A twin-driven analysis on early aging biomarkers and associations with sitting-time and physical activity.

Background: Current physical activity guidelines may be insufficient to address health consequences in a world increasing in sedentary behavior. Physical activity is a key lifestyle factor to promote healthy aging, but few studies examine activity in conjunction with sitting. We examine how activity intensity and sitting behavior influence health and the extent to which physical activity might counter sitting.

Evidence for sex differences in the impact of cytochrome P450 genotypes on early subjective effects of cannabis.

Early positive subjective effects of cannabis predict the development of cannabis use disorder (CUD). Genetic factors, such as the presence of cytochrome P450 genetic variants that are associated with reduced Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) metabolism, may contribute to individual differences in subjective effects of cannabis. Young adults (N = 54) with CUD or a non-CUD substance use disorder (control) provided a blood sample for DNA analysis and self-reported their early (i.

Use and co-use of alcohol and cannabis following physical pain in the daily life of community adults engaged in regular substance use.

Objective: Alcohol and cannabis are often perceived as pain-relieving. However, minimal work has examined whether people use and co-use these substances following pain in daily life.

Method: Forty-six adults reporting weekly use of alcohol and/or cannabis completed a 60-day ecological momentary assessment protocol, answering at least four daily reports on their alcohol and cannabis use and pain ( = 10,769 over 2,656 days).

Modeling momentary reciprocal associations between negative affect and craving for alcohol and cannabis using dynamic structural equation modeling.

Objective: Negative reinforcement models suggest that negative affect should predict event-level substance use, however, supporting daily-life evidence is lacking. One reason may be an emphasis in ecological momentary assessment (EMA) research on use behavior, which is subject to contextual and societal constraints that other substance outcomes, such as craving, may not be subject to. Therefore, the present study tested momentary, within-person reciprocal relations among negative affect and craving for alcohol and cannabis in daily life.

Limited psychological and social effects of lifetime cannabis use frequency: Evidence from a 30-year community study of 4,078 twins.

Background: Cannabis use is associated with outcomes like income, legal problems, and psychopathology. This finding rests largely on correlational research designs, which rely at best on statistical controls for confounding. Here, we control for unmeasured confounders using a longitudinal study of twins.

Addendum to "Evaluating substance use outcomes of recreational cannabis legalization using a unique co-twin control design".

An earlier version of this article was published in error. Our prior publication was missing reference to a prior study on this topic. Our prior research has not found an association between recreational cannabis legalization (RCL) and negative psychosocial and psychiatric outcomes.

Evaluating substance use outcomes of recreational cannabis legalization using a unique co-twin control design.

As more states pass recreational cannabis legalization (RCL), we must understand how RCL affects substance use. The current study aims to examine the effect of RCL on lifetime and past-year use of cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, frequency of cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco use, co-use of cannabis with alcohol and tobacco, and consequences from cannabis and alcohol use. We used a unique, co-twin control design of twin pairs who were discordant for living in a state with RCL between 2018 and 2021.

Comparing the Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention Versus Relapse Prevention for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Control Trial.

Objective: This study compared the efficacy of mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) with relapse prevention (RP) on reducing alcohol consumption. Secondary, exploratory aims assessed moderation of treatment effects by sex and cannabis use.

Method: A total of 182 individuals (48.

Alternative hypotheses regarding the association between early engagement in gambling and gambling-like activities and later problem gambling - a commentary on Richard and King (2023).

This issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry includes a systematic review on the emergence of problem gambling from childhood to emerging adulthood (Richard & King, 2023). The importance of understanding the risks for problem gambling earlier in development is clear, given the increasing availability of gambling to minors, especially online gambling.

Recreational cannabis legalization has had limited effects on a wide range of adult psychiatric and psychosocial outcomes.

Background: The causal impacts of recreational cannabis legalization are not well understood due to the number of potential confounds. We sought to quantify possible causal effects of recreational cannabis legalization on substance use, substance use disorder, and psychosocial functioning, and whether vulnerable individuals are more susceptible to the effects of cannabis legalization than others.

Methods: We used a longitudinal, co-twin control design in 4043 twins ( = 240 pairs discordant on residence), first assessed in adolescence and now age 24-49, currently residing in states with different cannabis policies (40% resided in a recreationally legal state).

Impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on cannabis use: a longitudinal discordant twin study.

Aims: To estimate the effect of recreational legalization on cannabis use frequency and sources of variance across legal environments.

Design: Longitudinal discordant twin and gene-environment interaction models in twins recruited from birth records and assessed prospectively.

Setting: The United States, including states with different recreational cannabis policies before and after 2014, when recreational cannabis was first legalized.

The Neurocognitive Effects of Cannabis Across the Lifespan.

Purpose Of Review: This review examines the neurocognitive effects of cannabis and relevant developmental factors across adolescence (age 13-21), adulthood (21-65), and older adulthood (65+).

Recent Findings: Cannabis use is robustly associated with poorer neurocognitive functioning; however, studies that carefully control for confounds have often not found any evidence for impairment. Notably, the endocannabinoid system may underly how cannabis use affects neurocognitive functions, including heightened vulnerability during adolescence.

Cannabis Use and Resting State Functional Connectivity in the Aging Brain.

