Is there an association between seeing incidents of alcohol or drug use in films and young Scottish adults' own alcohol or drug use? A cross sectional study

<p>Background: As the promotion of alcohol and tobacco to young people through direct advertising has become increasingly restricted, there has been greater interest in whether images of certain behaviours in films are associated with uptake of those behaviours in young people. Associations have been reported between exposure to smoking images in films and smoking initiation, and between exposure to film alcohol images and initiation of alcohol consumption, in younger adolescents in the USA and Germany. To date no studies have reported on film images of recreational drug use and young people's own drug use.</p> <p>Methods: Cross sectional multivariable logistic regression analysis of data collected at age 19 (2002-4) from a cohort of young people (502 boys, 500 girls) previously surveyed at ages 11 (in 1994-5), 13 and 15 in schools in the West of Scotland. Outcome measures at age 19 were: exceeding the 'sensible drinking' guidelines ('heavy drinkers') and binge drinking (based on alcohol consumption reported in last week), and ever use of cannabis and of 'hard' drugs. The principle predictor variables were an estimate of exposure to images of alcohol, and of drug use, in films, controlling for factors related to the uptake of substance use in young people.</p> <p>Results: A third of these young adults (33%) were classed as 'heavy drinkers' and half (47%) as 'binge drinkers' on the basis of their previous week's consumption. Over half (56%) reported ever use of cannabis and 13% ever use of one or more of the 'hard' drugs listed. There were linear trends in the percentage of heavy drinkers (p = .018) and binge drinkers (p = 0.012) by film alcohol exposure quartiles, and for ever use of cannabis by film drug exposure (p = .000), and for ever use of 'hard' drugs (p = .033). The odds ratios for heavy drinking (1.56, 95% CI 1.06-2.29 comparing highest with lowest quartile of film alcohol exposure) and binge drinking (1.59, 95% CI 1.10-2.30) were attenuated by adjustment for gender, social class, family background (parental structure, parental care and parental control), attitudes to risk-taking and rule-breaking, and qualifications (OR heavy drinking 1.42, 95% CI 0.95-2.13 and binge drinking 1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.19), and further so when adjusting for friends' drinking status (when the odds ratios were no longer significant). A similar pattern was seen for ever use of cannabis and 'hard' drugs (unadjusted OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.24-2.62 and 1.57, 95% CI 0.91-2.69 respectively, 'fully' adjusted OR 1.41 (0.90-2.22 and 1.28 (0.66-2.47) respectively).</p> <p>Conclusions: Despite some limitations, which are discussed, these cross-sectional results add to a body of work which suggests that it is important to design good longitudinal studies which can determine whether exposure to images of potentially health-damaging behaviours lead to uptake of these behaviours during adolescence and early adulthood, and to examine factors that might mediate this relationship.</p&gt

Stable-isotope techniques to investigate sources of plant water

Stable isotopologues of water (mainly 1H216O, HD16O and 1H218O) have been used for decades as tracers of the Earth's water cycle. In this chapter, we briefly describe the theoretical background and state-of-the-art techniques of the use of water stable isotopes to investigate the sources of plant water. We aim to provide the basic understanding of stable isotope fractionation within the Earth's critical zone that is relevant for studies of plant water sources. We then present a practical guide of their most common applications in field studies and the most common and up-to-date laboratory procedures. We finally introduce the existing statistical approaches for estimating the relative contributions of water sources to plant transpiration. By acknowledging the advantages and limitations of each approach, we aim to provide an overview of the current techniques to researchers in the fields of plant ecophysiology, ecohydrology and forest ecology, so that they can make informed decisions when designing their experiments

Distinct Neurobehavioural Effects of Cannabidiol in Transmembrane Domain Neuregulin 1 Mutant Mice

