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Background Profiles of substance use among less commonly described subgroups of sexual and gender minority (SGM) people ( e.g., queer, genderqueer) remain largely unknown. Objective(s): To identify substance use differences among less commonly described SGM identity-based subgroups. Methods The PRIDE Study is a national, online, longitudinal cohort study of self-identified SGM adults living in the U.S. Between 2015–2017, an iPhone application was used to administer three cross-sectional health questionnaires to participants, one of which included questions about binge alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use (substance use). This study was a secondary data analysis of participant responses to substance use survey items. Logistic regression and generalized linear modeling assessed relationships between sexual orientation or gender and use of or reported problems with substances within the past year. Results Among the 1790 participants included in this study, 51.0% reported binge alcohol use, 39.8% reported marijuana use, and 19.7% reported other drug use (65.9% endorsed use of one or more of these) within the past year. Over 30% indicated substance use had been a problem in their life. Asexual individuals had lower odds of reporting past year binge alcohol and marijuana use ( aOR: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.12–0.61; aOR: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.15–0.96, respectively), and queer participants had higher odds of reporting past year marijuana use ( aOR: 2.52, 95% CI: 1.58–4.03) compared to lesbian participants. Gender nonbinary participants had lower odds of reporting past year binge alcohol use ( aOR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.32–0.71) and transmasculine participants had higher odds of reporting past year marijuana use ( aOR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.10–4.31) compared to cisgender women. Conclusions Substance use heterogeneity exists between SGM groups. Comprehensive assessment of sexual orientation and gender may improve understanding of substance use and increase equity within support and treatment services for SGM populations. Highlights • We examined substance use among less represented sexual and gender minority groups. • Alcohol and other drug use were examined by both sexual orientation and gender identity. • Analyses included identities such as queer, pansexual, genderqueer and nonbinary. • Alcohol use differed across asexual, genderqueer and gender nonbinary groups. • Marijuana use differed across queer, asexual and transmasculine groups.

Context: Fatigue is the most common symptom associated with cancer and its treatment. Investigation of molecular mechanisms associated with fatigue may identify new therapeutic targets. Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the relationships between gene expression and methylation status and evening fatigue severity in women with breast cancer who received chemotherapy. Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify evening fatigue phenotypes. In this analysis, the lowest (i.e., moderate, n = 7) and highest (i.e., very high, n = 29) fatigue-severity classes identified using LCA were analyzed via two stages. First, a total of 32,609 transcripts from whole blood were evaluated for differences in expression levels between the classes. Next, 637 methylation sites located within the putative transcription factor binding sites for those genes demonstrating differential expression were evaluated for differential methylation state between the classes. Results: A total of 89 transcripts in 75 unique genes were differentially expressed between the moderate (the lowest fatigue-severity class identified) and very high evening fatigue classes. In addition, 23 differentially methylated probes and three differentially methylated regions were found between the moderate and very high evening fatigue classes. Conclusions: Using a multistaged integrated analysis of gene expression and methylation, differential methylation was identified in the regulatory regions of genes associated with previously hypothesized mechanisms for fatigue, including inflammation, immune function, neurotransmission, circadian rhythm, skeletal muscle energy, carbohydrate metabolism, and renal function as well as core biological processes including gene transcription and the cell-cycle regulation.

Background There is little information on how to increase the scientific writing productivity of early-stage investigators in the addictions field. A scientific writing seminar is presented in this article, aiming to encourage manuscript writing and dissemination of addiction research, and outcomes are reported for 14 years of the seminar. Methods In 14 years, there were 113 postdoctoral fellow enrollments in a 6-month writing seminar. Records of submission and publication rates of manuscripts were collected for 14 cohorts. Results Of the 113 participant enrollments, 97 (86%) submitted a manuscript for publication, and 87 participants (77%) published their manuscript. Conclusions A scientific writing seminar may benefit writing productivity, but more research is needed to compare this training model with other existing models.