The Cannabis Experience and Everyday Functioning

With approximately 159 million users, cannabis is widely cited as the most commonly used illicit substance in the world. Although the vast majority of cannabis users are non-treatment-seeking, this group of users is relatively under researched. It is probable that the disparate cannabis use-related effects seen in society are in some way related to the heterogeneity of these users and their divergent patterns of cannabis use. Further, the associations between cannabis use and psychopathology and cognitive function have not been definitively delineated, and the actual impact of cannabis use on the everyday functioning of users has not been determined. A total of 989 participants (62% male; age range: 18-73 years; M = 29.6 years, SD = 11.7) were recruited to the present study to address these issues. Participants were 16 years old on average when they first used cannabis and had been using for a mean of 13 years, 42% were current daily users, and 13% met criteria for proxy cannabis dependence. High levels of psychopathology and cognitive failures were evident in the sample population (i.e., 19% depression, 6% high psychotic symptomology, 14% high cognitive failures); with 28% of participants likely to experience some level of impairment in their everyday functioning. The five cannabis user types identified in the present study in relation to their motives and context of use were found to differ in relation to patterns of cannabis use, demographics, current and childhood lifestyles, and, everyday functioning. Avid users were the most likely to have some level of impairment, with 46% affected, in comparison to 29% of State Changers, 20% of Self-Medicators, 17% of Fun Seekers, and 16% of Social Users. However, these levels of impairment were primarily unrelated to cannabis use factors, which explained only small proportions of the variance in psychopathology and cognitive function variable scores, and were typically no longer significantly associated after controlling for other factors. These results indicate a lack of direct association between cannabis use and psychopathology, but use may exacerbate pre-existing conditions. Cognitive impairment was primarily explained by current psychopathology. The high level of impairment evident in the sample population, particularly Avid Users and State Changers, indicates that these individuals would benefit from psychological treatment. Further, the detailed user typology developed in the present study lends itself to the tailoring of appropriate holistic preventative, early intervention, and treatment strategies and services for cannabis users

The grassy knoll...and an elephant

"... as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know.We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know." -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, 12 February 2002. Copeland suggests that there are currently enough known knowns about cannabis use and its consequences for us to develop suitable evidence-based and targeted cannabis-related policies, treatment guidelines, and prevention and intervention strategies. As is apparent from the other commentaries, this is not a universally held opinion. For example, there are known unknowns that are essential for evidence-based and targeted clinical practice and public health strategies which are discussed by Hammersley (e.g. lack of a theory of dependence that fits cannabis using behaviour), Patton (e.g. lack of knowledge of the predictive value of different indicators of use for health and developmental outcomes), and Andreasson (e.g. lack of knowledge about the hidden population of cannabis users). All of the commentaries support the known known status of methodological limitations in the cannabis use literature. Copeland, citing longitudinal studies, implies the association between cannabis use and psychosis is a known known. However, as pointed out by Hammersley, the lack of any theory explaining how cannabis use might cause psychosis suggests that the nature of this relationship is a known unknown. Additionally, while longitudinal studies contribute to the determination of causality, this is only possible if confounding is adequately controlled, the cannabis data collected is appropriately detailed, and the assumptions on which the studies are based are accurate. Meta-analytic studies are only as accurate as the studies on which they are based. Similarly, the inference that the relationship between high frequency of use and adverse outcomes is a known known does not stand up once the methodological issues associated with frequency of use variables are considered

Application of Nanotrap technology for high sensitivity measurement of urinary outer surface protein A carboxyl-terminus domain in early stage Lyme borreliosis

