Enhancing Motivation to Change in Clients with Alcohol Use Disorders: Video Feedback as a Brief Intervention

This research examined whether videotaped self-observation of drinking behavior combined with a one-session motivationally-based interview resulted in higher levels of motivation to change drinking behavior, lower levels of quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption, decreases in alcohol-related problem behaviors, and expectations of the positive effects of alcohol for individuals mandated to treatment for alcohol-use disorders. DUI offenders (n = 8) and heavy drinking college students (n = 13) mandated to treatment were randomly assigned to receive treatment as usual at their respective agencies or an experimental video intervention in addition to their regular treatment requirements. Participants were assessed at baseline and at one-month following treatment. Participants in both conditions self-reported significantly fewer alcohol-related problem behaviors at the one month follow-up. A non-significant trend was found between the groups over time for alcohol-related problem behaviors; participants assigned to treatment as usual reported fewer alcohol-related problem behaviors at follow-up relative to participants assigned to the experimental video intervention. An additional non-significant trend was found for movement along the stages of change. Two participants who received the video intervention regressed to previous stage levels and one participant who received treatment as usual moved forward one stage. Most participants assigned to the video intervention reported increased insight into their own drinking behavior following the video viewing. Results from this study suggest that aside from increasing awareness about drinking behavior, the data do not support the use of video self-monitoring of drinking behavior as a treatment intervention for individuals with alcohol-use disorders. Future research may want to incorporate some modified components of the video intervention into existing motivationally-based treatments as a way to increase awareness about drinking behavior

Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I and II Alleles and Overall Survival in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma and Follicular Lymphoma

Genetic variation in the 6p21 chromosomal region, including human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), has been linked to both etiology and clinical outcomes of lymphomas. We estimated the effects of HLA class I (A, B, and C), class II DRB1 alleles, and the ancestral haplotype (AH) 8.1 (HLAA*01-B*08-DRB1*03-TNF-308A) on overall survival (OS) among patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) in a population-based study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. During a median followup of 89 months, 31% (52 of 166) DLBCL and 28% (46 of 165) FL patients died. Using multivariate Cox regression models, we observed statistically significant associations between genetic variants and survival: HLA-Cw*07:01 was associated with poorer OS among DLBCL patients (Hazard ratio [HR] = 1.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01–3.05); HLA-A*01:01 was associated with poorer OS (HR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.24–4.01), and HLA-DRB1*13 (HR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.02–0.90) and HLA-B Bw4 (HR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.20–0.63) with better OS among FL patients. These results support a role for HLA in the prognosis of DLBCL and FL and represent a promising class of prognostic factors that warrants further evaluation

Smoking, Variation In N-acetyltransferase 1 (nat1) And 2 (nat2), And Risk Of Non-hodgkin Lymphoma: A Pooled Analysis Within The Interlymph Consortium

Studies of smoking and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have yielded inconsistent results, possibly due to subtype heterogeneity and/or genetic variation impacting the metabolism of tobacco-derived carcinogens, including substrates of the N-acetyltransferase enzymes NAT1 and NAT2. We conducted a pooled analysis of 5,026 NHL cases and 4,630 controls from seven case-control studies in the international lymphoma epidemiology consortium to examine associations between smoking, variation in the N-acetyltransferase genes NAT1 and NAT2, and risk of NHL subtypes. Smoking data were harmonized across studies, and genetic variants in NAT1 and NAT2 were used to infer acetylation phenotype of the NAT1 and NAT2 enzymes, respectively. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) for risk of NHL and subtypes were calculated using joint fixed effects unconditional logistic regression models. Current smoking was associated with a significant 30 % increased risk of follicular lymphoma (n = 1,176) but not NHL overall or other NHL subtypes. The association was similar among NAT2 slow (OR 1.36; 95 % CI 1.07-1.75) and intermediate/rapid (OR 1.27; 95 % CI 0.95-1.69) acetylators (p (interaction) = 0.82) and also did not differ by NAT1*10 allelotype. Neither NAT2 phenotype nor NAT1*10 allelotype was associated with risk of NHL overall or NHL subtypes. The current findings provide further evidence for a modest association between current smoking and follicular lymphoma risk and suggest that this association may not be influenced by variation in the N-acetyltransferase enzymes

Characterization of the severe phenotype of pyruvate kinase deficiency

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162766/2/ajh25926.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162766/1/ajh25926_am.pd

