Feasibility of restricting e-cigarettes to prescription only for smoking cessation.

E-cigarette use among youth in Canada has risen to epidemic proportions. E-cigarettes are also moderately useful smoking cessations aids. Restricting e-cigarettes to prescription only smoking cessation aids could help limit youth's access to them while keeping them available as therapies for patients who smoke conventional cigarettes. In Canada, drugs or devices must be approved by regulatory bodies such as Health Canada in order to become licensed prescription medications. A similar situation is underway in Australia, where e-cigarettes have been restricted to prescription only. This commentary explores the feasibility of a similar regulation for e-cigarettes in Canada as prescription smoking cessation aids.

Long-Term Efficacy and Safety of Once-Weekly Semaglutide for Weight Loss in Patients Without Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, has demonstrated clinically important weight loss effects in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, its effects on sustained weight loss in patients without diabetes remains unclear. Our objective was to examine the long-term efficacy and safety of semaglutide use for weight loss in patients with overweight/obesity and without diabetes. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Libraries were systematically searched to identify randomized controlled trials that randomized participants with overweight/obesity and without diabetes to once-weekly 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide versus placebo, with a follow-up of at least 68 weeks. The primary outcome was a change in relative body weight from baseline to the longest follow-up. Random-effects models with inverse variance weighting were used to estimate the weighted mean differences (WMDs) and relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A total of 4 randomized controlled trials (n = 3,087) were included. Of the 3 trials that provided body mass index by category (n = 2,783), 94.0% of the participants had a baseline body mass index ≥30 kg/m2. Compared with placebo, the use of semaglutide was associated with substantial decreases in long-term relative (WMD -12.1%, 95% CI -13.5 to -10.7) and absolute body weight (WMD -12.3 kg, 95% CI -13.6 to -11.0). At the longest follow-up, 33.4% of participants randomized to semaglutide achieved ≥20% weight loss compared with 2.2% with placebo (RR 15.08, 95% CI 9.31 to 24.43). The risk of gastrointestinal adverse events was higher in participants who took semaglutide than placebo (RR 1:47, 95% CI 1.28 to 1.68); however, the majority of these events were transient and mild-to-moderate in severity and did not require treatment discontinuation. In conclusion, semaglutide is efficacious for sustained weight loss in patients with overweight/obesity and without diabetes.

Effect of α-tubulin acetylation on the doublet microtubule structure.

Acetylation of α-tubulin at the lysine 40 residue (αK40) by αTAT1/MEC-17 acetyltransferase modulates microtubule properties and occurs in most eukaryotic cells. Previous literatures suggest that acetylated microtubules are more stable and damage resistant. αK40 acetylation is the only known microtubule luminal post-translational modification site. The luminal location suggests that the modification tunes the lateral interaction of protofilaments inside the microtubule. In this study, we examined the effect of tubulin acetylation on the doublet microtubule (DMT) in the cilia of Tetrahymena thermophila using a combination of cryo-electron microscopy, molecular dynamics, and mass spectrometry. We found that αK40 acetylation exerts a small-scale effect on the DMT structure and stability by influencing the lateral rotational angle. In addition, comparative mass spectrometry revealed a link between αK40 acetylation and phosphorylation in cilia.

Efficacy of interventions targeted at physician prescribers of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain: an overview of systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND: To combat the opioid crisis, interventions targeting the opioid prescribing behaviour of physicians involved in the management of patients with chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) have been introduced in clinical settings. An integrative synthesis of systematic review evidence is required to better understand the effects of these interventions. Our objective was to synthesize the systematic review evidence on the effect of interventions targeting the behaviours of physician opioid prescribers for CNCP among adults on patient and population health and prescriber behaviour. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycInfo via Ovid; the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; and Epistemonikos. We included systematic reviews that evaluate any type of intervention aimed at impacting opioid prescriber behaviour for adult CNCP in an outpatient setting. RESULTS: We identified three full texts for our review that contained 68 unique primary studies. The main interventions we evaluated were structured prescriber education (one review) and prescription drug monitoring programmes (PDMPs) (two reviews). Due to the paucity of data available, we could not determine with certainty that education interventions improved outcomes in deprescribing. There is some evidence that PDMPs decrease the number of adverse opioid-related events, increase communication among healthcare workers and patients, modify healthcare practitioners' approach towards their opioid prescribed patients, and offer more chances for education and counselling. CONCLUSIONS: Our overview explores the possibility of PDMPs as an opioid deprescribing intervention and highlights the need for more high-quality primary research on this topic.

