation interventions. However, this is not well implemented in practice. In this systematic review, the authors summarize the literature on smoking-cessation implementation strategies and evaluate their success to guide the implementation of best-practice smoking interventions into hospital settings. The CINAHL Complete, Embase, MEDLINE Complete, and PsycInfo databases were searched using terms associated with the following topics: smoking cessation, hospitals, and implementation. In total, 14,287 original records were identified and screened, resulting in 63 eligible articles from 56 studies. Data were extracted on the study characteristics, implementation strategies, and implementation outcomes. Implementation outcomes were guided by Proctor and colleagues' framework and included acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, cost, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability. The findings demonstrate that studies predominantly focused on the training of staff to achieve implementation. Brief implementation approaches using a small number of implementation strategies were less successful and poorly sustained compared with well resourced and multicomponent approaches. Although brief implementation approaches may be viewed as advantageous because they are less resource-intensive, their capacity to change practice in a sustained way lacks evidence. Attempts to change clinician behavior or introduce new models of care are challenging in a short time frame, and implementation efforts should be designed for long-term success. There is a need to embrace strategic, well planned implementation approaches to embed smoking-cessation interventions into hospitals and to reap and sustain the benefits for people who smoke.     

Gender equity: how do the forensic sciences fare?

ABSTRACT

Females are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at all levels of society. Fewer females are completing STEM school subjects, graduating with STEM degrees, being employed as STEM professionals, and holding senior leadership and academic positions in STEM. However, unlike almost every other STEM discipline, the overall ratio of females is higher in many forensic science disciplines. For our sector, rather than having difficulty in attracting females, the bigger issue is how we retain and promote female talent. This complex issue is exacerbated by: gender pay gaps; family role expectations; lack of visible role models or mentors; discrimination and harassment; and bias during recruitment and promotion practices. We discuss barriers relevant for women in the forensic industry and offer potential solutions. These include flexible work arrangements, sponsorship programmes, and fostering and practising an inclusive workplace culture. Gender equity programmes and exemplar STEM organizations focused on a commitment to gender parity will be explored. Harnessing untapped female talent is as much a social justice issue as employing best practices for improving the quality, diversity and output of our forensic science workforce, and research and innovation strategies.     

A Simple Computational Theory of General Collective Intelligence

Researchers have recently demonstrated that group performance across tasks tends to be correlated, motivating the use of a single metric for the general collective intelligence of groups akin to general intelligence metrics for individuals. High general collective intelligence is achieved when a group performs well across a wide variety of tasks. A number of factors have been shown to be predictive of general collective intelligence, but there is sparse formal theory explaining the presence of correlations across tasks, betraying a fundamental gap in our understanding of what general collective intelligence is measuring. Here, we formally argue that general collective intelligence arises from groups achieving commitment to group goals, accurate shared beliefs, and coordinated actions. We then argue for the existence of generic mechanisms that help groups achieve these cognitive alignment conditions. The presence or absence of such mechanisms can potentially explain observed correlations in group performance across tasks. Under our view, general collective intelligence can be conceived as measuring group performance on classes of tasks that have particular combinations of cognitive alignment requirements.     

Realizing Present and Future Promise of DIY Biology and Medicine through a Trust Architecture

The speed and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the limits of current health systems and the potential promise of non-establishment research such as “DIY” research. We consider one example of how DIY research is responding to the pandemic, discuss the challenges faced by DIY research more generally, and suggest that a “trust architecture” should be developed now to contribute to successful future DIY efforts.     

益智活血汤联合拜阿司匹林治疗脑梗死恢复期患者的临床疗效及对神经功能的影响

目的:探讨益智活血汤联合拜阿司匹林治疗脑梗死恢复期的临床疗效及对患者神经功能的影响。方法:选取2017年10月至2019年1月在本院治疗的脑梗死恢复期患者84例,随机分为对照组和观察组各42例。对照组采用拜阿司匹林肠溶片治疗,每次0.2 g,日1次,口服。观察组在对照组治疗的基础上采用益智活血汤治疗,日1剂,早晚温服,两组均治疗8周。结果:对照组有效率为80.95%,观察组有效率为95.24%,两组有效率比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。两组患者治疗后半身不遂评分、舌謇不语评分、口舌歪斜评分、肢体麻木评分、气短懒言评分均显著低于本组治疗前,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05),组间比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。两组患者治疗后NIHSS评分、MRS评分均显著低于本组治疗前,BI评分显著高于本组治疗前,差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05),组间比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。两组患者治疗后全血高切黏度(high bloodshear viscosity,HWBV)、全血低切黏度(low bloodshear viscosity,LWBV)、血浆黏度(plasma viscosity,PV)、血小板聚集率(platelet agglutination test,PAG)水平均显著低于本组治疗前,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05),组间比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。两组患者治疗后中动脉(middle cerebral artery,MCA)、前动脉(anterior artery,ACA)、后动脉(posterior communicating artery,PCA)血流速度均显著高于本组治疗前,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05),组间比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论:益智活血汤联合拜阿司匹林治疗脑梗死恢复期患者,可明显改善其神经功能、血液循环及日常生活能力。