Pattern and prevalence of vaping nicotine and non-nicotine drugs in the United Kingdom: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Electronic vaping devices are being used to consume nicotine and non-nicotine psychoactive drugs. We aimed to determine the pattern and prevalence of using vaping devices for nicotine and/or non-nicotine drug administration in the United Kingdom and how these differ by drug type and individual sociodemographic characteristics. We explored reasons for vaping onset and continuation. Design: An online cross-sectional survey Participants: A convenience sample of adults (aged ≥18 years) in the UK. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome was prevalence of current use (within the last 30 days) of a vaping device to administer either nicotine or 18 types of non-nicotine drugs. We additionally evaluated reasons for onset and continuation of vaping. Sociodemographic characteristics were compared between the UK general population using census data and those vaping non-nicotine drugs. Results: We recruited 4027 participants of whom 1637 (40.7%) had ever used an electronic vaping device; 1495 (37.1%) had ever vaped nicotine and 593 (14.7%) had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug. Overall, 574 (14.3%) currently vaped nicotine and 74 (1.8%) currently vaped a non-nicotine drug. The most common currently vaped non-nicotine drug was cannabis (n=58, 1.4%). For nicotine, people’s modal reasons to start and continue vaping was to quit smoking tobacco. For almost all other drugs, people’s modal reason to start vaping was curiosity and to continue was enjoyment. Compared with the general population, the population who had ever vaped a non-nicotine drug were significantly younger, had more disabilities and fewer identified as white, female, heterosexual or religious. Conclusions: A non-trivial number of people report current use and ever use of an electronic vaping device for non-nicotine drug administration. As vaping technology advances and drug consumption changes, understanding patterns of use and associated behaviours are likely to be increasingly important to both users and healthcare professionals

Association of psychological distress with smoking cessation, duration of abstinence from smoking, and use of non-combustible nicotine-containing products: A cross-sectional population survey in Great Britain

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking cessation is associated with improvements in mental health. This study assessed psychological distress, using the K6 non-specific screening tool ((items cover feelings of nervousness, hopelessness, restlessness, depression, ‘everything an effort’ and worthlessness), by smoking status, time since quit, and use of a non-combustible nicotine product. METHODS: Monthly repeat cross-sectional household survey of adults (18 + ) from October 2020–February 2022 in Great Britain (N = 32,727). Using unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression (adjusted models included socio-demographic characteristics and ever diagnosis with a mental health condition), we assessed: associations between any/serious past-month psychological distress and smoking status and time since quit, whether these relationships were moderated by ever diagnosis with a mental health condition, and associations between distress and use of a nicotine product by people who formerly smoked. RESULTS: In the unadjusted model, those who had not smoked for > 1y and who had never smoked had lower odds of any distress (OR = 0·42, 95 % CI 0·39-0·45; OR = 0·44, 0·41-0·47) compared with those who currently smoked. Moreover, the association of lower distress in those who had not smoked for > 1y and never smoked compared with those who currently smoked was more pronounced among those who had ever been diagnosed with a mental health condition (AOR = 0·58, 0·51-0·66; AOR = 0·60, 0·53-0·67) than among those who had not (AOR = 0·86, 0·76-0·98; AOR = 0·72, 0·65-0·81). In adjusted models of people who formerly smoked, current use of any nicotine product was associated with higher odds of distress compared with not using any nicotine product (AOR 1·23, 1·06-1·42)

Plankton community respiration and bacterial metabolism in a North Atlantic Shelf Sea during spring bloom development (April 2015)

