The Shuffleboard Game: Effects of social drinking on mood and risky behaviour

Objective: Existing research examining how social forces and alcohol interact to impact risky behaviours has yielded contrasting findings, possibly due to the nature and variety of risk-taking tasks used and the failure to consider the role of emotion. Using a novel risk-task, akin to real world drinking games, this study examines the effect of intoxication and group contexts on risk-taking, considering mediating effects of mood. Method: 132 social drinkers (83 female) consumed an alcoholic (0.8g/kg) or placebo beverage before participating in the shuffleboard game (designed to mimic real drinking games) either individually (N = 66) or in the presence of two friends (N = 66). Mood was assessed before and after beverage consumption. Results: When controlling for group identity, intoxication (versus placebo) was associated with significantly higher risk-taking, although there was no impact of group context. No interaction between context and intoxication was observed, and mood did not mediate this relationship. Conclusions: Intoxication increases risk-taking behaviour regardless of whether an individual is in a group, or isolated, whereas groups do not appear to enhance risky behaviour. Previous evidence of an effect of groups on risk-taking may have been due to a failure to control for the effect of group identity. To reduce risky behaviours, interventions may benefit from targeting alcohol use while considering how pre-existing social norms within a friendship group may either mitigate or exacerbate risk. Results affirm the importance of considering both intoxication and group effects on affective states when investigating risk-taking behaviours

The shuffleboard game: investigating group drinking, mood, and risky behavior

Objective: Existing research examining how social forces and alcohol interact to impact risky behaviors has yielded contrasting findings, possibly due to the nature and variety of risk-taking tasks used and the failure to consider the role of emotion. Using a novel risk task, akin to real-world drinking games, this study examines the effect of intoxication and group contexts on risk-taking, considering mediating effects of mood. Method: One hundred thirty-two social drinkers (83 females) consumed an alcoholic (0.8 g/kg) or placebo beverage before participating in the shuffleboard game (designed to mimic real drinking games) either individually (N = 66) or in the presence of two friends (N = 66). Mood was assessed before and after beverage consumption. Results: When controlling for group identity, intoxication (vs. placebo) was associated with significantly higher risk-taking, although there was no impact of group context. No interaction between context and intoxication was observed, and mood did not mediate this relationship. Conclusions: Intoxication increases risk-taking behavior regardless of whether an individual is in a group, or isolated, whereas groups do not appear to enhance risky behavior. Previous evidence of an effect of groups on risk-taking may have been due to a failure to control for the effect of group identity. To reduce risky behaviors, interventions may benefit from targeting alcohol use while considering how preexisting social norms within a friendship group may either mitigate or exacerbate risk. Results affirm the importance of considering both intoxication and group effects on affective states when investigating risk-taking behaviors

Differential expression of PPP1R12A transcripts, including those harbouring alternatively spliced micro-exons, in placentae from complicated pregnancies

Introduction Placenta-associated pregnancy complications, including pre-eclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are conditions postulated to originate from initial failure of placentation, leading to clinical sequelae indicative of endothelial dysfunction. Vascular smooth muscle aberrations have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of both disorders via smooth muscle contractility and relaxation mediated by Myosin Light Chain Phosphatase (MLCP) and the oppositional contractile action of Myosin Light Chain Kinase. PPP1R12A is a constituent part of the MLCP complex responsible for dephosphorylation of myosin fibrils. We hypothesize that alternative splicing of micro-exons result in isoforms lacking the functional leucine zipper (LZ) domain which may give those cells expressing these alternative transcripts a tendency towards contraction and vasoconstriction. Methods Expression was determined by qRT-PCR. Epigenetic profiling consisted of bisulphite-based DNA methylation analysis and ChIP for underlying histone modifications. Results We identified several novel transcripts with alternative micro-exon inclusion that would produce LZ- PPP1R12A protein. qRT-PCR revealed some isoforms, including the PPP1R12A canonical transcript, are differentially expressed in placenta biopsies from PE and IUGR samples compared to uncomplicated pregnancies. Discussion We propose that upregulation of PPP1R12A expression in complicated pregnancies may be due to enhanced promoter activity leading to increased transcription as a response to physiological stress in the placenta, which we show is independent of promoter DNA methylation

“I have no clue what I drunk last night” Using Smartphone technology to compare in-vivo and retrospective self-reports of alcohol consumption.

