The risk environment of anabolic–androgenic steroid users in the UK: Examining motivations, practices and accounts of use

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: The risk environment of anabolic–androgenic steroid users in the UK: Examining motivations, practices and accounts of use journaltitle: International Journal of Drug Policy articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.11.005 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The social, relational and mental health characteristics of justice-involved men in the south-west England

peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=rjfp2

Medical cannabis, CBD wellness products and public awareness of evolving regulations in the United Kingdom

Background: In the UK, legislation and regulations governing medical cannabis and over the counter cannabidiol (CBD) wellness products have rapidly evolved since 2018. This study aimed to assess the public awareness of the availability, regulations, and barriers to access medical cannabis and over the counter CBD wellness products. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was performed through YouGov® using quota sampling methodology between March 22nd and March 31st 2021. Responses were matched and statistically weighted to UK adult population demographics, including those without internet access, and analysed according to percentage of respondents. Statistical significance was defined by p-value < 0.050. Results: Ten thousand six hundred eighty-four participants completed the survey. 5,494 (51.4%) respondents believed that medical cannabis is legal in the UK. 684 (6.4%) participants consumed CBD for wellness reasons, 286 (2.7%) were prescribed CBD for a medical reason and 222 (2.1%) consumed CBD for another reason. 10,076 (94.3%) respondents were unaware of April 2021 regulations meaning that all over the counter CBD wellness products in the UK must conform to European Novel Foods Regulations. The most frequently reported main barriers to accessing medical cannabis were its association with recreational cannabis (n = 2,686; 25.1%), being unsure if it was legal (n = 2,276; 21.3%) and being unsure what medical conditions its can be used for (n = 1,863; 17.4%). Conclusion: A large proportion of respondents are unaware of the legislation and regulations surrounding medical cannabis and over the counter CBD wellness products. Lack of knowledge may present a barrier to safe access to either product

The normalisation of drug supply: The social<i>supply</i>of drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation

Aims: Describes how the relative normalisation of recreational drug use in the UK has been productive of, and fused with, the relatively normalised and non-commercial social supply of recreational drugs. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 60 social suppliers of recreational drugs in two studies (involving a student population n = 30 and general population sample n = 30). Respondents were recruited via purposive snowball sampling and local advertising. Findings: Both samples provided strong evidence of the normalised supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of friendship and close social networks. Many social suppliers described “drift” into social supply and normalised use was suggested to be productive of supply relationships that both suppliers and consumers regard as something less than “real” dealing in order to reinforce their preconceptions of themselves as relatively non-deviant. Some evidence for a broader acceptance of social supply is also presented. Conclusions: The fairly recent context of relative normalisation of recreational drug use has coalesced with the social supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of use and exchange whereby a range of “social” supply acts (sometimes even involving large amounts of drugs/money) have become accepted as something closer to gift-giving or friendship exchange dynamics within social networks rather than dealing proper. To some degree, there is increasing sensitivity to this within the criminal justice system

Cortical Inactivation by Cooling in Small Animals

Reversible inactivation of the cortex by surface cooling is a powerful method for studying the function of a particular area. Implanted cooling cryoloops have been used to study the role of individual cortical areas in auditory processing of awake-behaving cats. Cryoloops have also been used in rodents for reversible inactivation of the cortex, but recently there has been a concern that the cryoloop may also cool non-cortical structures either directly or via the perfusion of blood, cooled as it passed close to the cooling loop. In this study we have confirmed that the loop can inactivate most of the auditory cortex without causing a significant reduction in temperature of the auditory thalamus or other subcortical structures. We placed a cryoloop on the surface of the guinea pig cortex, cooled it to 2°C and measured thermal gradients across the neocortical surface. We found that the temperature dropped to 20–24°C among cells within a radius of about 2.5 mm away from the loop. This temperature drop was sufficient to reduce activity of most cortical cells and led to the inactivation of almost the entire auditory region. When the temperature of thalamus, midbrain, and middle ear were measured directly during cortical cooling, there was a small drop in temperature (about 4°C) but this was not sufficient to directly reduce neural activity. In an effort to visualize the extent of neural inactivation we measured the uptake of thallium ions following an intravenous injection. This confirmed that there was a large reduction of activity across much of the ipsilateral cortex and only a small reduction in subcortical structures

Clinical outcome data of children treated with cannabis-based medicinal products for treatment resistant epilepsy - analysis from the UK medical cannabis registry.

BACKGROUND:  There is a paucity of high-quality evidence of the efficacy and safety of cannabis-based medicinal products in treatment of treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) in children. METHODS:  A case series of children (<18 years old) with TRE from the UK Medical Cannabis Registry was analyzed. Primary outcomes were ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency, changes in the Impact of Pediatric Epilepsy Score (IPES), and incidence of adverse events. RESULTS:  Thirty-five patients were included in the analysis. Patients were prescribed during their treatment with the following: CBD isolate oils (n = 19), CBD broad-spectrum oils (n = 17), and CBD/Δ9-THC combination therapy (n = 17). Twenty-three (65.7%) patients achieved a ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency. 94.1% (n = 16) of patients treated with CBD and Δ9-THC observed a ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency compared to 31.6% (n = 6) and 17.6% (n = 3) of patients treated with CBD isolates and broad-spectrum CBD products, respectively (p< 0.001). Twenty-six (74.3%) adverse events were reported by 16 patients (45.7%). The majority of these were mild (n = 12; 34.2%) and moderate (n = 10; 28.6%). CONCLUSION:  The results of this study demonstrate a positive signal of improved seizure frequency in children treated with Cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) for TRE. Moreover, the results suggest that CBMPs are well-tolerated in the short term. The limitations mean causation cannot be determined in this open-label, case series

