Evaluating the impact of Canadian cannabis legalization on cannabis use outcomes in emerging adults: Comparisons to a US control sample via a natural experiment.

Background: Recreational cannabis legalization marked a significant policy shift in Canada, but has been difficult to evaluate because of the absence of a control group. Although it is unfeasible to evaluate legalization using a randomized controlled trial design, sophisticated statistical techniques can employ quasi-experimental designs using natural experiments. This study evaluates the impact of cannabis legalization in a longitudinal cohort of Canadian emerging adults by comparing changes in cannabis use frequency and related consequences over time to changes in a similar cohort in a United States jurisdiction where no policy change took place.

Psychometric Validation of the Gambling Craving Scale in a Treatment-Seeking Sample.

The Gambling Craving Scale (GACS) is a multifaceted measure of gambling craving. Initial validation work by Young and Wohl (2009) in university student samples showed that the GACS had a three-factor structure capturing dimensions of Desire, Anticipation, and Relief. Despite its potential clinical utility as a measure of craving, the GACS has yet to be validated in people seeking treatment for gambling problems.

Polygenic contributions to performance on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task.

Risky decision-making is a common, heritable endophenotype seen across many psychiatric disorders. Its underlying genetic architecture is incompletely explored. We examined behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), which tests risky decision-making, in two independent samples of European ancestry.

CADM2 is implicated in impulsive personality and numerous other traits by genome- and phenome-wide association studies in humans and mice.

Impulsivity is a multidimensional heritable phenotype that broadly refers to the tendency to act prematurely and is associated with multiple forms of psychopathology, including substance use disorders. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of eight impulsive personality traits from the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and the short UPPS-P Impulsive Personality Scale (N = 123,509-133,517 23andMe research participants of European ancestry), and a measure of Drug Experimentation (N = 130,684). Because these GWAS implicated the gene CADM2, we next performed single-SNP phenome-wide studies (PheWAS) of several of the implicated variants in CADM2 in a multi-ancestral 23andMe cohort (N = 3,229,317, European; N = 579,623, Latin American; N = 199,663, African American).

Serum BDNF levels increase during early drug withdrawal in alcohol and crack cocaine addiction.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in several drug-induced brain neuroadaptations. The impact of withdrawal from substances that have different neurological mechanisms on BDNF levels is unclear. Our goal was to compare serum BDNF levels in inpatients with alcohol or crack cocaine use disorders during the early withdrawal period, and to evaluate the association with substance-related outcomes.

Maintained anxiolytic effects of cannabidiol after treatment discontinuation in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To assess whether the effects of oral administration of 300 mg of Cannabidiol (CBD) for 28 days on mental health are maintained for a period after the medication discontinuation. This is a 3-month follow-up observational and clinical trial study. The data were obtained from two studies performed simultaneously by the same team in the same period and region with Brazilian frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceptions of prevalence, consequences, and strategies for managing contraband substance use in an inpatient concurrent disorders program: A qualitative study of patient perspectives and survey of clinician perspectives.

Objective: Inpatient treatment programs for substance use disorders (SUDs) typically have an abstinence policy for patients, but unsanctioned substance use nonetheless takes place and can have significant negative clinical impacts. The current study sought to understand this problem from a patient perspective and to develop strategies for improved contraband substance management in an inpatient concurrent disorders sample.

Methods: First, a qualitative study ( = 10; 60% female) was undertaken to ascertain perceived prevalence, impact, and patient-generated strategies.

Inhibition of ATP-citrate lyase improves NASH, liver fibrosis, and dyslipidemia.

Elevated liver de novo lipogenesis contributes to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and can be inhibited by targeting acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). However, hypertriglyceridemia limits the use of pharmacological ACC inhibitors as a monotherapy. ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) generates acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate from citrate, but whether inhibition is effective for treating NASH is unknown.

Latent Typologies of Psychiatric Symptom Comorbidity With Substance Use: Associations With Adverse Childhood Experiences.

Objective: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and lifetime traumatic events are closely linked to development of comorbid psychiatric symptoms and substance use. Although research shows the risk for psychiatric and substance use comorbidity conferred by early adversity, most studies have not modeled multivariate symptom patterns that include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom criteria (i.e.

