Clinician acquisition and retention of Motivational Interviewing skills: a two-and-a-half-year exploratory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, client-centred counselling style aimed at eliciting and strengthening clients' intrinsic motivation to change. There is strong research evidence supporting the efficacy of MI, notably in its application among alcohol and drug abuse populations. MI interventions in smoking cessation may yield modest but significant increases in quitting. The present study sought to assess the acquisition and retention of MI skills in counsellors at the Swedish National Tobacco Quitline.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three audio-recorded sessions from each of three counsellors were assessed using the Motivational Interviewing Treatment Integrity (MITI) Code Version 3.0 over 11 assessment periods at fixed intervals in a two-and-a-half year period during which counsellors received ongoing supervision.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean skill for all counsellors improved throughout the study period in most MITI variables. However, great variations in MI skill between counsellors were observed, as well as fluctuations in performance in counsellors over time.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present exploratory study covers a longer time period than most evaluations of MI training, and has several advantages with regard to study design. It may provide a basis for (larger sample) replication to test MI skill (as measured by the MITI) in relation to behaviour change in clients, to evaluate MI training, and to assess the acquisition and retention of MI skill over time. Difficulties in acquiring and retaining MI skill may raise the issue of a selection policy for MI training. Moreover, fluctuations in MI skill over time emphasise the greater importance of continuous feedback and supervision over initial MI training, and the need for the use of validated treatment integrity assessment instruments in ordinary clinical implementations of MI.</p

Pharmacogenetic allele nomenclature: International workgroup recommendations for test result reporting

This manuscript provides nomenclature recommendations developed by an international workgroup to increase transparency and standardization of pharmacogenetic (PGx) result reporting. Presently, sequence variants identified by PGx tests are described using different nomenclature systems. In addition, PGx analysis may detect different sets of variants for each gene, which can affect interpretation of results. This practice has caused confusion and may thereby impede the adoption of clinical PGx testing. Standardization is critical to move PGx forward

Increased Level of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells, Programmed Death Receptor Ligand 1/Programmed Death Receptor 1, and Soluble CD25 in Sokal High Risk Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Peer reviewe

Total Synthesis of 2‴,5‴-Diepisilvestrol and Its C1‴ Epimer: Key Structure Activity Relationships at C1‴ and C2‴

The first total synthesis of the low-abundance natural product 2‴,5‴-diepisilvestrol (<b>4</b>) is described. The key step involved a Mitsunobu coupling between cyclopenta­[<i>b</i>]­benzofuran phenol <b>7</b> and dioxane lactol <b>6</b>. Deprotection then gave a 1:2.6 ratio of natural product 2‴,5‴-diepisilvestrol (<b>4</b>) and its C1 epimer 1‴,2‴,5‴-triepisilvestrol (<b>15</b>) in 50% overall yield. An in vitro protein translation inhibition assay showed that 2‴,5‴-diepisilvestrol (<b>4</b>) was considerably less active than episilvestrol (<b>2</b>), while the unnatural isomer 1‴,2‴,5‴-triepisilvestrol (<b>15</b>) was essentially inactive, showing that the configuration at C1‴ and C2‴ has a large effect on the biological activity

Synthesis of Biotinylated Episilvestrol: Highly Selective Targeting of the Translation Factors eIF4AI/II

Silvestrol (<b>1</b>) and episilvestrol (<b>2</b>) are protein synthesis inhibitors, and the former has shown efficacy in multiple mouse models of cancer; however, the selectivity of these potent cytotoxic natural products has not been described. Herein, it is demonstrated that eukaryotic initiation factors eIF4AI/II were the only proteins detected to bind silvestrol (<b>1</b>) and biotinylated episilvestrol (<b>9</b>) by affinity purification. Our study demonstrates the remarkable selectivity of these promising chemotherapeutics