Prevalence and Correlates of Receiving Cigarettes as Gifts and Selecting Preferred Brand Because It Was Gifted: Findings from the ITC China Survey

Background: Giving cigarettes as gifts is a common practice in China, but there have been few systematic studies of this practice. The present study was designed to estimate the incidence of receiving cigarettes as gifts, correlates of this practice, and its impact on brand selection in a representative sample of urban adult smokers in China. Methods: Data were analyzed from Wave 2 of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) China Survey, where 4843 adult urban smokers were interviewed in six major Chinese cities between October 2007 and January 2008. The incidence of most recent cigarette acquisition due to gifting and the prevalence of preferred brand selection due to having received it as a gift were estimated. Bivariate and adjusted logistic regression models were estimated to identify factors associated with these two outcomes. Results: The incidence of receiving cigarettes as a gift at most recent cigarette acquisition was 3.5%. Smokers who received these gifted cigarettes were more likely to be female, older, have higher educational attainment, live in Beijing, and smoke fewer cigarettes per day. The prevalence of choosing one’s preferred brand due to having received it as a gift was 7.0%, and this was more likely among smokers who lived in Beijing and Guangzhou, had lower educational attainment, smoked less frequently, and had smoked their preferred brand for less than one year. Conclusions: The 3.5% incidence of one’s most recent cigarette acquisition due to gifting is consistent with prevalence estimates based on longer reference periods and translates into the average smoker receiving a gift of cigarettes approximately five times a year. Gifting also appears to have a significant influence on brand preference. Tobacco control interventions in China may need to denormalize the practice of giving cigarettes as gifts in order to decrease the social acceptability of smokin

Prevalence and Correlates of Receiving Cigarettes as Gifts and Selecting Preferred Brand Because It Was Gifted: Findings from the ITC China Survey

Background: Giving cigarettes as gifts is a common practice in China, but there have been few systematic studies of this practice. The present study was designed to estimate the incidence of receiving cigarettes as gifts, correlates of this practice, and its impact on brand selection in a representative sample of urban adult smokers in China. Methods: Data were analyzed from Wave 2 of the International Tobacco Control (ITC) China Survey, where 4843 adult urban smokers were interviewed in six major Chinese cities between October 2007 and January 2008. The incidence of most recent cigarette acquisition due to gifting and the prevalence of preferred brand selection due to having received it as a gift were estimated. Bivariate and adjusted logistic regression models were estimated to identify factors associated with these two outcomes. Results: The incidence of receiving cigarettes as a gift at most recent cigarette acquisition was 3.5%. Smokers who received these gifted cigarettes were more likely to be female, older, have higher educational attainment, live in Beijing, and smoke fewer cigarettes per day. The prevalence of choosing one’s preferred brand due to having received it as a gift was 7.0%, and this was more likely among smokers who lived in Beijing and Guangzhou, had lower educational attainment, smoked less frequently, and had smoked their preferred brand for less than one year. Conclusions: The 3.5% incidence of one’s most recent cigarette acquisition due to gifting is consistent with prevalence estimates based on longer reference periods and translates into the average smoker receiving a gift of cigarettes approximately five times a year. Gifting also appears to have a significant influence on brand preference. Tobacco control interventions in China may need to denormalize the practice of giving cigarettes as gifts in order to decrease the social acceptability of smokin

Assessment and Etiology of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Boys and Girls

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) are more common in boys than girls. In this paper, we investigated whether the prevalence differences are attributable to measurement bias. In addition, we examined sex differences in the genetic and environmental influences on variation in these behaviors. Teachers completed the Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised:Short version (CTRS-R:S) in a sample of 800 male and 851 female 7-year-old Dutch twins. No sex differences in the factor structure of the CTRS-R:S were found, implying the absence of measurement bias. The heritabilities for both ADHD and ODD were high and were the same in boys and girls. However, partly different genes are expressed in boys and girls

Methylphenidate Decreased the Amount of Glucose Needed by the Brain to Perform a Cognitive Task

