A Feasibility Study of Smoking Cessation Utilizing an Exercise Intervention among Black Women: ‘Quit and Fit’

BackgroundWomen who engage in higher levels of exercise while trying to quit smoking have been shown to be less likely to relapse and to sustain their smoking abstinence longer. This study sought to examine the benefits of exercise for improving smoking cessation among Black women.MethodsWe evaluated the feasibility of a 12-week smoking and exercise intervention, Quit and Fit, tailored for Black women. All participants (intervention and control) received 12 weeks of smoking cessation counseling via telephone and 9 weeks of nicotine lozenges. Participants who were randomly assigned to the intervention condition were also assigned to a 12-week exercise group.ResultsThirty-eight women were enrolled and 27 completed a 12-week follow-up assessment. Women from the intervention group were more likely to complete the 12-week follow-up assessment compared to participants in the control group (80% vs. 61%). Overall, 7 of the 38 participants (18%) were abstinent at 12 weeks (biochemically verified by expired carbon monoxide). Among the 25 women who completed the 12-week follow-up, abstinence was reported in 33% of the intervention group and 20% of the control group. Using an intent-to-treat approach, 25% of women in the intervention group were abstinent at 12 weeks (n = 5), compared to 11.1% for the control group (n = 2). These differences were not statistically significant.ConclusionsThe overall retention rate was 71% (27/38) at 12 weeks with higher among the intervention group (16/20; 80%) compared to the control group (11/18; 61%). The study demonstrates that it is feasible to retain African-American women in a short-term study of smoking cessation and exercise.     

Knowing the risk of SUDEP: Two family's perspectives and The Danny Did Foundation

There is much debate in the epilepsy community about whether neurologists should discuss the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) with their patients and family members. Those in favor purport that patients have a right to know about SUDEP. Opponents say the risk is so low that discussions only worry patients and families, especially if there is nothing that can be done to prevent SUDEP. North American surveys show that the epilepsy community knows little about SUDEP and neurologists are unlikely to talk about it. However, surveys of those bereaved by SUDEP show that an overwhelming majority of the parents, spouses, and family members want to be told about SUDEP immediately after the diagnosis of epilepsy. This article is written by two families bereaved by SUDEP and their strong belief that neurologists should have the discussion about the risk of SUDEP soon after the diagnosis of epilepsy.     

An intrinsic BM hematopoietic niche occupancy defect of HSC in scid mice facilitates exogenous HSC engraftment

Although scid mice have been widely used for human HSC engraftment studies, the function of HSCs of scid mice has not been characterized. We hypothesized that the DNA repair defect of scid mice results in a stem cell defect that facilitates HSC engraftment. scid BM cells showed severely impaired repopulation potentials in the competitive repopulation assay. To assess the BM hematopoietic niche occupancy ability of scid HSC, WT BM cells were transplanted into scid mice without any conditioning and observed to achieve long-term engraftment. Furthermore, the defects of scid HSCs are independent of their inability to perform lymphopoiesis because a similar defect in hematopoietic niche occupancy was not observed with Rag1(-/-) recipients. These results demonstrate that scid HSCs are impaired in maintenance within the niche, which may explain the nature of the conducive marrow niche environment of scid mice for xenotransplantation.