Compliance With Legal Age Restrictions on Adolescent Alcohol Sales for Alcohol Home Delivery Services (AHDS)

Purpose: Alcohol availability is an important predictor of alcohol use in adolescents and its negative consequences. Within this study, we zoomed in on availability through alcohol home delivery services (AHDS) by measuring compliance with the legal age limit in this sector. Methods: Two methods were used: (1) mystery shopping in which 21 underage AHDS beer orders were placed and received and (2) mystery calls in which 30 AHDS were called and questioned. Results: In the mystery shopping study, all 21 deliveries were approved and executed by the AHDS (compliance 0%). Within the mystery calls, 23 AHDS said they would not sell alcohol to 15-year-olds (76.7% self-reported compliance), but 19 of them approved secondary purchasing. In total, self-reported compliance was only found in 4 out of the 30 AHDS (13.3%). Conclusions: In addition to supermarkets, liquor stores, and the catering industry, AHDS should not be overlooked. Low (or no) compliance with age limits in AHDS is a weak link in the system of underage alcohol availabilit

CDK19 is disrupted in a female patient with bilateral congenital retinal folds, microcephaly and mild mental retardation

Microcephaly, mental retardation and congenital retinal folds along with other systemic features have previously been reported as a separate clinical entity. The sporadic nature of the syndrome and lack of clear inheritance patterns pointed to a genetic heterogeneity. Here, we report a genetic analysis of a female patient with microcephaly, congenital bilateral falciform retinal folds, nystagmus, and mental retardation. Karyotyping revealed a de novo pericentric inversion in chromosome 6 with breakpoints in 6p12.1 and 6q21. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis narrowed down the region around the breakpoints, and the breakpoint at 6q21 was found to disrupt the CDK19 gene. CDK19 was found to be expressed in a diverse range of tissues including fetal eye and fetal brain. Quantitative PCR of the CDK19 transcript from Epstein–Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines of the patient revealed ~50% reduction in the transcript (p = 0.02), suggesting haploinsufficiency of the gene. cdk8, the closest orthologue of human CDK19 in Drosophila has been shown to play a major role in eye development. Conditional knock-down of Drosophila cdk8 in multiple dendrite (md) neurons resulted in 35% reduced dendritic branching and altered morphology of the dendritic arbour, which appeared to be due in part to a loss of small higher order branches. In addition, Cdk8 mutant md neurons showed diminished dendritic fields revealing an important role of the CDK19 orthologue in the developing nervous system of Drosophila. This is the first time the CDK19 gene, a component of the mediator co-activator complex, has been linked to a human disease

Does testosterone affect emotional perception after social approach-avoidance?

Testosterone may promote approach-related behaviors by modulating sensitivity to social threat. In humans, testosterone increases amygdala activation to angry facial expressions, specifically when threat approach is required. As both increased and decreased threat detection after testosterone administration have been reported, we aim to contribute to the discussion by sharing additional results, i.e., perception ratings, from our previously published findings. Here, a single dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone increased amygdala activation during threat approach, and decreased it during threat avoidance. After the MRI session, about 5 hours post-administration, participants rated their emotional perception of the faces to which they had made approach and avoidance actions in the social approach-avoidance task

Testosterone biases the amygdala toward social threat approach

Testosterone enhances amygdala reactions to social threat, but it remains unclear whether this neuroendocrine mechanism is relevant for understanding its dominance-enhancing properties; namely, whether testosterone biases the human amygdala toward threat approach. This pharmacological functional magnetic-resonance imaging study shows that testosterone administration increases amygdala responses in healthy women during threat approach and decreases it during threat avoidance. These findings support and extend motivational salience models by offering a neuroendocrine mechanism of motivation-specific amygdala tuning