Tell me who your friends are?! The mediating role of friends' use in cannabis abuse

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the relationship between age at onset of cannabis use and cannabis abuse in a sample of Portuguese cannabis users, testing the mediating role of the number of friends using cannabis and comparing these relationships between male and female subsets. Method A sample of 529 Portuguese cannabis users comprising 276 males and 244 females aged from 14 to 21 years completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST), and answered four questions related to cannabis use. Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS version 26.0. Results Age at onset of cannabis use was negatively related to the number of friends using cannabis, while the number of friends using cannabis had a positive relationship with cannabis abuse. As predicted, the number of friends using cannabis seems to have a mediating role in the relationship between cannabis onset age use and cannabis abuse, since the indirect effect was found to be significant. The pattern of the relationships among the variables observed was found to be similar for both male and female subsets of the sample. However, males reported higher cannabis abuse than females. Conclusion The results highlight the mediating role of friends' use of cannabis in the relationship between age at onset of cannabis use and users' abuse. These results highlight the importance of early intervention in cannabis use. In particular, the pattern of the relationships observed among the studied variables emphasizes the need to monitor and conduct peer training interventions or interventions to promote of social skills.

Association of adolescent smoking history and onset age of diabetes with diabetic retinopathy / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

A total of 820 patients who visited Endocrinology department in our hospital were enrolled in the study from June 2016 to May 2018. These patients were divided into diabetic retinopathy ( DR ) and non-diabetic retinopathy ( NDR) groups according to the occurrence of DR. Factors such as gender, age, course of diabetes, smoking/drinking history, family history of diabetes, and onset age of diabetes were compared between the two groups, and logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of DR. The results showed that there were 387 smoker( 47. 2％) and 433 non-smoker ( 52. 8％) in 820 tyge 2 diabetic patients, and 339 ( 41. 3％) patients were diagnosed with DR. There were no statistical differences in gender, age, body mass index, family history of diabetes, drinking history, and HbA1C between the two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that duration of diabetes (OR=2.653,P<0.001), hypertension(OR=1.371,P=0.041),onset age of diabetes<40years(OR=1.526,P=0.028) , and adolescent smoking history( OR=2.178,P<0.001) were independent risk factors for DR.

Analysis of clinical characteristics of patients with gout at different onset ages / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

According to the onset age, a total of 5 674 outpatients with gout admitted in the affiliated hospital of Qingdao University from January 2011 to January 2016 were divided into youth group (≤44 years, n=3 058), middle age group (45~64 years, n=2 101), and elderly group (≥65 years, n=515).Their clinical and biochemical characteristics were analyzed.The results showed that the proportion of gout in the males in three groups was higher than that in the females.The proportions of gout in male youth, middle age, and elderly groups were 98.1%, 93.4%, and 83.1%, respectively.The proportion of gout in females increased with age.The proportion of gout family history in youth group was higher than that in middle age and elderly groups(P0.05).The distributions of the onset joint among three groups revealed statistical difference(P<0.05), but the first plantar toe joint was mostly involved in each group.These results suggest that the clinical characteristics of patients with gout at different onset ages are not identical, should be treated differently.

Differences in Comorbidity Profiles between Early-Onset and Late-Onset Alopecia Areata Patients: A Retrospective Study of 871 Korean Patients

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata (AA) is a common dermatologic condition with a broad spectrum of clinical features and age of onset, classically characterized by nonscarring patches of hair loss. In the past, early-onset (before adolescence) AA has been associated with various autoimmune diseases, especially atopic diseases and lupus erythematosus and demonstrates a worse prognosis compared with late onset AA. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the differences in the comorbidity profile of AA with regard to age at onset. METHODS: We completed a retrospective study of 871 Korean AA patients seen at our department within the last 10 years. After these patients were subdivided according to onset before or after age 13 years, the two groups were compared on the basis of their comorbid disorders, family history of AA, and hematologic test results. RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that significantly more patients in the early-onset group had a personal history of atopic dermatitis or family history of AA. These findings are consistent with previous reports associating early-onset AA with autoimmune diseases and a family history of AA in different ethnic populations. Most of the serologic test values showed no significant differences between the groups and the results were considerably affected by age. CONCLUSION: This study is significant because it is a large group study in Korean AA patients, and Korean AA patients with an onset age before adolescence show similar clinical manifestations to other ethnic populations.

The Annual Changes of Clinical Manifestation of Androgenetic Alopecia Clinic in Korean Males and Females: A Outpatient-Based Study

BACKGROUND: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is characterized by the local and gradual transformation of terminal scalp hair into vellus hair, which has a shorter and thinner shaft. There are no studies that analyze annual changes in age, patterns, family history, and associated disease. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the severity of hair loss, age of onset, the frequency of family history, and past medical histories in Korean patients with AGA. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed to identify all patients with AGA referred to the Dermatology Clinic at Chung-Ang University Hospital from January 2006 to December 2010. RESULTS: The age of onset was also gradually decreased from 34.1+/-10.1 years to 31.6+/-10.9 years between 2006 and 2010. In female patients, specific annual changes were not observed. Hamilton-Norwood Type IIIv AGA was most common in male patients and Ludwig Type I AGA was most common in female patients at all times between 2006 and 2010. The majority of patients with AGA had a family history of baldness and was most commonly associated with a paternal pattern of inheritance. Seborrheic dermatitis was the most common associated disease in male and female patients. CONCLUSION: Our results show the possibilities that the average age of onset is decreasing. The period of the present study was only 5 years, which is not sufficient for the precise determination of onset age for AGA. Clearly, a long-term study is needed.

Clinicopathological analysis of 306 cases with endometrioid cancer in northern Shandong area / 中国基层医药

Objective To explore the clinicopathology characteristics of endometrial adenocarcinoma and non-endometrial adenocarcinoma.Methods The clinical data of 306 patients with endometrioid cancer were analyzed retrospectively.Results The patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma accounted for 90％ of all patients,and the patients with non-endometrial adenocarcinoma accounted for 10％.Compared with the patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma,the average age of the patients with non-endometrial adenocarcinoma was older[(59.32 ± 7.77)years],the constitution ratio of postmenopausal patients was higher(90％),the clinicopathologic stage was later(P =0.000),the grade of histology was higher(P =0.000),the myometrial invasion was deeper(P =0.014).The patients with nonendometrial adenocarcinoma were prone to occur lymph metastasis(P =0.006),and the recurrence rate was higher(P =0.000).Conclusion There is significant defference between endometrial adenocarcinoma and non-endometrial adenocarcinoma,the patients with non-endometrial adenocarcinoma has poor pronosis,and we should pay more attention to it.

Clinical Characteristics and Courses in Patients with Early-Onset and Late-Onset Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / 대한정신약물학회지

OBJECTIVE: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with a bimodal pattern in age onset and treatment outcomes. This study attempted to ascertain the importance of the age factor for a better phenotypic precision. Therefore, the authors compared adult OCD patients with an early symptom onset to adult OCD patients with a later symptom onset. METHODS: One hundred sixty five patients with OCD were evaluated with semistructured interviews;79 with symptom onset before the age of 17 (early onset group) and 86 with symptom onset after the age of 17 (late onset group). The two groups were analyzed in terms of Y-BOCS (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) scores and demographic data including clinical variables. RESULTS: Early onset group has more comorbidity of tic disorder and lesser of depression and anxiety disorder than late onset group. Early onset group showed more family history of tic disorder than late onset group. The treatment response to SSRI is relatively declined after 18 months of initiation in early onset group. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that age at onset may be an important factor in subtyping OCD. Early onset group may have more biological and familial tendency that might be differentiate the two groups.

Association Study of Functional Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Polymorphism in Korean Schizophrenia / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: Catechol-O-methyltransferase(COMT) is involved in the degradation of catecholamine neurotransmitters and has been investigated as a candidate gene in schizophrenia. Recently, possible relationship between functional COMT gene polymorphism and schizophrenia has been suggested. To address the possible role of functional COMT gene polymorphism in the predisposition to schizophrenia, we carried out an association study in Korean schizophrenic patients and controls. METHODS: One hundred and three Korean inpatients diagnosed as schizophrenia and 103 age and sex matched controls were selected as study subjects. Patients were subgrouped into two groups on the basis of history of aggressive behavior, family history of schizophrenia and related disorders, and age at onset. We determined COMT genotypes using PCR of the relevant region followed by digestion with NlaIII and electrophoresis. RESULTS: No significant differences of allele and genotype frequencies were noted between patients and controls. However, when patients were categorized by the presence of family history of schizophrenia and related disorders, patients with family history showed almost 4-fold higher frequency of having COMT L allele containing genotype compared to controls(p=0.02, OR=3.9, 95% CI=1.10-14.33). CONCLUSION: Although our results do not support an association between functional polymorphism of COMT gene and schizophrenia overall, the findings suggest an association between functional COMT gene polymorphism and familial schizophrenia. Further studies with large samples are needed to confirm this association.

A Preliminary Study for the Application of Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test-Geriatric Version in Korea

OBJECTIVES: The alcohol dependence in elderly people has been prevalent because of increase in geriatric population. However, it is difficult to find out alcohol dependence in the aged, because they have less specific clinical features as compared with adult alcoholics. The aims of this study were to screen alcohol dependence among elderly Koreans and to know the clinical characteristics of Korean delerly alcoholics. METHODS: The questionnaires translated into Korean such as Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test(MAST-K), the Brief MAST and the MAST-Geriatirc Version(MAST-KG) were used to screen alcohol dependence in the elderly alcoholic inpatients aged over 60(N=43), adult alcoholic inpatients within 20-59 Yrs of age(N=60), which were compared with age matched normal healthy aged(N=18) or adult controls(N=45). The demographic data such as sex, age, education, occupation, socioeconomic status, marital status, numbers of children, dwelling and religion as well as alcohol history such as duration of alcohol drinking, onset age, family history, impulsivity, somatic illness and motivation were also obtained to identify characteristic features of Korean aged alcoholics by structured interviews. RESULTS: 1) The aged alcoholics had the charateristic features of more in males, lower age, low education levels, more in blue-collar workers, lower socioeconomic class, more in single few babies, more living alone, having no religion without statistical significance. 2) The onset age of alcohol dependence was significantly higher in the aged alcoholics(45.3+/-13.6Yrs) than in the adult alcoholics(27.7+/-8.7Yrs)(p<0.0001). The duration of problematic alcohol drinking was significantly longer in the aged alcoholics(22.0+/-15.1Yrs) than in adult alcoholics(14.2+/-8.4Yrs)(p<0.01). Otherwise, there were no significant difference between aged and adult alcoholics in the family history, imulsivity, somatic illness and motivation. 3) The mean score of the MAST-K was significantly higher in the aged alcoholics(20.6 +/-5.4) than in the normal aged(6.7+/-4.4)(p<0.0001), which was significantly lower than in the adult alcoholics(26.2+/-8.0)and in normal adult controls(9.5+/-3.2)(p<0.05). The mean score of the Brief MAST was significantly lower in the aged alcoholics(9.3+/-3.5) than in the adult alcoholics(14.5+/-6.6)(p<0.0001). The mean score of the MAST-KG was significantly higher in the aged alcoholics(10.6+/-3.5) than in the normal aged(4.8+/-4.3)(9<0.0001). The former was significantly lower than in adult alcoholics(12.9+/-4.3)(p<0.005), and the mean score was 4.5+/-2.8 in normal adult controls. 4) The items which showed statistically significant differences between aged alcoholics and normal aged controls could be found in 10 items of the MAST-K(item 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 17, 21, 22 and 23). 2 items of the Brief MAST(items 2 and 9), and 7 items of the MAST-KG(items 6, 13, 18, 19, 22, 23 and 24)(p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The scores of the MAST-K, the Brief MAST and the MAST-KG were significantly lower in the aged alcoholics than those in the adult alcoholics(p<0.05). The statistically significant differences between aged alcoholics and normal aged controls could be found in 10 items of the MAST-K, 2 items of the Brief MAST and 7 items of the MAST-KG. Therefore, a briefer rating scales around 10 items are needed to screen alcohol dependence among Korean elderly people.