Common Gene Variants in the Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and TNF Receptor Superfamilies and NF-kB Transcription Factors and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Risk

BACKGROUND:A promoter polymorphism in the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (TNF G-308A) is associated with increased non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk. The protein product, TNF-alpha, activates the nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-kappaB) transcription factor, and is critical for inflammatory and apoptotic responses in cancer progression. We hypothesized that the TNF and NF-kappaB pathways are important for NHL and that gene variations across the pathways may alter NHL risk. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We genotyped 500 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 48 candidate gene regions (defined as 20 kb 5', 10 kb 3') in the TNF and TNF receptor superfamilies and the NF-kappaB and related transcription factors, in 1946 NHL cases and 1808 controls pooled from three independent population-based case-control studies. We obtained a gene region-level summary of association by computing the minimum p-value ("minP test"). We used logistic regression to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for NHL and four major NHL subtypes in relation to SNP genotypes and haplotypes. For NHL, the tail strength statistic supported an overall relationship between the TNF/NF-kappaB pathway and NHL (p = 0.02). We confirmed the association between TNF/LTA on chromosome 6p21.3 with NHL and found the LTA rs2844484 SNP most significantly and specifically associated with the major subtype, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (p-trend = 0.001). We also implicated for the first time, variants in NFKBIL1 on chromosome 6p21.3, associated with NHL. Other gene regions identified as statistically significantly associated with NHL included FAS, IRF4, TNFSF13B, TANK, TNFSF7 and TNFRSF13C. Accordingly, the single most significant SNPs associated with NHL were FAS rs4934436 (p-trend = 0.0024), IRF4 rs12211228 (p-trend = 0.0026), TNFSF13B rs2582869 (p-trend = 0.0055), TANK rs1921310 (p-trend = 0.0025), TNFSF7 rs16994592 (p-trend = 0.0024), and TNFRSF13C rs6002551 (p-trend = 0.0074). All associations were consistent in each study with no apparent specificity for NHL subtype. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our results provide consistent evidence that variation in the TNF superfamily of genes and specifically within chromosome 6p21.3 impacts lymphomagenesis. Further characterization of these susceptibility loci and identification of functional variants are warranted

GWAS of Follicular Lymphoma Reveals Allelic Heterogeneity at 6p21.32 and Suggests Shared Genetic Susceptibility with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) represents a diverse group of hematological malignancies, of which follicular lymphoma (FL) is a prevalent subtype. A previous genome-wide association study has established a marker, rs10484561 in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II region on 6p21.32 associated with increased FL risk. Here, in a three-stage genome-wide association study, starting with a genome-wide scan of 379 FL cases and 791 controls followed by validation in 1,049 cases and 5,790 controls, we identified a second independent FL–associated locus on 6p21.32, rs2647012 (ORcombined = 0.64, Pcombined = 2×10−21) located 962 bp away from rs10484561 (r2<0.1 in controls). After mutual adjustment, the associations at the two SNPs remained genome-wide significant (rs2647012:ORadjusted = 0.70, Padjusted = 4×10−12; rs10484561:ORadjusted = 1.64, Padjusted = 5×10−15). Haplotype and coalescence analyses indicated that rs2647012 arose on an evolutionarily distinct haplotype from that of rs10484561 and tags a novel allele with an opposite (protective) effect on FL risk. Moreover, in a follow-up analysis of the top 6 FL–associated SNPs in 4,449 cases of other NHL subtypes, rs10484561 was associated with risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ORcombined = 1.36, Pcombined = 1.4×10−7). Our results reveal the presence of allelic heterogeneity within the HLA class II region influencing FL susceptibility and indicate a possible shared genetic etiology with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These findings suggest that the HLA class II region plays a complex yet important role in NHL

Understanding the Use of Crisis Informatics Technology among Older Adults

Mass emergencies increasingly pose significant threats to human life, with a disproportionate burden being incurred by older adults. Research has explored how mobile technology can mitigate the effects of mass emergencies. However, less work has examined how mobile technologies support older adults during emergencies, considering their unique needs. To address this research gap, we interviewed 16 older adults who had recent experience with an emergency evacuation to understand the perceived value of using mobile technology during emergencies. We found that there was a lack of awareness and engagement with existing crisis apps. Our findings characterize the ways in which our participants did and did not feel crisis informatics tools address human values, including basic needs and esteem needs. We contribute an understanding of how older adults used mobile technology during emergencies and their perspectives on how well such tools address human values.Comment: 10 page