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Maciej Kopera,1 Kirk J Brower,2 Hubert Suszek,3 Andrzej Jakubczyk,1 Sylwia Fudalej,1 Aleksandra Krasowska,1 Anna Klimkiewicz,1 Marcin Wojnar1,2 1Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; 2Department of Psychiatry, Addiction Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 3Department of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland Purpose: Chronic pain is a significant comorbidity in individuals with alcohol dependence (AD). Emotional processing deficits are a substantial component of both AD and chronic pain. The aim of this study was to analyze the interrelations between components of emotional intelligence and self-reported pain severity in AD patients. Patients and methods: A sample of 103 participants was recruited from an alcohol treatment center in Warsaw, Poland. Information concerning pain level in the last 4 weeks, demographics, severity of current anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as neuroticism was obtained. The study sample was divided into “mild or no pain” and “moderate or greater pain” groups. Results: In the logistic regression model, across a set of sociodemographic, psychological, and clinical factors, higher emotion regulation and higher education predicted lower severity, whereas increased levels of anxiety predicted higher severity of self-reported pain during the previous 4 weeks. When the mediation models looking at the association between current severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms and pain severity with the mediating role of emotion regulation were tested, emotion regulation appeared to fully mediate the relationship between depression severity and pain, and partially the relationship between anxiety severity and pain. Conclusion: The current findings extend previous results indicating that emotion regulation deficits are related to self-reported pain in AD subjects. Comprehensive strategies focusing on the improvement of mood regulation skills might be effective in the treatment of AD patients with comorbid pain symptoms. Keywords: mood regulation, pain, alcoholism, emotional regulation

We test the behaviour of a unified continuous/discontinuous Galerkin (CG/DG) shallow-water model in spherical geometry with curved elements on three different grids of ubiquitous use in atmospheric modelling: (i) the cubed-sphere, (ii) the reduced latitude-longitude, and (iii) the icosahedral grid. Both conforming and non-conforming grids are adopted including static and dynamically adaptive grids for a total of twelve mesh configurations. The behaviour of CG and DG on the different grids are compared for a nonlinear midlatitude perturbed jet and for a linear case that admits an analytic solution. Because the inviscid solution on certain grids shows a high sensitivity to the resolution, the viscous counterpart of the governing equations is also solved and the results compared. The logically unstructured element-based CG/DG model described in this article is flexible with respect to arbitrary grids. However, we were unable to define a best grid configuration that could possibly minimize the error regardless of the characteristic geometry of the flow. This is especially true if the governing equations are not regularized by the addition of a sufficiently large, fully artificial, diffusion mechanism, as will be shown. The main novelty of this study lies in the unified implementation of two element-based Galerkin methods that share the same numerical machinery and do not rely on any specific grid configuration to solve the shallow-water equation on the sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Several studies have confirmed that the experience of childhood trauma, poor emotion regulation as well as experience of physical pain may contribute to development and poor treatment outcomes in alcohol dependence (AD). However, little is known about mutual relationships between all these factors in individuals with AD. Objectives: to analyze associations between childhood trauma, emotion regulation and pain tolerance in alcohol-dependent individuals. Methods: The study group comprised 165 individuals diagnosed with AD. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to investigate different types of trauma during childhood; the Brief Symptom Inventory - to assess anxiety symptoms; the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) - to assess emotional dysregulation and Pain Resilience Scale - to measure self-reported pain tolerance. Results: Childhood emotional abuse (CTQ subscale score), anxiety, emotional dysregulation (DERS total score), and the covariates (sex and age) explained almost 16% of the variance in pain tolerance (R2 = 0.156; F[5, 138] = 5.094; p < 0.001). Childhood emotional abuse was positively associated with anxiety, anxiety was positively associated with emotional dysregulation, and emotional dysregulation was negatively associated with pain resilience, adding up to the indirect negative association between childhood emotional abuse and pain tolerance. All of the correlations were significant. The statistical procedure proved anxiety and emotional dysregulation, operating in serial, mediated the effect of childhood