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Introduction: Varying public views on cannabis use across countries may explain the variation in the prevalence of use, policies, and research in individual countries, and global regulation of cannabis. This paper aims to describe the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research across sixteen countries.Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for studies published from 2010 to 2020. Searches were conducted using the relevant country of interest as a search term (e.g., "Iran"), as well as relevant predefined keywords such as "cannabis," "marijuana," "hashish," "bhang "dual diagnosis," "use," "addiction," "prevalence," "co-morbidity," "substance use disorder," "legalization" or "policy" (in English and non-English languages). These keywords were used in multiple combinations to create the search string for studies' titles and abstracts. Official websites of respective governments and international organizations were also searched in English and non-English languages (using countries national languages) to identify the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research in each of those countries.Results: The main findings were inconsistent and heterogeneous reporting of cannabis use, variation in policies (e.g., legalization), and variation in intervention strategies across the countries reviewed. European countries dominate the cannabis research output indexed on PubMed, in contrast to Asian countries (Thailand, Malaysia, India, Iran, and Nepal).Conclusions: Although global cannabis regulation is ongoing, the existing heterogeneities across countries in terms of policies and epidemiology can increase the burden of cannabis use disorders disproportionately and unpredictably. There is an urgent need to develop global strategies to address these cross-country barriers to improve early detection, prevention, and interventions for cannabis use and related disorders.

Two Schiff base complexes, [Cu(HL)(2)], 1 and [Ni(HL)(2)], 2 [H2L = 2-((E)-(2-hydroxyethylimino)methyl)-1-naptaphenol] have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, IR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. In the crystalline architecture of 1 and 2, intermolecular O-HO hydrogen bonds link the molecules which form one-dimensional polymeric chain structure along the c axis. C-HO and C-H intermolecular interaction also connect the molecules in the structures which form to 3D structures of 1 and 2. The ligand and metal complexes 1 and 2 were screened for antibacterial and antifungal activities.

A new dinuclear Fe(III) complex, [Fe(5-MeOL1)(OH)(0.86)(CH3O)(0.14)](2)aEuro cent 2(CH3OH), [H-2-5-MeOL1 = N,N'-bis(5-methoxy-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine], 1 has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal structure analysis. The structure of 1 consists of two Fe(III) centers with one tetradentate schiff base ligand (N2O2) which are bridged by dihydroxo/dimethoxo groups to yield a Fe2O2 core. Complex 1 exhibits weak antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between Fe(III) ions with J = -0.21 cm(-1).

A new tetranuclear complex [Cu-4(L)(4)] (1) (H2L = N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-metoxysalicylaldimine) has been synthesized and characterized by crystal structure analysis and magnetic susceptibility. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal that complex 1 contains three independent Cu4O4 open-cubane cores of 4+2 type (four short and two long Cu center dot center dot center dot Cu distances), where the copper(II) centers are linked by alkoxo-bridges. Each copper(II) ion have a distorted square-pyramidal geometry. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements on the tetranuclear complex 1 in the range 2-300 K indicate dominant antiferromagnetic coupling (J =-108.46) between copper(II) centers.

Background Asthma mortality rates have been increasing despite our improved understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma and advanced methods of treatment. Although there are many national studies of asthma mortality rates, few studies have concentrated on subnational regions such as individual states. Objectives We sought to determine the trends in asthma mortality in children and young adults during the last 15 years in Louisiana. Methods Asthma mortality data were acquired from the Louisiana State Center for Health Statistics for the years 1983 through 1997. All asthma deaths coded International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision 493 were included in the data set along with year, sex, and rate characteristics. State population estimates obtained from the United States Bureau of Census for three 5-year periods (1983 to 1987, 1988 to 1992, and 1993 to 1997) were used to calculate crude and adjusted mortality rates. These time periods were compared with one another and with the period 1983 to 1987, which was used as a baseline. Results For all residents, the mortality rate increased from 0.41 deaths per 100,000 persons during the 1983 to 1987 time period to 0.49 and 0.63 deaths per 100,000 persons during 1988 to 1992 and 1993 to 1997 time periods, respectively. Mortality rates have increased in both the white and non-white populations over the 15-year study period, with the most pronounced increases among the non-white population. Conclusion Asthma mortality rates in Louisiana have increased, particularly among the non-white population, over the last 15 years, although the results are not statistically significant. When compared with other states, asthma mortality in Louisiana is lower than in the northeast and central north states.