The use of stimulants (methylphenidate and amphetamine) as cognitive enhancers by the general public is increasing and is controversial. It is still unclear how they work or why they improve performance in some individuals but impair it in others. To test the hypothesis that stimulants enhance signal to noise ratio of neuronal activity and thereby reduce cerebral activity by increasing efficiency, we measured the effects of methylphenidate on brain glucose utilization in healthy adults. We measured brain glucose metabolism (using Positron Emission Tomography and 2-deoxy-2[18F]fluoro-D-glucose) in 23 healthy adults who were tested at baseline and while performing an accuracy-controlled cognitive task (numerical calculations) given with and without methylphenidate (20 mg, oral). Sixteen subjects underwent a fourth scan with methylphenidate but without cognitive stimulation. Compared to placebo methylphenidate significantly reduced the amount of glucose utilized by the brain when performing the cognitive task but methylphenidate did not affect brain metabolism when given without cognitive stimulation. Whole brain metabolism when the cognitive task was given with placebo increased 21% whereas with methylphenidate it increased 11% (50% less). This reflected both a decrease in magnitude of activation and in the regions activated by the task. Methylphenidate's reduction of the metabolic increases in regions from the default network (implicated in mind-wandering) was associated with improvement in performance only in subjects who activated these regions when the cognitive task was given with placebo. These results corroborate prior findings that stimulant medications reduced the magnitude of regional activation to a task and in addition document a “focusing” of the activation. This effect may be beneficial when neuronal resources are diverted (i.e., mind-wandering) or impaired (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), but it could be detrimental when brain activity is already optimally focused. This would explain why methylphenidate has beneficial effects in some individuals and contexts and detrimental effects in others

Volume-based solvation models out-perform area-based models in combined studies of wild-type and mutated protein-protein interfaces

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Empirical binding models have previously been investigated for the energetics of protein complexation (ΔG models) and for the influence of mutations on complexation (i.e. differences between wild-type and mutant complexes, ΔΔG models). We construct binding models to directly compare these processes, which have generally been studied separately.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although reasonable fit models were found for both ΔG and ΔΔG cases, they differ substantially. In a dataset curated for the absence of mainchain rearrangement upon binding, non-polar area burial is a major determinant of ΔG models. However this ΔG model does not fit well to the data for binding differences upon mutation. Burial of non-polar area is weighted down in fitting of ΔΔG models. These calculations were made with no repacking of sidechains upon complexation, and only minimal packing upon mutation. We investigated the consequences of more extensive packing changes with a modified mean-field packing scheme. Rather than emphasising solvent exposure with relatively extended sidechains, rotamers are selected that exhibit maximal packing with protein. This provides solvent accessible areas for proteins that are much closer to those of experimental structures than the more extended sidechain regime. The new packing scheme increases changes in non-polar burial for mutants compared to wild-type proteins, but does not substantially improve agreement between ΔG and ΔΔG binding models.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that solvent accessible area, based on modelled mutant structures, is a poor correlate for ΔΔG upon mutation. A simple volume-based, rather than solvent accessibility-based, model is constructed for ΔG and ΔΔG systems. This shows a more consistent behaviour. We discuss the efficacy of volume, as opposed to area, approaches to describe the energetic consequences of mutations at interfaces. This knowledge can be used to develop simple computational screens for binding in comparative modelled interfaces.</p

Mapping genomic loci implicates genes and synaptic biology in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has a heritability of 60-80%1, much of which is attributable to common risk alleles. Here, in a two-stage genome-wide association study of up to 76,755 individuals with schizophrenia and 243,649 control individuals, we report common variant associations at 287 distinct genomic loci. Associations were concentrated in genes that are expressed in excitatory and inhibitory neurons of the central nervous system, but not in other tissues or cell types. Using fine-mapping and functional genomic data, we identify 120 genes (106 protein-coding) that are likely to underpin associations at some of these loci, including 16 genes with credible causal non-synonymous or untranslated region variation. We also implicate fundamental processes related to neuronal function, including synaptic organization, differentiation and transmission. Fine-mapped candidates were enriched for genes associated with rare disruptive coding variants in people with schizophrenia, including the glutamate receptor subunit GRIN2A and transcription factor SP4, and were also enriched for genes implicated by such variants in neurodevelopmental disorders. We identify biological processes relevant to schizophrenia pathophysiology; show convergence of common and rare variant associations in schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental disorders; and provide a resource of prioritized genes and variants to advance mechanistic studies

Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes journaltitle: Cell articlelink: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.046 content_type: article copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Inc

Choline transporter: an additional marker of cholinergic nerves in the enteric nervous system

