‘Patch test’ could help determine
which smokers need extra help
Researchers at Duke University say
that heavily dependent, male smokers who do not repond to nicotine replacement
might need to combine cessation methods in order to quit. ‘The findings offer a
potential practical treatment approach that can identify smokers who don’t
respond to a single conventional treatment, but may benefit enormously from a
combination of treatments,’ said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Center
for Smoking Cessation and the study’s lead author.
The study involved 349 adult
participants, all of whom smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day, and
researchers determined their level of nicotine dependence by means of a
questionnaire. Next, they worked to develop a model indicating which smokers
were likely to respond to nicotine replacement by asking participants to apply
the patch before quitting. This somewhat revolutionary request allowed
researchers to analyze subjects’ potential response to the product by observing
how many cigarettes they smoked while on the patch.
‘Using a safe and inexpensive
nicotine patch, we can predict a smoker’s success or failure,’ Rose said. ‘If a
smoker has a low likelihood of succeeding, we can avert failure before it
happens using a step-by-step algorithm to switch a smoker to a treatment that’s
more likely to help.’ One week of patch use was enough for less than half the
smokers to reduce their tobacco intake by 50 percent. The 222 remaining
participants were split into two groups, in which one was given two kinds of
nicotine replacements called varenicline (sold under the brand name Chantix)
and bupropion (sold as Zyban), while the other group was given varenicline plus
a placebo.
Participants wore their patches for
12 weeks, at the end of which 39.8 percent of smokers under the combined
treatments had stopped. Of the varenicline-only group, only 25.9 percent had
stopped. ‘It’s clear that we need to improve success rates for smoking
cessation, and it is thought that combining treatments could add to the
efficacy,’ Rose said. ‘Combining two therapies, especially if they act by
different mechanisms, may address different aspects of the addiction.’ Overall,
participants tolerated the effects of the combined medications, although some
side effects were reported including headache, dry mouth, irritability,
insomnia, vivid dreams and changes in taste. The study
was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. While
researchers are encouraged, they say additional studies will be necessary.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
19.06.2014
Modified iPhone could help monitor
diabetics real-time!
A device that uses a modified iPhone
to help regulate the blood sugar of people with type 1 diabetes appears to work
better than an insulin pump, researchers say. The so-called ‘bionic pancreas’
is the latest in the search to improve the lives of people who have type 1
diabetes, which means their bodies do not produce insulin, a hormone that
regulates blood sugar. Three million people in the United States have type 1
diabetes, which is far less common than type 2 diabetes. It is commonly known
as juvenile diabetes because it tends to appear in children and young adults.
People with type 1 diabetes must
prick themselves for blood samples multiple times daily in order to monitor
their glucose levels, and then either inject insulin or receive it from a pump.
The new method involved an iPhone 4S, which ran a control algorithm for insulin
and glucagon, combined with a tiny needle that is inserted under the skin to
monitor real-time glucose levels. A total of 52 adults and youths tried the
combination for five days.
The patients using the bionic
pancreas had fewer interventions for low blood sugar and showed ‘significant
improvements’ in overnight blood glucose levels over what they experienced
normally, said the researchers. ‘The bionic pancreas system reduced the average
blood glucose to levels that have been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of
diabetic complications,’ said researcher Steven Russell, assistant professor of
medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. ‘This is tremendously difficult
with currently available technology.’ More research is needed before the device
can be made available for sale, the authors said.
The findings were published Sunday
in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
19.06.2014
Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever
will
Karim Seddik
No comments:
Post a Comment