Several lines of evidence suggest that older adults (aged 65+) sharply increased their cannabis use over the last decade, highlighting a need to understand the effects of cannabis in this age group. Pre-clinical models suggest that cannabinoids affect the brain and cognition in an age-dependent fashion, having generally beneficial effects on older animals and deleterious effects on younger ones. However, there is little research on how cannabis affects the brains of older adults or how older adults differ from younger adults who use cannabis.

The effects of cannabis use on physical health: A co-twin control study.

Background: Research on the influence of cannabis use on anthropometrics, cardiovascular and pulmonary function, and other indicators of physical health has reported mixed results. We examined whether cannabis frequency is associated with physical health outcomes phenotypically and after controlling for shared genetic and environmental factors via a longitudinal co-twin control design.

Methods: We tested the phenotypic associations of adolescent, young adult, and adult cannabis frequency with adult physical health.

Effects of cannabidiol in cannabis flower: Implications for harm reduction.

Using a federally compatible, naturalistic at-home administration procedure, the present study examined the acute effects of three cannabis flower chemovars with different tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to cannabidiol (CBD) ratios, in order to test whether chemovars with a higher CBD content produce different effects. Participants were randomly assigned to ad libitum administration of one of three chemovars (THC-dominant: 24% THC, 1% CBD; THC+CBD: 9% THC, 10% CBD; CBD-dominant: 1% THC, 23% CBD); 159 regular cannabis users (male = 94, female = 65) were assessed in a mobile pharmacology lab before, immediately after, and 1 h after ad libitum administration of their assigned chemovar. Plasma cannabinoids as well as positive (e.

Understanding Irritability in Relation to Anger, Aggression, and Informant in a Pediatric Clinical Population.

Objective: Despite its clinical relevance to pediatric mental health, the relationship of irritability with anger and aggression remains unclear. We aimed to quantify the relationships between well-validated, commonly used measurements of these constructs and informant effects in a clinically relevant population.

Method: A total of 195 children with primary diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, or no major disorder and their parents rate irritability, anger, and aggression on measures of each construct.

Are the Acute Effects of THC Different in Aging Adults?

In recent years of expanding legalization, older adults have reported the largest increase in cannabis use of any age group. While its use has been studied extensively in young adults, little is known about the effects of THC in older adults and whether the risks of cannabis might be different, particularly concerning intoxication and cognition. The current study investigated whether age is associated with the deleterious effects of THC on cognitive performance and other behavioral measures before and after ad libitum self-administration of three different types of cannabis flower (THC dominant, THC + CBD, and CBD dominant).

Investigating sex differences in acute intoxication and verbal memory errors after ad libitum cannabis concentrate use.

Background: An innovative naturalistic at-home administration procedure was used to investigate sex differences in subjective drug effects and verbal memory errors after ad libitum use of high potency state legal market Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrate.

Methods: Regular concentrate users were randomly assigned to ad libitum administration of one of two cannabis concentrate products (70 % or 90 % THC) that they purchased from a dispensary. 65 participants (N = 34 men, N = 31 women) were assessed in a mobile pharmacology lab before, immediately after, and 1 -h after ad libitum concentrate use.

Delineating Developmental Periods in Adulthood Suggests Age-Related Shifts in the Correlates of Alcohol Use and Problems.

Background: Developmental context is related to the propensity to engage in alcohol use, the rate at which alcohol use changes, and the relevance of different risk factors to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Therefore, studies of change should consider developmental nuances, but change is often modeled to follow a uniform pattern, even across distinct developmental periods.

Methods: This study implemented a novel analytic approach to delineate developmental periods of alcohol behavior (n = 478, ages 18 to 35).

Sleep deficits and cannabis use behaviors: an analysis of shared genetics using linkage disequilibrium score regression and polygenic risk prediction.

Study Objectives: Estimate the genetic relationship of cannabis use with sleep deficits and an eveningness chronotype.

Methods: We used linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) to analyze genetic correlations between sleep deficits and cannabis use behaviors. Secondly, we generated sleep deficit polygenic risk score (PRS) and estimated their ability to predict cannabis use behaviors using linear and logistic regression.

Familial factors may not explain the effect of moderate-to-heavy cannabis use on cognitive functioning in adolescents: a sibling-comparison study.

Aims: To examine whether moderate adolescent cannabis use has neurocognitive effects that are unexplained by familial confounds, which prior family-controlled studies may not have identified.

Design: A quasi-experimental, sibling-comparison design was applied to a prospective, observational study of adolescents with moderate cannabis use. Participants were recruited from 2001 to 2006 (mean age = 17 years).

Twenty-first birthday drinking: Extreme-drinking episodes and white matter microstructural changes in the fornix and corpus callosum.

The 21st birthday celebration is characterized by extreme alcohol consumption. Accumulating evidence suggests that high-dose bingeing is related to structural brain changes and cognitive deficits. This is particularly problematic in the transition from adolescence to adulthood when the brain is still maturing, elevating the brain's sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol intoxication.

Investigating the causal effect of cannabis use on cognitive function with a quasi-experimental co-twin design.

Background: It is unclear whether cannabis use causes cognitive decline; several studies show an association between cannabis use and cognitive decline, but quasi-experimental twin studies have found little support for a causal effect. Here, we evaluate the association of cannabis use with general cognitive ability and executive functions (EFs) while controlling for genetic and shared environmental confounds in a longitudinal twin study.

Methods: We first examined the phenotypic associations between cannabis initiation, frequency, and use disorder with cognitive abilities, while also controlling for pre-use general cognitive ability and other substance involvement.