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The DSM-5 definition of cannabis use disorder (CUD) differs from DSM-IV by combining abuse and dependence criteria (without the legal criterion) and including withdrawal and craving criteria. Information on construct validity of the DSM-5 CUD diagnosis and severity levels is lacking. This study examines the associations between DSM-5 CUD and severity classification and a set of concurrent validators. Adults with problematic substance use were recruited from two settings: a research setting in an urban medical center and a suburban inpatient addiction treatment program. Participants who reported past-year cannabis use (n = 392) were included in this study and completed a semi-structured, clinician-administered diagnostic interview. Regression models estimated the associations between binary DSM-5 CUD and severity levels with a set of validators, including cannabis use variables, psychopathology, and functional impairment. DSM-5 CUD and all severity levels were associated with cannabis use validators, including number of days used, self-reporting that cannabis use was a major problem, and greater cannabis craving. DSM-5 CUD and severe CUD were associated with other psychiatric disorders and social impairment. Findings add information about the validity of DSM-5 CUD diagnosis and severity levels, with severe CUD receiving the strongest support from its association with validators across all domains, as distinct from the mild and moderate CUD measures that were associated with cannabis-specific validators alone. Severe CUD is likely to require more intensive treatment to bolster physical, psychiatric, and social functioning, whereas the mild and moderate severity thresholds provide useful information for identifying less severe disorders for prevention and brief intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy is highly effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD, but it is often difficult for veterans to engage in and adhere to all prescribed components of this therapy. This article details a preliminary, feasibility test of Peer Enhanced Exposure Therapy (PEET), a new, manualized intervention allowing specially trained peer specialists who have completed PE to facilitate treatment engagement and adherence during PE by providing individual in-person and telephone support, coordinating peer support services with PE therapists. This case study outlines the theoretical foundations, session content, and both qualitative and quantitative data for two of the first veterans and first peer specialists involved in implementation of PEET. In this case study, the veterans made gains in symptom management expected in PE. Despite the historically high dropout from PE, both veterans completed a full course of PE. There was also evidence of improvement in rehabilitation outcomes, such as community integration, independent living skills, interacting with others, and maintaining friends and activities. Data support the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention; implications for future research are discussed. • A team of peer specialists, PE therapists, and peer support supervisors developed a manualized augmentive peer support intervention to improve PE outcomes. • Veterans were willing to participate in an initial feasibility trial of the Peer Enhanced Exposure Therapy (PEET) intervention. • Two case studies from the initial feasibility trial indicate that veterans evidenced positive symptom remission and rehabilitation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of and participation in gambling has increased substantially the past several decades, however studies of military members' gambling behaviors are limited. The present study aimed to investigate potential problematic gambling and its association with demographics and behavioral characteristics in a US military cohort. We analyzed cohort data from a telephone survey during 2015-2016 of 1553 Ohio Army National Guard members. We assessed potential problematic gambling by using the 3-item National Opinion Research Center Diagnostic Screen-Loss of Control, Lying, and Preoccupation Screen (NODS-CLiP). Potential correlates examined were demographics, depression, suicidal ideation, smoking status, alcohol use, legal and financial problems, perceived general health status, pain, and impulsivity. Results indicated past-year frequent gambling (at least once per week) and lifetime potential problematic gambling was reported by 13% and 8% of respondents, respectively. Problematic gambling and past-year gambling behaviors were associated in a dose-response relationship from 18% among soldiers gambling once per week to 44% among those gambling 4 or more times per week. Correlates of screening positive for potential problematic