An empirical investigation of dance addiction

Although recreational dancing is associated with increased physical and psychological well-being, little is known about the harmful effects of excessive dancing. The aim of the present study was to explore the psychopathological factors associated with dance addiction. The sample comprised 447 salsa and ballroom dancers (68% female, mean age: 32.8 years) who danced recreationally at least once a week. The Exercise Addiction Inventory (Terry, Szabo, & Griffiths, 2004) was adapted for dance (Dance Addiction Inventory, DAI). Motivation, general mental health (BSI-GSI, and Mental Health Continuum), borderline personality disorder, eating disorder symptoms, and dance motives were also assessed. Five latent classes were explored based on addiction symptoms with 11% of participants belonging to the most problematic class. DAI was positively associated with psychiatric distress, borderline personality and eating disorder symptoms. Hierarchical linear regression model indicated that Intensity (ß=0.22), borderline (ß=0.08), eating disorder (ß=0.11) symptoms, as well as Escapism (ß=0.47) and Mood Enhancement (ß=0.15) (as motivational factors) together explained 42% of DAI scores. Dance addiction as assessed with the Dance Addiction Inventory is associated with indicators of mild psychopathology and therefore warrants further research

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

Validating the German Version of the Quality of Relationship Inventory: Confirming the Three-Factor Structure and Report of Psychometric Properties

Research on psychosocial influences such as relationship characteristics has received increased attention in the clinical as well as social-psychological field. Several studies demonstrated that the quality of relationships, in particular with respect to the perceived support within intimate relationships, profoundly affects individuals' mental and physical health. There is, however, a limited choice of valid and internationally known assessments of relationship quality in Germany. We report the validation of the German version of the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI). First, we evaluated its factor structure in a representative German sample of 1.494 participants by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Our findings support the previously proposed three-factor structure. Second, importance and satisfaction with different relationship domains (family/children and relationship/sexuality) were linked with the QRI scales, demonstrating high construct validity. Finally, we report sex and age differences regarding the perceived relationship support, conflict and depth in our German sample. In conclusion, the QRI is a reliable and valid measurement to assess social support in romantic relationships in the German population

C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and prostate cancer risk in men aged 65 years and older.

Inflammation is believed to play a role in prostate cancer (PCa) etiology, but it is unclear whether inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) associate with PCa risk in older men. Using Cox regression, we assessed the relationship between baseline concentrations of CRP and IL-6 and the subsequent PCa risk in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based cohort study of mostly European American men of ages >64 years (n = 2,234; mean follow-up = 8.7 years; 215 incident PCa cases). We also tested associations between CRP and IL-6 tagSNPs and PCa risk, focusing on SNPs that are known to associate with circulating CRP and/or IL-6. Neither CRP nor IL-6 blood concentrations was associated with PCa risk. The C allele of IL-6 SNP rs1800795 (-174), a known functional variant, was associated with increased risk in a dominant model (HR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.03-2.01; p = 0.03), but was not statistically significant after accounting for multiple tests (permutation p = 0.21). Our results suggest that circulating CRP and IL-6 do not influence PCa risk. SNPs at the CRP locus are not associated with PCa risk in this cohort, while the association between rs1800795 and PCa risk warrants further investigation

Distal and proximal family predictors of adolescents' smoking initiation and development: A longitudinal latent curve model analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies on adolescent smoking indicate that the smoking behaviours of their parents, siblings and friends are significant micro-level predictors. Parents' socioeconomic status (SES) is an important macro-level predictor. We examined the longitudinal relationships between these predictors and the initiation and development of adolescents' smoking behaviour in Norway.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We employed data from <it>The Norwegian Longitudinal Health Behaviour Study (NLHB)</it>, in which participants were followed from the age of 13 to 30. We analysed data from the first 5 waves, covering the age span from 13 to 18, with latent curve modeling (LCM).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Smoking rates increased from 3% to 31% from age 13 to age 18. Participants' smoking was strongly associated with their best friends' smoking. Parental SES, parents' smoking and older siblings' smoking predicted adolescents' initial level of smoking. Furthermore, the same variables predicted the development of smoking behaviour from age 13 to 18. Parents' and siblings' smoking behaviours acted as mediators of parents' SES on the smoking habits of adolescents.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Parents' SES was significantly associated, directly and indirectly, with both smoking initiation and development. Parental and older siblings' smoking behaviours were positively associated with both initiation and development of smoking behaviour in adolescents. There were no significant gender differences in these associations.</p

Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Drug Seeking: 20 Years of Progress