This research compared real-time measurements of alcohol consumption with retrospective accounts of alcohol consumption to examine possible discrepancies between, and contextual influences on, the different accounts.Building on previous investigations, a specifically designed Smartphone technology was utilized to measure alcohol consumption and contextual influences in de facto real-time. Real-time data (a total of 10,560 data points relating to type and number of drinks and current social / environmental context) were compared with daily and weekly retrospective accounts of alcohol consumption.Participants reported consuming more alcoholic drinks during real-time assessment than retrospectively. For daily accounts a higher number of drinks consumed in real-time was related to a higher discrepancy between real-time and retrospective accounts. This effect was found across all drink types but was not shaped by social and environmental contexts. Higher in-vivo alcohol consumption appeared to be related to a higher discrepancy in retrospectively reported weekly consumption for alcohol beverage types other than wine. When including contextual factors into the statistical models, being with two or more friends (as opposed to being alone) decreased the discrepancy between real-time and retrospective reports, whilst being in the pub (relative to being at home) was associated with greater discrepancies.Overall, retrospective accounts may underestimate the amount of actual, real-time alcohol consumed. Increased consumption may also exacerbate differences between real-time and retrospective accounts. Nonetheless, this is not a global effect as environmental and social contexts interact with the type of alcohol consumed and the time frame given for reporting (weekly vs. daily retrospective). A degree of caution therefore appears warranted with regards to the use of retrospective self-report methods of recording alcohol consumption. Whilst real-time sampling is unlikely to be completely error free, it may be better able to account for social and environmental influences on self-reported consumption

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Rehabilitation versus surgical reconstruction for non-acute anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL SNNAP): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial

BackgroundAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a common debilitating injury that can cause instability of the knee. We aimed to investigate the best management strategy between reconstructive surgery and non-surgical treatment for patients with a non-acute ACL injury and persistent symptoms of instability.MethodsWe did a pragmatic, multicentre, superiority, randomised controlled trial in 29 secondary care National Health Service orthopaedic units in the UK. Patients with symptomatic knee problems (instability) consistent with an ACL injury were eligible. We excluded patients with meniscal pathology with characteristics that indicate immediate surgery. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by computer to either surgery (reconstruction) or rehabilitation (physiotherapy but with subsequent reconstruction permitted if instability persisted after treatment), stratified by site and baseline Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score—4 domain version (KOOS4). This management design represented normal practice. The primary outcome was KOOS4 at 18 months after randomisation. The principal analyses were intention-to-treat based, with KOOS4 results analysed using linear regression. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN10110685, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02980367.FindingsBetween Feb 1, 2017, and April 12, 2020, we recruited 316 patients. 156 (49%) participants were randomly assigned to the surgical reconstruction group and 160 (51%) to the rehabilitation group. Mean KOOS4 at 18 months was 73·0 (SD 18·3) in the surgical group and 64·6 (21·6) in the rehabilitation group. The adjusted mean difference was 7·9 (95% CI 2·5–13·2; p=0·0053) in favour of surgical management. 65 (41%) of 160 patients allocated to rehabilitation underwent subsequent surgery according to protocol within 18 months. 43 (28%) of 156 patients allocated to surgery did not receive their allocated treatment. We found no differences between groups in the proportion of intervention-related complications.InterpretationSurgical reconstruction as a management strategy for patients with non-acute ACL injury with persistent symptoms of instability was clinically superior and more cost-effective in comparison with rehabilitation management