Substance use disorder treatment admissions and state-level prenatal substance use policies:Evidence from a national treatment database

State policies pertaining to prenatal substance use have important implications for health outcomes of pregnant women and their infants. However, little is known about the impact of the various types of state-level prenatal substance use policies (i.e., treatment and supportive services; criminal justice initiatives; and health care provider reporting requirements) on substance use disorder treatment admissions. Using data from the 2002-2014 Treatment Episode Data Set - Admissions, we exploited state-level variation in the implementation of different types of policies to assess their impact on pregnant women's admission to substance use disorder treatment. The study found that state-level prenatal substance use policies focused only on the criminal justice sector were negatively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. Additionally, the implementation of policies that engaged all three sectors was positively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. These results were consistent across age groups and for both non-Hispanic white women and women of other racial/ethnic groups. The findings imply that states with cross-sector policy engagement around prenatal substance use and policies that take a multifaceted, comprehensive approach are more likely to see an increase in admissions to substance use disorder treatment during pregnancy

Substance use disorder treatment admissions and state-level prenatal substance use policies:Evidence from a national treatment database

State policies pertaining to prenatal substance use have important implications for health outcomes of pregnant women and their infants. However, little is known about the impact of the various types of state-level prenatal substance use policies (i.e., treatment and supportive services; criminal justice initiatives; and health care provider reporting requirements) on substance use disorder treatment admissions. Using data from the 2002-2014 Treatment Episode Data Set - Admissions, we exploited state-level variation in the implementation of different types of policies to assess their impact on pregnant women's admission to substance use disorder treatment. The study found that state-level prenatal substance use policies focused only on the criminal justice sector were negatively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. Additionally, the implementation of policies that engaged all three sectors was positively associated with the proportion of women of reproductive age who were pregnant upon admission to treatment. These results were consistent across age groups and for both non-Hispanic white women and women of other racial/ethnic groups. The findings imply that states with cross-sector policy engagement around prenatal substance use and policies that take a multifaceted, comprehensive approach are more likely to see an increase in admissions to substance use disorder treatment during pregnancy

Physical origin of the buckling in CuO2_2: Electron-phonon coupling and Raman spectra

It is shown theoretically that the buckling of the CuO$_{2}$ planes in certain cuprate systems can be explained in terms of an electric field across the planes which originates from different valences of atoms above and below the plane. This field results also in a strong coupling of the Raman-active out-of-phase vibration of the oxygen atoms ($B_{1g}$ mode) to the electronic charge transfer between the two oxygens in the CuO$_{2}$ plane. Consequently, the electric field can be deduced from the Fano-type line shape of the $B_{1g}$ phonon. Using the electric field estimated from the electron-phonon coupling the amplitude of the buckling is calculated and found to be in good agreement with the structural data. Direct experimental support for the idea proposed is obtained in studies of YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{6+x}$ and Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$(Ca$_{1-x}$Y$_{x}$)Cu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ with different oxygen and yttrium doping, respectively, including antiferromagnetic samples. In the latter compound, symmetry breaking by replacing Ca partially by Y leads to an enhancement of the electron-phonon coupling by an order of magnitude.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, and 1 tabl

Effect of Environmental Tobacco Smoke on Levels of Urinary Hormone Markers

Our recent study showed a dose–response relationship between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and the risk of early pregnancy loss. Smoking is known to affect female reproductive hormones. We explored whether ETS affects reproductive hormone profiles as characterized by urinary pregnanediol-3-glucuronide (PdG) and estrone conjugate (E(1)C) levels. We prospectively studied 371 healthy newly married nonsmoking women in China who intended to conceive and had stopped contraception. Daily records of vaginal bleeding, active and passive cigarette smoking, and daily first-morning urine specimens were collected for up to 1 year or until a clinical pregnancy was achieved. We determined the day of ovulation for each menstrual cycle. The effects of ETS exposure on daily urinary PdG and E(1)C levels in a ±10 day window around the day of ovulation were analyzed for conception and nonconception cycles, respectively. Our analysis included 344 nonconception cycles and 329 conception cycles. In nonconception cycles, cycles with ETS exposure had significantly lower urinary E(1)C levels (β= –0.43, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001 in log scale) compared with the cycles without ETS exposure. There was no significant difference in urinary PdG levels in cycles having ETS exposure (β= –0.07, SE = 0.15, p = 0.637 in log scale) compared with no ETS exposure. Among conception cycles, there were no significant differences in E(1)C and PdG levels between ETS exposure and nonexposure. In conclusion, ETS exposure was associated with significantly lower urinary E(1)C levels among nonconception cycles, suggesting that the adverse reproductive effect of ETS may act partly through its antiestrogen effects

Nonadiabatic effects in a generalized Jahn-Teller lattice model: heavy and light polarons, pairing and metal-insulator transition

