The Relationship of Shopping-Related Decisions with Materialistic Values Endorsement, Compulsive Buying-Shopping Disorder Symptoms and Everyday Moral Decision Making

Background: Compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD) is associated with high materialistic values endorsement and excessive purchasing of consumer goods. A subgroup of individuals with CBSD engage in socially unacceptable behaviors to continue shopping despite negative consequences. This investigation aimed at exploring possible links between ego-oriented shopping-related decisions, materialism, symptoms of CBSD and close-to-everyday moral decision making. Methods: In study 1, patients with CBSD were interviewed to develop a list of conflict situations, capturing typical shopping-related dilemmas. In study 2, the shopping-related dilemmas from study 1, standardized close-to-everyday moral dilemmas, the Material Values Scale and Pathological Buying Screener were administered to a web-based convenience sample (n = 274). Results: The main effects of a moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed an association of more ego-oriented shopping-related decisions with both higher materialistic values endorsement and more CBSD symptoms, but not with everyday moral decision-making. However, a more egoistic everyday moral decision making style moderated the effect of CBSD symptoms on ego-oriented shopping related decisions. Conclusions: The findings indicate that a more egoistic everyday moral decision making style is not directly linked to domain-specific shopping-related decision making but strengthens the link between symptoms of CBSD and ego-oriented shopping-related decisions

Induction of Erythroid Differentiation in Human Erythroleukemia Cells by Depletion of Malic Enzyme 2

Malic enzyme 2 (ME2) is a mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of malate to pyruvate and CO2 and uses NAD as a cofactor. Higher expression of this enzyme correlates with the degree of cell de-differentiation. We found that ME2 is expressed in K562 erythroleukemia cells, in which a number of agents have been found to induce differentiation either along the erythroid or the myeloid lineage. We found that knockdown of ME2 led to diminished proliferation of tumor cells and increased apoptosis in vitro. These findings were accompanied by differentiation of K562 cells along the erythroid lineage, as confirmed by staining for glycophorin A and hemoglobin production. ME2 knockdown also totally abolished growth of K562 cells in nude mice. Increased ROS levels, likely reflecting increased mitochondrial production, and a decreased NADPH/NADP+ ratio were noted but use of a free radical scavenger to decrease inhibition of ROS levels did not reverse the differentiation or apoptotic phenotype, suggesting that ROS production is not causally involved in the resultant phenotype. As might be expected, depletion of ME2 induced an increase in the NAD+/NADH ratio and ATP levels fell significantly. Inhibition of the malate-aspartate shuttle was insufficient to induce K562 differentiation. We also examined several intracellular signaling pathways and expression of transcription factors and intermediate filament proteins whose expression is known to be modulated during erythroid differentiation in K562 cells. We found that silencing of ME2 leads to phospho-ERK1/2 inhibition, phospho-AKT activation, increased GATA-1 expression and diminished vimentin expression. Metabolomic analysis, conducted to gain insight into intermediary metabolic pathways that ME2 knockdown might affect, showed that ME2 depletion resulted in high orotate levels, suggesting potential impairment of pyrimidine metabolism. Collectively our data point to ME2 as a potentially novel metabolic target for leukemia therapy

Towards a cross-cultural assessment of binge-watching: Psychometric evaluation of the “watching TV series motives” and “binge-watching engagement and symptoms” questionnaires across nine languages

In view of the growing interest regarding binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of television (TV) series in a single sitting) research, two measures were developed and validated to assess binge-watching involvement (“Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire”, BWESQ) and related motivations (“Watching TV Series Motives Questionnaire”, WTSMQ). To promote international and cross-cultural binge-watching research, the present article reports on the validation of these questionnaires in nine languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hungarian, Persian, Arabic, Chinese). Both questionnaires were disseminated, together with additional self-report measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use among TV series viewers from a college/university student population (N = 12,616) in 17 countries. Confirmatory factor, measurement invariance and correlational analyses were conducted to establish structural and construct validity. The two questionnaires had good psychometric properties and fit in each language. Equivalence across languages and gender was supported, while construct validity was evidenced by similar patterns of associations with complementary measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use. The results support the psychometric validity and utility of the BWESQ and WTSMQ for conducting cross-cultural research on binge-watching

Is (poly-) substance use associated with impaired inhibitory control? A mega-analysis controlling for confounders.

Many studies have reported that heavy substance use is associated with impaired response inhibition. Studies typically focused on associations with a single substance, while polysubstance use is common. Further, most studies compared heavy users with light/non-users, though substance use occurs along a continuum. The current mega-analysis accounted for these issues by aggregating individual data from 43 studies (3610 adult participants) that used the Go/No-Go (GNG) or Stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition among mostly "recreational" substance users (i.e., the rate of substance use disorders was low). Main and interaction effects of substance use, demographics, and task-characteristics were entered in a linear mixed model. Contrary to many studies and reviews in the field, we found that only lifetime cannabis use was associated with impaired response inhibition in the SST. An interaction effect was also observed: the relationship between tobacco use and response inhibition (in the SST) differed between cannabis users and non-users, with a negative association between tobacco use and inhibition in the cannabis non-users. In addition, participants' age, education level, and some task characteristics influenced inhibition outcomes. Overall, we found limited support for impaired inhibition among substance users when controlling for demographics and task-characteristics