Spring phytoplankton blooms are important events in Shelf Sea pelagic systems as the increase in carbon production results in increased food availability for higher trophic levels and the export of carbon to deeper waters and the sea-floor. It is usually accepted that the increase in phytoplankton abundance and production is followed by an increase in plankton respiration. However, this expectation is derived from field studies with a low temporal sampling resolution (5–15 days). In this study we have measured the time course of plankton abundance, gross primary production, plankton community respiration, respiration of the plankton size classes (>0.8 µm and 0.2–0.8 µm) and bacterial production at ≤5 day intervals during April 2015 in order to examine the phasing of plankton autotrophic and heterotrophic processes. Euphotic depth-integrated plankton community respiration increased five-fold (from 22 ± 4 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 on 4th April to 119 ± 4 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 on 15th April) at the same time as gross primary production also increased five-fold, (from 114 ± 5 to 613 ± 28 mmol C m−2 d−1). Bacterial production began to increase during the development of the bloom, but did not reach its maximum until 5 days after the peak in primary production and plankton respiration. The increase in plankton community respiration was driven by an increase in the respiration attributable to the >0.8 µm size fraction of the plankton community (which would include phytoplankton, microzooplankton and particle attached bacteria). Euphotic depth-integrated respiration of the 0.2–0.8 µm size fraction (predominantly free living bacteria) decreased and then remained relatively constant (16 ± 3 – 11 ± 1 mmol O2 m−2 d−1) between the first day of sampling (4th April) and the days following the peak in chlorophyll-a (20th and 25th April). Recent locally synthesized organic carbon was more than sufficient to fulfil the bacterial carbon requirement in the euphotic zone during this productive period. Changes in bacterial growth efficiencies (BGE, the ratio of bacterial production to bacterial carbon demand) were driven by changes in bacterial production rates increasing from 0.8 µm during the development of the spring bloom, followed 5 days later by a peak in bacterial production. In addition, the size fractionated respiration rates and high growth efficiencies suggest that free living bacteria are not the major producers of CO2 before, during and a few days after this shelf sea spring phytoplankton bloom.The Leverhulme Trust | Ref. RPG-2017-089UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Ref. NE/K00168X/1UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Ref. NE/ K001884/1UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Ref. NE/K002058/1UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Ref. NE/K001701/

Nitrogen dynamics and phytoplankton community structure: the role of organic nutrients

Publication history: Accepted - 7 June 2017; Published online - 15 June 2017.Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) is recognised as an important N source for phytoplankton. However, its relative importance for phytoplankton nutrition and community composition has not been studied comprehensively. This study, conducted in a typical Scottish fjord, representative of nearpristine coastal environments, evaluates the utilisation of DON and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) by different microbial size fractions and the relationship of phytoplankton community composition with DON and other parameters. The study demonstrated that DON was important in supporting phytoplankton throughout the yearly production cycle. The higherthan-expected urea uptake rates and large fraction of the spring bloom production supported by DON suggested that organic N not only contributes to regenerated production and to the nutrition of the small phytoplankton fraction, but can also contribute substantially to new production of the larger phytoplankton in coastal waters. Multivariate statistical techniques revealed two phytoplankton assemblages with peaks in abundance at different times of the year: a spring group dominated by Skeletonema spp., Thalassiosira spp., and Pseudo-nitzschia spp. group delicatissima; and a summer/autumn group dominated by Chaetoceros spp., Scrippsiella spp., and Pseudonitzschia spp. group seriata. The multivariate pattern in community composition and abundance of these taxa was significantly correlated with the multivariate pattern of DON, urea, dissolved free amino acids, DIN, temperature, salinity, and daylength, with daylength and urea being particularly important, suggesting both physical and chemical controls on community composition.The authors wish to acknowledge the National Environment Research Council (NERC) for funding and the officers and crew of RV Seòl Mara for assisting with sample collection. This is contribution number 5318 from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Reducing Smoking Among People With Schizophrenia: Perspectives on Priorities for Advancing Research

Copyright © 2018 Baker, Robson, Lawn, Steinberg, Bucci, McNeill, Castle and Bonevski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.Although tobacco smoking is very common among people with schizophrenia and has devastating effects on health, strategies to ameliorate the risk are lacking. Some studies have reported promising results yet quit rates are much lower than in the general population. There is a need to advance research into smoking cessation efforts among people with schizophrenia. We posed the following question to five leading international experts in the field: “What are the top three research ideas we need to prioritize in order to advance the field of reducing smoking amongst people with schizophrenia?” They identified three broad priorities: (i) deeper understanding about the relationship between smoking, smoking cessation and symptomatology; (ii) targeted, adaptive and responsive behavioral interventions evaluated with smarter methodologies; and (iii) improvements in delivery of interventions. Efforts should be made to establish a collaborative international research agenda

Metabolic syndrome is associated with change in subclinical arterial stiffness - A community-based Taichung Community Health Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of MetS on arterial stiffness in a longitudinal study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a measurement interpreted as arterial stiffness, was measured in 1518 community-dwelling persons at baseline and re-examined within a mean follow-up period of 3 years. Multivariate linear regression with generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to examine the longitudinal relationship between MetS and its individual components and baPWV, while multivariate logistic regression with GEE was used to examine the longitudinal relationship between MetS and its individual components and the high risk group with arterial stiffness.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Subjects with MetS showed significantly greater baPWV at the end point than those without MetS, after adjusting for age, gender, education, hypertension medication and mean arterial pressure (MAP). MetS was associated with the top quartile of baPWV (the high-risk group of arterial stiffness, adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 1.52 [1.21-1.90]), and a significant linear trend of risk for the number of components of MetS was found (p for trend < 0.05). In further considering the individual MetS component, elevated blood pressure and fasting glucose significantly predicted a high risk of arterial stiffness (adjusted OR [95% CI] 3.72 [2.81-4.93] and 1.35 [1.08-1.68], respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>MetS affects the subject's progression to arterial stiffness. Arterial stiffness increased as the number of MetS components increased. Management of MetS is important for preventing the progression to advanced arterial stiffness.</p

