Deep Sequencing of Candidate Genes Identified 14 Variants Associated with Smoking Abstinence in an Ethnically Diverse Sample

Despite the large public health toll of smoking, genetic studies of smoking cessation have been limited with few discoveries of risk or protective loci. We investigated common and rare variant associations with success in quitting smoking using a cohort from 8 randomized controlled trials involving 2231 participants and a total of 10,020 common and 24,147 rare variants. We identified 14 novel markers including 6 mapping to genes previously related to psychiatric and substance use disorders, 4 of which were protective (CYP2B6 (rs1175607105), HTR3B (rs1413172952; rs1204720503), rs80210037 on chr15), and 2 of which were associated with reduced cessation (PARP15 (rs2173763), SCL18A2 (rs363222)). The others mapped to areas associated with cancer including FOXP1 (rs1288980) and ZEB1 (rs7349). Network analysis identified significant canonical pathways for the serotonin receptor signaling pathway, nicotine and bupropion metabolism, and several related to tumor suppression. Two novel markers (rs6749438; rs6718083) on chr2 are flanked by genes associated with regulation of bodyweight. The identification of novel loci in this study can provide new targets of pharmacotherapy and inform efforts to develop personalized treatments based on genetic profiles

Mapping poverty using mobile phone and satellite data

Poverty is one of the most important determinants of adverse health outcomes globally, a major cause of societal instability and one of the largest causes of lost human potential. Traditional approaches to measuring and targeting poverty rely heavily on census data, which in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are unavailable or out-of-date. Alternate measures are needed to comp- lement and update estimates between censuses. This study demonstrates how public and private data sources that are commonly available for LMICs can be used to provide novel insight into the spatial distribution of poverty. We evalu- ate the relative value of modelling three traditional poverty measures using aggregate data from mobile operators and widely available geospatial data. Taken together, models combining these data sources providethebest predictive power (highest r 2 ¼ 0.78) and lowest error, but generally models employing mobile data only yield comparable results, offering the potential to measure poverty more frequently and at finer granularity. Stratifying models into urban and rural areas highlights the advantage of using mobile data in urban areas and different data in different contexts. The findings indicate the possibility to estimate and continually monitor poverty rates at high spatial resolution in countries with limited capacity to support traditional methods of datacollection

Efficacy of a Smoking Cessation Intervention for Survivors of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia or Cervical Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE: Women who smoke and have a history of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or cervical cancer represent a vulnerable subgroup at elevated risk for recurrence, poorer cancer treatment outcomes, and decreased quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy of Motivation And Problem Solving (MAPS), a novel treatment well-suited to meeting the smoking cessation needs of this population. METHODS: Women who were with a history of CIN or cervical cancer, age 18 years and older, spoke English or Spanish, and reported current smoking (≥100 lifetime cigarettes plus any smoking in the past 30 days) were eligible. Participants (N = 202) were recruited in clinic in Oklahoma City and online nationally and randomly assigned to (1) standard treatment (ST) or (2) MAPS. ST consisted of repeated referrals to a tobacco cessation quitline, self-help materials, and combination nicotine replacement therapy (patch plus lozenge). MAPS comprised all ST components plus up to six proactive telephone counseling sessions over 12 months. Logistic regression and generalized estimating equations evaluated the intervention. The primary outcome was self-reported 7-day point prevalence abstinence from tobacco at 18 months, with abstinence at 3, 6, and 12 months and biochemically confirmed abstinence as secondary outcomes. RESULTS: There was no significant effect for MAPS over ST at 18 months (14.2% CONCLUSION: MAPS led to a greater than two-fold increase in smoking abstinence among survivors of CIN and cervical cancer at 12 months. At 18 months, abstinence in MAPS declined to match the control condition and the treatment effect was no longer significant

Pain in head and neck cancer survivors in South Africa: A cross-sectional study

Background: Pain is often a significant symptom in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of pain, factors limiting effective pain management, and whether differences in pain management exist between the public and private health sectors in South Africa in HNC patients after they have completed treatment. Methods: A cross-sectional survey using the Brief Pain Inventory was performed on adults over the age of 18 years treated for HNC of any subsite in both a public and private hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Results: Overall pain scores indicated mild levels of pain and impact on daily activities. The domains of life most affected by pain were general activity, sleep and mood. There was no difference in pain scores between public hospital patients versus those with private insurance. Less than half of the patients reported receiving all their necessary medications. Most of the postoperative pain was managed with paracetamol, tramadol and ibuprofen, with only 12.8% of patients using morphine. Conclusion: This study provides a survey of pain experiences in HNC patients in a middle-income country. Insurance status did not significantly impact pain experiences, indicating equitable access to pain management resources. However, the overall utilisation of morphine and medications used to treat neuropathic pain is low. Further research is needed into the complex factors associated with pain in HNC patients. Contribution: This article is an example of a standard clinical study on patient-reported outcome measures

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model