“Clean Air for Babies” App: A smoking cessation mobile app based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy combined with personal counseling to help expectant mothers quit smoking.

Introduction Approximately 5%-10% of pregnant women smoke worldwide, placing their unborn babies under risk of complicated medical conditions. To date, common smoking cessation treatments have shown to be less adequate for smoking expectant mothers since the safety of anti-smoking medications during pregnancy has not yet been clearly proven, and current behavioral interventions available today fail to meet the intense emotional needs of this population. Our company, Mind Innovations, develops and integrates digital health solutions. Our aim is to reduce perinatal smoking by developing a clinical-based solution tailored specifically to the expectant mother that consists of three modules: (1) CBT-based mobile app, (2) 6-week personal counseling program, and (3) Patient Relationship Management (PRM) tool. We expect this will fill the gap where other solutions fall short by better addressing this population’s unique needs. Methods Mind Innovations collaborated with Meuhedet Health Provider, Israel to develop, implement, and recruit patients for this program. We created an 18-hour clinical training course designed to qualify experienced counselors for running a 6-week personal counseling program that prepares the perinatal smoker towards her quit date aided by our PRM. We developed a CBT-based app that provides motivation, knowledge, and training for preparing patients to succeed in meeting their quit date and preventing relapses Results We used questionnaires to evaluate our counselor training course. Results show satisfaction was very high (Mean=9.81/10 ;sd=0.48), and knowledge and skills increased from 5.93 to 8.86 (on a scale of 1-10, paired t-test ; p<0.001). The intervention program’s results will be published soon. Conclusions Counselor training has proved successful. Our mobile intervention program is undergoing research. Funding The project was funded by Global Bridges organization for Meuedet Health provider, Israel, and developed by Mind Innovations, a company specializing in developing digital health solutions

Clean air for babies: an integrated support system and app designed to increase perinatal smoking cessation

Aim and Objective Approximately 10% of pregnant Israeli women smoke. To date smoking cessation programs across Israel consist mainly of group interventions, but these have shown to be less effective during pregnancy due to the demand for intensive and immediate support. Smoking cessation during pregnancy is further complicated, as smoking while pregnant leads to feelings of guilt and shame. Such anxiety has been shown to lead to mood shifts and in some cases depression. Meuhedet is the third largest healthcare provider in Israel with over 1.2M members, many relatively young, with 30,000 births annually. One of our major concerns is perinatal smoking. We are currently developing an integrated support program consisting of two modules: a unique counsellor training program and a 6-week active intervention program, including use of a specialized app. We have already completed the counselor training program and are currently running the 6-week intervention program. We have partnered up with MindInnovations.co—a company focused on creating innovations in therapeutic care—in order to create the CBT-based app. The app provides motivation, knowledge, and skills by tracking progress, assigning tasks, and providing participants with a clear pathway towards their quit date. Methods Our counselor training program gave smoking cessation counselors practical clinical tools for delivering extensive emotional support to expectant mothers. This program integrated theoretical background with practical protocols to attend the patients’ intense emotional needs, based on current psychological theories (CBT, Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Stages of Change and Mindset Theory). This was conducted over a 36-hour course to a group of experienced smoking cessation counselors. Our perinatal smoking intervention program is ongoing, and the app is in its final stages of development. Results Thirty-six smoking cessation counselors completed the training course. We used questionnaires to evaluate knowledge and skills pre-and post-intervention, and participant satisfaction. Satisfaction was very high (Mean=9.81/10 ;sd=0.48) with high correlation between all items. Most participants responded that the materials were new to them (2.21/4 on a scale of 1-4, with 1 being “highly agree”). Knowledge and skills increased from 5.93 to 8.86 (on a scale of 1-10, paired t-test; p<0.001). We are enthusiastic to report on the intervention program, as well as the app, in the coming months. Conclusions Our advanced training module for experienced counselors significantly increased their skills and met their expectations. Treatment commences at this period of time. Our presentation focuses on our consultation training module and our overall program, including our smoking cessation app. Funding The project is being funded by the Global Bridges organization

X-ray crystallographic studies of RoAb13 bound to PIYDIN, a part of the N-terminal domain of C-C chemokine receptor 5

C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) is a major co-receptor molecule used by HIV-1 to enter cells. This led to the hypothesis that stimulating an antibody response would block HIV with minimal toxicity. Here, X-ray crystallographic studies of the anti-CCR5 antibody RoAb13 together with two peptides were undertaken: one peptide is a 31-residue peptide containing the PIYDIN sequence and the other is the PIDYIN peptide alone, where PIYDIN is part of the N-terminal region of CCR5 previously shown to be important for HIV entry. In the presence of the longer peptide (the complete N-terminal domain), difference electron density was observed at a site within a hypervariable CDR3 binding region. In the presence of the shorter core peptide PIYDIN, difference electron density is again observed at this CDR3 site, confirming consistent binding for both peptides. This may be useful in the design of a new biomimetic to stimulate an antibody response to CCR5 in order to block HIV infection

Development of high-performance X-ray transparent crystallization plates for in situ protein crystal screening and analysis

An optically, UV and X-ray transparent crystallization plate suitable for in situ analysis has been developed. The plate uses contact line pinning rather than wells to confine the liquids