Inhibition of histone deacetylation with vorinostat does not prevent tunicamycin-mediated acute kidney injury.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by various mechanisms, including antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cisplatin, and radiocontrast. Tunicamycin (TM) is a nucleoside antibiotic that induces ER stress and is a commonly used model of AKI. 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) is a chemical chaperone and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and has been shown to protect the kidney from ER stress, apoptosis, and structural damage in a tunicamycin model of AKI.

COVID-19 Vaccine Perceptions and Differences by Sex, Age, and Education in 1,367 Community Adults in Ontario.

COVID-19 is a global pandemic and vaccination efforts may be impeded by vaccine hesitancy. The present study examined willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, the associated reasons for willingness/unwillingness, and vaccine safety perceptions in a cross-sectional assessment of community adults in Ontario. One thousand three hundred sixty seven individuals (60.

Cannabidiol for COVID-19 Patients with Mild to Moderate Symptoms (CANDIDATE Study): A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Owing to its anti-inflammatory properties and antiviral "in vitro" effect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), cannabidiol (CBD) has been proposed as a potential treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To investigate the safety and efficacy of CBD for treating patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. Randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted between July 7 and October 16, 2020, in two sites in Brazil.

Association between the expression of lncRNA BASP-AS1 and volume of right hippocampal tail moderated by episode duration in major depressive disorder: a CAN-BIND 1 report.

The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) encompasses an array of changes at molecular and neurobiological levels. As chronic stress promotes neurotoxicity there are alterations in the expression of genes and gene-regulatory molecules. The hippocampus is particularly sensitive to the effects of stress and its posterior volumes can deliver clinically valuable information about the outcomes of antidepressant treatment.

Treatment-emergent and trajectory-based peripheral gene expression markers of antidepressant response.

Identifying biomarkers of antidepressant response may advance personalized treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to identify longitudinal changes in gene expression associated with response to antidepressants in a sample of MDD patients treated with escitalopram. Patients (N = 153) from the CAN-BIND-1 cohort were treated for 8 weeks, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.

Increase in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels during early withdrawal in severe alcohol users.

Introduction: Changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have been linked to the neuroadaptative consequences of chronic alcohol use and associated with disease severity and prognosis. Few studies have evaluated the influence of drug withdrawal and clinical and sociodemographic data on BDNF levels in severe alcohol users.

Objectives: Our goals were (1) to evaluate variation in BDNF levels during alcohol withdrawal and, (2) to assess the influence of putative confounding factors on BDNF levels.

Attitudes and Beliefs Toward Cannabis Before Recreational Legalization: A Cross-Sectional Study of Community Adults in Ontario.

To characterize attitudes and perceptions regarding risks and benefits of cannabis before Canadian legalization for recreational use, both in general and between cannabis users and nonusers. A cross-sectional sample of community adults assessed in the month before legalization (September 17 to October 17, 2018). Overall, 1,480 individuals (60% female) of an average age of 34.

A Review of Motivational Interviewing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Although cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a highly effective treatment for individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a portion people with OCD do not benefit fully from CBT due to ambivalence about participating in treatment, nonadherence to exposure exercises, and dropout. This paper reviews the promising evidence for motivational interviewing (MI) as a therapeutic approach that is well suited to address these issues and potentially improve treatment outcomes. It will also provide a discussion of MI processes that may enhance CBT for OCD which can foster a collaborative relationship that integrates a patient's own goals and values into exposure planning, helps resolve ambivalence or reluctance to engage in exposure exercises and builds and supports patients' intrinsic motivation to participate in treatment.

Food addiction in a large community sample of Canadian adults: prevalence and relationship with obesity, body composition, quality of life and impulsivity.

Background And Aims: Parallels between the persistent overconsumption of food and addictive drugs have given rise to the notion of food addiction. In a large community sample of Canadian adults, the current study examined the prevalence of food addiction and its relationship with obesity, quality of life and multiple indicators of impulsivity. A secondary goal was to analyze differences between obese and non-obese individuals with and without food addiction.

Addiction as a brain disease revised: why it still matters, and the need for consilience.

The view that substance addiction is a brain disease, although widely accepted in the neuroscience community, has become subject to acerbic criticism in recent years. These criticisms state that the brain disease view is deterministic, fails to account for heterogeneity in remission and recovery, places too much emphasis on a compulsive dimension of addiction, and that a specific neural signature of addiction has not been identified. We acknowledge that some of these criticisms have merit, but assert that the foundational premise that addiction has a neurobiological basis is fundamentally sound.