The cannabis constituent cannabidiol (CBD) possesses anxiolytic and antipsychotic properties. We have previously shown that transmembrane domain neuregulin 1 mutant (Nrg1 TM HET) mice display altered neurobehavioural responses to the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Here we investigated whether Nrg1 TM HET mice respond differently to CBD and whether CBD reverses schizophrenia-related phenotypes expressed by these mice. Adult male Nrg1 TM HET and wild type-like littermates (WT) received vehicle or CBD (1, 50 or 100 mg/kg i.p.) for 21 days. During treatment and 48 h after withdrawal we measured behaviour, whole blood CBD concentrations and autoradiographic receptor binding. Nrg1 HET mice displayed locomotor hyperactivity, PPI deficits and reduced 5-HT2A receptor binding density in the substantia nigra, but these phenotypes were not reversed by CBD. However, long-term CBD (50 and 100 mg/kg) selectively enhanced social interaction in Nrg1 TM HET mice. Furthermore, acute CBD (100 mg/kg) selectively increased PPI in Nrg1 TM HET mice, although tolerance to this effect was manifest upon repeated CBD administration. Long-term CBD (50 mg/kg) also selectively increased GABAA receptor binding in the granular retrosplenial cortex in Nrg1 TM HET mice and reduced 5-HT2A binding in the substantia nigra in WT mice. Nrg1 appears necessary for CBD-induced anxiolysis since only WT mice developed decreased anxiety-related behaviour with repeated CBD treatment. Altered pharmacokinetics in mutant mice could not explain our findings since no genotype differences existed in CBD blood concentrations. Here we demonstrate that Nrg1 modulates acute and long-term neurobehavioural effects of CBD, which does not reverse the schizophrenia-relevant phenotypes

Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequences of Important Oilseed Crop Sesamum indicum L

Sesamum indicum is an important crop plant species for yielding oil. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome of S. indicum (GenBank acc no. JN637766) is 153,324 bp in length, and has a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions consisting of 25,141 bp each. The lengths of the large single copy (LSC) and the small single copy (SSC) regions are 85,170 bp and 17,872 bp, respectively. Comparative cp DNA sequence analyses of S. indicum with other cp genomes reveal that the genome structure, gene order, gene and intron contents, AT contents, codon usage, and transcription units are similar to the typical angiosperm cp genomes. Nucleotide diversity of the IR region between Sesamum and three other cp genomes is much lower than that of the LSC and SSC regions in both the coding region and noncoding region. As a summary, the regional constraints strongly affect the sequence evolution of the cp genomes, while the functional constraints weakly affect the sequence evolution of cp genomes. Five short inversions associated with short palindromic sequences that form step-loop structures were observed in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum. Twenty-eight different simple sequence repeat loci have been detected in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum. Almost all of the SSR loci were composed of A or T, so this may also contribute to the A-T richness of the cp genome of S. indicum. Seven large repeated loci in the chloroplast genome of S. indicum were also identified and these loci are useful to developing S. indicum-specific cp genome vectors. The complete cp DNA sequences of S. indicum reported in this paper are prerequisite to modifying this important oilseed crop by cp genetic engineering techniques

Incidence of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses in England, 1950–2009: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

