Based on these needs, the future challenge for epidemiological research and public health include the incorporation of genomics into existing public health programmes [26]. Furthermore, whereas the concept and use of “genetic tests” may not reflect the complexity of most www.selleckchem.com/products/brefeldin-a.html diseases, much more plausible and practicable seems to be the concept and use of “genome-based information”, Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries since it is based on the understanding of genome-environmental interactions changing over time and space within individuals.

In the landscape of Public Health Genomics these two different approaches and ways of thinking can already be observed: whereas institutions such as the Public Health Genomics Foundation (PHGF) in the UK or the Institute of Public Health Genetics in Seattle, USA, focus on the role Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries of genetic tests for public health, other institutions such as the Institute for Public Health Genomics in Maastricht, The Netherlands, the European Centre for Public Health Genomics (ECPHG) or the Public Health Genomics European Network (PHGEN) focus on the role of genome-based health information including information from systems biology, epigenomics and the Personal Genome Project for public health. The potential for genomics to promote public health in case of smoking is a helpful example to illustrate the current usefulness, threats and limitations of these applications. Smoking-induced lung cancer continues to be a major public health concern. However, it is widely known that smoking cessation will lead to a decreased risk of lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease, coronary artery disease, asthma and other smoking-related conditions [46].

For years, cessation programmes targeted the individual smoker with a limited but tangible success. From a public health perspective, societal-level approaches such as bans, taxes and antismoking campaigns showed a more substantial utility. These methods have a dual benefit: they Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries decrease the smoking prevalence, Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries and in the case of smoking bans, they prevent the exposure of vulnerable populations to secondary smoke. The emerging question today is how genomics could augment those public health effects [47]. First of all, genome research can identify genotypes that modulate smoking status, initiation, cessation, quantity and treatment Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries response.

In addition, the discovery of polymorphisms linked to an altered risk Entinostat of lung cancer would be valuable. Secondly, genetic testing could lead to an increased rate of smoking cessation. The first mechanism Carlsten et al proposed for this is that if a smoker is aware of a higher risk of lung cancer, he or she will have a much greater motivation to stop [47]. Furthermore, genetic testing could identify individuals who should be subjected to more intensive cessation programs.

As paradoxical as it may seem, in their review of social marketing effectiveness, Stead and al. have shown that “the more similarities they …[social marketing campaigns] …had with commercial marketing, the more successful they were [11]. Our results also point out that two types of improvement could be considered Belinostat ptcl for future health campaigns. The first one is related to the choice of the media in order to improve the visibility of such a campaign, and the visibility of the organizing institute. To reach young people, the choice of the media is decisive. Maybe more than newspapers, radio spots, SMS and e-mails could be privileged, like it was done in a similar campaign conducted in France [12]. The second possible improvement concerns the structure of the message, designed to reach different social backgrounds equally.

Our results have shown that the campaign was mainly seen in the highest socio-economic group, measured by educational level. This is not very surprising, knowing the fact that the message was simply a sentence, with no visual aids, like an image or a picture that could be more eye-catching and attract people who are less familiar with written messages. If well-prepared and adapted to different socio-economic origins, radio and TV spots could overcome this difficulty. The strategy followed by this campaign was a one-shot through many different media channels, resulting in a higher probability to be exposed to the campaign. But to gain long-term effectiveness and greater dissemination, the messages need to be repeated more often [13].

This strategy is supported by several marketing campaigns [14]. Assuming that individual behaviors can be changed, direct campaigns, i.e. campaigns ad-dressed directly to the public and not aiming to change the political or economic context, such as the one which is described in this paper, represent an important component in health promotion [15]. Voluntary risk-taking could be considered as one of the multiple characteristics of adolescence [16]. Therefore, strategies based on “social norms marketing” are very important but may not always be sufficient to prevent misuse in alcohol or other drugs consumption, especially in the targeted public of adolescents and young adults. In this perspective, other environmental dimensions, like peer pressure, family, culture or work related environment could also be considered in a comprehensive strategy.

Although the problem of substance use disorders in Belgium may be seen as not that impor-tant or widespread as Brefeldin_A in some other developed countries such as the United States or the Middle Americas, statistical evidence from a growing number of epidemiological and clinical studies points to the importance of substance disorders in Belgium. From epidemiological studies it becomes clear that about 8 million Belgians have ever consumed alcohol, about 800,000 cannabis, and 120,000 cocaine [1].