Tobacco Cessation Curriculum in Medical Schools: a Scoping Review.

This scoping review aims to identify interventional training courses on tobacco cessation counseling skills of medical students, identify the most appropriate teaching method, and the ideal stage to provide such training. We retrieved articles published since 2000 from two electronic peer-reviewed databases (PubMed and Scopus) and hand-searched reference lists of selected articles. Articles published in English, with a clearly defined curriculum, reporting knowledge, attitude, cessation counseling skills of medical students post-training, and cessation-related outcomes of patients participating in student-led counseling sessions, were considered for inclusion. We used the York framework to guide this scoping review. First, data from studies meeting the inclusion criteria were charted using a standardized form. Subsequently, related studies were organized under three themes that emerged in the review process-lectured-based, web-based, and multi-modal curriculum. We concluded that a short but focused lecture-based curriculum combined with peer role-play or standardized/real patient interactions effectively develops the necessary knowledge and skills of undergraduate medical students to provide tobacco cessation counseling to patients. However, studies consistently report that the gains in knowledge and skills after cessation training is acute. Therefore, continued participation in cessation counseling and periodic review of cessation-related knowledge and skills post-training is warranted.

Clinical and Genetic Characteristics of Japanese Patients with Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Pseudodrusen.

PURPOSE: To investigate differences in clinical characteristics and genotype distribution in Japanese patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and pseudodrusen using multimodal imaging. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational case series. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 101 patients (101 eyes) with AMD and pseudodrusen. METHODS: Patients underwent complete ophthalmologic examination, including color fundus photography, infrared reflectance (IR) imaging, fundus autofluorescence, confocal blue reflectance, fluorescein and indocyanine green (ICG) angiography, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD OCT). Pseudodrusen subtype was identified with multiple imaging techniques. Patients were genotyped to identify major single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with AMD (CFH Y402, CFH I62V, and ARMS2 A69S). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical characteristics and genetic distributions of patients with pseudodrusen. RESULTS: At least 1 imaging technique identified dot pseudodrusen in all 101 eyes and ribbon pseudodrusen in 53 eyes (52.5%). Forty-eight eyes (47.5%) had only dot pseudodrusen, but no eyes had only ribbon pseudodrusen or midperipheral drusen. Forty-five of 49 bilateral cases (91.8%) had the same pseudodrusen subtype in both eyes. Pseudodrusen subtype did not change during the observation period in 100 eyes (99.0%), but dot-dominant type changed to dot-ribbon type in 1 eye (1.0%). The dot and ribbon subtypes were detected in 84 (83.1%) and 51 (96.2%) eyes, respectively, using color fundus photographs. Detection sensitivity of dot pseudodrusen was high for IR (97.0%), confocal blue reflectance (95.1%), fundus autofluorescence (93.1%), and ICG (100%) imaging. Detection sensitivity for ribbon pseudodrusen was high for color fundus photography (96.2%), confocal blue reflectance (94.3%), and fundus autofluorescence (90.6%), but not for IR imaging and ICG angiography. Risk allele frequency of the CFH I62V polymorphism was 79.8% and 67.0% in patients with dot-dominant and dot-ribbon pseudodrusen, respectively (P = 0.053). The genotype frequency of CFH Y402H and ARMS2 A69S polymorphisms was not significantly different between the patients with dot-dominant type and dot-ribbon type (P = 0.647 and P = 0.354, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with pseudodrusen can be classified with dot-dominant or dot-ribbon type, and these subtypes usually are the same in both eyes. The distribution of CFH I62V polymorphisms may have an association with pseudodrusen subtypes.

Effects of Intravitreous Aflibercept Injection in Pachychoroid Neovasculopathy: Comparison with Typical Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

PURPOSE: To compare the 12-month efficacy of intravitreous aflibercept (IVA) injection between eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy and neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS: Retrospective, comparative case series analysis. Twenty-seven eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy and sixty-three eyes with neovascular AMD. All patients received three initial monthly, followed by bimonthly, IVA injections. RESULTS: Twelve months after initial treatment, the mean best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) had improved both in pachychoroid neovasculopathy (from 0.28 to 0.14 logMAR; P = 0.001) and neovascular AMD (from 0.40 to 0.29 logMAR; P < 0.001). Twelve months after initial treatment, eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy exhibited decreased mean central retinal thickness (CRT) and subfoveal choroidal thickness (both, P < 0.001) and presence of polyps (P = 0.039) and improved integrity of external limiting membrane (ELM) (P = 0.008) and ellipsoid zone band (P = 0.001). At the 12-month follow-up, 77% and 68% of eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy and neovascular AMD, respectively, exhibited dry macula (P = 0.30). Baseline CRT was correlated with 12-month BCVA in eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy (P = 0.02). In eyes with neovascular AMD, CRT (P = 0.005) and presence of intact ELM (P = 0.007) were significant predictors of 12-month BCVA. CONCLUSION: Periodic IVA injection leads to anatomical and functional improvement in eyes with pachychoroid neovasculopathy and in eyes with neovascular AMD.

"Now drugs in Libya are much cheaper than food": A qualitative study on substance use among young Libyans in post-revolution Tripoli, Libya.

BACKGROUND: Libya is facing a rapidly growing epidemic of illicit drug use and HIV. This situation is fueled by a complex array of factors, mainly the consequences of the political and military turmoil of the Arab Spring. Although it is extensively documented in other settings that young people are one of the most vulnerable groups to both HIV and illicit drug use, no study has explored this issue among young people in Libya. The current study addresses this research gap. METHODS: This study is a qualitative study using in-depth interviews guided by a semi-structured questionnaire. We used a maximum variation, purposive sampling strategy to recruit male and female participants, aged 14-18 years, from schools, prisons, and community-based informal re-education and rehabilitation centers in Tripoli, Libya. RESULTS: In total, 31 participants were recruited: 6 females and 25 males. Sixteen participants were prisoners and residents of community-based informal re-education and rehabilitation centers, and 15 were recruited in schools. Risk factors for drug use included peer influence, the increased availability and affordability of drugs, disruption of social life and healthy recreational activities, and the distress and casualties of the war. Protective factors were religious beliefs and practices, good parent-child connectedness, and high self-esteem and future aspiration. Risk factors for HIV were insufficient knowledge related to HIV transmission and unsafe injection practices, such as sharing needles and syringes. CONCLUSION: We found individual, interpersonal, family, and structural-level factors that interplayed to shape the vulnerability of young people to drug use and HIV infection in Tripoli, Libya. Structural factors, including the increased availability and affordability of drugs, provided the frame within which other factors, such as peer influence, insufficient knowledge of substance use, and HIV, operated to increase the vulnerability of young people to drugs and HIV, while religious beliefs and parent-child connectedness acted as protective factors. Multisectoral efforts and studies to quantitatively evaluate the magnitude and distribution of these problems are urgently needed.