emotional abuse on pain resilience in the study group. Conclusions: Addressing the issue of emotional dysregulation and physical pain in relation to childhood trauma, may be an important part of alcohol dependence therapeutic treatment programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High concentrations of acrolein (2-propenal) are found in polluted air and cigarette smoke, and may also be generated endogenously. Acrolein is also associated with the induction and progression of many diseases. The high reactivity of acrolein towards the thiol and amino groups of amino acids may cause damage to cell proteins. Acrolein may be responsible for the induction of oxidative stress in cells. We hypothesized that acrolein may contribute to the protein damage in erythrocytes, leading to the disruption of the structure of cell membranes. The lipid membrane fluidity, membrane cytoskeleton, and osmotic fragility were measured for erythrocytes incubated with acrolein for 24 h. The levels of thiol, amino, and carbonyl groups were determined in cell membrane and cytosol proteins. The level of non-enzymatic antioxidant potential (NEAC) and TBARS was also measured. The obtained research results showed that the exposure of erythrocytes to acrolein causes changes in the cell membrane and cytosol proteins. Acrolein stiffens the cell membrane of erythrocytes and increases their osmotic sensitivity. Moreover, it has been shown that erythrocytes treated with acrolein significantly reduce the non-enzymatic antioxidant potential of the cytosol compared to the control.

Aims: The objective of the current study was to describe and analyse associations between childhood emotional abuse, severity of depressive symptoms, and analgesic expectations of drinking in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD)., Methods: A total of 240 individuals aged 43.85 ± 11.0 with severe AUD entering an inpatient, abstinence-based, and drug-free treatment program were assessed. The data on AUD severity, depressive symptoms, expectations towards the analgesic effects of alcohol and childhood emotional trauma was collected using questionnaire measures. The PROCESS SPSS macro for serial mediation with bootstrapping was used to test whether current severity of depressive symptoms and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol use serially mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity., Results: There was evidence for two simple mediated effects, whereby the severity of depressive symptoms mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity, and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity. There was also evidence to support serial mediation whereby both severity of depressive symptoms and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity., Conclusions: It might be clinically relevant to address experiences of childhood emotional trauma, as well as individual expectations of analgesic effects of alcohol, in AUD treatment programs., (© The Author(s) 2024. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Interoception (i.e., the ability to recognize bodily signals), alexithymia (i.e., the inability to recognize emotional states) and negative affect (i.e., unpleasant feelings such as anxiety) have been associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Previous research suggests that interoception may underlie alexithymia, which in turn may be associated with negative affectivity. However, this remains to be empirically tested. This study investigates whether alexithymia mediates the association between interoception and anxiety and whether this association differs across individuals with AUD and a healthy control (HC) comparison group., Methods: The AUD group consisted of 99 participants enrolled in an 8-week abstinence-based inpatient treatment program. The HC group included 103 healthy individuals. The heartbeat counting task (HCT) was used to assess interoception (cardiac interoceptive accuracy). The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to assess alexithymia. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to assess anxiety., Results: The moderated mediation model with interoception as the predictor, alexithymia as the mediator, and negative affect (i.e., state anxiety) as the dependent variable was tested. The analysis showed that the conditional indirect effect of interoception on anxiety via alexithymia was significant for individuals with AUD [ ab = -0.300, bootstrap 95% CI = (-0.618, -0.088)], as well as for HCs [ ab = -0.088, bootstrap 95% CI = (-0.195, -0.014)]; however, the conditional indirect effect significantly differed across HCs and individuals with AUD. Namely, the mediated effect was greater among individuals with AUD compared to the HC group., Conclusion: The results suggests that interoceptive impairment contributes to greater negative affect (i.e., state anxiety) via alexithymia especially for individuals with AUD. Improving emotion recognition via therapeutic methods focused on strengthening interoceptive abilities could improve outcomes for individuals receiving treatment for AUD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wiśniewski, Jakubczyk, Trucco, Kobyliński, Suszek, Zaorska, Rydzewska and Kopera.)

