Notes

The longer term is currently: each of our experience creating a distant medical trial during the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We consider integrating a non-probability sample with a probability sample which provides high dimensional representative covariate information of the target population. We propose a two-step approach for variable selection and finite population inference. In the first step, we use penalized estimating equations with folded concave penalties to select important variables and show selection consistency for general samples. In the second step, we focus on a doubly robust estimator of the finite population mean and re-estimate the nuisance model parameters by minimizing the asymptotic squared bias of the doubly robust estimator. This estimating strategy mitigates the possible first-step selection error and renders the doubly robust estimator root n consistent if either the sampling probability or the outcome model is correctly specified.Integrating computer science (CS) into school curricula has become a worldwide preoccupation. Therefore, we present a CS and Robotics integration model and its validation through a large-scale pilot study in the administrative region of the Canton Vaud in Switzerland. Approximately 350 primary school teachers followed a mandatory CS continuing professional development program (CPD) of adapted format with a curriculum scaffolded by instruction modality. read more This included CS Unplugged activities that aim to teach CS concepts without the use of screens, and Robotics Unplugged activities that employed physical robots, without screens, to learn about robotics and CS concepts. Teachers evaluated positively the CPD and their representation of CS improved. Voluntary adoption rates reached 97% during the CPD and 80% the following year. These results combined with the underpinning literature support the generalisability of the model to other contexts.COVID-19 has changed the way that newborn babies are cared for within the neonatal setting due to the introduction of social distancing and wearing of face masks to limit the spread of the infection. Potential implications exist related to the normal development of bonding and connections with others. This paper discusses the importance of face to face interactions for early attachment between babies and parents within the context of relevant underpinning developmental theory. Mask wearing can also potentially impact relational communication, requiring us to change our current ways of working. Decreasing face to face interactions and relational communication, along with key recommendations for both parents and health professionals are further highlighted to mitigate the potential negative effects of masks on long-term development related to human connection and attachment.The Lewis-Clark Valley is a rural area that includes the cities of Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington and the surrounding areas. The largest industry in the Lewis-Clark Valley is a pulp paper mill located in Lewiston which emits particulate matter and odorous sulfur air pollutants. This study analyzed the Lewis-Clark Valley air composition and seasonal, temporal and spatial variations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from 2017 to 2018 to determine potential health risks of the paper mill emissions to the surrounding community. Both active and passive air sampling via sorbent tubes were analyzed by thermal desorption - gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Fifty VOCs including benzene, toluene, chloroform, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide were measured in the ambient air of the Lewis-Clark Valley at ten different sites, totaling over 800 samples. In addition, passive sorbent tubes were deployed in 2018 to obtain monthly averages in Lewis-Clark Valley and three urban locations in Idaho and Washington for comparison. United States Environmental Protection Agency (2001) methodology was used to assess cancer risks in the community based on the upper confidence levels of five carcinogens and nine air toxics. The Lewis-Clark Valley had similar levels of benzene to urban areas but had a strong signature of chloroform and sulfides from the paper mill. The cumulative cancer risk was 2 x 10-6 - 11 × 10-6 mainly due to the compounds chloroform, benzene and carbon tetrachloride. The hazard index of other air toxics was less than one. Overall, these air pollutants were considered low risk to the local population.Analysis of near-surface measurements at several measuring points in Graz, Austria, reveals the impact of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic on the emission of atmospheric pollutants. We quantify the effects at traffic hotspots, industrial and residential areas. Using historical data collected over several years, we are able to account for meteorological and seasonal confounders. Our analysis is based on daily means as well as intraday pollution level curves. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) has decreased drastically while the levels of particulate matter PM10 and carbon monoxide (CO) mostly exhibit little change. Traffic data shows that the decrease in traffic frequency is parallel to the decline in the levels of NO2 and NO.Chemsex is an escalating public health issue among men who have sex with men, with potentially severe somatic and psychiatric consequences. link2 Given the limited knowledge and lack of treatment recommendations available in this area, we proposed the use of noninvasive brain stimulation in order to reduce problematic chemsex behavior. This is the first open-label case report of a positive effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a patient who was complaining of severe chemsex addiction. Total disappearance of chemsex behavior occurred after 5 days of daily sessions of right prefrontal cortex stimulation and did not return after 8 months of follow-up. The strengthening of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity may have modulated limbic pathways and reduced incentive salience and craving of both sexual addiction and concomitant illicit drug use.