Evaluating non-cognitive skills in medical school applicants.

Medical school candidates must have both the cognitive and professional competencies required to become good physicians. In this commentary, we outline the evidence and outcomes associated with the implementation of these selection methodologies and evaluate their ability to assess non-cognitive skills.

Native doublet microtubules from Tetrahymena thermophila reveal the importance of outer junction proteins.

Cilia are ubiquitous eukaryotic organelles responsible for cellular motility and sensory functions. The ciliary axoneme is a microtubule-based cytoskeleton consisting of two central singlets and nine outer doublet microtubules. Cryo-electron microscopy-based studies have revealed a complex network inside the lumen of both tubules composed of microtubule-inner proteins (MIPs). However, the functions of most MIPs remain unknown. Here, we present single-particle cryo-EM-based analyses of the Tetrahymena thermophila native doublet microtubule and identify 42 MIPs. These data shed light on the evolutionarily conserved and diversified roles of MIPs. In addition, we identified MIPs potentially responsible for the assembly and stability of the doublet outer junction. Knockout of the evolutionarily conserved outer junction component CFAP77 moderately diminishes Tetrahymena swimming speed and beat frequency, indicating the important role of CFAP77 and outer junction stability in cilia beating generation and/or regulation.

Preparation of Doublet Microtubule Fraction for Single ParticleCryo-electron Microscopy.

Over the years, studying the ultrastructure of the eukaryotic cilia/flagella using electron microscopy (EM) has contributed significantly toward our understanding of ciliary function. Major complexes in the cilia, such as inner and outer dynein arms, radial spokes, and dynein regulatory complexes, were originally discovered by EM. Classical resin-embedding EM or cryo-electron tomography can be performed directly on the isolated cilia or in some cases, cilia directly attached to the cell body. Recently, single particle cryo-EM has emerged as a powerful structural technique to elucidate high-resolution structures of macromolecular complexes; however, single particle cryo-EM requires non-overlapping complexes, i.e., the doublet microtubule of the cilia. Here, we present a protocol to separate the doublet microtubule from the isolated cilia bundle of two species, Tetrahymena thermophila and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, using ATP reactivation and sonication. Our approach produces good distribution and random orientation of the doublet microtubule fragments, which is suitable for single particle cryo-EM analysis.

Identification and mapping of central pair proteins by proteomic analysis.

Cilia or flagella of eukaryotes are small micro-hair like structures that are indispensable to single-cell motility and play an important role in mammalian biological processes. Cilia or flagella are composed of nine doublet microtubules surrounding a pair of singlet microtubules called the central pair (CP). Together, this arrangement forms a canonical and highly conserved 9+2 axonemal structure. The CP, which is a unique structure exclusive to motile cilia, is a pair of structurally dimorphic singlet microtubules decorated with numerous associated proteins. Mutations of CP-associated proteins cause several different physical symptoms termed as ciliopathies. Thus, it is crucial to understand the architecture of the CP. However, the protein composition of the CP was poorly understood. This was because the traditional method of identification of CP proteins was mostly limited by available Chlamydomonas mutants of CP proteins. Recently, more CP protein candidates were presented based on mass spectrometry results, but most of these proteins were not validated. In this study, we re-evaluated the CP proteins by conducting a similar comprehensive CP proteome analysis comparing the mass spectrometry results of the axoneme sample prepared from Chlamydomonas strains with and without CP complex. We identified a similar set of CP protein candidates and additional new 11 CP protein candidates. Furthermore, by using Chlamydomonas strains lacking specific CP sub-structures, we present a more complete model of localization for these CP proteins. This work has established a new foundation for understanding the function of the CP complex in future studies.

The inner junction complex of the cilia is an interaction hub that involves tubulin post-translational modifications.

Microtubules are cytoskeletal structures involved in stability, transport and organization in the cell. The building blocks, the α- and ß-tubulin heterodimers, form protofilaments that associate laterally into the hollow microtubule. Microtubule also exists as highly stable doublet microtubules in the cilia where stability is needed for ciliary beating and function. The doublet microtubule maintains its stability through interactions at its inner and outer junctions where its A- and B-tubules meet. Here, using cryo-electron microscopy, bioinformatics and mass spectrometry of the doublets of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Tetrahymena thermophila, we identified two new inner junction proteins, FAP276 and FAP106, and an inner junction-associated protein, FAP126, thus presenting the complete answer to the inner junction identity and localization. Our structural study of the doublets shows that the inner junction serves as an interaction hub that involves tubulin post-translational modifications. These interactions contribute to the stability of the doublet and hence, normal ciliary motility.