Anabolic androgenic steroids used as performance and image enhancing drugs in professional and amateur athletes: Toxicological and psychopathological findings.

OBJECTIVE: The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) as performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs), once restricted to professional athletes, now includes amateurs and regular gym visitors. AAS use is associated with psychopathology, yet this relationship is complex and not fully understood. We aimed to assess the presence of AASs and other misused substances in athletes' biological samples and link toxicological to psychopathological findings. METHODS: A multicentre, cross-sectional study in fitness centres in Italy recruited 122 professional and amateur athletes training in several sports (84 men; age range = 18-45 years). Athletes completed questionnaires, interviews, and toxicology testing for AASs, other PIEDs, illicit drugs, and non-prescribed psychotropics. Toxicology was conducted in blood, urine, and hair. RESULTS: Self-reported and toxicologically detected use rates of AASs and other misused substances showed slight-to-fair agreement (Fleiss' κ = 0.104-0.375). There was slight-to-moderate agreement among the three biological samples used for AAS testing (κ = 0.112-0.436). Thirty-one athletes (25.4%) tested positive for AASs. More sport hours/week, narcissistic or antisocial personality disorders, and higher nonplanning impulsiveness scores predicted AAS use (pseudo-R2  = 0.665). AAS users did not differ significantly from non-users in major psychopathology, but their Hypomania Checklist-32 score, which also predicted AAS use, was significantly higher (p < 0.001), suggesting increased odds for cyclothymic disorder or subthreshold hypomania. CONCLUSIONS: Our results have implications for studying AAS users, as they identify a cluster of variables that may be relevant in future understanding of AAS use risks (e.g., personality disorders). Possible disagreements between AAS assessment methods should be considered when implementing harm reduction interventions, such as needle and syringe distribution, health education, and counselling, as well as surveillance programmes.

Drug Use Changes at the Individual Level: Results from a Longitudinal, Multisite Survey in Young Europeans Frequenting the Nightlife Scene.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring emerging trends in the increasingly dynamic European drug market is vital; however, information on change at the individual level is scarce. In the current study, we investigated changes in drug use over 12 months in European nightlife attendees. METHOD: In this longitudinal online survey, changes in substances used, use frequency in continued users, and relative initiation of use at follow-up were assessed for 20 different substances. To take part, participants had to be aged 18-34 years; be from Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, or the UK; and have attended at least 6 electronic music events in the past 12 months at baseline. Of 8,045 volunteers at baseline, 2,897 completed the survey at both time points (36% follow-up rate), in 2017 and 2018. RESULTS: The number of people using ketamine increased by 21% (p < 0.001), and logarithmized frequency of use in those continuing use increased by 15% (p < 0.001; 95% CI: 0.07-0.23). 4-Fluoroamphetamine use decreased by 27% (p < 0.001), and logarithmized frequency of use in continuing users decreased by 15% (p < 0.001, 95% CI: -0.48 to -0.23). The drugs with the greatest proportion of relative initiation at follow-up were synthetic cannabinoids (73%, N = 30), mephedrone (44%, N = 18), alkyl nitrites (42%, N = 147), synthetic dissociatives (41%, N = 15), and prescription opioids (40%, N = 48). CONCLUSIONS: In this European nightlife sample, ketamine was found to have the biggest increase in the past 12 months, which occurred alongside an increase in frequency of use in continuing users. The patterns of uptake and discontinuation of alkyl nitrates, novel psychoactive substances, and prescription opioids provide new information that has not been captured by existing cross-sectional surveys. These findings demonstrate the importance of longitudinal assessments of drug use and highlight the dynamic nature of the European drug landscape.

Oral health conditions in an Albanian adolescent population: an epidemiological study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the oral health conditions of an adolescent population of Tirana. METHODS: A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out in a sample (n = 1885), aged 16-19, mean age 17.4 (SD = 1.0), attending public schools in Tirana and province; 1200 adolescents were included into the analysis. A clinical observation without radiographs was conducted in the medical room of the schools during the 2012-2013 school year. RESULTS: Very severe and severe orthodontic treatment need, grade 5 and 4 of IOTN (Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need), were found in 17.0 % of the sample. DMFT (Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth) was 4.9, whereas OHI (Oral Hygiene Index) was documented in the highest number of subjects (n = 384), 32 % of the total sample possessed "good" grade of oral hygiene. CPI (Community Periodontal Index) was observed at score 0 (healthy gingival condition) in most of the subjects (53.1 %), score 1 (gingival bleeding) in 33.4 % of the total sample. PI (Plaque Index) results showed 43.9 % of the sample (527 subjects) with score 0. CONCLUSIONS: The study findings highlight the need for preventive care programs to improve oral health conditions as well as to reduce oral pathology risk factors in Albania.

