AN EXAMINATION OF YOUNG OFFENDERS SUBSTANCE USE IN A SAMPLE OF YOUTH FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES BY MEANS OF TWO SUBSTANCE USE PSYCHOMETRIC MEASURES

The incidence and patterns of substance use problems among the young offenders admitted to the Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in British Columbia, Vancouver Island was examined. The convergent validity of the psychometric measures, Adolescent Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-A2, Miller, 1994) and Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1991), and the criterion-related validity of these two measures with respect to scores of the substance abuse disorder subscale of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale - Short Form (APS-SF, Reynolds, 1998) were also examined. The data were collected from 68 volunteered youth between the age of 13 and 18 years old. The study involved three methods of data collection: interview, questionnaire, and file review. Approximately 90% of the youth had consumed alcohol and drugs at least once in their lives, and the mean age of alcohol and drug first consumption was 12 years. The majority of youth acknowledged that they continued using alcohol and drugs since their involvement with YFPS. Youth who received some type of treatment did not show a greater reduction in alcohol and drug usage at post-admission than youth who did not receive treatment. Although age was positively correlated with alcohol and drug consumption, gender, IQ and academic achievement were not related to any of the substance use subscales. The convergent validity of the POSIT Substance Use/Abuse scale (POSIT A), the SASSI-A2 Face Valid Alcohol (FVA) and the SASSI-A2 Face Valid Drugs (FVOD) was demonstrated with a highly significant relationship between the two measures (POSIT and SASSI-A2). The criterion-related validity of the POSIT A and the SASSI-A2 (FVA and FVOD) was demonstrated with each having highly significant relationships with the APS-SF Substance Abuse Disorder subscale (APS-SF SUB). The SASSI-A2 FVA and the POSIT A were significantly related to self-reported pre-admission alcohol usage. The SASSI-A2 FVOD also significantly related to self-reported pre-admission drug usage. These findings indicated that substance use among young offenders was substantial and not effectively treated. The POSIT and the SASSI-A2 were effective tools for identifying substance abuse and dependence problems among young offender clients of YFPS

Hadron-hadron interaction from SU(2) lattice QCD

We evaluate interhadron interactions in two-color lattice QCD from Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes on the Euclidean lattice. The simulations are performed in quenched SU(2) QCD with the plaquette gauge action at $\beta = 2.45$ and the Wilson quark action. We concentrate on S-wave scattering states of two scalar diquarks. Evaluating different flavor combinations with various quark masses, we try to find out the ingredients in hadronic interactions. Between two scalar diquarks ($u C\gamma_5 d$, the lightest baryon in SU(2) system), we observe repulsion in short-range region, even though present quark masses are not very light. We define and evaluate the "quark-exchange part" in the interaction, which is induced by adding quark-exchange diagrams, or equivalently, by introducing Pauli blocking among some of quarks. The repulsive force in short-distance region arises only from the "quark-exchange part", and disappears when quark-exchange diagrams are omitted. We find that the strength of repulsion grows in light quark-mass regime and its quark-mass dependence is similar to or slightly stronger than that of the color-magnetic interaction by one-gluon-exchange (OGE) processes. It is qualitatively consistent with the constituent-quark model picture that a color-magnetic interaction among quarks is the origin of repulsion. We also find a universal long-range attractive force, which enters in any flavor channels of two scalar diquarks and whose interaction range and strength are quark-mass independent. The weak quark-mass dependence of interaction ranges in each component implies that meson-exchange contributions are small and subdominant, and the other contributions, {\it ex.} flavor exchange processes, color-Coulomb or color-magnetic interactions, are considered to be predominant, in the quark-mass range we evaluated.Comment: 14 pages, 20 figure

Cell Lineage, Self-Renewal, and Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition during Secondary Neurulation

Secondary neurulation (SN) is a critical process to form the neural tube in the posterior region of the body including the tail. SN is distinct from the anteriorly occurring primary neurulation (PN); whereas the PN proceeds by folding an epithelial neural plate, SN precursors arise from a specified epiblast by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and undergo self-renewal in the tail bud. They finally differentiate into the neural tube through mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). We here overview recent progresses in the studies of SN with a particular focus on the regulation of cell lineage, self-renewal, and EMT/MET. Cellular mechanisms underlying SN help to understand the functional diversity of the tail in vertebrates

Automated closed-chamber measurements of methane fluxes from intact leaves and trunk of Japanese cypress

Continuous in situ measurements of methane (CH4) fluxes from intact leaves and trunk of Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa Sieb. et Zucc) were conducted in a temperate forest from August 2009 to August 2010. An automated closed-chamber system, which was used to evaluate CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and forest ecosystems, was coupled to a laser-based instrument to monitor CH4 concentrations. Temporal changes in CH4 concentrations from the foliage and trunk were measured at one-second intervals during chamber closure to determine CH4 fluxes between the leaf and trunk surfaces and the atmosphere. While recent studies have suggested that some plants emit CH4 under aerobic conditions, emission or uptake of CH4 in detectable amounts with our experimental system, by intact leaves or the trunk of C. obtusa, was not significantly observed throughout the measurement period

Secondary neurulation-fated cells in the tail bud undergo self-renewal and tubulogenesis regulated by a Sox2 gradient

During amniote development, anterior and posterior components of the neural tube form by primary neurulation (PN) and secondary neurulation (SN), respectively. Unlike PN, SN proceeds by the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition of SN precursors in the tail bud, a critical structure for the axial elongation. Our direct cell labeling delineates non-overlapping territories of SN- and mesodermal precursors in the chicken tail bud. SN-fated precursors are further divided into self-renewing and differentiating cells, a decision regulated by graded expression levels of Sox2. Whereas Sox2 is confined to SN precursors, Brachyury (T) is widely and uniformly distributed in the tail bud, indicating that Sox2+/Brachyury+ cells are neural-fated and not mesodermal. These results uncover multiple steps during the neural posterior elongation, including precocious segregation of SN precursors, their self-renewal, and regulation by graded Sox 2