In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. Here, we first discuss the generality of stress-induced reinstatement to different drugs of abuse, different stressors, and different behavioral procedures. We also discuss neuropharmacological mechanisms, and brain areas and circuits controlling stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. We conclude by discussing results from translational human laboratory studies and clinical trials that were inspired by results from rat studies on stress-induced reinstatement. Our main conclusions are (1) The phenomenon of stress-induced reinstatement, first shown with an intermittent footshock stressor in rats trained to self-administer heroin, generalizes to other abused drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol, and is also observed in the conditioned place preference model in rats and mice. This phenomenon, however, is stressor specific and not all stressors induce reinstatement of drug seeking. (2) Neuropharmacological studies indicate the involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, kappa/dynorphin, and several other peptide and neurotransmitter systems in stress-induced reinstatement. Neuropharmacology and circuitry studies indicate the involvement of CRF and noradrenaline transmission in bed nucleus of stria terminalis and central amygdala, and dopamine, CRF, kappa/dynorphin, and glutamate transmission in other components of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens). (3) Translational human laboratory studies and a recent clinical trial study show the efficacy of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists in decreasing stress-induced drug craving and stress-induced initial heroin lapse

Genomic Phenotyping by Barcode Sequencing Broadly Distinguishes between Alkylating Agents, Oxidizing Agents, and Non-Genotoxic Agents, and Reveals a Role for Aromatic Amino Acids in Cellular Recovery after Quinone Exposure

Toxicity screening of compounds provides a means to identify compounds harmful for human health and the environment. Here, we further develop the technique of genomic phenotyping to improve throughput while maintaining specificity. We exposed cells to eight different compounds that rely on different modes of action: four genotoxic alkylating (methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), N-Methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), N,N′-bis(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitroso-urea (BCNU), N-ethylnitrosourea (ENU)), two oxidizing (2-methylnaphthalene-1,4-dione (menadione, MEN), benzene-1,4-diol (hydroquinone, HYQ)), and two non-genotoxic (methyl carbamate (MC) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)) compounds. A library of S. cerevisiae 4,852 deletion strains, each identifiable by a unique genetic ‘barcode’, were grown in competition; at different time points the ratio between the strains was assessed by quantitative high throughput ‘barcode’ sequencing. The method was validated by comparison to previous genomic phenotyping studies and 90% of the strains identified as MMS-sensitive here were also identified as MMS-sensitive in a much lower throughput solid agar screen. The data provide profiles of proteins and pathways needed for recovery after both genotoxic and non-genotoxic compounds. In addition, a novel role for aromatic amino acids in the recovery after treatment with oxidizing agents was suggested. The role of aromatic acids was further validated; the quinone subgroup of oxidizing agents were extremely toxic in cells where tryptophan biosynthesis was compromised.Unilever (Firm)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (R01-CA055042 (now R01-ES022872))Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Environmental Health Sciences (Grant NIEHS P30-ES002109

Overweight across the life course and adipokines, inflammatory and endothelial markers at age 60-64 years: evidence from the 1946 birth cohort.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: There is growing evidence that early development of obesity increases cardiovascular risk later in life, but less is known about whether there are effects of long-term excess body weight on the biological drivers associated with the atherosclerotic pathway, particularly adipokines, inflammatory and endothelial markers. This paper therefore investigates the influence of overweight across the life course on levels of these markers at retirement age. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Data from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (n=1784) were used to examine the associations between overweight status at 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, 15, 20, 26, 36, 43, 53 and 60-64 years (body mass index (BMI)⩾25 kg m(-2) for adult ages and gender-specific cut-points for childhood ages equivalent to BMI⩾25 kg m(-2)) and measurements of adipokines (leptin and adiponectin), inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6)) and endothelial markers (E-selectin, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and von Willebrand factor) at 60-64 years. In addition, the fit of different life course models (sensitive periods/accumulation) were compared using partial F-tests. RESULTS: In age- and sex-adjusted models, overweight at 11 years and onwards was associated with higher leptin, CRP and IL-6 and lower adiponectin; overweight at 15 years and onwards was associated with higher E-selectin and t-PA. Associations between overweight at all ages earlier than 60-64 with leptin, adiponectin, CRP and IL-6 were reduced but remained apparent after adjustment for overweight at 60-64 years; whereas those with E-selectin and t-PA were entirely explained. An accumulation model best described the associations between overweight across the life course with adipokines and inflammatory markers, whereas for the endothelial markers, the sensitive period model for 60-64 years provided a slightly better fit than the accumulation model. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight across the life course has a cumulative influence on adipokines, inflammatory and possibly endothelial markers. Avoidance of overweight from adolescence onwards is likely important for cardiovascular disease prevention