University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: 2014 Articles

Adult Cigarette Smoking Rate Overall Hits All-time Low

Adult Cigarette Smoking Rate Overall Hits All-time Low

UW-CTRI Prepares to Launch BREATHE Study

UW-CTRI is making final preparations to roll out its primary research study, Breaking Addiction to Tobacco for Health (BREATHE). This center grant study is set to launch January 20 at the Dean Health Care clinic in Janesville and the Aurora Health Care clinic at Sinai Hospital in Milwaukee. BREATHE staff are preparing many aspects of this …

Researchers Hope to Further Link Genetics to Quit-Smoking Treatments

Could a doctor someday use a smoker’s genetics to tailor treatments? We’re not there yet, but researchers are working on it, if only in the early stages. Dr. Li-Shiun Chen of Washington University in St. Louis is leading a clinical trial, funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, that: UW-CTRI Research …

Schlam Receives Research Award

UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Tanya Schlam has been named a recipient of the 2014 William E. Scheckler Award for outstanding research. This award was established by the faculty council of the Department of Family Medicine in 1994, in honor of Dr. Scheckler’s contributions to the promotion of scholarly activity in the Department. Schlam’s project, “Preschoolers’ Delay of Gratification Predicts Their Body …

UW-CTRI Outreach Team Hosts Days of Learning Across Wisconsin

(Above, from left) UW-CTRI Director Dr. Michael Fiore and Outreach Specialists Allison Gorrilla and Amy Skora discuss how to help patients quit tobacco use during the Days of Learning event October 7 at Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha. UW-CTRI researchers and outreach staff shared the latest news, evidence, and best practices on how to help …

Study: Web Site Works Best As Stand-Alone Intervention to Help Patients Quit Smoking

When it comes to helping people quit smoking, more isn’t always better. UW-CTRI researchers have found that Smokefree.gov significantly helped patients quit smoking, but this effect was reduced when patients visiting the site also received periodic e-mail messages from the study. “We hypothesized that this might be due to a degree of annoyance or fatigue felt by …

Anhedonia Could Be Key to Unlocking Tobacco Addiction

It may not be that feeling sad directly leads to failed quit attempts, but rather a pervasive inability to experience pleasure surrounding life activities that one normally enjoys, according to a paper recently published in the Journal of Consulting Clinical Psychology. The paper, based on UW-CTRI data from the Wisconsin Smokers’ Health Study (WSHS), revealed that clinical attention …

Piper Becomes Associate Director of Research

Megan Piper, PhD, has been promoted to associate director of research at UW-CTRI. Dr. Piper is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine. Her research focuses on understanding and treating tobacco dependence, with an additional interest in different populations of smokers who have more difficulty quitting, such as women and smokers with mental illness. …

Genetics Research: Meds Can Help Smokers Overcome Risk Factors to Quit

Could a doctor someday use a smoker’s genetics to tailor treatments? We’re not there yet, but researchers are working on it, if only in the early stages. Dr. Li-Shiun Chen of Washington University in St. Louis is leading a clinical trial, funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, that: UW-CTRI Research …

Some Veterans Who Smoke Mistakenly Believe It Relieves PTSD

UW-CTRI Researcher Jessica Cook is a co-author on a published paper concluding that many troops smoke because they believe nicotine will greatly alleviate their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, when in actuality smoking makes them worse long-term. This misguided belief makes troops with severe PTSD less likely to think they can handle life without cigarettes, …