Sapere Aude — Dare to Be Wise: Elbert D. Glover

Sapere Aude – Dare to Be Wise is a unique editorial conversational interview-type feature. It is an attempt to deep dive into an Academy members’ background, formative experience, and education – specifically, to extract factors that contributed to their development and evolution as a professional, as well as their success as a prominent researcher in the health behavior arena. Every Academy member selected has a different story to tell and numerous models for success will emerge from this exploration of the membership. That said, the first of what we hope to be a series of enlightening interviews is Elbert D. Glover, the founder of The Academy

Keeping the Dream Alive: The Back Story

The purpose of the manuscript was to share the unfamiliar back story of the founding of The Academy. Noted is the unique dilemma and unforeseen obstacles the founder had to overcome to launch The Academy. The dream began with the recognition that most universities waged enormous lip service to quality teaching, however, handsomely rewarded research rarely teaching. Consequently, to overcome his own research limitations, the founder set upon forming a research organization to coalesce with researchers. Detailed is the negative feedback received from colleagues regarding forming The Academy and how he overcame his personal research limitations. The manuscript further notes how the initial founders were recruited, how gender criticism was dealt with, how the bylaws were established, how the meeting venues were selected and how The Academy narrowly missed being a conceivable casualty of 9/11. Similarly, thoughts are offered for keeping The Academy dream alive via the paramount Academy feature; meritocracy. Moreover, further comments are offered regarding Academy admission requirements, prevailing awards within The Academy, the short-lived official journal of The Academy and the limitation of membership. The overall tone is the recognition that organizations grow and change; however, the founder emboldens The Academy to always keep in mind the founding principles that make The Academy unique and distinct from other health organizations

Association between cigarette smoking and the vaginal microbiota: a pilot study

Smoking has been identified in observational studies as a risk factor for bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition defined in part by decimation of Lactobacillus spp. The anti-estrogenic effect of smoking and trace amounts of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide (BPDE) may predispose women to BV. BPDE increases bacteriophage induction in Lactobacillus spp. and is found in the vaginal secretions of smokers. We compared the vaginal microbiota between smokers and non-smokers and followed microbiota changes in a smoking cessation pilot study. In 2010–2011, 20 smokers and 20 non-smokers were recruited to a cross-sectional study (Phase A) and 9 smokers were enrolled and followed for a 12-week smoking cessation program (Phase B). Phase B included weekly behavioral counseling and nicotine patches to encourage smoking cessation. In both phases, participants self-collected mid-vaginal swabs (daily, Phase B) and completed behavioral surveys. Vaginal bacterial composition was characterized by pyrosequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA genes (V1-V3 regions). Vaginal smears were assigned Nugent Gram stain scores. Smoking status was evaluated (weekly, Phase B) using the semi-quantitative NicAlert® saliva cotinine test and carbon monoxide (CO) exhalation. In phase A, there was a significant trend for increasing saliva cotinine and CO exhalation with elevated Nugent scores (P value <0.005). Vaginal microbiota clustered into three community state types (CSTs); two dominated by Lactobacillus (L. iners, L. crispatus), and one lacking significant numbers of Lactobacillus spp. and characterized by anaerobes (termed CST-IV). Women who were observed in the low-Lactobacillus CST-IV state were 25-fold more likely to be smokers than those dominated by L. crispatus (aOR: 25.61, 95 % CI: 1.03-636.61). Four women completed Phase B. One of three who entered smoking cessation with high Nugent scores demonstrated a switch from CST-IV to a L.iners-dominated profile with a concomitant drop in Nugent scores which coincided with completion of nicotine patches. The other two women fluctuated between CST-IV and L. iners-dominated CSTs. The fourth woman had low Nugent scores with L. crispatus-dominated CSTs throughout. Smokers had a lower proportion of vaginal Lactobacillus spp. compared to non-smokers. Smoking cessation should be investigated as an adjunct to reducing recurrent BV. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-14-47