Background: Previous research suggests that low distress tolerance may be associated with poor emotion regulation, contribute to drinking to cope motives, and predict alcohol-related problems in non-clinical populations. However, little is known about the ability to tolerate distress among individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and its association with emotional dysregulation. The aim of this study was to examine the link between emotional dysregulation and a behavioral measure of distress tolerance among individuals with AUD., Methods: The sample consisted of 227 individuals with AUD enrolled in an 8-week abstinence-based inpatient treatment program. Behavioral distress tolerance was assessed using a test of ischemic pain tolerance and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) was used to assess emotion dysregulation., Results: Distress tolerance was significantly associated with emotional dysregulation even when accounting for alexithymia, depressive symptomatology, age, and biological sex., Conclusion: The current study provides preliminary support for an association between low distress tolerance and emotion dysregulation in a clinical group of patients with AUD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zaorska, Rydzewska, Kopera, Wiśniewski, Trucco, Kobyliński and Jakubczyk.)

Background: Adolescent electronic cigarette use (e-cigarette) is a public health concern and factors associated with vaping remain to be understood. Childhood emotional abuse/neglect is a risk factor for e-cigarettes. Yet, pathways by which trauma impacts use remain unclear. Alexithymia (i.e., difficulties identifying and describing feelings) is one possible link. Indeed, emotional abuse/neglect leads to difficulties identifying and verbalizing emotions. This impairment may lead to distress and promote e-cigarette use as a coping strategy., Methods: Using parallel mediation, this study examined the degree to which alexithymia, assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, mediates the link between emotional abuse/neglect, assessed using the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen, and e-cigarette use. The sample (n = 166) consisted of adolescents from a larger multi-wave study., Results: Emotional abuse/neglect predicted difficulty describing feelings (effect = 0.23, p = 0.001), which in turn predicted e-cigarette use (effect = 0.30, p = 0.004). Moreover, difficulty describing feelings mediated the link between emotional abuse/neglect and e-cigarette use (sum of indirect 95% CI [1.68, 16.48]). Difficulty identifying feelings was not a significant mediator and the externally-oriented thinking subscale was excluded due to low reliability., Conclusions: As e-cigarettes are often used in social contexts, teens who experience difficulty describing feelings may vape as a means of connecting emotionally with others. Moreover, nicotine, found in most e-cigarettes, releases dopamine and noradrenaline in the brain modulating action, learning, and memory processes; plausibly, improving verbalization of emotions. Programming which identifies nuances in alexithymia among adolescents with emotional abuse/neglect could mitigate e-cigarette use or delay initiation., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Studies within the last decade have reported neural and behavioral differences in cognitive control between men with the pedophilic disorder who commit (CSO+) and do not commit (CSO-) child sexual abuse. Prior studies reported a higher number of errors in Go/Nogo task and lower activity of the prefrontal cortex in NoGo trials, in CSO+ compared with CSO-. Moreover, negative mood was reported as a risk factor for child sexual abuse in pedophilic men. We aimed to examine differences in brain function and behavior between CSO+ and CSO- patients regarding emotional interference on cognitive processes and inhibition. We recruited CSO+ (n = 11) and CSO- (n = 14) patients as well as matched healthy controls (HC) (n = 17). Participants performed the affective Go/NoGo task in a block-design functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. The task comprised the following four conditions: Negative Go, including only Go stimuli and negatively valenced pictures; Negative NoGo, including 50% of Go and 50% of NoGo trials as well as negatively valenced pictures; and two corresponding conditions with neutral pictures. Brain analysis was restricted to the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC), orbitofrontal, and anterior cingulate cortices. The HC and CSO- groups, but not the CSO+ group, showed significantly slower reactions in negative blocks compared with neutral blocks. Brain analysis revealed increased activation in the right DLPFC during emotional interference contrast (Negative > Neutral) in the HC and CSO- groups; however, there was decreased activation in the CSO+ group. In the CSO+ group, negative distractors did not increase cognitive control processes, which was observed in the CSO- and HC groups at the behavioral and neural levels. These results support previous reports indicating offender status is associated with cognitive and emotional impairments., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The deteriorating function of the kidneys in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated, among other things, with the retention of many unnecessary metabolic products in the body. Indoxyl sulfate (IS) belongs to the group of uremic toxins with a high protein binding affinity. Moreover, this compound can generate oxidative stress. We hypothesized that a high concentration of IS might induce oxidative changes in erythrocytes and plasma components, and could therefore contribute to CKD progression. In this study, we evaluated the influence of IS on the oxidative stress parameters in plasma and hemolysate. Moreover, as a result of the action of IS, we observed a decrease in the total antioxidant capacity and a change in the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase in hemolysate and plasma. The obtained results indicate that IS induces oxidative damage to hemolysate and plasma components. Greater changes in the parameters of oxidative stress were observed in hemolysate than in plasma treated with indoxyl sulfate. The obtained results suggest that the increased concentration of IS in patients with chronic kidney disease may lead to a decrease in the lifespan of erythrocytes in their bloodstream.