A 2.15 Hour Orbital Period for the Low Mass X-Ray Binary XB 1832-330 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6652

We present a candidate orbital period for the low mass X-ray binary XB 1832-330 in the globular cluster NGC 6652 using a 6.5 hour Gemini South observation of the optical counterpart of the system. Light curves in g' and r' for two LMXBs in the cluster, sources A and B in previous literature, were extracted and analyzed for periodicity using the ISIS image subtraction package. A clear sinusoidal modulation is evident in both of A's curves, of amplitude ~0.11 magnitudes in g' and ~0.065 magnitudes in r', while B's curves exhibit rapid flickering, of amplitude ~1 magnitude in g' and ~0.5 magnitudes in r'. A Lomb-Scargle test revealed a 2.15 hour periodic variation in the magnitude of A with a false alarm probability less than 10^-11, and no significant periodicity in the light curve for B. Though it is possible saturated stars in the vicinity of our sources partially contaminated our signal, the identification of A's binary period is nonetheless robust.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, ApJ in pres

An observational study of safety and clinical outcome measures across patient groups in the United Kingdom Medical Cannabis Registry.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of high-quality data on patient outcomes and safety after initiating treatment with cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical outcomes and safety of CBMPs by analyzing patient-reported outcome measures and adverse events across a broad spectrum of chronic conditions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This study analyzed patients enrolled in the UK Medical Cannabis Registry. Participants completed the EQ-5D-5L to assess health-related quality of life, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire to measure anxiety severity, and the Single-item Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) to rate sleep quality at baseline and follow-up after 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. RESULTS: A total of 2833 participants met inclusion criteria. The EQ-5D-5L index value, GAD-7, and SQS all improved at each follow-up (p  0.050). Adverse events were reported by 474 (16.73%) participants. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that CBMPs are associated with an improvement in health-related quality of life in UK patients with chronic diseases. Treatment was tolerated well by most participants, but adverse events were more common in female and cannabis-naïve patients

Short-term changes in nightlife attendance and patron intoxication following alcohol restrictions in Queensland, Australia

Background: This study aims to explore short-term changes following the introduction of alcohol restrictions (most notably 2 am to 3 am last drinks). We examined patterns of nightlife attendance, intoxication, and alcohol use among patrons shortly before and after restrictions were introduced in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane: the largest nighttime entertainment precinct of Queensland. Methods: Street-intercept patron interviews were conducted in Fortitude Valley in June (n = 497) and July (n = 562) 2016. A pre-post design was used to assess changes in time spent out drinking/partying prior to the interview, time of arrival in the precinct, pre-drinking, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Results: Regression models indicated that after the policy introduction, the proportion of people arriving at Fortitude Valley before 10:00 pm increased (OR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.82). Participants reported going out, on average, one hour earlier after the intervention (β = − 0.17; 95% CI = 0.11, 0.22). There was a decrease (RRR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.43, 0.79) in the proportion of participants who had a high level of intoxication (BAC ≥0.10 g/dL) postintervention. No other significant differences were found. Conclusions: Earlier cessation of alcohol sales and stopping the sale of rapid intoxication drinks after midnight was associated with people arriving in Fortitude Valley earlier. Though legislative loopholes allowed some venues to continue trading to 5 am, the proportion of people in the precinct who were highly intoxicated decreased after the restriction. Further measurement will be required to determine whether the reduction has persisted

A cohort study comparing the effects of medical cannabis for anxiety patients with and without comorbid sleep disturbance.

BACKGROUND: Research on cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMPs) in anxiety remains inconclusive due to a paucity of high-quality evidence. Studies indicate a bidirectional relationship between generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and sleep disruption, but it is unclear how this affects CBMP treatment outcomes. This study aims to compare the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of patients prescribed CBMPs for GAD, with and without impaired sleep. METHODS: Changes in PROMs were recorded from baseline to 1, 3, 6, and 12 months between those with impaired or unimpaired sleep. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to compare factors associated with a clinically significant improvement in GAD-7 at 12 months. Secondary outcomes included adverse event incidence and frequency. RESULTS: Of the 302 patients that fit the inclusion criteria, mean GAD-7, single-item sleep quality, and EQ-5D-5L index values improved at all time points (p < 0.001). A relationship between sleep impairment and clinically significant changes in GAD-7 at 1 and 3 months was identified (p ≤ 0.01). On multivariate regression, only baseline GAD severity was associated with an increased likelihood of observing a clinically significant improvement in anxiety (p < 0.001). Seven hundred and seven (234%) adverse events were reported by 55 (18.21%) participants. CONCLUSIONS: This study observed an association between CBMP treatment and improvements in anxiety in patients with GAD. While patients with comorbid sleep disruption had greater improvements in anxiety, the differences were not maintained in a multivariate analysis. Baseline anxiety severity may be a predictor for CBMP treatment outcomes