Background We conducted a systematic review of incidence rates in England over a sixty-year period to determine the extent to which rates varied along accepted (age, sex) and less-accepted epidemiological gradients (ethnicity, migration and place of birth and upbringing, time). Objectives To determine variation in incidence of several psychotic disorders as above. Data Sources Published and grey literature searches (MEDLINE, PSycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, ASSIA, HMIC), and identification of unpublished data through bibliographic searches and author communication. Study Eligibility Criteria Published 1950–2009; conducted wholly or partially in England; original data on incidence of non-organic adult-onset psychosis or one or more factor(s) pertaining to incidence. Participants People, 16–64 years, with first -onset psychosis, including non-affective psychoses, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychotic depression and substance-induced psychosis. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods Title, abstract and full-text review by two independent raters to identify suitable citations. Data were extracted to a standardized extraction form. Descriptive appraisals of variation in rates, including tables and forest plots, and where suitable, random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions to test specific hypotheses; rate heterogeneity was assessed by the I2-statistic. Results 83 citations met inclusion. Pooled incidence of all psychoses (N = 9) was 31.7 per 100,000 person-years (95%CI: 24.6–40.9), 23.2 (95%CI: 18.3–29.5) for non-affective psychoses (N = 8), 15.2 (95%CI: 11.9–19.5) for schizophrenia (N = 15) and 12.4 (95%CI: 9.0–17.1) for affective psychoses (N = 7). This masked rate heterogeneity (I2: 0.54–0.97), possibly explained by socio-environmental factors; our review confirmed (via meta-regression) the typical age-sex interaction in psychosis risk, including secondary peak onset in women after 45 years. Rates of most disorders were elevated in several ethnic minority groups compared with the white (British) population. For example, for schizophrenia: black Caribbean (pooled RR: 5.6; 95%CI: 3.4–9.2; N = 5), black African (pooled RR: 4.7; 95%CI: 3.3–6.8; N = 5) and South Asian groups in England (pooled RR: 2.4; 95%CI: 1.3–4.5; N = 3). We found no evidence to support an overall change in the incidence of psychotic disorder over time, though diagnostic shifts (away from schizophrenia) were reported. Limitations Incidence studies were predominantly cross-sectional, limiting causal inference. Heterogeneity, while evidencing important variation, suggested pooled estimates require interpretation alongside our descriptive systematic results. Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings Incidence of psychotic disorders varied markedly by age, sex, place and migration status/ethnicity. Stable incidence over time, together with a robust socio-environmental epidemiology, provides a platform for developing prediction models for health service planning

What’s special about the ethical challenges of studying disorders with altered brain activity?

Where there is no viable alternative, studies of neuronal activity are conducted on animals. The use of animals, particularly for invasive studies of the brain, raises a number of ethical issues. Practical or normative ethics are enforced by legislation, in relation to the dominant welfare guidelines developed in the UK and elsewhere. Guidelines have typically been devised to cover all areas of biomedical research using animals in general, and thus lack any specific focus on neuroscience studies at the level of the ethics, although details of the specific welfare recommendations are different for invasive studies of the brain. Ethically there is no necessary distinction between neuroscience and other biomedical research in that the brain is a final common path for suffering, irrespective of whether this involves any direct experience of pain. One exception arises in the case of in vitro studies, which are normally considered as an acceptable replacement for in vivo studies. However, to the extent sentience is possible, maintaining central nervous system tissue outside the body naturally raises ethical questions. Perhaps the most intractable challenge to the ethical use of animals in order to model neuronal disorder is presented by the logical impasse in the argument that the animal is similar enough to justify the validity of the experimental model, but sufficiently different in sentience and capacity for suffering, for the necessary experimental procedures to be permissible

Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: a systematic review

Background Whether cannabis can cause psychotic or affective symptoms that persist beyond transient intoxication is unclear. We systematically reviewed the evidence pertaining to cannabis use and occurrence of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes. Methods We searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Knowledge, ISI Proceedings, ZETOC, BIOSIS, LILACS, and MEDCARIB from their inception to September, 2006, searched reference lists of studies selected for inclusion, and contacted experts. Studies were included if longitudinal and population based. 35 studies from 4804 references were included. Data extraction and quality assessment were done independently and in duplicate. Findings There was an increased risk of any psychotic outcome in individuals who had ever used cannabis (pooled adjusted odds ratio=1·41, 95% CI 1·20–1·65). Findings were consistent with a dose-response effect, with greater risk in people who used cannabis most frequently (2·09, 1·54–2·84). Results of analyses restricted to studies of more clinically relevant psychotic disorders were similar. Depression, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety outcomes were examined separately. Findings for these outcomes were less consistent, and fewer attempts were made to address non-causal explanations, than for psychosis. A substantial confounding effect was present for both psychotic and affective outcomes. Interpretation The evidence is consistent with the view that cannabis increases risk of psychotic outcomes independently of confounding and transient intoxication effects, although evidence for affective outcomes is less strong. The uncertainty about whether cannabis causes psychosis is unlikely to be resolved by further longitudinal studies such as those reviewed here. However, we conclude that there is now sufficient evidence to warn young people that using cannabis could increase their risk of developing a psychotic illness later in life