Risks and harms of binge drinking in young people: Bridging neurobiological, cognitive, and psychological perspectives

Binge drinking is highly prevalent among young people and can lead to health harms and engagement with other high-risk behaviors. While neurobiology, cognition, and psychopathology are central pathways to binge drinking, limited research bridges these perspectives, examines the developmental dynamics between them, or applies a multigenerational approach. To address these knowledge gaps, this thesis aims to examine the inter-related precursory risks of binge drinking, explore the added impact of multigenerational alcohol use, and determine the severity and recoverability of alcohol-related harms in young people. Study 1 is the first rigorous review of the neurobiological and cognitive precursory risks and harms of binge drinking. Findings show that aberrant neurodevelopment increases risk, with aberrations further exacerbated by binge drinking. Study 2 explores the dynamics between cognitive and psychological risk factors for binge drinking. The world-first study indicates that psychopathology in combination with poor executive functioning is associated with greater consumption. Studies 3–5 investigate the impact of multigenerational alcohol use. The mega-analyses show that preadolescents with familial alcohol use problems or low- to moderate-level prenatal alcohol exposure exhibit established risk markers of binge drinking. Study 6 examines cognitive harms following binge drinking in young people. Outcomes show that binge drinking is associated with inhibitory control deficits and demonstrate, for the first time, that these deficits do not recover over the short term. The research in this thesis is the first to robustly show that 1) precursory neurobiological features predate binge drinking and co-occurring psychopathology plays a key role; 2) these precursors are particularly prevalent among young people with added familial risk; and 3) neurobiological and cognitive harms follow binge drinking and do not recede in the short term. The findings provide critical evidence from a multidisciplinary and developmental perspective for global prevention and intervention efforts as well as positive alcohol use policies. Greater prioritization of targeting the whole family will significantly reduce the prevalence of binge drinking and related disabling consequences across the lifespan

Deep-Sea Exploration of the US Gulf of Mexico with NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer

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The Age of the 20 Meter Solo River Terrace, Java, Indonesia and the Survival of Homo erectus in Asia

Homo erectus was the first human lineage to disperse widely throughout the Old World, the only hominin in Asia through much of the Pleistocene, and was likely ancestral to H. sapiens. The demise of this taxon remains obscure because of uncertainties regarding the geological age of its youngest populations. In 1996, some of us co-published electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium series (U-series) results indicating an age as young as 35–50 ka for the late H. erectus sites of Ngandong and Sambungmacan and the faunal site of Jigar (Indonesia). If correct, these ages favor an African origin for recent humans who would overlap with H. erectus in time and space. Here, we report 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating analyses and new ESR/U-series age estimates from the “20 m terrace" at Ngandong and Jigar. Both data sets are internally consistent and provide no evidence for reworking, yet they are inconsistent with one another. The 40Ar/39Ar analyses give an average age of 546±12 ka (sd±5 se) for both sites, the first reliable radiometric indications of a middle Pleistocene component for the terrace. Given the technical accuracy and consistency of the analyses, the argon ages represent either the actual age or the maximum age for the terrace and are significantly older than previous estimates. Most of the ESR/U-series results are older as well, but the oldest that meets all modeling criteria is 143 ka+20/−17. Most samples indicated leaching of uranium and likely represent either the actual or the minimum age of the terrace. Given known sources of error, the U-series results could be consistent with a middle Pleistocene age. However, the ESR and 40Ar/39Ar ages preclude one another. Regardless, the age of the sites and hominins is at least bracketed between these estimates and is older than currently accepted

Developing an ecological framework of factors associated with substance use and related harms among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: protocol for a systematic review

Introduction Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience high rates of substance use and related harms. Previous prevention programmes and policies have met with limited success, particularly among youth, and this may be a result of inadequately targeting the unique risk and protective factors associated with substance use for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The purpose of this systematic review is to therefore synthesise the risk and protective factors associated with substance use and related harms among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and critically appraise the methodological quality of the included studies. Methods and analysis A total of seven peer-reviewed (Cochrane, Embase, PsychInfo, Medline, ProQuest, Informit, and CINAHL) and two grey literature (HeathInfoNet and Closing the Gap Clearinghouse) databases will be systematically searched using search terms in line with the aims of this review and based on previous relevant reviews. Studies published between 1 January 1990 and 31 April 2018 will be included if they identify risk and/or protective factors for substance use or related harms in a study sample that consists of at least 50% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A narrative synthesis will be undertaken where the identified factors will be organised using an ecological approach into individual, relationship, community, societal and cultural levels. A critical appraisal of study quality will be conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data and the qualitative assessment tool by Godfrey and Long. Ethics and dissemination Formal ethics approval is not required as primary data will not be collected. The results will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication, conference presentations and social media. PROSPERO registration number CRD42017073734