OBJECTIVE: The role of histocompatibility antigens in pregnancy outcome is controversial. This controversy may be because the initial studies were of small numbers or the patient groups were not homogeneous. The purpose of this study is to clarify these discrepant results by carrying out histocompatibility antigen typing and mixed lymphocyte culture on couples with idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortion and by comparing results with those of fertile couples. STUDY DESIGN: Sixty couples with at least three spontaneous abortions and 60 normal couples with at least two successful pregnancies were included. Histocompatibility antigen typing and mixed lymphocyte culture were performed by using the standard techniques. The data were analyzed statistically with the Fisher exact test and χ 2 . RESULTS: Our results failed to show any difference between normal and aborting couples with regard to HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR distribution or sharing or to mixed lymphocyte culture responsiveness. CONCLUSION: Our study, along with other studies, emphasizes that the histocompatibility antigen system does not have an impact on pregnancy outcome.

PROBLEM: To determine the presence or absence of subclinical autoimmunity in healthy women with first trimester recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), the sera of 72 healthy women with a history of three or more consecutive abortions were analyzed for the presence of antibodies to phospholipid and nuclear antigens. METHOD: Lupus anticoagulant was determined, as were antibodies to cardiolipin. An indirect immunofluorescent antinuclear test was performed and specific antinuclear antibodies to double-stranded DNA, ribonucleoprotein, Smith antigen, and Sjogren's syndrome A and B antigens were tested. RESULTS: Nine women (13.2%) had low levels of antinuclear antibodies, none of which were specific. Four women (5.6%) had moderate to high levels of aCL antibodies. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the prevalance of aCLs and antinuclear antibodies in healthy women with first trimester RSA is low. Subclinical autoimmunity is not a common cause of first trimester RSA.

The mechanism of aberrancy of so-called atrioventricular (A-V) Junctional escape beats was investigated in 8 cases, in 5 of which His bundle electrography was performed with both conducted and escape beats recorded. Aberrancy in Junctional beats usually shows features of incomplete or complete right bundle branch block and leftward or rightward shift of the QRS axis in the frontal plane. From the morphologic point of view the aberrancy resembles that seen in conducted beats with the additional feature of bifascicular block. Functional aberrancy based on incomplete recovery of the conduction fibers cannot account for aberrancy in slow Junctional rhythms. Phase 4 depolarization may explain the aberrancy in slow heart rates but cannot readily account for the fusion complexes so frequently seen in these rhythms. His bundle electrography in the present study showed a time relation between His spikes and the onset of the QRS complex which excludes the possibility of antegrade conduction of the aberrant beats along the same pathway used by descending sinus beats as well as true Junctional beats descending through the main His bundle. Specifically, the His spikes were found at or near the onset of the QRS complexes in aberrant escape beats, whereas they were ahead of the QRS complexes by the expected interval of 40 to 50 msec in the conducted beats. This temporal relation favors propagation of escape impulses from their origin bidirectionally, that is, simultaneously toward the ventricular myocardium and retrograde toward the main His bundle. This observation, together with the right bundle branch block and the axis deviation, places the escape focus in 1 of 2 fascicles of the left bundle branch: in the superior division for beats displaying right axis deviation and in the inferior division for beats displaying left axis deviation. With acceptance of a fascicular origin for these beats, a satisfactory explanation becomes readily available for the fusion complexes.

A case of complete left bundle branch block with several episodes of intermittent marked right axis deviation is presented. All possible causes of the intermittent development of additional right axis deviation, such as electrolyte imbalances, lateral wall infarct, intermittent Wolff-Parkinson-White conduction, right bundle branch block, right ventricular hypertrophy and pulmonary embolism, were excluded. We conclude that the explanation for left bundle branch block with intermittent right axis deviation in our patient was the coexistence of left posterior hemiblock and predivisional left bundle branch block.

Antilymphocyte antibodies have been demonstrated in autoimmune diseases, acute viral infections, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by using either the conventional microlymphocytotoxicity or the double fluorescence technique. In the present study, we used both methods to detect the antilymphocyte antibodies and to characterize further their immunologic significance in patients with AIDS and their sexual partners. The results using the conventional microlymphocytotoxicity method demonstrated that 8 of 10 patients with AIDS and 6 of 10 partners had significant levels of antilymphocyte antibodies which were reactive with B and T cells at cold and warm temperatures. A significant loss in antibody activity following absorption with B, T, and Daudi cells and Staphylococcus aureus, but not platelets or red cells, indicated that these antibodies are not directed to HLA class I antigens but, rather, to antigens that are common to both groups of lymphocytes. There is a close association between antilymphocyte antibodies and lymphopenia in patients but not in partners. Antibodies against lymphocyte subclasses [helper (T4) and suppressor (T8)] were detected by the double fluorescence staining technique, which employs C6-deficient serum as a nonlytic source of complement, and demonstrated the binding of antibodies to target cells, in contrast to lysing of the target cells as in the microlymphocytotoxicity method. The results of this assay showed that antibodies were directed to both populations, and there was no correlation or association between the absolute numbers of peripheral T4 and T8 cells and the percentage of antibody binding. Taken together, there appear to be at least two kinds of antilymphocyte antibodies: lymphocytotoxic antibodies detected by the conventional microlymphocytotoxicity assay and noncytotoxic antibodies detected by the double fluorescence staining technique. The former may be responsible in part for the lymphopenia. The latter may alter lymphocyte function. The patients and partners who had antilymphocyte antibodies also had anti-HTLV-III antibodies, although there was not any close correlation between titers. These findings support the possibility that both types of antibodies occur as part of a generalized immune response, possibly stimulated by the same viral agent.

