AUG/SEPT 2005
Volume 11 - No. 3

SRNT Newsletter

Aug/Sept 2005, Volume 11, Number 3

In the Spotlight

The Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal's April issue was devoted to the role of pharmacists in smoking cessation. The table of contents of that issue, with links to the articles, is at the following link: Click Here

Effective July 1, 2005, SRNT Past-President Ken Warner became Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Judith Prochaska, Ph.D., M.P.H., has received a K23 mentored career award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for a study titled Treating Tobacco Dependence in Inpatient Psychiatry. The study focuses on evaluation of the efficacy of an expert system intervention plus nicotine replacement for treating tobacco dependence among psychiatric patients hospitalized on a smoke-free unit. Sharon Hall, Ph.D., serves as the primary mentor.

Ann McNeill has joined the www.treatobacco.net management team. This year is an important one for treatobacco as it seeks to establish itself as a key resource on treatment as the FCTC is implemented. Ann will work mainly on scientific and management issues and start in earnest in September. The www.treatobacco.net project was started by the WHO Europe Partnership Project with a grant from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Novartis Consumer Healthcare and Pharmacia. It is currently supported by the American Cancer Society, National Institute on Drug Abuse (US), French Cancer League, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline. The www.treatobacco.net website was created to serve as a vehicle to provide information of value to policy makers, researchers, clinicians, teachers, and anyone else needing information they can trust on the treatment of tobacco dependence. It is managed by SRNT and is unique in presenting independent, evidence based information on tobacco dependence treatment that is free and available in 11 languages. The core scientific information is in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Since records began in 2003 there have been over 78,673 visits to the site from over 38 countries. From January to April 2005, visits have more than doubled (i.e., from about 125 visits per day last year to about 300 per day now). The site is organized into five sections — efficacy, safety, demographics and health effects, health economics, and policy — each chaired by a world expert. Each section has three levels: key findings, commentary, and supporting evidence. References with links to original sources are included whenever possible. Information is available in downloadable PowerPoint slide kits which can be used as they are, or adapted for teaching and other uses. The site also has a resource library which includes key guidelines and reports, and links to useful websites. For ease of use, some of the key links are available directly from the homepage. To assure authority and independence, the core scientific information is added to www.treatobacco.net after review by an independent editorial board chaired by Ron Davis, retired head of the US Office on Smoking and Health and past editor of Tobacco Control. The independence, authority, and languages of www.treatobacco.net make it well placed to become the resource people turn to when they want trustworthy information about tobacco dependence treatment. Key contacts: Co-manager, Martin Raw, martin@rawdata.demon.co.uk ; Chair, Dorothy Hatsukami, hatsu001@tc.umn.edu.

University of Michigan Conference participants (L to R):
Margit Burmeister, Ovide Pomerleau, Sharon Kardia, Gary Swan, Pamela Madden, Ken Warner, and Jeffrey Long

On June 9, 2005, the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network and the American Legacy Foundation sponsored a conference on Identifying Genes for Smoking and Nicotine Dependence: Is it Feasible and Worthwhile? Ken Warner welcomed the panelists; Ovide Pomerleau provided an overview of the conference aims and served as moderator. Pamela Madden (Washington University) presented findings from twin studies on the heritability of smoking phenotypes, suggesting that about 50% of the variability in nicotine dependence may be due to additive genetic effects. Jeffrey Long (University of Michigan) reviewed findings on how research on polygenic epistatic conditions can best be accomplished. Margit Burmeister (University of Michigan) discussed methodological issues in identifying candidate genes, and Gary Swan (Stanford Research Institute) provided a commentary on the issues involved in understanding interactions between environment, phenotype, and genotype. Sharon Kardia (University of Michigan) integrated the conference themes afterwards, arguing for "genomic compassion" and stimulating a lively open discussion thereafter.

You may recall that the last issue of the SRNT Newsletter included a summary of the Pre-Conference on Global Tobacco Control, held at SRNT's 11th Annual Meeting and 7th Annual European Conference, this past March in Prague. Ken Ward (University of Memphis) and the Global Tobacco Research Network have graciously posted the Pre-Conference speakers' slide sets on their website, which can be accessed at http://www.tobaccoresearch.net/PPTs.htm .

Bob Vollinger of the NCI Tobacco Control Research Branch (TCRB; http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/tcrb ) and Brenda McAdams Motsinger of the North Carolina DHHS served as Senior Scientific Editors for the newest NCI Monograph (No. 16), entitled ASSIST: Shaping the Future of Tobacco Prevention and Control. In addition, Bob authored or co-authored four of the chapters, and Brenda was involved in writing some of the chapters, as well. A recent issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin includes an article on the monograph (see www.cancer.gov/NCICancerBulletin/NCI_Cancer_Bulletin_061405). The full monograph can be accessed online at dccps.nci.nih.gov/tcrb/monographs/16/index.html.

