Predicting smoking cessation, reduction and relapse six months after using the Stop-Tabac app for smartphones: a machine learning analysis.

An analysis of predictors of smoking behaviour among users of smoking cessation apps can provide useful information beyond what is already known about predictors in other contexts. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the best predictors of smoking cessation, smoking reduction and relapse six months after starting to use the smartphone app Stop-Tabac. Secondary analysis of 5293 daily smokers from Switzerland and France who participated in a randomised trial testing the effectiveness of this app in 2020, with follow-up at one and six months. Machine learning algorithms were used to analyse the data. The analyses for smoking cessation included only the 1407 participants who responded after six months; the analysis for smoking reduction included only the 673 smokers at 6-month follow-up; and the analysis for relapse at 6 months included only the 502 individuals who had quit smoking after one month. Smoking cessation after 6 months was predicted by the following factors (in this order): tobacco dependence, motivation to quit smoking, frequency of app use and its perceived usefulness, and nicotine medication use. Among those who were still smoking at follow-up, reduction in cigarettes/day was predicted by tobacco dependence, nicotine medication use, frequency of app use and its perceived usefulness, and e-cigarette use. Among those who had quit smoking after one month, relapse after six months was predicted by intention to quit, frequency of app use, perceived usefulness of the app, level of dependence and nicotine medication use. Using machine learning algorithms, we identified independent predictors of smoking cessation, smoking reduction and relapse. Studies on the predictors of smoking behavior among users of smoking cessation apps may provide useful insights for the future development of these apps and future experimental studies. ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN11318024, 17 May 2018. http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11318024

Predictors of compulsive cyberporn use: A machine learning analysis.

Compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) has previously been reported among people who use cyberporn. However, most of the previous studies included convenience samples of students or samples of the general adult population. Research examining the factors that predict or are associated with CCU are still scarce.In this study, we aimed to (a) assess compulsive cyberporn consumption in a broad sample of people who had used cyberporn and (b) determine, among a diverse range of predictor variables, which are most important in CCU scores, as assessed with the eight-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale adapted for cyberporn. Overall, 1584 adult English speakers (age: 18-75 years, M = 33.18; sex: 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, 1.7 % nonbinary) who used cyberporn during the last 6 months responded to an online questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic, sexual, psychological, and psychosocial variables. Their responses were subjected to correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and machine learning analysis. Among the participants, 21.96% (in the higher quartile) presented CCU symptoms in accordance with their CCU scores. The five most important predictors of CCU scores were related to the users' strength of craving for pornography experiences, suppression of negative emotions porn use motive, frequency of cyberporn use over the past year, acceptance of rape myths, and anxious attachment style. From a large and diverse pool of variables, we determined the most important predictors of CCU scores. The findings contribute to a better understanding of problematic pornography use and could enrich compulsive cyberporn treatment and prevention

Effectiveness of neural mobilization on pain intensity, disability, and physical performance in adults with musculoskeletal pain: a protocol for a systematic review of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials and planned meta-analysis

Recent studies show that musculoskeletal conditions contribute significantly to years lived with disability considering the entire global population. Pain and functional disability are the main problems that people with these conditions suffer. Neural mobilization has been shown to be an effective intervention in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain within individual trials, also contributing to improved functionality. Some systematic reviews have been carried out during the last years with the aim of synthesizing the scientific evidence on the use of neural mobilization techniques in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. However, they varied a lot in the methodological approaches and, consequently, in the findings and conclusions. Thus, this document is a planned protocol of a comprehensive systematic review with meta-analysis that we intend to carry out to review the scientific literature regarding up-to-date evidence on the use of neural mobilization in the management of people suffering from musculoskeletal pain disorders. The study designs that we will consider as inclusion criteria will be randomized and quasi-randomized clinical trials. The target population will be adults and older adults with musculoskeletal pain. Any controlled trial using any neural mobilization technique as an intervention in one of the trial groups will be included. The main outcomes of interest will be pain, functional status, and physical performance tests (muscle strength, flexibility, and balance). There will be no restrictions on follow-up time or type of setting. The risk of bias of the included studies will be assessed by the RoB 2 tool and the certainty of the evidence will be evaluated using the comprehensive Assessment, Development and Assessment of Assessment Recommendation (GRADE) approach. We intend to present the findings through narrative descriptions and, if possible, through meta-analytic statistics. Trial registration: PROSPERO registration number. CRD42021288387.publishe

Strength of Pornography Craving Experience (PCE-S): psychometric properties of a new measure based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire

