Alien Registration- Carpenter, Ogeil (Skowhegan, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5163/thumbnail.jp

Decision-making style, nicotine and caffeine use and dependence

Rationale As therapeutic interventions are being developed utilising telehealth and mobile phones, it is important to understand how substance-dependent individuals will respond to offers of online assistance. Objectives The present paper considered the following: (1) how decision-making style is associated with use and dependence upon commonly used stimulants and (2) how it influences behavioural responses to electronic offers of further information about these drugs. Method An online survey examined patterns of nicotine and caffeine use, administered Severity of Dependence Scales for caffeine and nicotine and assessed decision-making style using the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire and mood using the Kessler Distress Scale. Upon completing these scales, the 181 participants with a mean age of 28.14 years were offered further information online. Results Stimulant dependence was associated with psychological distress. Caffeine dependence was linked to hypervigilance (panic). Decisional self-esteem varied with stimulant dependence and Kessler Distress Scale score. Participants with high decisional self-esteem declined electronic offers of further information. Conclusion Confidence rather than defensive avoidance was a factor in reducing information-seeking behaviours on the Internet

'Ecstasy' and the use of sleep medications in a general community sample: a 4-year follow-up

Aims: Animal models show that a single dose of MDMA (‘ecstasy’) can result in long-term disruption of sleep. We evaluated the relationship between ecstasy consumption and the use of sleep medications in humans after controlling for key factors. Design: The Personality and Total Health Through Life project uses a longitudinal cohort with follow-up every four years. This study reports data from waves two and three. Setting: Participants were recruited from the electoral roll in the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia. Participants: Participants were aged 20-24 years at wave one (1999-2000).Measures: The study collected self-reported data on ecstasy, meth/amphetamine, cannabis, alcohol, tobacco and use of sleeping medications (pharmaceutical or other substances). Depression was categorised with the Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (BPHQ). Other psychosocial measures included lifetime traumas. We used generalised estimating equations to model outcomes. Results: Ecstasy data were available from 2128 people at wave two and 1977 at wave three: sleeping medication use was reported by 227 (10.7%) respondents at wave two and 239 (12.1%) at wave three. Increased odds ratios (OR) for sleeping medication use was found for those with depression (OR=1.88, (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.39, 2.53), women (OR=1.44, 95% CI 1.13, 1.84), and increased by 19% for each lifetime trauma. Ecstasy use was not a significant predictor, but ≥monthly versus never meth/amphetamine use increased the odds (OR=3.03, 95% CI 1.30, 7.03). Conclusion: The use of ecstasy was not associated with the use of sleeping medications controlling for other risk factors

Why do you drink caffeine? The development of the Motives for Caffeine Consumption Questionnaire (MCCQ) and its relationship with gender, age and the types of caffeinated beverages

Caffeine is the most popular psychoactive substance that is consumed worldwide. As motives influence behavior, investigation of the motivational background of caffeine consumption should help provide a better understanding of the popularity of caffeinated products. The present study aimed (i) to explore and operationalize the motives of caffeine consumption and (ii) to reveal possible differences in the motives regarding gender, age and the type of caffeinated products consumed. Motives for caffeine consumption were collected from regular caffeine consumers (N = 26) and were informed by a review of the relevant literature. Following this, a cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of Hungarian university students and working adults (N = 598). The participants completed the Motives for Caffeine Consumption Questionnaire and the Caffeine Consumption Questionnaire. Six motivational factors were identified: Alertness, Habit, Mood, Social, Taste and Symptom Management. Women had higher scores on Habit, Social, Taste and Symptom Management. Younger participants had higher scores on Alertness than the older group, and the older group had higher scores on Habit and Symptom Management. Five types of caffeine users were identified. Those who consumed (i) coffee, (ii) tea, (iii) energy drinks, (iv) coffee and tea and (v) mixed drinks. Several differences between the five groups were revealed across all motives except for Taste. The present study developed a robust psychometric instrument for assessing caffeine consumption motives. The factors varied in importance in relation to gender, age and caffeine consumption habits

A DNA methylation biomarker of alcohol consumption.

