Reframing video gaming and internet use addiction : empirical cross-national comparison of heavy use over time and addiction scales among young users

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Evidence-based and reliable measures of addictive disorders are needed in general population-based assessments. One study suggested that heavy use over time (UOT) should be used instead of self-reported addiction scales (AS). This study compared UOT and AS regarding video gaming and internet use empirically, using associations with comorbid factors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional data from the 2011 French Survey on Health and Consumption on Call-up and Preparation for Defence-Day (ESCAPAD), cross-sectional data from the 2012 Swiss ado@internet.ch study and two waves of longitudinal data (2010-13) of the Swiss Longitudinal Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF). SETTING: Three representative samples from the general population of French and Swiss adolescents and young Swiss men, aged approximately 17, 14 and 20 years, respectively. PARTICIPANTS: ESCAPAD: n =22 945 (47.4% men); ado@internet.ch: n =3049 (50% men); C-SURF: n =4813 (baseline + follow-up, 100% men). MEASUREMENTS: We assessed video gaming/internet UOT ESCAPAD and ado@internet.ch: number of hours spent online per week, C-SURF: latent score of time spent gaming/using internet] and AS (ESCAPAD: Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, ado@internet.ch: Internet Addiction Test, C-SURF: Gaming AS). Comorbidities were assessed with health outcomes (ESCAPAD: physical health evaluation with a single item, suicidal thoughts, and appointment with a psychiatrist; ado@internet.ch: WHO-5 and somatic health problems; C-SURF: Short Form 12 (SF-12 Health Survey) and Major Depression Inventory (MDI). FINDINGS: UOT and AS were correlated moderately (ESCAPAD: r = 0.40, ado@internet.ch: r = 0.53 and C-SURF: r = 0.51). Associations of AS with comorbidity factors were higher than those of UOT in cross-sectional (AS: .005 ≤ |b| ≤ 2.500, UOT: 0.001 ≤ |b| ≤ 1.000) and longitudinal analyses (AS: 0.093 ≤ |b| ≤ 1.079, UOT: 0.020 ≤ |b| ≤ 0.329). The results were similar across gender in ESCAPAD and ado@internet.ch (men: AS: 0.006 ≤ |b| ≤ 0.211, UOT: 0.001 ≤ |b| ≤ 0.061; women: AS: 0.004 ≤ |b| ≤ 0.155, UOT: 0.001 ≤ |b| ≤ 0.094). CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of heavy use over time captures part of addictive video gaming/internet use without overlapping to a large extent with the results of measuring by self-reported addiction scales (AS). Measuring addictive video gaming/internet use via self-reported addiction scales relates more strongly to comorbidity factors than heavy use over time.

Postnatal retention in HIV care : insight from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study over a 15-year observational period

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to quantify loss to follow-up (LTFU) in HIV care after delivery and to identify risk factors for LTFU, and implications for HIV disease progression and subsequent pregnancies. METHODS: We used data on pregnancies within the Swiss HIV Cohort Study from 1996 to 2011. A delayed clinical visit was defined as > 180 days and LTFU as no visit for > 365 days after delivery. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for LTFU. RESULTS: A total of 695 pregnancies in 580 women were included in the study, of which 115 (17%) were subsequent pregnancies. Median maternal age was 32 years (IQR 28-36 years) and 104 (15%) women reported any history of injecting drug use (IDU). Overall, 233 of 695 (34%) women had a delayed visit in the year after delivery and 84 (12%) women were lost to follow-up. Being lost to follow-up was significantly associated with a history of IDU [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.79; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32-5.88; P = 0.007] and not achieving an undetectable HIV viral load (VL) at delivery (aOR 2.42; 95% CI 1.21-4.85; P = 0.017) after adjusting for maternal age, ethnicity and being on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at conception. Forty-three of 84 (55%) women returned to care after LTFU. Half of them (20 of 41) with available CD4 had a CD4 count < 350 cells/μL and 15% (six of 41) a CD4 count < 200 cells/μL at their return. CONCLUSIONS: A history of IDU and detectable HIV VL at delivery were associated with LTFU. Effective strategies are warranted to retain women in care beyond pregnancy and to avoid CD4 cell count decline. ART continuation should be advised especially if a subsequent pregnancy is planned.

Long-term controlled GDNF over-expression reduces dopamine transporter activity without affecting tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the rat mesostriatal system.

The dopamine (DA) transporter (DAT) is a plasma membrane glycoprotein expressed in dopaminergic (DA-) cells that takes back DA into presynaptic neurons after its release. DAT dysfunction has been involved in different neuro-psychiatric disorders including Parkinson's disease (PD). On the other hand, numerous studies support that the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has a protective effect on DA-cells. However, studies in rodents show that prolonged GDNF over-expression may cause a tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, the limiting enzyme in DA synthesis) decline. The evidence of TH down-regulation suggests that another player in DA handling, DAT, may also be regulated by prolonged GDNF over-expression, and the possibility that this effect is induced at GDNF expression levels lower than those inducing TH down-regulation. This issue was investigated here using intrastriatal injections of a tetracycline-inducible adeno-associated viral vector expressing human GDNF cDNA (AAV-tetON-GDNF) in rats, and doxycycline (DOX; 0.01, 0.03, 0.5 and 3mg/ml) in the drinking water during 5weeks. We found that 3mg/ml DOX promotes an increase in striatal GDNF expression of 12× basal GDNF levels and both DA uptake decrease and TH down-regulation in its native and Ser40 phosphorylated forms. However, 0.5mg/ml DOX promotes a GDNF expression increase of 3× basal GDNF levels with DA uptake decrease but not TH down-regulation. The use of western-blot under non-reducing conditions, co-immunoprecipitation and in situ proximity ligation assay revealed that the DA uptake decrease is associated with the formation of DAT dimers and an increase in DAT-α-synuclein interactions, without changes in total DAT levels or its compartmental distribution. In conclusion, at appropriate GDNF transduction levels, DA uptake is regulated through DAT protein-protein interactions without interfering with DA synthesis.