gambling included the following: being male, currently unmarried, having left the Guard or retired, minor depression, alcohol dependence, legal problems, and increased pain. Given the higher prevalence of frequent gambling in this military cohort (8%), nearly twice the US prevalence (5%), and the association with negative psychological and behavioral outcomes, routine screening of gambling frequency and problem gambling may be needed to ensure military and veteran populations live the healthiest lives possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Be isotopes are a useful tracer of sediment source and transport pathways but have not been widely tested in glacio-marine environments. We measured Be isotopes in a range of depositional environments from open marine, sub-ice shelf and subglacial settings throughout Prydz Bay, one of Antarctica's largest ice drainage systems. We find that strong sub-ice shelf and bottom current circulations can advect 10Be-rich open marine sediments into an ice shelf cavity, and 10Be-poor terrestrial sediments onto the continental shelf at the ice shelf outflow, meaning that 10Be concentrations reflect sub-ice shelf circulation patterns rather than depositional environment. However, HCl-extractable 10Be/9Be ratios can provide a more robust discrimination of sediment deposited in open marine and sub-ice shelf settings. Thus, Be isotopes are a useful tracer of both environmental setting and sub-ice shelf circulation strength in both modern and paleo-ice sheet margins. Highlights • Be-10 is advected underneath ice shelves by sub-shelf currents. • Be-10/9 ratios may be a proxy for past ice shelf geometries in sediments. • Ice sheet extent may influence Be-isotope delivery ratios to the deep ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data from 42 new samples yielding Late Pleistocene cosmogenic 10 Be and 36 Cl exposure ages of moraine boulders across a series of glaciated valleys in the Toubkal Massif (4167 m a.s.l.), High Atlas, Morocco. This represents the first comprehensive Pleistocene glacial chronology in North Africa and one of the largest datasets from the Mediterranean region. The timing of these glacier advances has major implications for understanding the influence of Atlantic depressions on moisture supply to North Africa and the Mediterranean basin during the Pleistocene. The oldest and lowest moraines which span elevations from ∼1900 to 2400 m a.s.l. indicate that the maximum glacier advance occurred from MIS 5 to 3 with a combined mean 10 Be and 36 Cl age of 50.2 ± 19.5 ka (1 SD; n = 12, 7 outliers). The next moraine units up-valley at higher elevations (∼2200–2600 m a.s.l.) yielded exposure ages close to the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) with a combined mean 10 Be and 36 Cl age of 22.0 ± 4.9 ka (1 SD; n = 9, 7 outliers). The youngest exposure ages are from moraines that were emplaced during the Younger Dryas with a combined mean 10 Be and 36 Cl age of 12.3 ± 0.9 ka (1 SD; n = 7, no outliers) and are found in cirques at the highest elevations ranging from ∼2900 to 3300 m a.s.l. From moraines predating the Younger Dryas, a large number of young outliers are spread evenly between 6 and 13 ka suggesting a continuing process of exhumation or repositioning of boulders during the early to mid-Holocene. This attests to active seismic processes and possibly intense erosion during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geomorphology of the Denton Hills provides insight into the timing and magnitude of glacial retreats in a region of Antarctica isolated from the influence of the East Antarctic ice sheet. We present 26 Beryllium-10 surface exposure ages from a variety of glacial and lacustrine features in the Garwood and Miers valleys to document the glacial history of the area from 10 to 286 ka. Our data show that the cold-based Miers, Joyce and Garwood glaciers retreated little since their maximum positions at 37.2 ± 6.9 (1σ n = 4), 35.1 ± 1.5 (1σ, n = 3) and 35.6 ± 10.1 (1σ, n = 6) ka respectively. The similar timing of advance of all three glaciers and the lack of a significant glacial expansion during the global LGM suggests a local LGM for the Denton Hills between ca. 26 and 51 ka, with a mean age of 36.0 ± 7.5 (1σ, n = 13) ka. A second cohort of exposure ages provides constraints to the behaviour of Glacial Lake Trowbridge that formerly occupied Miers Valley in the late Pleistocene. These data show active modification of the landscape from ∼20 ka until the withdrawal of ice from the valley mouths, and deposition of Ross Sea Drift, at 10–14 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glacial geomorphology and drill core-based stratigraphy of the Boco Plain, western Tasmania, reveal a complex sequence of Quaternary glacial and non-glacial episodes. The