Retail cannabis environment and adolescent use: The role of advertising and retailers near home and school

Youth cannabis use is influenced by overlapping environmental contexts. We examined the associations between proximity to cannabis retailers and seeing cannabis advertisements and cannabis use behaviors in Oregon, a state with adult cannabis legalization. We used 2017 anonymous survey data from 24,154 Oregon 8th and 11th grade students. After adjustments for student and school district characteristics, advertising for 8th graders and presence of a retailer within a mile from school for 11th graders were associated with cannabis use and perceived harm. Additional policy efforts may further reduce youth exposure to cannabis.     

The effects of an ambulatory collaborative practice model on process and outcome of care for bipolar disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness that affects 1% of the population. Persons with bipolar disorder have substantial rehabilitative potential, although research has shown that such mood disorders are undertreated.Objectives: The objective was to determine the effect of a high-intensity collaborative practice ambulatory program on process and outcome of care: specifically, patient satisfaction, intensity of medication treatment, and the amount and patterns of service use.Study Design: The Bipolar Disorders Program was structured for easy patient access by assigning clinical nurse specialists as primary caregivers to each patient supported by psychiatrist backup. The first 76 patients enrolled in the Bipolar Disorders Program who completed 6 months served as the sample. A quasiexperimental study was used. A mirror image design was used where relevant measurements before admission to the Bipolar Disorders Program were compared with data during the first 6 months of enrollment.Results: Patients showed significant increases in satisfaction with care, increases in intensity of medication treatment, and trends toward decreases in neuroleptic exposure. Annualized service use data revealed significant decreases in emergency department use, psychiatric triage use, and psychiatric hospitalization days.Conclusions: These data indicated that high-intensity ambulatory treatment for bipolar disorder may have increased both treatment intensity and patient satisfaction and decreased use of costly mental health services.     

CD4-binding compounds: An assay to detect new classes of immunopharmacological agents

The interaction of antibodies with protein antigens is accepted as a paradigm of protein — protein interactions. In searching for a new generation of immunomodulatory compounds based on the interaction of the T-cell surface glycoprotein CD4 with MHC class II antigens, a model assay has been developed in which MHC molecules have been substituted by a monoclonal antibody (anti-Leu3a) to the CD4 amino-terminal domain-specific epitope, Leu3a. This assay can detect diverse classes of molecules including proteins such as HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120 and low molecular weight compounds such as aurin tricarboxylic acid, dextran sulphate and Evans blue. The interaction of these molecules with CD4 in the assay appears to be identical to their interaction with native CD4 on intact cells. Other protein—antibody pairs could be substituted for CD4—anti-Leu3a enabling this assay format to be used for the detection of proteins or small organic compounds which interfere with a wide range of therapeutically-relevant macromolecular interactions.