Cannabis Grow

Acute pulmonary injury caused by SC inhalation is a rare event but is expected to become more common. This case demonstrates the severe life-threatening and rapid deterioration that may ensue after smoking concentrated SC through a water pipe.Immediate recognition of impending respiratory insufficiency with the subsequent need for endotracheal intubation and provision of ECMO for continued failure of adequate ventilation and gas exchange must remain an immediate priority. With the recent increase in complications of SC reported recently,one would expect there will be many more cases to come.Radiologic patterns characteristic of SC-induced pulmonary toxicity can be defined as diffuse, acute patches of alveolar infiltrates with patchy air bronchograms.

This classic radiologic presentation is a function of bronchial endothelial injury which often presents as a diffuse centrilobular nodule with tree-in-bud pattern.This response results in a pattern of injury consistent with organizing pneumonia.Histopathologic findings of organizing pneumonia are also characteristic in patients with chronic SC associated lung injury.CT radiograph may show a diffuse miliary-micronodular pattern and Chest CT may demonstrate diffuse centrilobular nodules and tree-in-bud pattern. For patients who present with unexplained pulmonary infiltrates as described above, SC use should be included on the list of differential diagnoses. An appropriate history must be taken, and drug screen testing may be indicated.In some cases,toxic metabolites have been linked to direct alveolar or bronchopulmonary injury leading to DAH . These reported metabolites have been found to vary in chemical makeup and concentrations, resulting in a range of heterogeneous effects and potency.

Testing for these cannabinoids is imperfect. ELISA is limited by the number of detectable metabolites and is not commercially available. Recently,a case of DAH associated with the SC metabolite UR-144, UR-144 N has been published . Because of the direct toxic injury,steroids have been administered and may be an effective measure. Further investigation is needed.Cannabidiol inhalation products have become increasingly available.Common routes of inhalation include water pipes and electronic delivery. Recent reports from lay press have raised concerns that vaping CBD could be more detrimental when compared to water pipe inhalation due to unknown additives such as SC in the vaping solution .ECMO has proven to be crucial in the management of nicotine vaping related pulmonary injuries . With recent CBD vaping trends in combination with an unregulated market, early anticipation and intervention with ECMO may becrucial and possibly lifesaving going forward. Agrotextiles are a kind of engineering textiles used in the agriculture, horticulture,gardening and construction. Depending on the final application, the composition,production method and properties change.Erosion Control Blanketis a kind of agrotextile. It is aimed at strengthening the soil. It is composed by a high percentage of biodegradable natural fibers. The vegetable waste pruning can be processed by Wet laid technology to obtain non-woven for different applications of ECB or composites .

The Wet laid is a processing technique highly used in the paper and textile industry for nonwoven formation. In the case of nonwoven textiles, it is possible to obtain non-woven structures based on different base components both raw and waste materials so that it is possible to mix a base natural fibre with a binding fibre to provide cohesion after a thermo-bonding process. The Wetlaid process, which uses highly diluted fibre-water dispersions, is an eco-friendly process since, although it consumes high water amounts, all the water is recirculated as it only acts as the fibre carrier component so that, almost all water is recovered in the hydro former station in which non-woven formation occurs .The non-woven or ECB can have an increase in its functional properties for agriculture by micro-capsules incorporation.Microen capsulation is a technology that allows sensitive materials to be physically enveloped in a protective “wall material”, in order to protect these ingredients or “core” materials, from adverse reactions, volatile loss, weathering, etc.The selection of wall material for each core material is important; i.e.,carbohydrates such as maltodextrins, starches, Arabic gum , alginate, chitosan, or mixtures thereof , etc., have been all widely used as encapsulation agents.Biopolymers, like alginate, are used as encapsulating materials in several applications,more commonly, in food and pharmaceutical applications.This polymer is not supposed to affect the encapsulated compound activity ; it shows high toughness and it has considerable effects on the mechanical stability of beads .

Results presented here suggest a similar attenuation of oxidative stress markers in physically active marijuana smokers. Perhaps routine exercise can prove beneficial to protect against ROS production from marijuana smoking. Larger, longer term studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis,in particular involving a control group of inactive marijuana smokers.Considering the above, it is not surprising given our subject sample that differences between the smokers and non-smokers were not apparent. Prior studies focused on marijuana smokers have noted increased oxidative stress markers in self-reported marijuana smokers. For instance, alveolar macrophages isolated from marijuana smokers displayed lower intracellular GSH levels . Moreover,marijuana smokers reportedly exhibited increased levels of MDA with lower blood GSH and total antioxidant capacity, though this study made no mention of participant exercise status .

