(Press-News.org) New Haven, Conn. — A Yale-led analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people has shed light on the underlying biology of cannabis use disorder and its links to psychiatric disorders, abuse of other substances such as tobacco, and possibly even an elevated risk of developing lung cancer.
For the study, researchers examined a genome-wide set of genetic variants in individuals from multiple ancestry groups enrolled in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Million Veteran Program, one of the world’s largest genetic databases, and incorporated additional information from several other genomic databases. They were able to identify dozens of genetic variants linked to cannabis use disorder and a variety of behavioural and health issues associated with cannabis use disorder.
The study, led by Daniel Levey, assistant professor of psychiatry, and Joel Gelernter, the Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and professor of genetics and of neuroscience, was published Nov. 20 in the journal Nature Genetics.
“Once we understand the biology of cannabis use disorder, we can better understand associated disorders and inform the public of risks associated with marijuana use,” said Levey, lead author of the study.
Marijuana is the most commonly used federally illegal drug in the United States, with more than 48 million people (18% of Americans) using it at least once in 2019, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research has shown that roughly one-third of people who use marijuana develop cannabis use disorder, which is defined as a problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress.
The new findings offer insights into the genetic factors that underlie this phenomenon, and other potentially related health risks.
For instance, they found that variants of genes that encode for three different types of receptors on neurons were associated with elevated risk for developing cannabis use disorder.
And they found that these variants linked to cannabis use disorder were also associated with the development of lung cancer. The authors added, however, that more work needs to be done to separate the effects tobacco use and other environmental factors have on cancer diagnoses from those of marijuana use.
“This is the largest genome-wide study of cannabis use disorder ever conducted and as more states legalize or decriminalize the use of marijuana, such studies can help us to understand the public health risks that accompany its increa
END
Genomic study links cannabis abuse to multiple health problems
2023-11-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Younger people are more vulnerable to the effects of cardiovascular risk associated with high blood cholesterol and hypertension
2023-11-20
Young people may be more susceptible to the effects of the risk factors for developing atherosclerosis. According to a study carried out at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), younger people are especially vulnerable to the damaging effects of elevated blood cholesterol and hypertension, two of the major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors.
These findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, underline the need to implement aggressive control of cardiovascular risk factors at younger ages, requiring a change in primary prevention strategies to include “surveillance of subclinical atherosclerosis ...
Creativity in the age of generative AI: a new era of creative partnerships
2023-11-20
Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have showcased its potential in a wide range of creative activities such as to produce works of art, compose symphonies, and even draft legal texts, slide presentations or the like. These developments have raised concerns that AI will outperform humans in creativity tasks and make knowledge workers redundant. These comments are most recently underlined by a Fortune article entitled ‘Elon Musk says AI will create a future where ‘no job is needed’: ‘The AI will be able to do everything’.
In ...
Ambegaonkar studying physical & mental workload & recovery in collegiate dancers
2023-11-20
Ambegaonkar Studying Physical & Mental Workload & Recovery In Collegiate Dancers
Jatin Ambegaonkar, Professor, School of Kinesiology, received funding for the project: "Physical and mental workload and recovery in collegiate dancers."
He and his collaborators, Kelley Wiese (PhD Student, CEHD – Kinesiology concentration) and Dr. Jena Hansen-Honeycutt (School of Dance, CVPA) aim to comprehensively assess the workload in collegiate dancers over the academic year.
Specifically, they are examining objective physical activity demands ...
Big-data study explores social factors affecting child health
2023-11-20
A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine has used an AI-based approach to uncover underlying patterns among the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, termed social determinants of health (SDoH), and then linked each pattern to children’s health outcomes. Compared with traditional approaches, the strategy, in principle, provides a more objective and comprehensive picture of potential social factors that affect child health, which in turn, can enable better targeted interventions.
As reported Oct. 16 in JAMA Pediatrics, the researchers analyzed data on more than 10,500 American children, in communities across 17 U.S. ...
Dere to make updates to CHIANTI atomic database & software
2023-11-20
Dere To Make Updates To CHIANTI Atomic Database & Software
Kenneth Dere, Research Professor, Physics and Astronomy, received funding from NASA for: "Updates to the CHIANTI atomic database and software."
CHIANTI is a database that contains a large quantity of atomic data for the analysis of astrophysical spectra.
Dere will also conduct maintenance on and make improvements to the ChiantiPy software package.
ChiantiPy is the Python interface to the CHIANTI atomic database for astrophysical ...
Want better AI? Get input from a real (human) expert
2023-11-20
RICHLAND, Wash.—Can AI be trusted? The question pops up wherever AI is used or discussed—which, these days, is everywhere.
It’s a question that even some AI systems ask themselves.
Many machine-learning systems create what experts call a “confidence score,” a value that reflects how confident the system is in its decisions. A low score tells the human user that there is some uncertainty about the recommendation; a high score indicates to the human user that the system, at least, is quite sure of its decisions. Savvy humans know to check the confidence score when ...
Boomerang-like beams of light
2023-11-20
Researchers at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics have superposed two light beams twisted in the clockwise direction to create anti-clockwise twists in the dark regions of the resultant superposition. The results of the research have been published in the prestigious journal “Optica”. This discovery has implications for the study of light-matter interactions and represents a step towards the observation of a peculiar phenomenon known as a quantum backflow.
“Imagine that you are throwing a tennis ball. The ball starts moving forward with positive momentum. If the ball doesn’t hit an obstacle, you are unlikely to expect it to suddenly ...
Miniature colons with immune components aid the study of intestinal diseases
2023-11-20
A team at the Medical University of South Carolina and Cincinnati Children’s has developed a sophisticated model for studying the diseased colon that could lead to the development of personalized treatments for colon-related diseases, such as cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The researchers report their findings in the Nov. 2 issue of Cell Stem Cell.
MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Jorge Munera, Ph.D., collaborated with James Wells, Ph.D., and Daniel Kechele, Ph.D., both of Cincinnati Children’s, to grow miniature human colons complete with an immune system in the lab. This model improves upon existing organoids, or mini ...
Are vanadium flow batteries worth the hype? (video)
2023-11-20
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2023 — There’s a century-old technology that’s taking the grid-scale battery market by storm. Based on water, virtually fireproof, easy to recycle and cheap at scale, vanadium flow batteries could be the wave of the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPtaDqLsbnM
Reactions is a video series produced by the American Chemical Society and PBS Digital Studios. Subscribe to Reactions at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions and follow us on Twitter @ACSReactions.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise ...
These bats use their penis as an “arm” during sex but not for penetration
2023-11-20
Mammals usually mate via penetrative sex, but researchers report November 20 in the journal Current Biology that a species of bat, the serotine bat, (Eptesicus serotinus) mates without penetration. This is the first time non-penetrative sex has been documented in a mammal. The bats’ penises are around seven times longer than their partners’ vaginas and have a “heart-shaped” head that is seven times wider than the vaginal opening. Both the penises’ size and shape would make penetration post-erection impossible, and the researchers show that, rather than functioning as a penetrative ...