OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of introducing an intervention to address mothers' and fathers' smoking during the postpartum hospitalization. METHODS: During a 14-month period (February 2005 to April 2006), we assessed the smoking status of both parents of all newborns who were delivered at a hospital child birth center. Parents who were current smokers (1 cigarette, even a puff, in past 30 days) or recent quitters (smoked since 1 month before conception) were eligible for the study. Parents were assigned to intervention or usual care control condition on the basis of day of study enrollment. Smoking outcomes were assessed at 3 months by telephone survey and cotinine confirmation; quitline use was assessed at 3 months by using quitline database. RESULTS: A total of 101 (64%) of 159 eligible parents enrolled in the study (n = 53 control subject, n = 48 intervention), including 72 (71%) current smokers and 29 (29%) recent quitters. All parents in the intervention group received the in-hospital counseling session, 94% had a fax sent to a provider, and 36 (75%) accepted quitline enrollment. In an intention-to-treat analysis that included both current smokers and recent quitters, self-reported 7-day abstinence decreased from 31% to 25% among intervention parents versus 38% to 23% among control subjects (effect size 9.4%; nonsignificant). Among current smokers at baseline who were reached at follow-up (n = 36), self-reported 24-hour quit attempts were higher in the intervention group versus control group (64% vs 18%; P = .005), whereas the cotinine-confirmed 7-day abstinence rates at follow-up were 9% in the intervention group and 3% in the control group (nonsignificant). CONCLUSIONS: Enrolling mothers and fathers into tobacco treatment services during the immediate postpartum hospital stay is feasible and seems to stimulate quit attempts. The birth of an infant presents a teachable moment to reach both parents and to provide cessation assistance.
Objective To describe a novel process and present results of formative research to develop a pediatric office intervention that uses available systems of care for addressing parental smoking. Methodology The scientific development of the intervention occurred in three stages. In stage one, we designed an office system for parental tobacco control in the pediatric outpatient setting based on complementary conceptual frameworks of preventive services delivery, conceptualized for the child healthcare setting through a process of key interviews with leaders in the field of implementing practice change; existing Public Health Service guidelines that had been shown effective in adult practices; and adaptation of an evidenced-based adult office system for tobacco control. This was an iterative process that yielded a theoretically framed intervention prototype. In stage two, we performed focus group testing in pediatric practices with pediatricians, nurses, clinical assistants, and key office staff. Using qualitative methods, we adapted the intervention prototype based on this feedback to include five key implementation steps for the child healthcare setting. In stage three, we presented the intervention to breakout groups at two national meetings of pediatric practitioners for further refinements. Results The main result was a theoretically grounded intervention that was responsive to the barriers and suggestions raised in the focus groups and at the national meetings. The CEASE intervention is designed to be flexible and adaptable to the particular practices' staffing, resources, and physical configuration. Practices can choose materials relevant to their own particular systems of care (www.ceasetobacco.org). Conclusions Conceptually-grounded and focus group tested strategies for parental tobacco control are now available for implementation in the pediatric outpatient setting. The tobacco control intervention development process might have particular relevance for other chronic pediatric conditions that have a strong evidence base and have available treatments or resources that are underused.
The Escherichia coli phage integrase protein (Int) belongs to the large Int family of site-specific recombinases. It is a heterobivalent DNA binding protein that makes use of a high energy covalent phosphotyrosine intermediate to catalyze integrative and excisive recombination at specific chromosomal sites (att sites). A 293-amino acid carboxy-terminal fragment of Int (C65) has been cloned, characterized, and used to further dissect the protein. From this we have cloned and characterized a 188-amino acid, proteaseresistant, carboxy-terminal fragment (C170) that we believe is the minimal catalytically competent domain of Int. C170 has topoisomerase activity and converts att suicide substrates to the covalent phosphotyrosine complexes characteristic of recombination intermediates. However, it does not show efficient binding to att site DNA in a native gel shift assay. We propose that Int consists of three functional and structural domains: residues 1-64 specify recognition of ''arm-type'' DNA sequences distant from the region of strand exchange; residues 65-169 contribute to specific recognition of ''coretype'' sequences at the sites of strand exchange and possibly to protein-protein interactions; and residues 170-356 carry out the chemistry of DNA cleavage and ligation. The finding that the active site nucleophile Tyr-342 is in a uniquely protease-sensitive region complements and reinforces the recently solved C170 crystal structure, which places Tyr-342 at the center of a 17-amino acid f lexible loop. It is proposed that C170 is likely to represent a generic Int family domain that thus affords a specific route to studying the chemistry of DNA cleavage and ligation in these recombinases.The Escherichia coli phage integrase protein (Int) belongs to a large family of site-specific DNA recombinases that execute rearrangements between DNA sequences with little or no sequence homology (for reviews see refs. 1-3). This family was initially defined functionally and by the strict conservation of four residues critical for catalysis: Arg-212-His-308-Arg-311-Tyr-342 ( Int numbering) (4, 5). The recent solution of the x-ray crystal structure of the catalytic domain of Int suggests an even higher degree of conservation among the members of the Int family: that they share a common protein fold for the domain that executes the chemistry of DNA cleavage and ligation (6).As first proposed by Campbell (7) Int catalyzes integrative and excisive recombination between pairs of specific DNA target sites, attP͞attB and attL͞attR, respectively. The core of each att sequence consists of two Int binding sites, one at each strand cleavage site, separated by a 7-bp ''overlap region.'' A reciprocal exchange of the ''top'' strands at the left boundary of the overlap region generates a Holliday junction recombination intermediate that is then resolved by exchange of the ''bottom'' strands at the right boundary of the overlap region. During DNA cleavage, a tyrosine hydroxyl attacks the scissile phosphate, nicking the DNA and forming a ...
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