Seasonal changes in plankton respiration and bacterial metabolism in a temperate shelf sea

The seasonal variability of plankton metabolism indicates how much carbon is cycling within a system, as well as its capacity to store carbon or export organic matter and CO2 to the deep ocean. Seasonal variability between November 2014, April 2015 and July 2015 in plankton respiration and bacterial (Bacteria+Archaea) metabolism is reported for the upper and bottom mixing layers at two stations in the Celtic Sea, UK. Upper mixing layer (UML, >75 m in November, 41 - 70 m in April and ~50 m in July) depth-integrated plankton metabolism showed strong seasonal changes with a maximum in April for plankton respiration (1.2- to 2-fold greater compared to November and July, respectively) and in July for bacterial production (2-fold greater compared to November and April). However UML depth-integrated bacterial respiration was similar in November and April and 2-fold lower in July. The greater variability in bacterial production compared to bacterial respiration drove seasonal changes in bacterial growth efficiencies, which had maximum values of 89 % in July and minimum values of 5 % in November. Rates of respiration and gross primary production (14C-PP) also showed different seasonal patterns, resulting in seasonal changes in 14C-PP:CRO2 ratios. In April, the system was net autotrophic (14C-PP:CRO2 > 1), with a surplus of organic matter available for higher trophic levels and export, while in July balanced metabolism occurred (14C-PP:CRO2 = 1) due to an increase in plankton respiration and a decrease in gross primary production. Comparison of the UML and bottom mixing layer indicated that plankton respiration and bacterial production were higher (between 4 and 8-fold and 4 and 7-fold, respectively) in the UML than below. However, the rates of bacterial respiration were not statistically different (p > 0.05) between the two mixing layers in any of the three sampled seasons. These results highlight that, contrary to previous data from shelf seas, the production of CO2 by the plankton community in the UML, which is then available to degas to the atmosphere, is greater than the respiratory production of dissolved inorganic carbon in deeper waters, which may contribute to offshore export

Realising consilience: How better communication between archaeologists, historians and natural scientists can transform the study of past climate change in the Mediterranean

This paper reviews the methodological and practical issues relevant to the ways in which natural scientists, historians and archaeologists may collaborate in the study of past climatic changes in the Mediterranean basin. We begin by discussing the methodologies of these three disciplines in the context of the consilience debate, that is, attempts to unify different research methodologies that address similar problems. We demonstrate that there are a number of similarities in the fundamental methodology between history, archaeology, and the natural sciences that deal with the past (“palaeoenvironmental sciences”), due to their common interest in studying societal and environmental phenomena that no longer exist. The three research traditions, for instance, employ specific narrative structures as a means of communicating research results. We thus present and compare the narratives characteristic of each discipline; in order to engage in fruitful interdisciplinary exchange, we must first understand how each deals with the societal impacts of climatic change. In the second part of the paper, we focus our discussion on the four major practical issues that hinder communication between the three disciplines. These include terminological misunderstandings, problems relevant to project design, divergences in publication cultures, and differing views on the impact of research. Among other recommendations, we suggest that scholars from the three disciplines should aim to create a joint publication culture, which should also appeal to a wider public, both inside and outside of academia.This paper emerged as a result of a workshop at Costa Navarino and the Navarino Environmental Observatory (NEO), Greece in April 2014, which addressed Mediterranean Holocene climate and human societies. The workshop was co-sponsored by IGBP/PAGES, NEO, the MISTRALS/PaleoMex program, the Labex OT-Med, the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University, and the Institute of Oceanography at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. We also acknowledge funding from the National Science Centre, Poland, within the scheme of the Centre's postdoctoral fellowships (DEC-2012/04/S/HS3/00226 (A.I)); the Swedish Research Council (grant numbers 421-2014-1181 (E.W.) and 621-2012-4344 (K.H.)); CSIC-Ramón y Cajal post-doctoral program RYC-2013-14073 and Clare Hall College, Cambridge, Shackleton Fellowship (B.M.); the EU/FP7 Project ‘Sea for Society’ (Science and Society - 2011-1, 289066)

International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio