Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Nicotine use among individuals with schizophrenia occurs at extremely high rates. The prevailing theory is that individuals with schizophrenia smoke as a form of self-medication to ameliorate sensory and cognitive deficits. However, these individuals also have enhanced rates of addiction to several drugs of abuse and may therefore smoke as a result of enhanced addiction liability. The experiments described herein explored these two hypotheses by assessing the effect that nicotine has on working memory, addiction vulnerability (locomotor sensitization and self-administration), and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) expression as well as the developmental expression of these characteristics in the neonatal ventral hippocampal (NVHL) neurodevelopmental animal model of schizophrenia. The results from these studies indicate that NVHLs had working memory impairments in both adolescence and adulthood, with nicotine having a negligible effect. Additionally, NVHLs displayed enhanced locomotor sensitization to nicotine which emerged in adulthood as well as an enhanced acquisition of nicotine self-administration, administering more nicotine overall. These behavioral differences cannot be attributed to nAChR expression as nicotine upregulated nAChR to a similar extent between NVHL and SHAM control animals. These data indicate that the enhanced rates of nicotine use among individuals with schizophrenia may occur as a result of an enhanced vulnerability to nicotine addiction.

Although tobacco cessation is an uphill battle for almost everyone who attempts to quit, it is important that dental hygienists do not assume that patients are not interested. Dental hygienists are in an ideal position to offer cessation help to their tobacco using patients. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the tobacco cessation practices among central Texas dental hygienists. Specifically, dental hygienists were asked about beliefs, motivation, and confidence with regard to their tobacco cessation practice. A positive significant, moderate, relationship was found between beliefs and confidence (r=0.647), beliefs and practices (r=0.704), knowledge and capability (r=0.579), motivation and capability (r=0.529), motivation and practice (r=0.605), and years of practice and capability (r=0.699). The mean confidence scores for hygienists with more than 20 years of experience differed from those with 1-5 years of experience (p=.003) and 6-10 years of experience (p=.025).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Smoke-free legislation in the United States has unintentionally resulted in a decline in alcohol consumption. However, more recently electronic-cigarettes (e-cigs), which are associated with alcohol use, are reportedly being used to circumvent smoking bans. The present study surveyed community dwelling individuals in the United States reporting e-cigs may be used where they drink (N=365, mean age=33.63, SD=9.91, 53.2% female, 78.9% Caucasian) to examine how e-cig use and alcohol consumption varies by the presence of smoking prohibition where one consumes alcohol. Results indicated that smoking prohibition was associated with a greater likelihood of being an ecig user than a cigarette user (OR=3.40, p<.001) and a higher likelihood of being an e-cig user than a dual user (OR=3.37, p<.001). Smoking prohibition was not associated with AUDIT scores (B=-0.06, p=.21), total drinks (B=-.07, p=.19), or average drinks (B=-0.02, p=.76). E-cig users reported significantly fewer average drinks when smoking is prohibited as compared to allowed, t(55)=3.26, p=.002. Overall, current results suggest smoking prohibition is associated with a greater likelihood of being an e-cig user; however, smoking prohibitions are not associated with alcohol consumption and related problems in the current participants, who all reported being able to use e-cigs where they consume alcohol. Future research should address potential conceptual, methodological, and sample limitations in order to better discern this relationship, as this line of research could have important implications for e-cig policy and alcohol use treatment

[pt] Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar a relevância de tratados internacionais e como eles afetam políticas domésticas, bem como são afetados pelos Estados que participam dele. Para isso, será analisada a Convenção-Quadro para Controle do Tabaco da Organização Mundial da Saúde. Este tratado, de 2003 e ratificado pelo Brasil em 2005, é um bom exemplo, como será defendido neste artigo, de como o doméstico e internacional se afetam e, deste contato, são formuladas as políticas nacionais e internacionais. Esta pesquisa irá realizar um estudo de caso para analisar as disputas que ocorrem em âmbito doméstico e são externalizadas para o internacional, em particular na temática do tabagismo. Para tal, a indústria de tabaco Souza Cruz, maior do território brasileiro, será analisada sob a ótica de suas estratégias de publicidade, propaganda e patrocínio de produtos de tabaco, enquanto as Conferências das Partes, que ocorrem a cada dois anos entre os Estados- Membros da Convenção-Quadro, buscam eficiência na implementação das diretrizes do Artigo 13 da Convenção, que lida com esse tema. O estudo de caso tem como objetivo mapear a relação entre as estratégias da indústria e ação reativa das Conferências das Partes, de modo a entender como os Estados-Membros poderiam alcançar o controle do tabaco de forma mais rápida e eficiente, sem que as empresas encontrem brechas nas legislações nacionais ou na dificuldade de fiscalização das normas já implementadas no país. / [en] This article aims to analyze the relevance of international treaties and how they affect domestic policies as well as are affected by the states that participate in it. To this end, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control of the World Health Organization will be analyzed. This treaty, from 2003 and ratified by Brazil in 2005, is a good example, as will be defended in this article, of how the domestic and the international affect eachother and from this contact, national and international policies are formulated. This research will carry out a case study to analyze the disputes that occur in the domestic sphere and are outsourced to the international, in particular in the theme of smoking and tobacco. To this end, the Souza Cruz tobacco industry, the largest in Brazil, will be analyzed from the point of view of its strategies for advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products, while the Conferences of the Parties, which take place every two years between the Member States, seek efficiency in the implementation of the Article 13 guidelines of the Convention, which deals with this theme. The case study aims to map the relationship between industry strategies and reactive actions of the Conferences of the Parties, in order to understand how Member States could achieve tobacco control more quickly and efficiently, without companies finding gaps in national legislations or in the difficulty of monitoring the norms already implemented in the country.