The Tobacco Dependence Program of the School of Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, along with the Certification Board, Inc., are proud to offer an intensive 5-Day training for health professionals who want to learn how to provide effective tobacco dependence treatment for their patients. The training will be held October 17 _ 21, 2005. This training is based on the US Public Health Service Guidelines for Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence and provides attendees with the knowledge and skills required to meet the core competencies for tobacco dependence treatment specialists per the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence. Health professionals will gain a basic understanding of Tobacco Dependence as well as the latest evidence-based treatment methods. Participants will learn how to assess nicotine dependence, conduct treatment planning, and deliver face-to-face treatment, including counseling and the use of medications. Participants will leave the training feeling competent to address their patient's tobacco use and aid them in quitting. Participants are required to fulfill 36 hours of in-classroom instruction along with 6 hours of case study related work before they can apply for certification as a specialist. For more information and registration, please go to our website at: www.tobaccoprogram.org. For general questions regarding this training and registration, please contact Joan Maurer at 732-235-8212 or email her at joan.maurer@umdnj.edu. If you would like our program to tailor a training to meet your specific needs, please contact Patricia Repetto at 732-235-8215 or email Patricia.Repetto@umdnj.edu . Register soon, places are limited.

The Tobacco Dependence Program of School of Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey is also offering another upcoming event: On September 29, they are sponsoring a National Conference on Tobacco, Comorbidity, and Stigma, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, NJ. The aim of this conference is to identify groups whose tobacco dependence has not been properly addressed because of the stigma associated with their illness, be that a smoking-caused illness (e.g. lung cancer), an illness that frequently co-occurs with tobacco use (e.g. another addiction or mental health problem), or simply the stigma associated with being a tobacco user (e.g. smoking while pregnant). The conference will focus on (a) the specific public health issues involved in tobacco use among stigmatized groups; (b) implementing tailored clinical interventions for these groups of smokers; and (c) developing interventions to increase access and utilization of tobacco dependence treatment for these groups. For more information and registration, please go to www.tobaccoprogram.org.

The WATCH (World Assemblies on Tobacco Counters Health) is a registered, non profit, non -governmental organization, dealing with promotion of efforts that shall lead to reduction of human health burden due to tobacco related diseases/ disorders and ensuring optimal quality of life using academic, scientific, and humanitarian means. It aims to merge and homogenize the inputs at both basic and applied levels emerging from sister and rival disciplines including but not restricted to public health, oncology, cardiology, pulmonology, child and maternal welfare, adolescent health, and social, legal, and industrial issues, with a view to counter the major on-thrust by the tobacco empire and to give our present and future generation a Life sans Nicotine, which, when used, does what it is meant to do. It kills.

WATCH is governed by a group of dedicated health professionals from academia, belonging to different fields and located in different countries, with background knowledge and research experience in various areas of human health hazards caused by tobacco use. It is managed at a macro level by its councilors and at a micro level by its coordinators. Over the past 7 years, in addition to many small but significant projects carried by its members, WATCH has contributed at a global level by holding three international meetings with special emphases for poor and underdeveloped countries in Africa and South East Asia, by subsidizing the cost of participation from poor countries, and by bringing them in personal contact with world leaders during the scientific deliberations. The 2005 4th WATCH plans to cover the latest developments during deliberations spread over 17 symposia, 15 paper sessions, and six poster sessions.

Day 1: Human health benefits of smoking reduction and cessation, modern management of de-addiction, and psycho-social aspects
Day 2: Tobacco-induced diseases in cardiology, pulmonology, oncology, oral cancers, women's health, and pregnancy
Day 3: Education and awareness, including basic and applied research in substance abuse and harm reduction
Day 4: The role of the media, litigation, censorship and human rights
Day 5: Two open plenary sessions of 90 minutes each, covering:
(i) An overview the proceedings of the previous days,
(ii)Evidence -based interactive discussion as to how harmful tobacco is to human health in view of the judgment of Lord Nimmo and his views on advertising, health warnings, addiction and responsibility

The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3rd WATCH were held in December 2000, September 2002, and March 2004, respectively. For an overview please click Prehistory at www.watch-2000.org.

Nicotine & Tobacco Research recently issued a supplement entitled Addressing Tobacco in Managed Care. The complete supplement is available on two websites: www.ntrjournal.org and www.rwjf.org. If you would like a hard copy, please contact Gloria Meyer at 608-265-4447 or email her at GKM@medicine.wisc.edu.