Implantable transvenous endocardial pacemakers in patients with complete heart block have introduced a host of interesting auscultatory findings into clinical medicine. Some of these, such as variable intensity of first heart sound, were the consequences of the basic conduction abnormality and thus unaffected by pacing, while others, such as “pacemaker heart sounds,” were the result of pacemaker insertion and thus iatrogenic. In either case, physicians who are to take care of an ever-increasing number of patients with intracardiac pacemakers should be familiar with these different auscultatory phenomena.

Objective:Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a human rights violation and a public health concern. The incidence of IPV increases in mass events such as epi-demics. The aim of this study was to assess the nature and the extent of IPV among women in Turkey; to iden-tify the associated factors, and mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method:The study has a cross-sectional, descriptive design. An online self -report survey, based on World Health Organization guid-ance on epidemiological studies to assess IPV, was con-ducted among women between 09.01.2021 and 09.02.2021. The survey had 69 questions which covered sociodemographic characteristics, relationship history, types of violence and mental well-being. Inclusion crite-ria were being over the age of 18, and having a spouse/partner during the pandemic. Participation was on voluntary basis. 1372 women were included in the analysis. Results:Around a third (30.7%) of participants were exposed to any type of violence before the pan-demic, with most common form being emotional vio-lence, and this rate remained unchanged during the pan-demic, despite the time spent with partners were expect-ed to increase due to isolation measures. 61 women (4.4%), mostly university graduates living in cities, reported being subject to violence for the first time dur-ing the pandemic. 31.2% of them were cases of digital violence. Lower level of education, younger age and partner\"s alcohol and substance use was associated with IPV, and IPV was associated with poorer mental well-being. Discussion:Despite the public health measures taken during the pandemic (e.g. lockdowns), where women would have spent more time isolated with their partners, rates of IPV did not change from pre-pandemic to pandemic. This outcome needs to be compared with findings from other contexts. Strategies to prevent IPV is of utmost importance for the protection of mental well-being of women and the society during and after the pandemic.

Segmentation is a challenging and important task in image processing while developing vision based decision support systems. Color and brightness are widely used properties for extracting segments, however color information usage becomes more crucial for better region distinction, especially on outdoor scenes where brightness value makes segmentation difficult. In this study, a novel segmentation algorithm which incorporates downscaling and clustering methods has been developed to find consistent coarse regions in a given input image. The new method does not require external parameters and produces consistent segmentation results on different runs. In the algorithm, two intermediate segmentation results are obtained by feeding dissimilar downscaled image information to GDD (Gaussian Density Distance) clustering method. The outputs form two different perspectives from the same image: one shows global level color distinction, and the other shows spatial color similarity information. A merging process of these two outputs is implemented to improve the final segmentation. During the study, an experimental framework is designed for analysis of the proposed approach and its evaluation. The method is extensively tested using benchmark images. Some of the selected results are presented in the paper along with a comparative study with well-known segmentation algorithms.

This paper systematically reviewed national COVID-19 vaccine deployment plans across 20 European countries. Multiple high-quality studies have shown odds ratios for comorbid severe mental illness, and schizophrenia in particular, to equal or even surpass those of other risk comorbidities included for prioritization. Evidence-based policy would then require severe mental illness to be included in the list of risk comorbidities. Yet several sources of bias may have caused the risks associated with severe mental illness to be overlooked by most countries. Mental disorders are often not included as predictors in COVID-19 outcome studies. Studies specifically investigating the risks of psychiatric comorbidity have not yet been summarized in systematic reviews or meta-analyses and were therefore ignored by some national strategies and mathematical models. In summary, European countries' vaccination strategies try to balance ethical and scientific evidence, but for individuals with severe mental illness an evidence policy disconnect remains. Most of these patients are treated in the community, and are currently overlooked by the majority of European COVID-19 vaccination strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)