Addiction
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To test the efficacy of the Tobacco Status Project (TSP) Facebook smoking cessation intervention for young adults relative to referral to an on-line program on biochemically verified 7-day abstinence from smoking. ⋯ Compared with referral to a smoking cessation website, a novel USA-focused Facebook smoking cessation intervention did not improve abstinence from smoking over 1 year, but increased abstinence at the end of treatment and was engaging to participants.
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To estimate the impact of existing high-coverage needle and syringe provision (HCNSP, defined as obtaining more than one sterile needle and syringe per injection reported) and opioid substitution therapy (OST) on hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) in three UK settings and to determine required scale-up of interventions, including HCV treatment, needed to reach the World Health Organization (WHO) target of reducing HCV incidence by 90% by 2030. ⋯ Current opioid substitution therapy and high-coverage needle and syringe provision coverage is averting substantial hepatitis C transmission in the United Kingdom. Maintaining this coverage while getting current drug injectors onto treatment can reduce incidence by 90% by 2030.
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Meta Analysis
Diminishing benefit of smoking cessation medications during the first year: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Although smoking cessation medications have shown effectiveness in increasing abstinence in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), it is unclear to what extent benefits persist over time. This paper assesses whether the benefits of smoking cessation medications decline over the first year. ⋯ The proportion of smokers who use smoking cessation medications who benefit from doing so decreases during the course of the first year, but a net benefit still remains at 12 months.
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Unlike tobacco, the effect of marijuana smoke on subclinical atherosclerosis, a surrogate measure for cardiovascular disease, is not known. This study aimed to determine the association between lifetime exposure to marijuana and measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in mid-life. ⋯ Marijuana use appears to be associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, but only among ever tobacco users.