Effect of a smoking cessation educational intervention on knowledge and confidence of pharmacy students versus community leaders.

BACKGROUND: Training programs of various intensities and durations have been implemented to assist healthcare providers and students in leading smokers in a quit attempt. While some training programs have been developed to help community leaders provide these services, the focus for community leaders has been to assist with recruitment efforts. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare knowledge and confidence of students and community members before and after a smoking cessation educational intervention. METHODS: After approval from the institutional review board, pharmacy students and community members were recruited for two-hour educational interventions. Topics covered included smoking health risks, benefits of quitting, behavioral, cognitive, and stress-management techniques, smoking cessation medications, and how to start a formal class. Pre- and post-intervention survey instruments were given to all participants with comparisons made via Student's or Paired T-tests, as appropriate. RESULTS: Knowledge scores increased significantly (p<0.05) after the educational intervention for pharmacy students (n=30) and community members (n=8). Confidence scores increased significantly for pharmacy students (p<0.05), but not for community members. Pharmacy students had significantly greater knowledge score changes (53.7%, pre-intervention; 81.8%, post-intervention; p<0.05) versus community members (32.1%, pre-intervention; 50.1%, post-intervention; p<0.05). When comparing individual confidence questions, only scores evaluating the change in confidence for providing counseling were higher for students versus community members (2.13 vs. 1.8, respectively; p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy students and community leaders exhibited increased knowledge after a smoking cessation educational intervention, and pharmacy students had increased confidence scores. All confidence scores did not change significantly for community members. Developing coalitions between healthcare providers and community leaders, focusing on the roles of each, may be productive in initiating smoking cessation programs.

Trabectome-Initiated Gonioscopy-Assisted Transluminal Trabeculotomy.

Introduction: To introduce a trabectome-initiated gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy (TIGATT) procedure and to report preliminary results. Materials and Methods: A preliminary case series of eight patients who have undergone the newly proposed TIGATT procedure is presented. TIGATT is a new concept that modifies established techniques by replacing the initial goniotomy incision of gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy (GATT) with an ab interno trabeculectomy ablation utilizing the trabectome. All surgeries were performed by a single surgeon (W.I.K.) between November 2014 and October 2015 in adults with primary open-angle glaucoma. Recorded outcome measures were intraocular pressure (IOP), number of medications, and complications. Results: Eight patients with an age range of 63-93 yr underwent TIGATT with at least 3 mo of follow-up. Five of the eight initial patients had follow-up to 2 yr. The mean pre-operative IOP was 25 mmHg (standard deviation [SD] 7.0) on four medications (SD 1.1). The mean post-operative IOP at 3 mo was 14 mmHg (SD 1.8) on two medications (SD 1.3). The average decrease in IOP was 9.9 mmHg (SD 7.5) with an average decrease in medications of two (SD 1.4) at 3 mo. At 2 yr, the mean post-operative IOP was 14 mmHg (SD 3.2) on one medication (SD 1.1). The average decrease in IOP was 7.8 mmHg (SD 3.1) with an average decrease in medications of two (SD 1.8). There were two treatment failures that required further glaucoma surgery and one patient was lost to follow-up. Conclusions: The preliminary results and safety profile for TIGATT are promising and appear at least comparable with previously published results for both GATT and trabectome. Initiating the transluminal trabeculotomy with trabectome clearly exposes Schlemm's canal and facilitates threading the microcatheter into the canal. Additionally, if the 360-degree trabeculotomy cannot be completed because of an incompletely patent Schlemm's canal, the patient will at least have a trabectome ablation that can serve as their glaucoma surgery.

Chemical differentiation of Boswellia sacra and Boswellia carterii essential oils by gas chromatography and chiral gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Major botanical and scientific references currently identify two species of frankincense, Boswellia carterii and Boswellia sacra, as being synonymous. We evaluated the Somalian (B. carterii) and Omani/Yemeni (B. sacra) species by chemical analyses to determine if there were any minor or major differences between the two species of frankincense. Components identified with their average percent for B. sacra are α-thujene (0.6%), α-pinene (68.2%), camphene (2.1%), sabinene (2.9%), ß-pinene (2.0%), myrcene (0.7%), limonene+ß-phellandrene (6.2%). Components identified with their average percent for B. carterii are α-thujene (7.9%), α-pinene (37.3%), camphene (0.8%), sabinene (4.9%), ß-pinene (1.8%), myrcene (7.3%), limonene+ß-phellandrene (14.4%). Initially, GC-MS analysis did not reveal major statistical differences. However, optical rotation values, B. Sacra (+30.1°) and B. carterii (-13.3°), demonstrated a greater significant difference. Enantiomeric ratio (+)/(-) values of α-pinene for B. sacra and B. carterii are 8.24 and 0.68, respectively, were also calculated aiding our conclusion that B. sacra and B. carterii are not synonymous but rather two distinct and individual frankincense species.