Drinking to Cope is Uniquely Associated with Less Specific and Bleaker Future Goal Generation in Young Hazardous Drinkers

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordGroups with mental health and/or substance use problems generate less detailed descriptions of their future goals. As substance use to cope with negative affect is common to both groups, this characteristic might be uniquely associated with less specific goal descriptions. To test this prediction, 229 past year hazardous drinking undergraduates aged 18–25 years wrote about three positive future life goals in an open-ended survey, before reporting their internalizing (anxiety and depression) symptoms, alcohol dependence severity and motivations for drinking: coping, conformity, enhancement and social. Future goal descriptions were experimenter-rated for detail specificity, and participant-self-rated for positivity, vividness, achievability, and importance. Effort in goal writing was indexed by time spent writing and total word count. Multiple regression analyses revealed that drinking to cope was uniquely associated with the production of less detailed goals, and lower self-rated positivity and vividness of goals (achievability and importance were also marginally lower), over and above internalizing symptoms, alcohol dependence severity, drinking for conformity, enhancement and social motives, age, and gender. However, drinking to cope was not uniquely associated with reduced effort in writing goals: time spent and word count. In sum, drinking to cope with negative affect is a unique characteristic predicting the generation of less detailed and bleaker (less positive and vivid) future goals, and this is not due to lower effort in reporting. Future goal generation may play a role in the aetiology of comorbidity of mental health and substance use problems, and therapeutic targeting of goal generation might benefit both conditions.Alcohol Change UKMedical Research Council (MRC

Profiles of vulnerability for suicide and self-harm in UK prisoners: Neurodisability, mood disturbance, substance use, and bullying

This is the final version. Available on open access from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordData Availability: Data cannot be shared publicly because of ethical concerns relating to the highly sensitive nature of the data. This is a condition of HMP Parc, the data controller. Researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data can contact Do-IT profiler at [email protected] to request access to the data.Screening for vulnerability factors associated with historic suicidality and self-harm on entry to prison is critical to help prisons understand how to allocate extremely limited mental health resources. It has been established that having previous suicide attempts increases odds of future suicidality and self-harm in prison. We utilised administrative screening data from 665 adult male prisoners on entry to a category B prison in Wales, UK, collected using the Do-IT Profiler. This sample represents 16% of all prisoners who entered that prison during a 26-month period. 12% of prisoners reported a history of attempted suicide, 11% reported historic self-harm, and 8% reported a history of both. Historic traumatic brain injury and substance use problems were associated with a 3.3- and 1.9- times increased odds of a historic suicide attempt, respectively, but no significant increased risk of historic self-harm (95% CI: 1.51–6.60 and 1.02–3.50). However, those who were bullied at school had 2.7 times increased odds of reporting a history of self-harm (95% CI: 1.63–6.09). The most salient risk factors associated with both historic suicide and self-harm were higher levels of functional neurodisability (odds ratio 0.6 for a 1 standard deviation change in score, 95% CI: 0.35–0.75), and mood disturbance (odds ratio 2.1 for a 1 standard deviation change in score, 95% CI: 1.26–3.56). Therefore, it could be beneficial for prisons to screen for broader profiles of needs, to better understand how to provide appropriate services to prisoners vulnerable to suicide and self-harm. Multidisciplinary care pathways for prisoner mental health interventions are important, to account for complex multimorbidity. Adaptations may be needed for mental health interventions to be appropriate for, for example, a prisoner with a brain injury. Understanding this broad profile of vulnerability could also contribute to more compassionate responses to suicide and self-harm from prison staff.HMP/YOI ParcEconomic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in recent clinical trials for cancer therapy

Heritable changes in gene expression that are not based upon alterations in the DNA sequence are defined as epigenetics. The most common mechanisms of epigenetic regulation are the methylation of CpG islands within the DNA and the modification of amino acids in the N-terminal histone tails. In the last years, it became evident that the onset of cancer and its progression may not occur only due to genetic mutations but also because of changes in the patterns of epigenetic modifications. In contrast to genetic mutations, which are almost impossible to reverse, epigenetic changes are potentially reversible. This implies that they are amenable to pharmacological interventions. Therefore, a lot of work in recent years has focussed on the development of small molecule enzyme inhibitors like DNA-methyltransferase inhibitors or inhibitors of histone-modifying enzymes. These may reverse misregulated epigenetic states and be implemented in the treatment of cancer or other diseases, e.g., neurological disorders. Today, several epigenetic drugs are already approved by the FDA and the EMEA for cancer treatment and around ten histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are in clinical development. This review will give an update on recent clinical trials of the HDAC inhibitors used systemically that were reported in 2009 and 2010 and will present an overview of different biomarkers to monitor the biological effects

Coping motives as a mediator of the relationship between child maltreatment and substance use problems in south African adolescents.

This is the final version. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. Data availability: Data will be made available on request.BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that adults with a history of child maltreatment (CM) engage in substance misuse driven by 'coping motives': maladaptive beliefs that substances help them cope with negative emotions. However, the specificity of this risk pathway is under-researched in younger and non-Western cohorts. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to determine whether coping motives play a distinct role compared to other motives for substance use in mediating the relationship between CM and problematic alcohol and marijuana use in a sample of South African adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A sample of 688 high school students (M age = 15.03 years; 62.5 % female) in Cape Town, South Africa, completed a cross sectional survey. METHODS: Participants completed self-report measures of CM exposure, motives for using alcohol and marijuana (coping, enhancement, social and conformity), and alcohol and marijuana related problems. Participants who endorsed using alcohol (N = 180) or marijuana (N = 136) were included in analysis. A parallel mediation model was conducted for each substance (alcohol and marijuana, respectively) to assess which motives mediated the relationship between CM exposure and substance-related problems. RESULTS: CM exposure predicted both alcohol-and marijuana related problems. The relationship between CM exposure and alcohol-related problems was partially mediated by coping motives (p < .001, 95%CI 0.028, 0.115) and, to a lesser extent, conformity motives (p < .01, 95%CI 0.001, 0.041), but not by social motives or enhancement motives. The relationship between CM exposure and marijuana-related problems was partially mediated by coping motives (p < .001, 95%CI 0.004, 0.037), but not by conformity, social or enhancement motives. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the importance of coping motives as a mediator between CM and problematic substance use across different substances of abuse in South African adolescents, and the role of conformity motives in problematic alcohol use. Future research should explore whether these findings hold across other sociocultural contexts, and the utility of interventions to address coping motives for substance use in adolescence.National Research Foundation of South Afric