Evidenzbasierte Psychotherapie bei Abhängigkeitserkrankungen

Hintergrund Abhängigkeitserkrankungen bilden die Gruppe der häufigsten psychischen Störungen. Trotz eines breiten Behandlungsangebots an psychotherapeutischen Interventionen ist der Anteil der Patienten, die eine evidenzbasierte Behandlung bzw. im Rahmen der ambulanten Versorgung eine psychotherapeutische Behandlung erhalten, sehr gering. Ziel der Arbeit Vor diesem Hintergrund soll eine Neubewertung der empirischen Evidenz für die Wirksamkeit verschiedener psychotherapeutischer Behandlungsansätze vorgenommen werden und Handlungsempfehlungen für die Praxis abgeleitet werden. Material und Methoden Es wurde eine umfassende Literaturrecherche in einem mehrstufigen Vorgehen in den relevanten nationalen und internationalen Datenbanken durchgeführt. Anschließend erfolgte eine Analyse der aktuellen Leitlinien, Übersichtsarbeiten und Primärstudien zum Thema Therapie bei Abhängigkeitserkrankungen. Ergebnisse Es konnten insgesamt 3 aktuelle nationale Leitlinien, 2 Reviews sowie 16 Primärstudien identifiziert werden. Insbesondere können kognitive Verhaltenstherapie, verhaltenstherapeutische Interventionen und die motivationalen Interventionen als evidenzbasierte Behandlungsansätze bei verschiedenen Abhängigkeitserkrankungen betrachtet werden. Bei Tabakabhängigkeit können alternativ auch hypnotherapeutische Maßnahmen empfohlen werden. Interessant für die Praxis sind auch die neuen Behandlungsmethoden wie das neurokognitive Training und die achtsamkeitsbasierten Interventionen. Diskussion Die Studienlage ist zum Teil inkonsistent oder numerisch unzureichend trotz hoher Qualität. Weitere Forschungsarbeiten werden benötigt, die sich mit verschiedenen Substanzabhängigkeiten und Patientengruppen beschäftigen

Acute alcohol impairs conditioning of a behavioural reward-seeking response and inhibitory control processes¿implications for addictive disorders

Aims To investigate whether acute alcohol would affect performance of a conditioned behavioural response to obtain a reward outcome and impair performance in a task measuring inhibitory control to provide new knowledge of how the acute effects of alcohol might contribute to the transition from alcohol use to dependence.Design A randomized controlled between-subjects designas employed. Settings The laboratory of experimental psychology at the University of Sussex. Participants Thirty-two light to moderate social drinkers recruited from the undergraduate and postgraduate population. Measurements After the administration of alcohol (0.8 g/kg) or placebo participants underwent an instrumental reward-seeking procedure, with abstract stimuli serving as S+ (always predicting a win of 10 pence) and S- (always predicting a loss of 10 pence). In addition, a Stop Signal task was administered before and after the administration of alcohol. Findings Participants of the alcohol group performed the behavioural response to obtain the reward outcome more often than placebo subjects in trials associated with loss of money. This finding was observed, although alcohol was not affecting explicit knowledge of stimulus¿response outcome contingencies and acquisition of conditioned attentional and emotional responses. In addition, alcohol increased Stop Signal reaction time indicating disinhibiting effects of alcohol, and this was associated positively with response probability to the S-. Conclusions These results demonstrate that alcohol is affecting inhibitory control of behavioural responses to external signals even when associated with punishment, contributing in this way to the transition from alcohol use to dependence

Food Addiction

Zielsetzung: Mit der Entwicklung der Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) wurden diagnostische Kriterien von Food Addiction (FA) postuliert, die sich zunächst an den sieben DSM-IV-TR-Kriterien für Substanzabhängigkeit orientierten. Mit Einführung des DSM-5 erfolgte eine Revision der Skala (YFAS 2.0), die sich an den 11 Kriterien für Substanzgebrauchsstörungen orientiert. Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit der YFAS 2.0-basierten Prävalenz von FA bei Personen mit Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge-Eating-Störung (BES) und Adipositas und der Anwendung experimenteller Paradigmen aus der Suchtforschung bei Ess- und Gewichtsstörungen. Methodik: Fokussierte narrative Überblicksarbeit. Ergebnisse: YFAS 2.0-FA-Diagnosen wurden besonders häufig bei Personen mit BN, BES und/oder Adipositas berichtet. Aus der Suchtforschung bekannte experimentelle Paradigmen wurden für Ess- und Gewichtsstörungen adaptiert und zeigen Parallelen zu Abhängigkeitserkrankungen, oftmals wurde in diesen Studien FA jedoch nicht explizit erfasst. Schlussfolgerungen: Eine Subgruppe von Patient innen mit BN, BES und/oder Adipositas zeigt suchtartiges Essen im Sinne einer YFAS 2.0-FA-Diagnose. Experimentelle Studien legen nahe, dass hier die gleichen Mechanismen bedeutsam sein könnten wie bei Suchterkrankungen. Unklar ist, ob diese auf das Vorliegen von FA zurückzuführen sind. Zukünftige Studien sollten FA systematisch berücksichtigen und den klinischen Nutzen des Konzepts weiter untersuchen