Objectives: Prompt antibiotic treatment of early stage Lyme borreliosis (LB) prevents progression to severe multisystem disease. There is a clinical need to improve the diagnostic specificity of early stage Lyme assays in the period prior to the mounting of a robust serology response. Using a novel analyte harvesting nanotechnology, Nanotrap particles, we evaluated urinary Borrelia Outer surface protein A (OspA) C-terminus peptide in early stage LB before and after treatment, and in patients suspected of late stage disseminated LB. Method: We employed Nanotrap particles to concentrate urinary OspA and used a highly specific anti-OspA monoclonal antibody (mAb) as a detector of the C-terminus peptides. We mapped the mAb epitope to a narrow specific OspA C-terminal domain OspA236-239 conserved across infectious Borrelia species but with no homology to human proteins and no cross-reactivity with relevant viral and non-Borrelia bacterial proteins. 268 urine samples from patients being evaluated for all categories of LB were collected in a LB endemic area. The urinary OspA assay, blinded to outcome, utilized Nanotrap particle pre-processing, western blotting to evaluate the OspA molecular size, and OspA peptide competition for confirmation. Results: OspA test characteristics: sensitivity 1.7 pg/mL (lowest limit of detection), % coefficient of variation (CV) = 8 %, dynamic range 1.7-30 pg/mL. Pre-treatment, 24/24 newly diagnosed patients with an erythema migrans (EM) rash were positive for urinary OspA while false positives for asymptomatic patients were 0/117 (Chi squared p < 10-6). For 10 patients who exhibited persistence of the EM rash during the course of antibiotic therapy, 10/10 were positive for urinary OspA. Urinary OspA of 8/8 patients switched from detectable to undetectable following symptom resolution post-treatment. Specificity of the urinary OspA test for the clinical symptoms was 40/40. Specificity of the urinary OspA antigen test for later serology outcome was 87.5 % (21 urinary OspA positive/24 serology positive, Chi squared p = 4.072e-15). 41 of 100 patients under surveillance for persistent LB in an endemic area were positive for urinary OspA protein. Conclusions: OspA urinary shedding was strongly linked to concurrent active symptoms (e.g. EM rash and arthritis), while resolution of these symptoms after therapy correlated with urinary conversion to OspA negative

The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: Unusual Broad-Line Variability in a Luminous Quasar

We present a high-cadence multi-epoch analysis of dramatic variability of three broad emission lines (MgII, H$\beta$, and H$\alpha$) in the spectra of the luminous quasar ($\lambda L_{\lambda}$(5100\r{A}) = $4.7 \times 10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$) SDSS J141041.25+531849.0 at $z = 0.359$ with 127 spectroscopic epochs over 9 years of monitoring (2013-2022). We observe anti-correlations between the broad emission-line widths and flux in all three emission lines, indicating that all three broad emission lines "breathe" in response to stochastic continuum variations. We also observe dramatic radial velocity shifts in all three broad emission lines, ranging from $\Delta{v}$ $\sim$400 km s$^{-1}$ to $\sim$800 km s$^{-1}$, that vary over the course of the monitoring period. Our preferred explanation for the broad-line variability is complex kinematics in the broad-line region gas. We suggest a model for the broad-line variability that includes a combination of gas inflow with a radial gradient, an azimuthal asymmetry (e.g., a hot spot), superimposed on the stochastic flux-driven changes to the optimal emission region ("line breathing"). Similar instances of line-profile variability due to complex gas kinematics around quasars are likely to represent an important source of false positives in radial velocity searches for binary black holes, which typically lack the kind of high-cadence data we analyze here. The long-duration, wide-field, and many-epoch spectroscopic monitoring of SDSS-V BHM-RM provides an excellent opportunity for identifying and characterizing broad emission-line variability, and the inferred nature of the inner gas environment, of luminous quasars

A Transient “Changing-look” Active Galactic Nucleus Resolved on Month Timescales from First-year Sloan Digital Sky Survey V Data