Purpose: The cholinergic circuitry of the enteric nervous system (ENS) is labelled using antibodies against molecules involved in acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis and release. A new component of ACh synthesis, the high affinity choline transporter (CHT), which is essential in the uptake of choline into cholinergic nerves, has been isolated and cloned. Recently, antiserum against CHT has been used in the central nervous system to label cholinergic nerves, but has not been located in the ENS. The aim of this study was to localise CHT immunoreactivity (IR) within rat and human intestine and determine if CHT colocalised with other cholinergic markers in the ENS. Methods: Segments of rat (n = 3) ileum and colon and human paediatric (n = 3) colon were fixed, prepared for sections and wholemounts and incubated with antisera against the full length human CHT sequence, followed by a fluorescent secondary antibody. Tissue was double labelled using antibodies to neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), common choline acetyltransferase (cChAT), substance P (SP) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). Colocalisation was quantitated in 3 confocal images from each segment. Results: In human and rat intestine, CHT-IR was present in nerve fibres in the circular muscle and myenteric ganglia and in myenteric nerve cell bodies. In human colon, CHT-IR was present in almost all VAChT-IR cholinergic nerve fibres in the circular muscle and myenteric ganglia. In contrast, in the rat only 56% of circular muscle VAChT-IR nerve fibres were CHT-IR, with this accounting for 79% of CHT-IR nerve fibres. In the myenteric ganglia, 48% of VAChT-IR nerve fibres were CHT-IR, accounting for 50% of CHT-IR nerve fibres. Surprisingly, no CHT-IR nerve cell bodies were cChAT-IR. Yet, 40% of CHT-IR nerve cell bodies were SP-IR (tachykinergic), accounting for 12% of SP-IR nerve cell bodies. In both species, there was little localisation of CHT-IR in nitrergic NOSIR inhibitory nerve fibres. Conclusions: In human paediatric colon, there was almost complete colocalisation of CHT-IR and VAChT-IR in nerve fibres in the circular muscle and myenteric ganglia. Therefore the CHT antisera would be useful for studying the enteric cholinergic circuitry in human intestine and complimentary to currently used labels. In rat, CHT-IR identified VAChT-IR positive, VAChT-IR negative nerve fibres and cChAT-IR negative cell bodies. This result suggests the antibody does not bind to all the cholinergic circuitry identified by cChAT-IR or VAChT-IR. Further studies are needed to determine if the CHT antibody is specifically labelling cholinergic nerves in the rat.Andrea M. Harrington, Margaret Lee, Sim-Yee Ong, Eric Yong, Pam Farmer, John M. Hutson and Bridget R. Southwel

Patients with coronary artery disease had high prevalanece of colorectal cancer and adenoma: END-results of metabolic syndrome and smoking

Background: Our previous study showed an association between colorectal neoplasm (CN) and coronary artery disease (CAD), probably due to sharing of common risk factors. Aim: To investigate the prevalence of CN in patients with and without CAD in those aged ≥50 years prospectively and to identify the underlying risk factors. Methods: Patients were recruited for screening colonoscopy after undergoing coronary angiography. They were defined as CAD+ (n=206) if ≥50% diameter stenosis was observed in any one of the major coronary arteries, and CAD- (n=208) if not. A second age and sex matched control group was recruited from the general population (n=207). The prevalence of colonic lesions and underlying risk factors was compared by Pearson chi-square test. A bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to adjust for age and sex and to identify independent risk factors. Results: The prevalence of the lesions in the CAD+, CAD- and general population group were 40.3%, 28.8%, and 32.9% (p=0.045) for endoscopic polyp, 34.0%, 18.8%, and 20.8% (p<0.0001) for CN, 18.4%, 8.7%, and 5.8% (p<0.00001) for advanced lesion, and 4.4%, 0.5%, and 1.4% (p=0.014) for cancer, respectively. All except one cancers were detected at early stage. After adjusting for age and sex, smoking history (OR: 4.74, CI: 1.38 to 19) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 5.99; CI: 1.43 to 28.0) were independent factors for the coexistence of CAD and advanced lesion. Conclusion: Life style modification is important to prevent the development of both CAD and advanced colonic lesions simultaneously. CAD+ is a surrogate marker for high prevalence of CN, necessitating immediate colonoscopy screening.link_to_subscribed_fulltex