Risky use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes in a psychosis unit: a 1 1/2 year follow-up of stability and changes after initial screening

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Co-morbidity with substance use disorders negatively influences overall functioning in patients with psychosis. However, frequencies and courses of risky use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes are rarely investigated in patients at psychosis units.</p> <p>The purpose of this study is to describe the use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes in patients at a psychosis unit over a 1 1/2 year period after them having taken part in a screening investigation including a feed-back of the results to personnel. Relationships with sex and age are also described.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The patients' use of the substances was examined at baseline and at follow-up using three self-reporting instruments: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One hundred and eighty-six patients out of 238 at baseline (78 percent) took part in the follow-up. Total AUDIT score decreased in women. Older men more often developed a risky alcohol use. Older women tended to reduce their risky drug habits. On a group level the habits mostly were stable, but 11 percent changed their alcohol habits and 15 percent changed their smoking habits from risky to no/low risky use, or vice versa. Nine percent changed their drug habits, predominantly from risky to no/low risky use.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A more active approach towards alcohol, drug and smoking habits in psychosis units would probably be beneficial.</p

A Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Kidney Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

dentification of sequence variants robustly associated with predisposition to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has the potential to provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DKD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) using eight complementary dichotomous and quantitative DKD phenotypes: the principal dichotomous analysis involved 5,717 T2D subjects, 3,345 with DKD. Promising association signals were evaluated in up to 26,827 subjects with T2D (12,710 with DKD). A combined T1D+T2D GWAS was performed using complementary data available for subjects with T1D, which, with replication samples, involved up to 40,340 subjects with diabetes (18,582 with DKD). Analysis of specific DKD phenotypes identified a novel signal near GABRR1 (rs9942471, P = 4.5 x 10(-8)) associated with microalbuminuria in European T2D case subjects. However, no replication of this signal was observed in Asian subjects with T2D or in the equivalent T1D analysis. There was only limited support, in this substantially enlarged analysis, for association at previously reported DKD signals, except for those at UMOD and PRKAG2, both associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate. We conclude that, despite challenges in addressing phenotypic heterogeneity, access to increased sample sizes will continue to provide more robust inference regarding risk variant discovery for DKD.Peer reviewe

Animal Visibility and and Equality in Liberal Democratic States

Animal welfare legislation does not consistently protect all nonhuman animals against all harms under all circumstances. Through an analysis of current legislative arrangements and the origins of animal protection law, and an examination of popular attitudes towards animal cruelty, this study seeks to comment on the role of visibility in informing the level and type of state-sponsored interest protection an animal receives. It is argued that different types of animals enjoy different levels of visibility and that an animal’s level of visibility influences the extent to which the state is willing to intervene to protect the animal from harm. These findings are significant because the highly politicised nature of the lives of many nonhuman animals raises questions about the appropriateness of an animal welfare legislative regime which is at once biased and which also tends to favour those animals who are most readily visible. It is argued that the practice of regulating animal welfare by use of legislative instruments which are inconsistent is problematic from the perspective of liberal principles because liberalism places a heavy emphasis on the concept of equality. Similarly, the practice of preferential treatment for the most visible is not consistent with democratic values because it removes citizens from the process of establishing agreed-upon standards for animal protection. In conclusion, it is argued that because some animals have been effectively drawn into the liberal democratic political landscape, the principle of equitable treatment should be applied to the manner in which the state regulates animal use. Such an approach would mean that animal use would be regulated according to the same values that are applied to other areas of political society. It would also have the effect of establishing what the community views as the appropriate level of nonhuman animal interest protection, by challenging the existence of a double standard predicated on the principle of low visibility