The natural history of type II odontoid fractures in the elderly population. A retrospective study over a 14 years period.

Odontoid fractures are the most common cervical fractures in the adult population. They represent 9 to 18 % of all cervical fractures and the type II is the most common. The incidence of neurologic deficits (ND) in odontoid fractures varies between 3 to 25%. A recent study showed that patients with ND had a mortality rate increased by 4.72 times and a complication rate higher of 1.18 times. The most common complication in patients with ND was respiratory distress8. Surprisingly, although type II odontoid fractures are frequent cervical fractures, their natural history has been poorly described. Surgery for odontoid fractures is well described. However, there are so far guidelines based on class II and class III evidence only regarding indications for surgery and regarding surgical techniques. The class II guidelines recommend to consider surgical stabilization and fusion for type II odontoid in patients over 50 years of age. The class III recommendations are to first manage non-displaced odontoid type II fracture with external immobilization and that translation of 5mm or more is associated with a high rate of non- union with the conservative treatment and should be treated surgically.

CHARACTERISING THE EOS SLOT-SCANNING SYSTEM WITH THE EFFECTIVE DETECTIVE QUANTUM EFFICIENCY.

NlmCategory="UNASSIGNED">As opposed to the standard detective quantum efficiency (DQE), effective DQE (eDQE) is a figure of merit that allows comparing the performances of imaging systems in the presence of scatter rejection devices. The geometry of the EOS™ slot-scanning system is such that the detector is self-collimated and rejects scattered radiation. In this study, the EOS system was characterised using the eDQE in imaging conditions similar to those used in clinical practice: with phantoms of different widths placed in the X-ray beam, for various incident air kerma and tube voltages corresponding to the phantom thickness. Scatter fractions in EOS images were extremely low, around 2 % for all configurations. Maximum eDQE values spanned 9-14.8 % for a large range of air kerma at the detector plane from 0.01 to 1.34 µGy. These figures were obtained with non-optimised EOS setting but still over-performed most of the maximum eDQEs recently assessed for various computed radiology and digital radiology systems with antiscatter grids.

Ecological change predicts population dynamics and genetic diversity over 120 000 years.

While ecological effects on short-term population dynamics are well understood, their effects over millennia are difficult to demonstrate and convincing evidence is scant. Using coalescent methods, we analysed past population dynamics of three lizard species (Psammodromus hispanicus, P. edwardsianus, P. occidentalis) and linked the results with climate change data covering the same temporal horizon (120 000 years). An increase in population size over time was observed in two species, and in P. occidentalis, no change was observed. Temporal changes in temperature seasonality and the maximum temperature of the warmest month were congruent with changes in population dynamics observed for the three species and both variables affected population density, either directly or indirectly (via a life-history trait). These results constitute the first solid link between ecological change and long-term population dynamics. The results moreover suggest that ecological change leaves genetic signatures that can be retrospectively traced, providing evidence that ecological change is a crucial driver of genetic diversity and speciation.

An Experimental Study on Peer Selection in a P2P Network over PlanetLab

Peer-reviewed

Discrepancies over the onset of surfactant monomer aggregation interpreted by fluorescence, conductivity and surface tension methods

Molecular probe techniques have made important contributions to the determination of microstructure of surfactant assemblies such as size, stability, micropolarity and conformation. Conductivity and surface tension were used to determine the critical aggregation concentration (cac) of polymer-surfactant complexes and the critical micellar concentration (cmc) of aqueous micellar aggregates. The results are compared with those of fluorescent techniques. Several surfactant systems were examined, 1-butanol-sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) mixtures, solutions containing poly(ethylene oxide)-SDS, poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-SDS and poly(acrylic acid)-alkyltrimethylammonium bromide complexes. We found differences between the cac and cmc values obtained by conductivity or surface tension and those obtained by techniques which use hydrophobic probe.

Calcination of aluminum hydroxide over pressure and residence time

This work investigates the possible effect of pressure and residence time to the reaction of aluminum hydroxide into aluminum oxide. Various pressurized conditions are used as well as the help of various residence times. The aim is to increase the conversion of the reaction with the use of different pressures and residence times. The tests were performed with a laboratory scale fluidized bed reactor at the Outotec R&D Center in Frankfurt. Additional test work such as particle size analysis and differential thermal analysis were also carried out. Some calcined samples were also characterized with X-ray diffraction at the University of Auckland to obtain a reaction pathway when using pressurized conditions. All of the results are then compared with previous results.

Spatial and Temporal Trends in Sunshine Duration over Western Europe

This work analyzes sunshine duration variability in the western part of Europe (WEU) over the 1938– 2004 period. A principal component analysis is applied to cluster the original series from 79 sites into 6 regions, and then annual and seasonal mean series are constructed on regional and also for the whole WEU scales. Over the entire period studied here, the linear trend of annual sunshine duration is found to be nonsignificant. However, annual sunshine duration shows an overall decrease since the 1950s until the early 1980s, followed by a subsequent recovery during the last two decades. This behavior is in good agreement with the dimming and brightening phenomena described in previous literature. From the seasonal analysis, the most remarkable result is the similarity between spring and annual series, although the spring series has a negative trend; and the clear significant increase found for the whole WEU winter series, being especially large since the 1970s. The behavior of the major synoptic patterns for two seasons is investigated, resulting in some indications that sunshine duration evolution may be partially explained by changes in the frequency of some of them