Introduction: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have greatly improved the treatment outcome for most patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Ponatinib is a new pan-inhibitor of TK active in resistant CML. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ponatinib in patients suffering from CML., Patients and Methods: This multicenter, non-randomized, observational, retrospective study evaluated the efficacy and safety of ponatinib administered in adult CML patients in any disease phase, including those with a detected ABL T315I mutation, which were resistant or intolerant to previous-generation TKIs. The study comprised 43 patients benefiting from the ponatinib donation program who were treated in 16 Polish centers., Results: For patients who started treatment with ponatinib in chronic phase (CP) (n = 23) and in accelerated phase (AP) (n = 3) the median time on ponatinib was 19.5 months (range: 1.0-35.4), and 31.7 months (range: 31.0-34.1), respectively. All these patients were in CP after 1 month of treatment and at the end of observation - none of them progressed to AP or blastic phase (BP) during the study, meaning that progression-free survival was 100% at the end of observation (35.4 months). The estimated 2-year survival in this group of patients was 84%. For all 43 patients, median survival was not reached (lower quartile 6.3 months), and estimated 2-year survival was 60%., Conclusion: Our analysis confirmed ponatinib efficacy in a significant proportion of patients heavily pre-treated with TKIs achieving durable responses in both CP and AP/BP CML groups., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Alcohol craving is associated with insomnia symptoms, and insomnia is often reported as a reason for alcohol relapse. The current study examined associations between emotional regulation, anxiety, and insomnia among a group of 338 patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Because insomnia most often develops after stressful experiences, it was expected that anxiety symptoms would mediate the association between emotional dysregulation and insomnia severity. It was also expected that an insomnia diagnosis would moderate the association between emotional dysregulation and anxiety symptoms, namely that higher anxiety levels would be found in individuals with insomnia than in those without insomnia. Insomnia severity was assessed with a total score based on the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Additionally, an eight-point cut-off score on the AIS was used to classify participants as with (n = 107) or without (n = 231) an insomnia diagnosis. Moreover, participants completed the Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; total score) and the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI; anxiety). Individuals with insomnia did not differ from those without insomnia in age (p = 0.86), duration of problematic alcohol use (p < 0.34), mean days of abstinence (p = 0.17), nor years of education (p = 0.41). Yet, individuals with insomnia endorsed higher anxiety (p < 0.001) and higher emotional dysregulation (p < 0.001). Anxiety symptoms fully mediated the association between emotional dysregulation and insomnia severity (p < 0.001). Furthermore, insomnia diagnosis positively moderated the association between emotional dysregulation and anxiety (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that emotional dysregulation can lead to insomnia via anxiety symptoms. Treating anxiety symptoms and emotional dysregulation could help to prevent or alleviate symptoms of insomnia in people with AUD. Moreover, treating insomnia in people with AUD may also have a positive effect on anxiety symptoms.