The lack of reliable measures of alcohol intake is a major obstacle to the diagnosis and treatment of alcohol-related diseases. Epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation may provide novel biomarkers of alcohol use. To examine this possibility, we performed an epigenome-wide association study of methylation of cytosine-phosphate-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) sites in relation to alcohol intake in 13 population-based cohorts (ntotal=13 317; 54% women; mean age across cohorts 42-76 years) using whole blood (9643 European and 2423 African ancestries) or monocyte-derived DNA (588 European, 263 African and 400 Hispanic ancestry) samples. We performed meta-analysis and variable selection in whole-blood samples of people of European ancestry (n=6926) and identified 144 CpGs that provided substantial discrimination (area under the curve=0.90-0.99) for current heavy alcohol intake (⩾42 g per day in men and ⩾28 g per day in women) in four replication cohorts. The ancestry-stratified meta-analysis in whole blood identified 328 (9643 European ancestry samples) and 165 (2423 African ancestry samples) alcohol-related CpGs at Bonferroni-adjusted P<1 × 10-7. Analysis of the monocyte-derived DNA (n=1251) identified 62 alcohol-related CpGs at P<1 × 10-7. In whole-blood samples of people of European ancestry, we detected differential methylation in two neurotransmitter receptor genes, the γ-Aminobutyric acid-A receptor delta and γ-aminobutyric acid B receptor subunit 1; their differential methylation was associated with expression levels of a number of genes involved in immune function. In conclusion, we have identified a robust alcohol-related DNA methylation signature and shown the potential utility of DNA methylation as a clinically useful diagnostic test to detect current heavy alcohol consumption.Medical Research Council (Grant IDs: MC_UU_12015/1, MC_UU_12015/2), Wellcome Trust. Detailed acknowledgements are included in the Supplementary Information that accompanies the paper on the Molecular Psychiatry website

Alien Registration- Carpenter, Ogeil (Skowhegan, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/5163/thumbnail.jp

MDMA: effects on sleep and the circadian system

±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) commonly referred to as ‘ecstasy’ is an illicit drug, often associated with raves and house parties. Ecstasy prinicipally targets the serotonergic (5-HT) system, where it acutely raises levels of this neurotransmitter. Subsequently however, ecstasy use leads to reduced 5-HT availability, possibly due to a functional loss or impairment of the serotonergic transporter (SERT). These marked changes in 5-HT functioning have implications for ecstasy users given that 5-HT is an essential regulator of many behavioural and physiological functions including mood, temperature regulation, sleep, and circadian rhythmicity. Given the paucity of research which has investigated the effects of ecstasy upon sleep and circadian rhythms, the following dissertation aimed to investigate the following: (1) The nature of any functional deficits in sleep in ecstasy users; and (2) Mechanisms of action of MDMA on the circadian timing system, examined in an animal model at both the behavioural and genetic levels. The results of this dissertation demonstrated that in a sample of ecstasy users (n=395), a high proportion (~70%) had clinically significant problems with their sleep quality, with those at greatest risk identified as regularly taking more ecstasy per occasion of use, reporting either harm to themselves or others following their ecstasy use, or reporting being told to cut down on their ecstasy use. Importantly, this subgroup of ecstasy users was also more impaired on a number of sleep domains including sleep latency and use of sleep medication. Based on these findings, we speculated that the circadian system, which is partially responsible for control of sleep initiation and maintenance, may be affected by the drug. Hence, subsequent experiments were conducted to test this hypothesis in a rodent model utilising both behavioural and genetic outcome measures. These experiments demonstrated that a single, moderate dose of MDMA (either 5 or 10 mg/kg) disrupted measures associated with the circadian system. When rats were housed under a 12-12 h light-dark cycle, their activity was substantially altered, such that they did a greater proportion of their wheel running during their normal ‘rest’ phase, without a significant increase in their total activity for the day. In contrast, when MDMA was administered to rats that were subsequently held under constant darkness to monitor its effects on the circadian pacemaker, we found time-of-day dependent effects on their length of activity (alpha), the timing of offset of activity and the circadian period (cycle length) assessed over ten days post administration. Subsequent examination of cfos and Per gene expression determined that a single dose of MDMA (5mg/kg) disrupted the normal cycling of these genes, such that Per1 and Per2 were over expressed at ZT16 (during the dark phase) and cfos was induced at both ZT16 and ZT6. Taken together, these findings represent the first studies to have directly examined circadian involvement in mediating some of the effects of MDMA. The importance of these results corroborates the initial finding that the majority of ecstasy users report sleep disturbance acutely following ecstasy use, which may persist following a period of abstinence. The collective implications of these outcomes and future directions for research within this area are discussed