We report the discovery of a new “changing-look” active galactic nucleus (CLAGN) event, in the quasar SDSS J162829.17+432948.5 at z = 0.2603, identified through repeat spectroscopy from the fifth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). Optical photometry taken during 2020-2021 shows a dramatic dimming of Δg ≈ 1 mag, followed by a rapid recovery on a timescale of several months, with the ≲2 month period of rebrightening captured in new SDSS-V and Las Cumbres Observatory spectroscopy. This is one of the fastest CLAGN transitions observed to date. Archival observations suggest that the object experienced a much more gradual dimming over the period of 2011-2013. Our spectroscopy shows that the photometric changes were accompanied by dramatic variations in the quasar-like continuum and broad-line emission. The excellent agreement between the pre- and postdip photometric and spectroscopic appearances of the source, as well as the fact that the dimmest spectra can be reproduced by applying a single extinction law to the brighter spectral states, favor a variable line-of-sight obscuration as the driver of the observed transitions. Such an interpretation faces several theoretical challenges, and thus an alternative accretion-driven scenario cannot be excluded. The recent events observed in this quasar highlight the importance of spectroscopic monitoring of large active galactic nucleus samples on weeks-to-months timescales, which the SDSS-V is designed to achieve

A Transient "Changing-look'' Active Galactic Nucleus Resolved on Month Timescales from First-year Sloan Digital Sky Survey V Data

We report the discovery of a new ``changing-look'' active galactic nucleus (CLAGN) event, in the quasar SDSS J162829.17+432948.5 at z=0.2603, identified through repeat spectroscopy from the fifth Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). Optical photometry taken during 2020--2021 shows a dramatic dimming of ${\Delta}$g${\approx}$1 mag, followed by a rapid recovery on a timescale of several months, with the ${\lesssim}$2 month period of rebrightening captured in new SDSS-V and Las Cumbres Observatory spectroscopy. This is one of the fastest CLAGN transitions observed to date. Archival observations suggest that the object experienced a much more gradual dimming over the period of 2011--2013. Our spectroscopy shows that the photometric changes were accompanied by dramatic variations in the quasar-like continuum and broad-line emission. The excellent agreement between the pre- and postdip photometric and spectroscopic appearances of the source, as well as the fact that the dimmest spectra can be reproduced by applying a single extinction law to the brighter spectral states, favor a variable line-of-sight obscuration as the driver of the observed transitions. Such an interpretation faces several theoretical challenges, and thus an alternative accretion-driven scenario cannot be excluded. The recent events observed in this quasar highlight the importance of spectroscopic monitoring of large active galactic nucleus samples on weeks-to-months timescales, which the SDSS-V is designed to achieve.Comment: Published in ApJ

See no Evil: Challenges of security surveillance and monitoring

While the development of intelligent technologies in security surveillance can augment human capabilities, they do not replace the role of the operator entirely; as such, when developing surveillance support it is critical that limitations to the cognitive system are taken into account. The current article reviews the cognitive challenges associated with the task of a CCTV operator: visual search and cognitive/perceptual overload, attentional failures, vulnerability to distraction, and decision-making in a dynamically evolving environment. While not directly applied to surveillance issues, we suggest that the NSEEV (noticing – salience, effort, expectancy, value) model of attention could provide a useful theoretical basis for understanding the challenges faced in detection and monitoring tasks. Having identified cognitive limitations of the human operator, this review sets out a research agenda for further understanding the cognitive functioning related to surveillance, and highlights the need to consider the human element at the design stage when developing technological solutions to security surveillance

Identification from CCTV: Assessing police super-recogniser ability to spot faces in a crowd and susceptibility to change blindness

Police worldwide regularly review CCTV evidence in investigations. This research found London police experts who work in a full-time ‘Super-Recogniser Unit’ and front line police identifiers regularly making suspect identifications from CCTV, possessed superior unfamiliar face recognition ability, and, with higher levels of confidence, outperformed controls at locating actors in a bespoke Spot the Face in a Crowd Test (SFCT). Police were also less susceptible to change blindness errors, and possessed higher levels of conscientiousness, and lower levels of neuroticism and openness. Controls who took part in SFCT actor familiarisation training outperformed untrained controls, suggesting this exercise might enhance identification of persons of interest in real investigations. This research supports an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that international police forces may benefit from deploying officers with superior face recognition ability to roles such as CCTV review, as these officers may be the most likely to identify persons of interest

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI