[Training in Addiction Medicine].
[Training in addiction medicine].
Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2013; 157(22): A5751
de Jong CA, Luycks L, Delicat JW
The treatment of addiction is a skill. It not only requires the necessary specialist medical knowledge but a wide range of communication skills as well. Both facets are explicitly covered in the two-year postgraduate program on addiction medicine at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In September 2013, this competency-based full-time training will be offered for the fifth time. HubMed – addiction
Concurrent Use of Khat and Tobacco is Associated with Verbal Learning and Delayed Recall Deficits.
Addiction. 2013 May 28;
Hoffman R, Al’absi M
AIMS: The present study assessed whether cigarette smokers who are also regular khat users would demonstrate greater impairments in verbal learning and recall compared to both non-smokers who are khat users and control subjects. DESIGN: An independent measures, between-subjects design with two co-variates. SETTING: An outpatient, university research center in Taiz, Yemen. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects were 175 Yemeni college students (90 men, 85 women) ranging in age from 18 to 38. Seventy-Five subjects were self-reported chronic cigarette smokers and khat users, 48 non-smoking subjects were self-reported to be chronic khat users and 52 non-smoking subjects reported no current use or history of khat use. MEASUREMENTS: Verbal learning and verbal memory recall was assessed by subject performance on the Arabic version of Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). FINDINGS: There were statistically significant differences (p<0.05) observed in RAVLT acquisition learning Trials 2-5 and on delayed recall measures between concurrent khat and cigarette users compared to both the khat only group and the control group of nonusers of khat and cigarettes. On each of these trials, concurrent users recalled fewer words, demonstrating a slowed rate of verbal learning. This same pattern of performance was also seen on delayed recall measures. Khat use alone did not affect immediate or delayed recall of previously learned words. CONCLUSIONS: Khat users who smoke cigarettes have lower rate of verbal learning and delayed recall of previously learned verbal material than Khat users who do not smoke cigarettes. This may be due to pre-existing differences between these groups of subjects. HubMed – addiction
Impact of tobacco control policies on adolescent smoking: findings from Global Youth Tobacco Survey in Taiwan.
Addiction. 2013 May 28;
Huang SL, Lin IF, Chen CY, Tsai TI
AIMS: To assess the impact of a set of comprehensive tobacco control policies implemented in Taiwan in 2009, including extensive smoke free policy, advertisement ban, pictorial warning, and price increase, on adolescent smoking prevalence. DESIGN: Five waves of cross-sectional surveys. SETTING: Taiwan, 2004-2011. PARTICIPANTS: Nationally representative sample of junior high schools aged 13-15 years, in a biennial survey, total sample size 101,100. MEASURES: Core questionnaire of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, including ever smoking, 30-day smoking, and number of cigarettes smoked. Magnitude of prevalence change before and after the 2009 policy implementation was quantified by adjusted odds ratios estimated by piece-wise logistic regression models. FINDINGS: The 30-day smoking prevalence demonstrated upward trend (OR = 1.06, 95%CI: 1.02-1.10) between 2004 and 2008. Significant decline in 30-day smoking prevalence after the 2009 law implementation was observed (OR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.71-0.99). Those living in non-city areas demonstrated larger magnitude of change. In addition to changes in prevalence, we observed some delay in the age starting smoking, reduction in smokers who smoke fewer than 1 cigarette per day, and decrease in smokers who didn’t buy cigarettes. The decline in smoking prevalence was contributed primarily by the reduction in experimenters. CONCLUSION: The comprehensive tobacco control programme introduced in Taiwan in 2009 was associated with a reduction in adolescent smoking, particularly among those in earlier stages of smoking and those who resided in non-city areas. HubMed – addiction