Prevalence of spit tobacco use across studies of professional baseball players.

A review of published data, together with previously unpublished information, shows that the use of spit tobacco among professional baseball players continues to be alarmingly high. In spite of efforts to make players aware of the harmful effects, approximately 35 percent to 40 percent of professional baseball players still use spit tobacco, and about half of those have associated lesions. However, current efforts of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program, Major League Baseball, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society and the Major League Baseball Players Association are expected to result in a significant reduction in spit tobacco use in this population in the next decade.

A dental-based, athletic trainer-mediated spit tobacco cessation program for professional baseball players.

During 1997 spring training, the National Spit Tobacco Education Program provided a spit (smokeless) tobacco intervention program to 16 professional baseball clubs. The program consisted of an awareness-raising presentation and an opportunity to discuss quitting spit tobacco use with an expert cessation counselor. For two clubs, however, a more extensive intervention was pilot-tested for feasibility and acceptability among their major- and minor-league teams during their regularly scheduled health examinations at the beginning of spring training. The intervention included an oral exam by a dentist who advised spit tobacco users to stop and pointed out any spit tobacco-associated lesions in the player's mouth, brief cessation counseling by a specially trained dental hygienist, and ongoing support and follow-up by the certified athletic trainer to promote cessation. Findings from this pilot study indicate that this intervention, which is dependent upon involvement of dental professionals, was feasible to implement during spring training and appeared to be well-received by the athletes. Dental professionals are in an excellent position to advise and help spit tobacco users to quit and can have an important role in helping youth overcome this rapidly growing addiction.

A cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, Dacapo, is necessary for timely exit from the cell cycle during Drosophila embryogenesis.

In a screen for genes that interact with the Rap1 GTPase, we have identified a Drosophila gene, dacapo (dap), which is a member of the p21/p27 family of cdk inhibitors. Unlike mammalian cdk inhibitors studied to date, dap is essential for normal embryonic development. Dacapo inhibits cyclin-cdk activity in vitro. Overexpressing dap during eye development interferes with cell cycle progression and interacts genetically with the retinoblastoma homolog (Rbf) and cyclin E. dap expression in embryos parallels the exit of cells from the cell cycle. dap mutant embryos delay the normal cell cycle exit during development; many cells complete an additional cycle and subsequently become quiescent. Thus, dap functions during embryogenesis to achieve a precisely timed exit from the cell cycle.