Charles Black\u27s Rediscovery of the Ninth Amendment, and What He Found There

A Review of Decision According to Law by Charles L. Black, Jr

The (co-)occurrence of problematic video gaming, substance use, and psychosocial problems in adolescents

Aims. The current study explored the nature of problematic (addictive) video gaming and the association with game type, psychosocial health, and substance use. Methods. Data were collected using a paper and pencil survey in the classroom setting. Three samples were aggregated to achieve a total sample of 8478 unique adolescents. Scales included measures of game use, game type, the Video game Addiction Test (VAT), depressive mood, negative self-esteem, loneliness, social anxiety, education performance, and use of cannabis, alcohol and nicotine (smoking). Results. Findings confirmed problematic gaming is most common amongst adolescent gamers who play multiplayer online games. Boys (60%) were more likely to play online games than girls (14%) and problematic gamers were more likely to be boys (5%) than girls (1%). High problematic gamers showed higher scores on depressive mood, loneliness, social anxiety, negative self-esteem, and self-reported lower school performance. Nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis using boys were almost twice more likely to report high PVG than non-users. Conclusions. It appears that online gaming in general is not necessarily associated with problems. However, problematic gamers do seem to play online games more often, and a small subgroup of gamers – specifically boys – showed lower psychosocial functioning and lower grades. Moreover, associations with alcohol, nicotine, and cannabis use are found. It would appear that problematic gaming is an undesirable problem for a small subgroup of gamers. The findings encourage further exploration of the role of psychoactive substance use in problematic gaming

Loneliness and Social Internet Use: Pathways to Reconnection in a Digital World?

With the rise of online social networking, social relationships are increasingly developed and maintained in a digital domain. Drawing conclusions about the impact of the digital world on loneliness is difficult because there are contradictory findings, and cross-sectional studies dominate the literature, making causation difficult to establish. In this review, we present our theoretical model and propose that there is a bidirectional and dynamic relationship between loneliness and social Internet use. When the Internet is used as a way station on the route to enhancing existing relationships and forging new social connections, it is a useful tool for reducing loneliness. But when social technologies are used to escape the social world and withdraw from the “social pain” of interaction, feelings of loneliness are increased. We propose that loneliness is also a determinant of how people interact with the digital world. Lonely people express a preference for using the Internet for social interaction and are more likely to use the Internet in a way that displaces time spent in offline social activities. This suggests that lonely people may need support with their social Internet use so that they employ it in a way that enhances existing friendships and/or to forge new ones

Anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) in rheumatoid arthritis: influence of an interaction between HLA-DRB1 shared epitope and a deletion polymorphism in glutathione s-transferase in a cross-sectional study

Abstract Introduction A deletion polymorphism in glutathione S-transferase Mu-1 (GSTM1-null) has previously been implicated to play a role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk and progression, although no prior investigations have examined its associations with anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) positivity. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of GSTM1-null with ACPA positivity in RA and to assess for evidence of interaction between GSTM1 and HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE). Methods Associations of GSTM1-null with ACPA positivity were examined separately in two RA cohorts, the Veterans Affairs Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry (n = 703) and the Study of New-Onset RA (SONORA; n = 610). Interactions were examined by calculating an attributable proportion (AP) due to interaction. Results A majority of patients in the VARA registry (76%) and SONORA (69%) were positive for ACPA with a similar frequency of GSTM1-null (53% and 52%, respectively) and HLA-DRB1 SE positivity (76% and 71%, respectively). The parameter of patients who had ever smoked was more common in the VARA registry (80%) than in SONORA (65%). GSTM1-null was significantly associated with ACPA positivity in the VARA registry (odds ratio (OR), 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02 to 2.05), but not in SONORA (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.71 to 1.42). There were significant additive interactions between GSTM1 and HLA-DRB1 SE in the VARA registry (AP, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.77; P < 0.001) in ACPA positivity, an interaction replicated in SONORA (AP, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.76; P = 0.050). Conclusions This study is the first to show that the GSTM1-null genotype, a common genetic variant, exerts significant additive interaction with HLA-DRB1 SE on the risk of ACPA positivity in RA. Since GSTM1 has known antioxidant functions, these data suggest that oxidative stress may be important in the development of RA-specific autoimmunity in genetically susceptible individuals

Caregiving process and caregiver burden: Conceptual models to guide research and practice

BACKGROUND: Parental care for a child with a developmental disability is an enormous responsibility, one that can far exceed that of typical parental care. While most parents adapt well to the situation of caring for a child with a disability, some do not. To understand parents' adaptations to their children's disabilities, the complex nature of stress processes must be accounted for and the constructs and factors that play a role in the caregiving must be considered. DISCUSSION: Evidence suggests that there is considerable variation in how caregivers adapt to their caregiving demands. Many studies have sought to qualify the association between caregiving and health outcomes of the caregivers. Contextual factors such as SES, child factors such as child behaviour problems and severity of disability, intra-psychic factors such as mastery and self-esteem, coping strategies and social supports have all been associated with psychological and/or physical outcome or parents or primary caregivers. In reviewing these issues, the literature appears to be limited by the use of traditional analytic approaches which examine the relationship between a factor and an outcome. It is clear, however, that changes to single factors, as represented in these studies, occur very rarely even in the experimental context. The literature has also been limited by lack of reliance on specific theoretical frameworks. SUMMARY: This conceptual paper documents the state of current knowledge and explores the current theoretical frameworks that have been used to describe the caregiving process from two diverse fields, pediatrics and geriatrics. Integration of these models into one comprehensive model suitable for this population of children with disabilities and their caregivers is proposed. This model may guide future research in this area

Appeals to evidence for the resolution of wicked problems: the origins and mechanisms of evidentiary bias

Wicked policy problems are often said to be characterized by their ‘intractability’, whereby appeals to evidence are unable to provide policy resolution. Advocates for ‘Evidence Based Policy’ (EBP) often lament these situations as representing the misuse of evidence for strategic ends, while critical policy studies authors counter that policy decisions are fundamentally about competing values, with the (blind) embrace of technical evidence depoliticizing political decisions. This paper aims to help resolve these conflicts and, in doing so, consider how to address this particular feature of problem wickedness. Specifically the paper delineates two forms of evidentiary bias that drive intractability, each of which is reflected by contrasting positions in the EBP debates: ‘technical bias’ - referring to invalid uses of evidence; and ‘issue bias’ - referring to how pieces of evidence direct policy agendas to particular concerns. Drawing on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology, the paper explores the ways in which competing interests and values manifest in these forms of bias, and shape evidence utilization through different mechanisms. The paper presents a conceptual framework reflecting on how the nature of policy problems in terms of their complexity, contestation, and polarization can help identify the potential origins and mechanisms of evidentiary bias leading to intractability in some wicked policy debates. The discussion reflects on whether being better informed about such mechanisms permit future work that may lead to strategies to mitigate or overcome such intractability in the future

Basement membrane components are key players in specialized extracellular matrices

More than three decades ago, basement membranes (BMs) were described as membrane-like structures capable of isolating a cell from and connecting a cell to its environment. Since this time, it has been revealed that BMs are specialized extracellular matrices (sECMs) with unique components that support important functions including differentiation, proliferation, migration, and chemotaxis of cells during development. The composition of these sECM is as unique as the tissues to which they are localized, opening the possibility that such matrices can fulfill distinct functions. Changes in BM composition play significant roles in facilitating the development of various diseases. Furthermore, tissues have to provide sECM for their stem cells during development and for their adult life. Here, we briefly review the latest research on these unique sECM and their components with a special emphasis on embryonic and adult stem cells and their niches