.This brief report covers recent advances in cannabis and cannabinoid regulation and drug approval. The popularity of cannabis and cannabinoid products continues to rise, and these products are available for the majority of the population in the United States to purchase as easily as alcohol. Although many states have approved programs and research licenses, these activities and products all remain federally illegal. link3 The solution may be for the United States to offer multiple pathways for product approval that adapt to the diversity of the products and the needs of the consumer. Multiple pathways for market approval would protect public health, whether the public is using cannabis and cannabinoids as a medicine, a wellness product, or as a recreational substance.
.As is the case for most drugs, cannabis use has costs and benefits, and so do the policies that attempt to minimize the first and maximize the second. This article summarizes what we know about the harmful effects of recreational cannabis use and the benefits of medical cannabis use under the policy of prohibition that prevailed in developed countries until 2012. It outlines three broad ways in which cannabis prohibition may be relaxed, namely, the depenalization of personal possession and use, the legalization of medical use, and the legalization of adult recreational use. It reviews evidence to date on the impacts of each of these forms of liberalization on the costs and benefits of cannabis use. It makes some plausible conjectures about the future impacts of the commercialization of cannabis using experience from the commercialization of the alcohol, tobacco, and gambling industries. Cannabis policy entails unavoidable trade-offs between competing social values in the face of considerable uncertainty about the effects that more liberal cannabis policies will have on cannabis use and its consequences for better or worse.
.Mental disorders represent a significant public health burden worldwide due to their high prevalence, chronically disabling nature, and substantial impact on quality of life. Despite growing knowledge of the pathological mechanisms that underlie the development of these disorders, a high percentage of patients do not respond to first-line clinical treatments; thus, there is a strong need for alternative therapeutic approaches. During the past half-century, after the identification of the endocannabinoid system and its role in multiple physiological processes, both natural and synthetic cannabinoids have attracted considerable interest as putative medications in pathological conditions such as, but not exclusive to, mental disorders. Here, we provide a summary of cannabinoid effects in support of possible therapeutic applications for major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. Considering this evidence, highlighted benefits and risks of cannabinoid use in the management of these illnesses require further experimental study.
.The endocannabinoid (eCB) system encompasses the eCBs anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, their anabolic/catabolic enzymes, and the cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. Its expansion to include several eCB-like lipid mediators, their metabolic enzymes, and their molecular targets, forms the endocannabinoidome (eCBome). This complex signaling system is deeply involved in the onset, progress, and symptoms of major neuropsychiatric disorders and provides a substrate for future therapeutic drugs against these diseases. Such drugs may include not only THC, the major psychotropic component of cannabis, but also other, noneuphoric plant cannabinoids. These compounds, unlike THC, possess a wide therapeutic window, possibly due to their capability of hitting several eCBome and non-eCBome receptors. This is particularly true for cannabidiol, which is one of the most studied cannabinoids and shows promise for the treatment of a wide range of mental and mood disorders. The eCBome plays a role also in the microbiota-gut-brain axis, which is emerging as an important actor in the control of affective and cognitive functions and in their pathological alterations.
.Cannabis can elicit an acute psychotic reaction, and its long-term use is a risk factor for schizophrenia. The main active psychoactive ingredient ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) activates cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors, which are localized to the terminals of glutamate and GABA neurons in the brain. The endogenous cannabinoids are involved in information processing and plasticity at synapses in the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebral cortex. Exogenously applied CB1 receptor agonists disrupt neuronal dynamics and synaptic plasticity, resulting in cognitive deficits and impairment of the highest psychological functions. Various other pro-psychotic drugs, such as ketamine and methamphetamine, exert their effects in the same microdomain of synaptic spines as Δ9-THC. Additionally, many of the most robust findings in psychiatric genetics include components that localize to dendritic spines and have important roles in information processing and plasticity.
.The last decades have seen a major gain in understanding the action of cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system in reward processing and the development of addictive behavior. Cannabis-derived psychoactive compounds such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and synthetic cannabinoids directly interact with the reward system and thereby have addictive properties. Cannabinoids induce their reinforcing properties by an increase in tonic dopamine levels through a cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor-dependent mechanism within the ventral tegmental area. Cues that are conditioned to cannabis smoking can induce drug-seeking responses (ie, craving) by eliciting phasic dopamine events. A dopamine-independent mechanism involved in drug-seeking responses involves an endocannabinoid/glutamate interaction within the corticostriatal part of the reward system. In conclusion, pharmacological blockade of endocannabinoid signaling should lead to a reduction in drug craving and subsequently should reduce relapse behavior in addicted individuals.
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