Thanking our 2016 peer reviewers

Abstract

Many review articles and studies submitted to journals are funded by industry. Given the potential for content bias in these submissions, it is of particular importance that these papers be peer reviewed. In a more stringent policy, going forward, we will be asking authors of articles that acknowledge either funding or editorial assistance in manuscript preparation attest to the fact that the articles are not in fact ghost written. Our policy until now has been for authors to acknowledge either sources of funding or the assistance of professional medical writing services contributed to the research and writing of an article. Two articles in this issue deal with cigarette smoking among psychiatric patients, in this case schizophrenic patients, and with the involvement of nicotinic receptors in schizophrenic disorders. Ingrid Bacher, PhD, and colleagues discuss ongoing research into the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, particularly the targeting of nicotinic receptors for therapeutic treatment of mental disorders. This mechanism of neurotransmission is now being used to devise new treatment possibilities for patients. Among the neuropsychiatric disorders for which there is strong evidence of a nicotinic response are schizophrenia, major depressive disorder (MDD), Tourette’s syndrome, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, tobacco dependence, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. Amanda L. Baker, BA (Hons.), and colleagues addresses the clinical problem of trying to get schizophrenic patients to stop smoking. Nicotine dependence among people with a psychotic disorder is ubiquitous and there is a need for comprehensive interventions aimed at smoking cessation and reduction. Many of these patients may be self-medicating. A neuronal nicotinic receptor gene has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia by genetic and pharmacologic studies. Smoking changes the expression of multiple genes and differentially regulates gene expression in schizophrenic hippocampus. Just last month, a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry1 examined the effectiveness of five smoking cessation pharmacotherapies in patients who were not currently psychotic or had a schizophrenia diagnosis. It assessed the relative efficacies of five smoking cessation pharmacotherapy interventions using placebo-controlled, head-to-head comparisons. It involved 1,504 adults who smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day during the past 6 months and reported being motivated to quit smoking. Participants were excluded if they reported using any form of tobacco other than cigarettes, current use of bupropion, or having medical contraindications for any of the study medications. Participants were randomized to one of six treatment conditions: nicotine lozenge, nicotine patch, sustained-release bupropion, nicotine patch plus nicotine lozenge, bupropion plus nicotine lozenge, or placebo. In addition, all participants received six individual counseling sessions. It was found that all pharmacotherapies differed from placebo when examined without protection for multiple comparisons (odds ratios, 1.63–2.34). With such protection, only the nicotine patch plus nicotine lozenge (odds ratio, 2.34, P<.001) produced significantly higher abstinence rates at 6-month postquit than did placebo. The authors concluded that while the nicotine lozenge, bupropion, and bupropion plus lozenge produced effects that were comparable with those reported in previous research, the nicotine patch plus lozenge produced the greatest benefit relative to placebo for smoking cessation.