Citations

Abstract Over the past 20 years, tobacco prevention and cessation efforts have evolved to keep pace with the changing tobacco product landscape and the widespread adoption of digital technologies. In 2019, Truth Initiative was awarded the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Jessie Gruman Award for Health Engagement in recognition of the major role it has played on both fronts since its inception in 1999. This manuscript reviews the challenges and opportunities that have emerged over the past two decades, the evolving tactics deployed by Truth Initiative to engage people in tobacco prevention and cessation efforts, the approaches used to evaluate those efforts, and key achievements. It concludes with a summary of lessons learned and considerations for tobacco control researchers and practitioners to accelerate their impact on public health.

Abstract Introduction The prevalence of smoking among Somali Muslim male immigrants residing in Minnesota is estimated at 44%, however smoking reduction is common during the month of Ramadan. This study evaluated the feasibility and impact of a religiously tailored text message intervention delivered during Ramadan to encourage smoking reduction among Somali Muslim men who smoke. Methods Fifty Somali men were recruited. Participants received two text messages per day starting 1 week prior to and throughout the month of Ramadan. Approximately half were religiously tailored and half were about the risks of smoking and benefits of quitting. Smoking behavior was assessed at baseline, and at weeks 4 (end of Ramadan), 8, and 16. Outcomes included feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the text message intervention on smoking reduction and bioverified abstinence. Results The average age was 41 years. Average time to first cigarette was 1.8 hours at baseline, and 46% of participants smoked menthol cigarettes. Eighteen of 50 participants selected English and 32 selected Somali text messages. Subjects significantly reduced self-reported cigarettes per day (CPD) from 12.4 CPD at baseline to 5.8 CPD at week 16 (p < 0.001). Seven subjects reported quitting at week 16, five completed CO testing, confirming self-reported abstinence. The majority of participants found the cultural and religious references encouraging at the end of the week 16 survey. Conclusions Religiously tailored text messages to decrease smoking are feasible and acceptable to Somali Muslim men who smoke during Ramadan. This intervention for addressing smoking disparities is worthy of further study. Implications Recruitment of Somali Muslim men who smoke is feasible and supports the idea that further studies targeting smoking during Ramadan are practical. Ramadan presents a window of opportunity upon which to build smoking cessation interventions for smokers who identify as Muslim. These preliminary findings suggest that text messaging is a feasible and acceptable intervention strategy, and that religious tailoring was well received. Such an approach may offer potential for addressing smoking disparities among Somali Muslim male smokers. Trial Registration ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT03379142

17077 Background: The overall 5-yr survival for the treatment of lung cancer patients is less than 20% due to the inability to control metastatic disease. Methods: To identify genes that promote the development of metastases in NSCLC and other solid tumors, we first performed three separate microarray analyses using Affymetrix U133A chips whereby expression values of a pool of normal lymph nodes was compared to: lung cancer cell lines (n = 4), and metastatic lymph nodes from breast (n = 3) and pancreatic (n = 3) cancer patients. Separate lists of the 35 most highly overexpressed genes for each cancer type were compiled. Results: We observed that each list contained EpCAM, XAG, CK19, and CK8 (p = 1.1E-18). To search for genes that might regulate expression of these four genes, we queried the CGAP NCI60 gene expression database with the 87 genes contained on the three lists and constructed a connectivity map such that the presence of a gene on the map required: 1) high correlation (p < 8.0E-6) with at least two other genes, and 2), direct or indirect contact to EpCAM or XAG. The map contained two gene clusters (XAG cluster = 6 genes; EpCAM/CK19/CK8 cluster = 7 genes) that were connected to, and potentially regulated by, the Ets transcriptional factor Esx. Genes from both clusters, as well as Esx, were highly overexpressed in metastatic mediastianal lymph nodes obtained from NSCLC patients. To investigate whether Esx might regulate expression of one or more genes in the two clusters, we transfected an NSCLC cell line derived from lymph node metastases with siRNA to Esx and observed: 1) a reduction in expression of EpCAM (4-fold), XAG (7-fold), and the orphan nuclear receptor ESRRα (1,000-fold), and 2), an inhibition of cell growth. Conclusions: Based on our ability to simultaneously inhibit cell growth and expression of multiple metastasis-associated genes with a single siRNA, we conclude that Esx is a major regulator of lymph node metastasis. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Although surgical patients who smoke could benefit from perioperative abstinence, few currently receive support. This pilot study determined the feasibility and acceptability of a perioperative text messaging smoking cessation program. One hundred patients (73% of eligible patients approached) enrolled in a surgery-specific messaging service, receiving 1–3 daily messages about smoking and surgical recovery for 30 days. Only 17 patients unenrolled, the majority responded to prompting messages, and satisfaction with the program was high. Surgical patients are amenable to text message–based interventions; a future efficacy trial of text messaging smoking cessation support in surgical patients is warranted.