Quantitative Assessment of High School Students' Poly-drug Use: Related Social Aspects and School Dropout.

INTRODUCTION: Poly-drug use has increased in recent decades, especially in young drugusing groups. Classic epidemiological indicators of drug use, such as prevalence and incidence of users of specific substances, are not adequate as measures of the possible harms of poly-drug use. We applied poly-drug use indicators, based on substance-specific harm scores reported by van Amsterdam and Nutt in 2015, to data from high school student surveys, showing their usefulness in identifying high-risk drug consumption. Analysing the 'correlation' between high-risk drug use of high school students and school dropout allows the evaluation of adopted prevention policies and may suggest more suitable approaches. METHODS: Each drug user is characterized by two specific scores: overall frequency of use of substances during the period of interest (FUS) and poly-drug use score (PDS). The poly-drug use score is a weighted average of the harm scores of the individual substances used multiplied by their respective frequencies of use. The PDS increases with the frequency of use, with the number of substances used, and with the specific harm scores of each substance. This indicator consists of two components, one representing the health harm score toward self and the other the social harm score toward others. RESULTS: The indicators have been applied to sample data involving youth population, specifically the ESPAD®Italia survey data on high school students conducted annually in Italy. The trends of poly-drug use at different ages of students, 15-19 years, over time, and gender have been studied. The results have been linked to educational outcomes, early school leaving and social aspects, making it possible to assess present prevention interventions and suggest appropriate planning of future prevention interventions. CONCLUSION: Poly-drug use indicators allow a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of the risks of drug use. The analysis of the links between heavy use of drugs, school performance and dropout, and the social variables that influence them, shown in this work, suggests how best to plan secondary or indicated prevention interventions at school. The problem of including "new" NPS in analyses is also briefly discussed.

"How do online and offline sampling compare in a multinational study of drug use and nightlife behaviour?"

BACKGROUND: Online sampling is widely used to recruit hard to reach samples such as drug users at nightlife events. We conducted the first study comparing differences in demographics, drug use and nightlife behaviour between an online sample of young adults engaging with the European nightlife scene, and an offline sample recruited at nightclubs and festivals in Europe. METHODS: Online participants who attended at least six nightlife events in the past 12 months were recruited using social media advertising (May-November 2017). Offline participants were recruited at nightclubs and festivals using a random intercept method (May-November 2017). Samples were compared with respect to age, gender, past year use of alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy/MDMA and amphetamines, and past year attendance at nightclubs, licensed festivals, illegal festivals, pubs and house-parties. RESULTS: 6153 online and 3529 offline participants were recruited. When adjusting for differences in age and gender, online participants were less likely to have used each drug and to have attended illegal festivals, pubs and house-parties in the past 12 months. The online sample also used each drug and attended each venue, with the exception of nightclubs, less frequently on average than offline participants. Adjusted odds ratios (range 0.37 to 1.39) and regression coefficients (range -0.84 to 0.07) indicate that the majority of observed differences between the samples were of a small effect size. CONCLUSIONS: Estimates of drug use and nightlife engagement are more conservative when using online sampling compared to venue based sampling. Observed differences were generally small in effect, indicating good overall representativeness when using online sampling in the European nightlife scene.

Periodontal condition in growing subjects with Marfan Syndrome: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Marfan's syndrome (MFS) is a systemic disorder of connective tissue caused by mutations in the extracellular matrix protein fibrillin-1. Orofacial characteristics may be useful in identification of the syndrome. Severe periodontitis is sometimes observed in MFS patients, but no in-depth information has been reported in Italian groups of growing subjects with MFS. The aim of this study was to analyze the periodontal condition on a group of growing subjects affected by MFS, in comparison with a typically developed control group. METHODS: A group of 16 subjects with diagnosed MFS were recruited from the Centre for Rare Diseases for Marfan Syndrome and Related Disorders of Tor Vergata University Hospital. The Marfan Group (MG) was compared with a Control Group (CG) composed by 20 nonsyndromic subjects. The periodontal clinical parameters like Marginal Gingival Thickness (GT), Plaque Index (PI), Bleeding On Probing (BOP) and Modified Periodontal Screening and Recording (PSR) were assessed. RESULTS: The mean value of PI in MG was 59%, instead in CG it reached 21%. Analysis showed a significant difference between MG and CG also for the BOP. In MG the mean value of BOP attained 36% and in CG it reached 16%. A statistical significant difference of distribution of PSR index between the two groups was found for all sextant examined. DISCUSSION: Patients with Marfan syndrome reveal a higher presence of plaque and consequently a generalized inflammation in the oral cavity when compared with a control group.