International audienceIntroduction: Pornography use is a common sexual activity with potentially addictive use in some people. Even though craving is being recognized as an important characteristic of addictive behaviors, there is a lack of a specific validated instrument measuring the pornography craving experience. The present study aimed at adapting and validating an instrument measuring the users' strength of pornography craving experience (PCE-S) based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire.Methods: Items from the "strength" form of the Craving Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) were adapted to pornography use and used to create the PCE-S. The PCE-S was then administered online to 1584 English-speaking cyberporn users aged 18-75 years old (M = 33.18; SD = 10.84]; 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, and 1.7 % non-binary). All participants completed an assessment of compulsive cyberporn use (CIUS adapted for cyberporn). Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was used to examine the construct structure validity; Cronbach alpha coefficient, corrected item-total correlation, regression, and discriminant analysis were used to assess the instrument's psychometric properties.Results: After using the modification indices to improve the initial model, a relatively good fit for the three-factor model was confirmed. Concurrent validity with the compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) measure was demonstrated. The PCE-S discriminated between participants with high CCU and those with low CCU scores.Conclusions: A specific pornography craving experience instrument scale, based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire seems to capture key constructs of the theory and correlate with measures of compulsive cyberporn use

Early impact of abdominal compartment syndrome on liver, kidney and lung damage in a rodent model

Background: Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) sometimes occurs in critically ill patients following damage control surgery. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model of ACS and to evaluate its pathologic impact on liver, kidney, and lung morphology. Methods: Twenty Wistar rats (mass 300\u2013350 g) were randomly divided into four groups: 1) intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH): a laparotomy was performed and the abdomen packed with cotton until an intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) of 15 mm Hg was reached; 2) hypovolemia (HYPO): blood was withdrawn until a mean arterial pressure ~60 mm Hg was reached; 3) IAH + HYPO (to resemble clinical ACS); and 4) sham surgery. After 3 hours of protective mechanical ventilation, the animals were euthanized and the liver, kidney and lungs removed to examine the degree of tissue damage. Results: IAH resulted in the following: oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney; necrosis, congestion, and microsteatosis in the liver; and alveolar collapse, haemorrhage, interstitial oedema, and neutrophil infiltration in the lungs. Furthermore, IAH was associated with greater cell apoptosis in the kidney, liver and lungs compared to sham surgery. HYPO led to oedema and neutrophil infiltration in the kidney. The combination of IAH and HYPO resulted in all the aforementioned changes in lung, kidney and liver tissue, as well as exacerbation of the inflammatory process in the kidney and liver and kidney cell necrosis and apoptosis. Conclusions: Intra-abdominal hypertension by itself is associated with kidney, liver and lung damage; when combined with hypovolemia, it leads to further impairment and organ damage

Relación del perfil salival con el grado de inmunosupresión en pacientes infectados con VIH con y sin tratamiento antirretroviral

The aim of this study was to evaluate the salivary profile of HIV-infected patients with and without Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART), evaluating the Symptoms of salivary hypofunction (Xerostomia, Dysgeusia, Dysphagia, and Susceptibility to develop ulcers oral), the Unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate, Salivary pH and Salivary Viscosity, establishing their relationship with the degree of immunosuppression as assessed by the Counting of lymphocyte CD4/μl. We evaluated 126 patients with HIV infection with HAART and without HAART who were attended at the Health Strategy for Prevention and Control of STI, HIV and AIDS at the Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, Lima- Peru. Patients without HAART had significantly higher rates of some salivary hypofunction Symptoms: Xerostomia , Dysgeusia Dysphagia) and Susceptibility to develop oral ulcers and significantly higher values of Salivary viscosity but values were also significantly lower of Unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate and Salivary pH compared to patients with HAART. Furthermore, patients with a greater degree of immunosuppression had significantly higher rates of Symptoms of salivary hypofunction and Salivary Viscosit and significantly lower values of Unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate and Salivary pH ,compared to patients with a lower degree of immunosuppression. It was concluded that there was an alteration of the salivary profile of patients with HIV infection, which is significantly higher in patients without HAART and those with a greater degree of immunosuppression.El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el perfil salival de pacientes con infección por VIH con y sin Tratamiento Antirretroviral de Gran Actividad (TARGA), por medio de la evaluación de los síntomas de hipofunción salival (Xerostomía, Disgeusia, Disfagia y Susceptibilidad de desarrollar úlceras orales), la Tasa de Flujo salival no estimulado, el pH salival y la viscosidad salival; estableciendo su relación con el Grado de Inmunosupresión, evaluado por medio del Recuento de Linfocitos CD4/μl. Se evaluaron 126 pacientes con infección por VIH con TARGA y sin TARGA que asistieron a la Estrategia Sanitaria de Prevención y Control de ITS, VIH y SIDA del Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, Lima-Perú. Los pacientes sin TARGA presentaron porcentajes significativamente mayores de algunos síntomas de hipofunción salival: xerostomía , disgeusia , disfagia y susceptibilidad a desarrollar úlceras orales así como valores significativamente más altos de viscosidad salival, sin embargo, presentaban también valores significativamente más bajos de Tasa de flujo salival no estimulada y de pH salival respecto a los pacientes con TARGA. Los pacientes con un mayor grado de inmunosupresión presentaron mayores síntomas de hipofunción salival y viscosidad salival así como valores significativamente más bajos de Tasa de Flujo salival no estimulado y de pH salival respecto a los pacientes con un menor Grado de Inmunosupresión. Se concluyó que existe una alteración del perfil salival de los pacientes con Infección por VIH, la cual es significativamente mayor en los pacientes sin TARGA y en aquellos que tienen un mayor grado de inmunosupresión