upper part of the southern Boco Plain stratigraphy was previously dated by 14 C and U-series on interbedded organics of MIS 1 to MIS 5 affinity. U-series dating of ferricretes associated with glacial diamictons from Boco Plain cores suggested that there were glacial advances broadly correlative with MIS 6, 8 and ≥10. However, terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide ( 10 Be and 26 Al) exposure ages for the moraine sequence preserved on the wider Boco Plain area indicate that moraines previously attributed to MIS 6 and 8 advances were deposited during MIS 10 or earlier cold stages. There is no evidence for MIS 2, 4 or 6 affinity glacial advances onto the Boco Plain with ice of this age restricted to the West Coast Range. New palynological records from the Boco Plain core 6690 confirmed the late Quaternary ages of the upper part of the sequence, whilst extinct palynomorphs indicate a pre-Quaternary age for the glacial diamictons at the base of core Boco 4 and 10. Consequently, the mid-Pleistocene glacial sequence preserved in the Boco Plain is significantly older than previously envisaged, with the post MIS 10 to 12 geomorphology of the plain dominated by fluvial deltaic, swamp peat and lacustrine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New mapping of the glacial geomorphology coupled with 10 Be and 26 Al exposure age dating of moraines on the flanks of the Frankland Range in south west Tasmania indicate that glacier extent during MIS-2 was far smaller than during earlier glaciations with the ice cover being confined to only the uppermost cirques of the range. Moraines further down the range flanks, ∼50–150 m lower in altitude than the MIS-2 dated advance, indicate that glaciers were only slightly larger during earlier glaciations and, depending on the interpretation of their exposure ages, may range from MIS 7 to MIS 12. These older moraines are nested inside the maximum ice limits of an even more ancient and extensive glaciation, defined by degraded valley floor moraines and coalescing glacio-fluvial fans that remain undated but appear no younger than MIS 12. Patterns of glacial erosion and moraine deposition on the Frankland Range suggest that the more recent glaciations were increasingly influenced by the erosional morphology initiated by earlier glaciers. Microclimatic differences resulting from this earlier glacial topography were particularly influential determinants of glaciation during MIS 2. These results are consistent with emerging evidence from studies of other ranges in southwest Tasmania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aim to determine the incidence rates (IR) of first-ever post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in a population-based cohort of US Reserve and National Guard service members.Methods: We used data from the US Reserve and National Guard Study (n = 2003) to annually investigate incident and recurrent PTSD and depression symptoms from 2010 to 2013. We estimated the IR and recurrence rate over 4 years and according to several sociodemographic and military characteristics.Results: From 2010 to 2013, IRs were 4.7 per 100 person-years for both PTSD and depression symptoms using the sensitive criteria, 2.9 per 100 person-years using the more specific criteria, recurrence rates for both PTSD and depression were more than 4 times as high as IRs, and IRs were higher among those with past-year civilian trauma, but not past-year deployment.Conclusions: The finding that civilian trauma, but not past-year military deployment, is associated with an increased risk of PTSD and depression incidence suggest that Reserve National Guard psychopathology could be driven by other, nonmilitary, traumatic experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have linked positive emotions with creativity, but it remains unknown why creative activities may enhance positive emotions. We tested how creative tasks influence autonomous self-expression and task absorption, and whether this in turn increases positive emotions. Data from 478 participants were divided into four language samples (English, German, Italian, and Polish) and analyzed in a series of multigroup structural equation models. The indirect effects were replicated in all samples. Creative tasks enhanced positive emotions through an increase in autonomy. However, participants who solved creative tasks also reported lower task absorption, and this has hindered their experience of positive emotions. In total, a small increase of positive emotions was recorded for creative tasks in comparison to non-creative ones. We suggest that creative activities may support autonomous functioning and enhance positive emotions, given that participants will stay sufficiently focused on the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]