Clinical Characteristics of Early Leavers From a Private Dual-Diagnosis Program.

Early leaving in substance use disorder treatment may be the single largest variable undermining treatment success. Existing work on early leaving tends to explore either client factors, which include age, race, gender, and diagnoses, or treatment factors, which include the type of treatment activities offered, treatment experiences of clients and staff, treatment amenities, and environmental factors in the residential treatment program. However, existing work on both client factors and treatment factors provides mixed results on what contributes to early leaving.

Computational and Neural Evidence for Altered Fast and Slow Learning from Losses in Problem Gambling.

Learning occurs across multiple timescales, with fast learning crucial for adapting to sudden environmental changes, and slow learning beneficial for extracting robust knowledge from multiple events. Here, we asked if miscalibrated fast vs slow learning can lead to maladaptive decision-making in individuals with problem gambling. We recruited participants with problem gambling (PG; N = 20; 9 female and 11 male) and a recreational gambling control group without any symptoms associated with PG (N = 20; 10 female and 10 male) from the community in Los Angeles, CA.

Gambling, tobacco use, and health among individuals in substance use disorder treatment.

Background And Objectives: Gambling is highly comorbid with disordered use of tobacco and other drugs, and may increase relapse risk among substance use disorder (SUD) patients. We investigated associations between gambling and tobacco use behaviors among SUD patients to inform clinical care.

Methods: Patients (N = 651, 170 female) from 25 residential SUD treatment programs in California completed surveys about tobacco use, health, and gambling.

Implementation, Maintenance, and Outcomes of an Electronic Referral to a Tobacco Quitline Across Five Health Systems.

Introduction: Electronic referral (e-referral) to quitlines helps connect tobacco-using patients to free, evidence-based cessation counseling. Little has been published about the real-world implementation of e-referrals across U.S.

Soluble expression of recombinant midgut zymogen (native propeptide) proteases from the Aedes aegypti Mosquito Utilizing E. coli as a host.

Background: Studying proteins and enzymes involved in important biological processes in the Aedes aegypti mosquito is limited by the quantity that can be directly isolated from the mosquito. Adding to this difficulty, digestive enzymes (midgut proteases) involved in metabolizing blood meal proteins require a more oxidizing environment to allow proper folding of disulfide bonds. Therefore, recombinant techniques to express foreign proteins in Escherichia coli prove to be effective in producing milligram quantities of the expressed product.

Attitudes Towards Gambling, Gambling Problems, and Treatment Among Hispanics in Imperial County, CA.

Gambling problems are associated with a wide range of serious negative personal, social, health, and mental health consequences and are an important public health concern. Some data suggest that gambling problems may be more prevalent among Hispanics, but few studies have been conducted in this community. The aim of the current study was to gather community-based, gambling-related data in order to increase understanding of gambling problems and their treatment in the Hispanic community.

Social and behavioral problems among five gambling severity groups.

Gambling has been associated with various social and behavioral problems, but previous analyses have been limited by sample bias regarding gambling symptom severity range and the role of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). This study utilized a nationally representative data set and examined various characteristics of behavioral problems and ASPD among five gambling severity groups. Participants were 42,038 individuals who took part in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and provided information on social and behavioral problems, ASPD, and gambling.

Cryopreserved Ex Vivo-Expanded Allogeneic Myeloid Progenitor Cell Product Protects Neutropenic Mice From a Lethal Fungal Infection.

Severe neutropenia induced by chemotherapy or conditioning for hematopoietic cell transplantation often results in morbidity and mortality due to infection by opportunistic pathogens. A system has been developed to generate ex vivo-expanded mouse myeloid progenitor cells (mMPCs) that produce functional neutrophils in vivo upon transplantation in a pathogen challenge model. It has previously been demonstrated that transplantation of large numbers of freshly isolated myeloid progenitors from a single donor provides survival benefit in radiation-induced neutropenic mice.

Sexual desire, not hypersexuality, predicts self-regulation of sexual arousal.

A person's ability to control their own sexual arousal is important both to reduce the risks associated with some sexual behaviours and to respond sexually with intimate partners. A lack of control over sexual urges is a proposed feature of "hypersexual disorder", though some evidence suggests that sexual desire predicts the self-regulation of sexual arousal better than hypersexuality. In the current study, a sample (N = 116) of men and women recruited from community ads viewed a series of 20-second neutral and sexual films.

A Longitudinal Examination of Depression Among Gambling Inpatients.

Problem and pathological gamblers demonstrate high levels of depression, which may be related to coping styles, reactive emotional states, and/or genetics (Potenza et al., Arch Gen Psychiat 62(9):1015-1021, 2005; Getty et al., J Gambl Stud 16(4):377-391, 2000).

Crystalizing the role of traditional healing in an urban Native American health center.

A needs assessment surveying American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIs/ANs) at an AI/AN health center in the Midwestern United States was conducted, with an emphasis on traditional Native healing. Data from this study included qualitative material from interviews of community members (N = 27; age 12-82) and service providers (N = 11; age 26-70). Respondents emphasized the path to wellness includes physical, spiritual and mental health and that traditional healing can restore various imbalances.

Differential Gambling Motivations and Recreational Activity Preferences Among Casino Gamblers.

This study investigated three different types of gamblers (recreational, problem, and pathological gamblers) to determine differences in gambling motivations and recreational activity preferences among casino gamblers. We collected data from 600 gamblers recruited in an actual gambling environment inside a major casino in South Korea. Findings indicate that motivational factors of escape, sightseeing, and winning were significantly different among these three types of gamblers.

A single-blind study of 'as-needed' ecopipam for gambling disorder.