Updated Indicators to Evaluate Harmful Drug Use, in Particular, Poly-Drug Use.

BACKGROUND: Drug use indicators that are capable of measuring the individual levels of harm following drug use, and in particular, poly-drug use, have previously been proposed, based on individual drug and frequency of use data and expert rankings of harms related to various substances. These indicators allow the estimation of risk profiles for selected groups of individuals and comparisons, both over time and between populations. Recent advances regarding the ranking of drug use harms allow a refinement of these indicators, separating the effects on self and others. OBJECTIVE: To define updated indicators and compare their performance to previous ones on datasets related to the Italian ESPAD longitudinal data. METHODS: Two new scores, based respectively on the Harm to self and Harm to others substance scores, are defined. These scores follow the same logic as the previous poly-drug score (PDS), but now using the new Harm to self and Harm to others scores as weights, both in the individual calculations and in the calculation of the two normalizing factors. RESULTS: The new harm-to-self drug use indicator is shown to correlate strongly with the previous poly-drug use indicator; and the Harm to others indicator, is introduced and commented upon. Using further ESPAD survey information related to personal behaviour, it is shown that high values of poly-drug use indicators are linked to specific behaviours related to interest in school, relationship with parents and use of leisure time. These results are consistent with previous analyses based on surveys among high school students in Italy.

Long-term effects of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy versus Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for the treatment of morbid obesity: a monocentric prospective study with minimum follow-up of 5 years.

Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) are the most widely used bariatric procedures nowadays. The aim of this study was to compare long-term results on weight loss and comorbidities improvement for both procedures. A cohort of 304 consecutive patients underwent surgery in 2006-2009: 162 underwent LSG and 142 underwent LRYGB. The mean follow-up time was 75.8 ± 8.4 months (range 60-96). LSG showed greater effectiveness in percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL) at 180 days and at 1 year of follow-up. Instead, at 5th year follow-up LRYGB and LSG showed similar %EWL values (72.34 versus 70.26). LSG group showed a lack of weight loss in patients from 3 to 5 years after surgery, whereas LRYGB group patients maintained an effective weight loss during the entire follow-up period. In LSG group both length of stay and operative time were found to be shorter. LRYGB showed better effectiveness in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) resolution rate. None of the two techniques has proven to be clearly better than the other on a long-term follow-up analysis, except for the LRYGB better results in T2DM healing. According to our findings, in LSG Group after 3 years the weight remains stable.

Prevalence of malocclusions, oral habits and orthodontic treatment need in a 7- to 15-year-old schoolchildren population in Tirana.

BACKGROUND: The aim of present study was to determine the prevalence of malocclusions, oral habits and the need for orthodontic treatment in a sample of 7- to 15-year-old Albanese schoolchildren. METHODS: The final sample comprised 2,617 subjects (1,257 males and 1,360 females), all orthodontically untreated. Occlusal relationship and the functional analysis were recorded for all subjects. The prevalence rates for the dental health component of the index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN) were calculated. Comparisons between genders were performed for the prevalence of malocclusions, oral habits and IOTN grades (chi-square tests). RESULTS: Class I, class II and class III malocclusions and asymmetries were observed in 40.4%, 29.2%, 3.2% and 27.1% of the sample, respectively. There were 2,108 subjects (80.6%) that showed oral habits, with females (82.1%) presenting with a greater prevalence rate than males (78.9%). The objective need for orthodontic treatment (grades 4 and 5 of IOTN) was registered in 1,077 subjects (41.2%). This prevalence rate is higher than those reported for other European countries. No significant differences between genders were found for the IOTN grades. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study revealed the need to improve public health plans for orthodontic prevention and screening and to organise the resources in this area in Albania.

Caries prevalence in a 7- to 15-year-old Albanian schoolchildren population.

The aim of this study was to determine the caries prevalence in urban and suburban Albanian schools. A large sample (n= 2617) of subjects, aged 7-15, was examined by a clinical observation without radiograms. The sample comprised 1257 males and 1360 females. For each subject an anamnestic questionnaire about feeding, fluoride, dentist attendance and familiar informations was obtained. Gender and age differences were compared by Chi-square test. The total dmft index (decayed, missing and filled teeth in deciduous dentition) was 2.082; dmft in males was 2.137, in females was 2.032. The total DMFT index (Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth in permanent dentition) was 2.327; DMFT in males was 2.253, in females was 2.396. Decayed teeth was principal component of both dmft and the DMFT index. Caries prevalence results higher in girls than boys in deciduous and in permanent teeth.