Reaching adults who smoke cigarettes in rural Appalachia: Rationale, design & analysis plan for a mixed-methods study disseminating pharmacy-delivered cessation treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Unlike other U.S. geographical regions, cigarette smoking prevalence remains stagnant in rural Appalachia. One avenue for reaching rural residents with evidence-based smoking cessation treatments could be utilizing community pharmacists. This paper describes the design, rationale, and analysis plan for a mixed-method study that will determine combinations of cessation treatment components that can be integrated within community pharmacies in rural Appalachia. The aim is to quantify the individual and synergistic effects of five highly disseminable and sustainable cessation components in a factorial experiment. METHODS: This sequential, mixed-method research design, based on the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework, will use a randomized controlled trial with a 25 fully crossed factorial design (32 treatment combinations) to test, alone and in combination, the most effective evidence-based cessation components: (1) QuitAid (yes vs. no) (2) tobacco quit line (yes vs. no) (3) SmokefreeTXT (yes vs. no) (4) combination NRT lozenge + NRT patch (vs. NRT patch alone), and (5) eight weeks of NRT (vs. standard four weeks). RESULTS: Logistic regression will model abstinence at six-months, including indicators for the five treatment factors and all two-way interactions between the treatment factors. Demographic and smoking history variables will be considered to assess potential effect modification. Poisson regression will model quit attempts and percent of adherence to treatment components as secondary outcomes. CONCLUSION: This study will provide foundational evidence on how community pharmacies in medically underserved, rural regions can be leveraged to increase utilization of existing evidence-based tobacco cessation resources for treating tobacco dependence. CLINICAL TRIALS: NCT05660525.

The impact of health literacy on rural adults' satisfaction with a multi-component intervention to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake.

SIPsmartER is a 6-month behavioral intervention designed using a health literacy universal precautions approach that has been found effective at reducing sugary beverage intake in rural, low socioeconomic adults. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to determine if health literacy status influenced participants' satisfaction and perceptions of each intervention component: small group classes, interactive-voice response (IVR) calls, personal action plans and self-monitoring logs. Of the 155 participants enrolled in SIPsmartER, 105 (68%) completed an interview-administered summative evaluation including 68 high and 37 low health literate participants. The quantitative findings show participant satisfaction with each intervention component was high (i.e. classes = 9.6, IVR calls = 8.1, action plans = 8.9-9.1, logs = 8.7 on a 10-point scale) and similar across both health literacy groups. The majority of qualitative responses were positive (81.8%) and code counts were comparable between literacy groups with a few exceptions. As compared with high health literacy respondents, low health literacy respondents more frequently mentioned liking the content and length of IVR calls, liking the motivational aspects of the personal action plans, and identified numeracy issues with the self-monitoring logs. Overall, applying a health literacy universal precautions approach is an effective and acceptable strategy for both high and low health literacy groups.

Routine microbiologic culture of kidney transport fluid: a single-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Microbiologic culture of renal transplant fluid (RTF) has been performed since the 1950s and remained routine in some transplant centers. Although not evidence based, this conventional practice is relatively time consuming and costly. This single-center study sought to determine the prevalence and clinical significance of positive microbiologic cultures of RTF. METHODS: Data on RTF were collected retrospectively from renal transplant cases who had samples taken from RTF for microbiology from 2000 to 2006. Review of patient notes and microbiology reports identified positive results, time and type of antibiotic, posttransplantation development of sepsis, and any significant infection. RESULTS: Over the 6-year period we performed 370 renal transplantations from cadaveric or non-heart-beating donors. The living related or unrelated cases (n = 67) were excluded because we did not obtain RTF samples. Among the 303 remaining recipients, 237 (78%) had microscopy, culture, and sensitivity reports available. Positive cultures were identified in 66 patients, of whom 2% (n = 6) developed postoperative complications, including those related to organisms identified in the RTF in 3 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Early identification of microorganisms, particularly in transplant patients, affects patient outcomes and quality of life. Routine screening of RTF for contamination allows for RTF-informed treatment of symptomatic patients after transplantation.

The laryngeal mask airway in experimental pig anaesthesia.

The pig is used as a large animal model in many research projects. Standard practice for airway maintenance under general anaesthesia is using endotracheal (ET) intubation after intravenous induction to a near surgical plane. This is a technically demanding skill, requiring the assistance of an experienced technician. A technique is required which simplifies pig anaesthesia. This study examined the feasibility and potential advantages of using the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) in 10 pigs during laparotomy under spontaneous breathing anaesthesia. The results show that the LMA can be inserted rapidly, with minimal time for airway control by researchers relatively inexperienced in anaesthesia and is associated with few complications. By removing the need for intravenous induction, an entire step in the anaesthetic process is removed. The LMA designed for humans fits well in the pig hypopharynx; all pigs could be manually ventilated with no detectable gas leak. Although the pigs in this study were spontaneously breathing it is proposed that the LMA should be further investigated in studies of artificially ventilated pigs.

Effects of human chorionic gonadotrophin on the release of cyclic AMP and progesterone from the sheep ovary at different stages of the oestrous cycle.

The rate of release of cyclic AMP by sheep ovaries containing a corpus luteum was determined at different stages of the cycle before and up to 60 min after an intra-arterial (ia) injection of 500 IU human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). The median cyclic AMP concentration in arterial plasma and of ovarian venous plasma following hCG stimulation was 93.2 and 98.0 pmol/ml, respectively. The ovaries of ewes examined at Days 1 and 2 of the cycle showed no response to hCG, whereas in 2 sheep at Day 3, hCG caused a slight response, and in 13 sheep examined between Days 5-18, hCG caused a marked increase in cAMP release. In 5 of the sheep in which both ovarian veins were cannulated, only the ovary with a corpus luteum responded to hCG with an increased secretion rate of cyclic AMP and progesterone. The results indicate a lack of responsiveness in the newly formed corpus luteum to hCG.

Changes in plasma tryptophan and melatonin content in penned sheep.

The present study was undertaken to examine the relationship between the plasma levels of melatonin and its precursor tryptophan. No circadian changes in plasma total tryptophan content were evident which could be related to the marked night-time rise in plasma melatonin. An automated programmable blood sampling device suited to studies of circadian rhythms in blood constituents is described.