Background: Gambling disorder is a disabling illness experienced by 1% to 3% of adults. Pharmacologic management of gambling disorder has produced mixed results, with some but not all studies showing medication to be more effective than placebo. Ecopipam may offer promise for treating gambling disorder because of its antagonism of dopamine-1 receptors.

Shame, rumination, and self-compassion in men assessed for hypersexual disorder.

A number of studies have linked maladaptive shame to higher levels of hypersexual behavior and tendencies to ruminate. However, little research has examined factors that may attenuate the negative impact that shame and rumination may have on hypersexuality. Drawing on data collected from male patients (N=172) assessed for hypersexual disorder in a DSM-5 field trial, path analysis was used to explore relationships among shame, rumination, self-compassion, and hypersexual behavior.

Gambling and the onset of comorbid mental disorders: a longitudinal study evaluating severity and specific symptoms.

While the association between gambling disorders and comorbid mental disorders has been extensively studied, only a few studies have used longitudinal data or evaluated the association across different levels of gambling behavior and specific gambling-related symptoms. In this study, longitudinal data from waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) were used to determine whether different levels of gambling behavior and gambling-related symptoms were associated with the onset of psychiatric disorders. Although NESARC used DSM-IV diagnoses, for this study, the recently published DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for gambling disorder were used to group the NESARC respondents (N=34,653) into three levels of gambling (gambling disorder, sub-threshold gambling disorder, and recreational gambling) and one non-gambling comparison group.

Psychometric properties of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale in patients with gambling disorders, hypersexuality, and methamphetamine dependence.

Although the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS; Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995) is a widely-used self-report measure of impulsivity, there have been numerous questions about the invariance of the factor structure across clinical populations (Haden & Shiva, 2008, 2009; Ireland & Archer, 2008). The goal of this article is to examine the factor structure of the BIS among a sample consisting of three populations exhibiting addictive behaviors and impulsivity: pathological gamblers, hypersexual patients, and individuals seeking treatment for methamphetamine dependence to determine if modification to the existing factors might improve the psychometric properties of the BIS. The current study found that the factor structure of the BIS does not replicate in this sample and instead produces a 12-item three-factor solution consisting of motor-impulsiveness (5 items), non-planning impulsiveness (3 items), and immediacy impulsiveness (4 items).

Concise review: guidance in developing commercializable autologous/patient-specific cell therapy manufacturing.

Cell therapy is poised to play an enormous role in regenerative medicine. However, little guidance is being made available to academic and industrial entities in the start-up phase. In this technical review, members of the International Society for Cell Therapy provide guidance in developing commercializable autologous and patient-specific manufacturing strategies from the perspective of process development.

Gambling in the Iranian-American Community and an Assessment of Motives: A Case Study.

Nearly half a million United States residents identify themselves as being of Iranian origin, and many in this population are of high socioeconomic status. Although games of chance have been a notable part of Iranian culture for thousands of years, there is almost no research exploring gambling in this population. The objective of this case study is to explore gambling pathology, gambling behavior, and gambling motives among Iranian-Americans using a convenience sample (=182) at a September 2010 Iranian festival in Southern California.

Sexual desire, not hypersexuality, is related to neurophysiological responses elicited by sexual images.

Background: Modulation of sexual desires is, in some cases, necessary to avoid inappropriate or illegal sexual behavior (downregulation of sexual desire) or to engage with a romantic partner (upregulation of sexual desire). Some have suggested that those who have difficulty downregulating their sexual desires be diagnosed as having a sexual 'addiction'. This diagnosis is thought to be associated with sexual urges that feel out of control, high-frequency sexual behavior, consequences due to those behaviors, and poor ability to reduce those behaviors.

Potency assay development for cellular therapy products: an ISCT review of the requirements and experiences in the industry.

The evaluation of potency plays a key role in defining the quality of cellular therapy products (CTPs). Potency can be defined as a quantitative measure of relevant biologic function based on the attributes that are linked to relevant biologic properties. To achieve an adequate assessment of CTP potency, appropriate in vitro or in vivo laboratory assays and properly controlled clinical data need to be created.

Documentation of psychiatric disorders and related factors in a large sample population of HIV-positive patients in California.

This retrospective cohort study examined electronic medical records of HIV-positive patients in California (N = 7,834) to find the prevalence of any psychiatric condition and the associations between several factors and the likelihood of these disorders. Approximately 53 % of the patients in this study had a documented psychiatric condition, including 23 % who had a mood disorder, 19 % who had a substance-related disorder, and 16 % who had an anxiety disorder. After controlling for potential confounders, significant positive associations (p < 0.

Facets of perfectionism in a sample of hypersexual patients.

This study investigated the role of perfectionism in a treatment-seeking sample (N = 136) of adult men and women using the Perfectionism Inventory (PI) and the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory (HBI). Several facets of perfectionism were positively correlated with hypersexuality, with the concern over mistakes scale from the PI accounting for most of the predictive variance in patterns of hypersexual behavior measured by the HBI. Items associated with concern over mistakes closely parallel the construct of shame noted in other studies of hypersexual patients.

Report of findings in a DSM-5 field trial for hypersexual disorder.

Introduction: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria for hypersexual disorder (HD) have been proposed to capture symptoms reported by patients seeking help for out-of-control sexual behavior. The proposed criteria created by the DSM-5 Work Group on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders require evaluation in a formal field trial.

Aim: This DSM-5 Field Trial was designed to assess the reliability and validity of the criteria for HD in a sample of patients seeking treatment for hypersexual behavior, a general psychiatric condition, or a substance-related disorder.