Substance use and depression. Comparative course in adolescents

Objective: To examine the relation between depression and substance use in adolescents and the concomitant courses of both disorders. Methods: Four individual interviews were administered to 85 adolescent substance users aged 14-19 years (mean 17.1 years, SD 1.4) over a 3.5 year period using the Adolescent Drug Abuse Interview (ADAD) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13). Results: No predictive effect was observed on one dimension over the other, but each dimension was predictive of its own course. A decrease in substance-use severity paralleled a decrease in depressive state. Similarly, stable substance-use rates, either at a low or a high level, tended to be associated with low or high levels of depression, respectively. However, an increase in substance use was not accompanied by an increase in depressive states. Moreover, depression varied greatly between adolescents, and according to gender and age. Conclusions: Depressive states and substance use in adolescents can vary considerably overtime, and are closely but rather synchronically related. Since most of the adolescents do not seek help for substance-related problems, substance use should be systematically assessed in adolescents presenting with a depressive stat

Possible Zoonotic Transmission of Hepatitis E from Pet Pig to Its Owner

Hepatitis E is transmitted mainly by water or food, but in industrialized countries, all routes of transmission have not been identified. We describe possible zoonotic transmission of hepatitis E virus that involved direct contact between a pet pig and its owner

Fine-Tuning Enhancer Models to Predict Transcriptional Targets across Multiple Genomes

Networks of regulatory relations between transcription factors (TF) and their target genes (TG)- implemented through TF binding sites (TFBS)- are key features of biology. An idealized approach to solving such networks consists of starting from a consensus TFBS or a position weight matrix (PWM) to generate a high accuracy list of candidate TGs for biological validation. Developing and evaluating such approaches remains a formidable challenge in regulatory bioinformatics. We perform a benchmark study on 34 Drosophila TFs to assess existing TFBS and cis-regulatory module (CRM) detection methods, with a strong focus on the use of multiple genomes. Particularly, for CRM-modelling we investigate the addition of orthologous sites to a known PWM to construct phyloPWMs and we assess the added value of phylogenentic footprinting to predict contextual motifs around known TFBSs. For CRM-prediction, we compare motif conservation with network-level conservation approaches across multiple genomes. Choosing the optimal training and scoring strategies strongly enhances the performance of TG prediction for more than half of the tested TFs. Finally, we analyse a 35th TF, namely Eyeless, and find a significant overlap between predicted TGs and candidate TGs identified by microarray expression studies. In summary we identify several ways to optimize TF-specific TG predictions, some of which can be applied to all TFs, and others that can be applied only to particular TFs. The ability to model known TF-TG relations, together with the use of multiple genomes, results in a significant step forward in solving the architecture of gene regulatory networks

Les dolomites « pseudo˗maclées » : un critère du remplacement de la calcite par la dolomite (cas des dolomites hydrothermales du Paléozoïque des Pyrénées orientales)

In the eastern Pyrénées, thin sections in some hydrothermal dolomites show xenomorphic host crystals with narrow bands and/or alignments of idiomorphic inclusions of dolomite which lie parallel and have the same cristallographic orientation. When studied with the universal stage, the cristallographic orientations of these bands and of the host crystal are related by the common polysynthetic twin law (01[-1]2) of calcite, which is not a twin law for dolomite. Moreover the general morphological spacial orientation of the bands is parallel to this plane. The term pseudo-twin is proposed for these peculiar associations of dolomite. This evidence and the observation of a replacement texture of a twinned crystal of calcite by a pseudo-twinned crystal of dolomite are a proof of dolomitization of calcite. It is concluded that the pseudo-twinned dolomites are a general criterium of replacement of calcite by dolomite.Dans les Pyrénées orientales, l'observation en lame mince de certaines dolomies hydrothermales montre, à l'intérieur d'un cristal xénomorphe hôte, la présence de bandelettes et /ou d'alignements d'inclusions dolomitiques idiomorphes parallèles et de même orientation cristallographique. L'étude à la platine théodolite montre que les orientations cristallographiques de ces bandelettes et du cristal hôte sont liées par la loi de macle polysynthétique habituelle (01[-1]2) de la calcite, qui n'est pas une loi de macle pour la dolomite. De plus l'orientation morphologique générale dans l'espace des bandelettes est parallèle à ce plan. D'où le nom de pseudo-macles. Ces constatations cristallographiques et l'observation d'une texture de remplacement direct d'un cristal de calcite maclé par un cristal de dolomite pseudo-maclé prouvent que ces dolomites proviennent du remplacement hydrothermal de calcites (en général calcaires métamorphiques) . On déduit que ces dolomites pseudo-maclées constituent un critère de dolomitisation de calcites.Fonteilles Michel, Guitard Gérard, Halfon Jacques. Les dolomites « pseudo˗maclées » : un critère du remplacement de la calcite par la dolomite (cas des dolomites hydrothermales du Paléozoïque des Pyrénées orientales). In: Bulletin de la Société française de Minéralogie et de Cristallographie, volume 96, 2, 1973. pp. 123-130

Évaluation du potentiel suicidaire chez les adolescents: lien entre fréquence, satisfaction et moyens utilisés par différents intervenants en pédopsychiatrie = Assessment of risks of attempted suicides by adolescents: the relationship between frequency, satisfaction and means used by different caregivers in the field of adolescent psychiatry

Les conduites suicidaires sont une forme fréquente d'expression de la souffrance de nombreux jeunes aujourd'hui. Il est important de prendre en compte et d'évaluer ces conduites et donc de disposer de moyens d'investigation adéquats. Une étude a été menée dans un Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, dans le but de mieux cerner les modes d'évaluation actuels des différents intervenants et d'envisager l'introduction d'un guide d'aide à l'évaluation du potentiel suicidaire en milieu ambulatoire et hospitalier. Un questionnaire semi-structuré a été élaboré afin de réaliser des entretiens individuels auprès des soignants dans quatre unités cliniques. Au total, 62 professionnels (médecins, psychologues, infirmiers, enseignants spécialisés et assistants sociaux) ont participé à l'étude. Il ressort de cette étude que si les moyens utilisés pour évaluer le risque suicidaire sont considérés comme assez satisfaisants par les deux tiers des intervenants, l'évaluation du risque suicidaire reste complexe. À ce titre, il semble utile de compléter les outils déjà à disposition par un guide d'aide à l'évaluation permettant de disposer d'un outil commun dans une institution où la communication entre intervenants est indispensable

Adolescents' self-mutilation--Relationship with dependent behaviour

(from the journal abstract) The aim of this study, which was carried out in the French-speacking part of Switzerland, was to examine the relationship between suicide attempts and self-mutilation by adolescents and young adults. The population, aged 14-25 years (N= 308), included a clinical sample of dependent subjects (drug abuse and eating disorders) compared to a control sample. On the basis of the Mini Neuropsychiatric Interview (Sheehan et al., 1998), DSM-IV criteria were used for the inclusion of the clinical population. The results concerning the occurrence of suicide attempts as well as on self-mutilation confirm most of the hypotheses postulated: suicidal attempts and self-mutilation were more common in the clinical group compared to the control group, and there was a correlation between suicide attempts and self-mutilation. However, there was only a partial overlap, attesting that suicide and self-harm might correspond to two different types of behaviour. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved