“
“Background: Outcome expectancies are a key cognitive construct in the etiology, assessment and treatment of Substance Use Disorders.

There is a research and clinical need for a cannabis expectancy measure validated in a clinical sample of cannabis users.

Method: The Cannabis Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) was subjected to exploratory (n = 501, mean age 27.45. 78% male) and confirmatory (n = 505, mean age 27.69, 78% male) factor analysis in two separate samples of cannabis users attending an outpatient cannabis treatment program. Weekly cannabis consumption was clinically assessed and patients completed the Severity of Dependence Scale-Cannabis (SDS-C) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28).

Results: Napabucasin concentration Two factors representing Negative Cannabis Expectancies and Positive Cannabis Expectancies were identified. These provided a robust statistical and conceptual fit for the data. Internal

reliabilities were high. Negative expectancies were associated with greater dependence severity (as measured by the SDS) and positive expectancies with higher consumption. The interaction of positive and negative expectancies was consistently significantly associated with self-reported functioning across all four GHQ-28 scales (Somatic Concerns, Anxiety, Social Dysfunction and Depression). Specifically, within the context of high positive cannabis expectancy, higher negative selleck screening library expectancy was predictive of more impaired functioning.

By contrast, within the context of low positive cannabis expectancy, higher negative expectancy was predictive of better functioning.

Conclusions: The CEQ is the first cannabis expectancy measure to be validated in a sample of cannabis users in treatment. Negative and positive cannabis expectancy domains were uniquely associated with consumption, dependence severity and self-reported mental health functioning. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Familial Selleck ACY-1215 Mediterranean fever is a recessive autoinflammatory disease that is frequent in Armenians, Jews, Arabs, and Turks. The MEFV gene is responsible for this disease. We looked for MEFV gene variations (polymorphism and mutations) in a population that resides in Central Anatolia, Turkey. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes of 802 familial Mediterranean fever patients. The DNA sequence data were examined for approximately 150 different mutations and polymorphisms, including single nucleotide polymorphisms in different exons of the MEFV gene. The male: female ratio of these patients was 1.44:1. Mutations were detected in 48.1% of the patients; 7.5% were homozygous, 11.1% were compound heterozygous and 31.5% had only one identifiable mutant allele. No mutations were detected in 51.9% of the patients. The main clinical characteristics of the patients were: abdominal pain in 20.6%, arthritis in 22.9% and amyloidosis in 4.6%.