The ground state polaron potential of 1D lattice of two-level molecules with spinless electrons and two Einstein phonon modes with quantum phonon-assisted transitions between the levels is found anharmonic in phonon displacements. The potential shows a crossover from two nonequivalent broad minima to a single narrow minimum corresponding to the level positions in the ground state. Generalized variational approach implies prominent nonadiabatic effects:(i) In the limit of the symmetric E-e Jahn- Teller situation they cause transition between the regime of the predominantly one-level "heavy" polaron and a "light" polaron oscillating between the levels due to phonon assistance with almost vanishing polaron displacement. It implies enhancement of the electron transfer due to decrease of the "heavy" polaron mass (undressing) at the point of the transition. Pairing of "light" polarons due to exchange of virtual phonons occurs. Continuous transition to new energy ground state close to the transition from "heavy" polaron phase to "light" (bi)polaron phase occurs. In the "heavy" phase, there occurs anomalous (anharmonic) enhancements of quantum fluctuations of the phonon coordinate, momentum and their product as functions of the effective coupling. (ii) Dependence of the polaron mass on the optical phonon frequency appears.(iii) Rabi oscillations significantly enhance quantum shift of the insulator-metal transition line to higher values of the critical effective e-ph coupling supporting so the metallic phase. In the E-e JT case, insulator-metal transition coincide with the transition between the "heavy" and the "light" (bi)polaron phase at certain (strong) effective e-ph interaction.Comment: Paper in LaTex format (file jtseptx.tex) and 9 GIF-figures (ppic_1.gif,...ppic_9.gif

Large-scale genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses of longitudinal change in adult lung function.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous loci influencing cross-sectional lung function, but less is known about genes influencing longitudinal change in lung function. METHODS: We performed GWAS of the rate of change in forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) in 14 longitudinal, population-based cohort studies comprising 27,249 adults of European ancestry using linear mixed effects model and combined cohort-specific results using fixed effect meta-analysis to identify novel genetic loci associated with longitudinal change in lung function. Gene expression analyses were subsequently performed for identified genetic loci. As a secondary aim, we estimated the mean rate of decline in FEV1 by smoking pattern, irrespective of genotypes, across these 14 studies using meta-analysis. RESULTS: The overall meta-analysis produced suggestive evidence for association at the novel IL16/STARD5/TMC3 locus on chromosome 15 (P  =  5.71 × 10(-7)). In addition, meta-analysis using the five cohorts with ≥3 FEV1 measurements per participant identified the novel ME3 locus on chromosome 11 (P  =  2.18 × 10(-8)) at genome-wide significance. Neither locus was associated with FEV1 decline in two additional cohort studies. We confirmed gene expression of IL16, STARD5, and ME3 in multiple lung tissues. Publicly available microarray data confirmed differential expression of all three genes in lung samples from COPD patients compared with controls. Irrespective of genotypes, the combined estimate for FEV1 decline was 26.9, 29.2 and 35.7 mL/year in never, former, and persistent smokers, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In this large-scale GWAS, we identified two novel genetic loci in association with the rate of change in FEV1 that harbor candidate genes with biologically plausible functional links to lung function

A Novel Laser Vaccine Adjuvant Increases the Motility of Antigen Presenting Cells

Background Development of a potent vaccine adjuvant without introduction of any side effects remains an unmet challenge in the field of the vaccine research. Methodology/Principal Findings We found that laser at a specific setting increased the motility of antigen presenting cells (APCs) and immune responses, with few local or systemic side effects. This laser vaccine adjuvant (LVA) effect was induced by brief illumination of a small area of the skin or muscle with a nondestructive, 532 nm green laser prior to intradermal (i.d.) or intramuscular (i.m.) administration of vaccines at the site of laser illumination. The pre-illumination accelerated the motility of APCs as shown by intravital confocal microscopy, leading to sufficient antigen (Ag)-uptake at the site of vaccine injection and transportation of the Ag-captured APCs to the draining lymph nodes. As a result, the number of Ag+ dendritic cells (DCs) in draining lymph nodes was significantly higher in both the 1° and 2° draining lymph nodes in the presence than in the absence of LVA. Laser-mediated increases in the motility and lymphatic transportation of APCs augmented significantly humoral immune responses directed against a model vaccine ovalbumin (OVA) or influenza vaccine i.d. injected in both primary and booster vaccinations as compared to the vaccine itself. Strikingly, when the laser was delivered by a hair-like diffusing optical fiber into muscle, laser illumination greatly boosted not only humoral but also cell-mediated immune responses provoked by i.m. immunization with OVA relative to OVA alone. Conclusion/Significance The results demonstrate the ability of this safe LVA to augment both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. In comparison with all current vaccine adjuvants that are either chemical compounds or biological agents, LVA is novel in both its form and mechanism; it is risk-free and has distinct advantages over traditional vaccine adjuvants.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant AI070785)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant RC1 DA028378)Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Grand Challenges Explorations grant # 53273)Boston BioCom (Firm) (Sponsored Research agreement grant #2008A25652

One-loop N=8 supergravity coefficients from N=4 super Yang-Mills

We use supersymmetric generalised unitarity to calculate supercoefficients of box functions in the expansion of scattering amplitudes in N=8 supergravity at one loop. Recent advances have presented tree-level amplitudes in N=8 supergravity in terms of sums of terms containing squares of colour-ordered Yang-Mills superamplitudes. We develop the consequences of these results for the structure of one-loop supercoefficients, recasting them as sums of squares of N=4 Yang-Mills expressions with certain coefficients inherited from the tree-level superamplitudes. This provides new expressions for all one-loop box coefficients in N=8 supergravity, which we check against known results in a number of cases.Comment: 39 pages, 12 figure