This discrepancy in our data from previously reported data is likely attributed to the beneficial adaptations to chronic exercise.In addition to protective effects of exercise against oxidative stress, it may protect cardio-metabolic parameters as well. Previous reports suggest marijuana smokers have increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure,with reduced high density lipoprotein-cholesterol. Regular participation in aerobic and resistan cetraining can result in a lowering of SBP and DBP, which may suggest why blood pressure differences were not observed in our physically active marijuana smokers. Though we did not measure HDL-C, it would have been interesting to see if our active marijuana smokers had any reduction in HDL-C, considering the expected increase with regular exercise .Related to the above findings, it is important to mention the limitations of our study. First, subjects were only required to have smoked marijuana for a minimum of three months prior to participating in this study. It is possible that long-term use of marijuana may have resulted in differing findings. Second, we only measured two commonly used biomarkers of oxidative stress and did so in blood samples.

It is possible that different findings could have been observed if other biomarkers were included and/or if we had used other tissue. Third, since we did not provide the marijuana directly to subjects, it is possible that the potency of the plant varied from person to person and from use to use.Fourth, while we included physical active subjects in this study, we did not have sedentary individuals acting as controls. This should be considered in future studies, as many marijuana smokers may be sedentary and this behavior may lead to differing results as compared to what was observed in the present study.Clearly, the above limitations need to be considered, as the findings of the present study should not suggest that marijuana smoking can be done without harm. There exists multiple papers documenting the concerns of marijuana use,the first of which may be “marijuana use disorder” for which approximately 30% of users meet criteria, as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders .

Moreover, users of marijuana, in particular heavy users,are more likely to have problems with use of alcohol and other drugs . It has been demonstrated that acute marijuana smoking impairs driving performance, with an increase in motor vehicle fatalities linked to marijuana legalization. Both short-term and long-term use can lead to cognitive performance decline. Individuals should consider these facts and utilize the data presented in this study only in the context of the “big picture”. Recent studies have shown that the prevalence of marijuana use increased in the United States over the past decade. Among young adults, aged 18 – 29, the percentage reporting past-year marijuana increased from 17.7% in 2005 to 29.2%in 2015 . Although the prevalence of use has remained steady among high school students, annual marijuana use among college students reached a level not seen since the late 1980s . The prevalence of depressive disorders has also been on the rise in the United States . Past month prevalence among adults was about 10% in 2017 ,which is substantially higher than in 2002. The prevalence of major depressive disorders increased from 8.7% in 2005 to 11.3% in 2014 among adolescents, aged 12 – 17, and from 8.8% to 9.6% among young adults, aged 18 -25 .

These coincident trends among young people are likely due to a host of structural,demographic, social, and psychological factors. Nonetheless, research has shown that there is a consistent individual-level association between marijuana use and depressive symptomatology. It is not clear, though, whether this association is causal in nature or due to confounding factors. Studies have provided evidence in support of several hypotheses, including that factors such as personal and interpersonal stressors affect the probability of both marijuana use and depressive symptoms ; that more frequent marijuana use increases the risk of depressive symptoms; and that young people initiate or increase marijuana use following the onset or rise of depressive symptoms.

An amount of 30.5 g of the Mueller-Hintonagar, dehydrated culture media was dissolved in 1L of deionized water and then heated to dissolve completely. Disk diffusion tests were conducted to determine bacterial sensitivity towards AgNPs . The Luria agar was sterilized in the autoclave at 120˚C for 15 minutes. After cooling to around 45˚C, the broth was dispensed into sterile Petri dishes. A 3-way swab plate was prepared on an agarplate and filter disks were placed at intervals on the surface of plates using sterile forceps. The plates were incubated at 37˚C for 24 hours. 10 μlaliquots of 1 mM and 5 mM AgNPs were impregnated on filter disk having uniform bacterial suspensions of E. coli and S. aureus. The diameter of the zone of inhibitionwas measured using photographic images of the agar plates .Using the broth dilution method, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of AgNPs was determined and the bactericidal effect of AgNPs was evaluated based on the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration .

The MIC was defined as the lowest concentration of AgNPs, which inhibited bacterial growth.The MBC value was defined as the lowest concentration of nanoparticles that prevented the visible growth of bacteria on the agar plates after incubation. A volume of 0.2 mL of each bacterial strain was added to the test tube containing 1ml broth and was mixed with a serial dilution of 1 mMAgNPs. Positive controls contained 1 mL of Luria broth and 0.2 mL of E. coli and S. aureus strain without containing AgNPs. The negative control contained only Luria broth. Tubes were incubated at 37˚C for 24 hours. Each sample was examined for bacterial growth by monitoring the changes in the visual turbidity with the naked eye. The tubes that appeared to have no or little growth were plated on Luria broth agar plates to differentiate between bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic effect and these plates were incubated at 37˚C for another 24 hours. Marijuana is about to become legal in Canada. Consequently, an analysis of its effects on users is a high priority. Canadian researchers have explored this issue to some extent but there are gaps in what is known about the effects of using marijuana. Most of the Canadian studies, whose results are summarized in Section 3, focus on youth or adolescent use. This is clearly important as is adult use.

The link between early usage and its effect over an individual’s lifetime also needs to be examined. One of the most surprising results that we found is that almost all users start when they are teenagers2. This means that the age group under 21 is the one that should be the center of our attention.It also means that we will not be able to examine the effects of marijuana use on late starters, an issue of considerable interest since it is likely that some Canadian adults will start smoking marijuana because it is no longer illegal and is likely to be more socially acceptable.That using marijuana is a health hazard is not an issue in dispute. The health literature on marijuana use surveyed below finds that using marijuana as an adolescent has a negative impact on both physical and mental health. Longitudinal studies show that individuals who start around the age of 15 and continue to be regular and significant usersin to early adulthood suffer memory loss, cognitive function impairment, diminished IQ, and lower educational success rates. Early users also suffer physically in terms of higher rates of respiratory diseases and higher rates of certain cancers.

What these studies do not show is the duration of these effects. Do they become less debilitating as individuals age or are they of a more permanent nature? Our results show that the damage is permanent. The costs of starting to use marijuana at the age of 15 are borne by the individual for his or her whole lifetime. What is more disturbing is that this result was obtained without any information on actual usage at age of first use.What teenagers use on average when they start to use marijuana imposes health costs on them for the rest of their lives.The paper has the following format. The next section reviews the literature on the health implications of using marijuana. Section 3 discusses the variables, which can be used to measure the effects of marijuana use as well the data employed in our analysis.Section 4 outlines the statistical procedures employed. Section 5 contains our results and they are discussed in Section 5.

The long-term effect of cannabis use is an important medical policy issue, yet there is much uncertainty about it. This is partly due to the limited number of longitudinal studies which have examined marijuana use over extended periods of time and the limitations of sample surveys, which so far have not been able to accurately determine the adverse health effects of regular or early use of marijuana. This is worrying since Rottermanet al.estimated that 43% of Canadians, who are 15 years of age or older used marijuana at least once in their lifetime. As attitudes towards marijuana use become more tolerant and use increases, a better understanding of its effects becomes even more important.

The accumulation of N in corn roots increased with time. These results indicate that there are also losses due to shedding, root exudation and root death, losses of N from the aerial part are much more expressive, and the aerial part N can be translocated to the roots reflecting on the accumulation of N in roots . There was an increase in dry matter mass of the corn aerial part up until 100 DAE. At that stage, the plants were beginning to flower. The only significant difference observed was at the first time, when the check plants produced more than those with green manure. In the Paleudalf soil it is observed that larger N amounts of the green manure went to the corn plants , and a larger amount of N was lost from the system, indicating higher mineralization of nitrogen in that soil. Studies developed with the addition of organic N to soils rarely exceed 20% in their use and indicate that the greatest proportion of N contained in its manures can be beneficial to the subsequent crop as well as to other crops in a rotation system due to its residual effect. Industrial hemp has been a historical source for various compounds and metabolites.

One group of compounds harvested from industrial hemp is cannabidiol , which does not include tetrahydro cannabinol, the cannabinoid found in marijuana plants that is responsible for the psychological effects. Industrial hemp produces very low amounts of THC. Cannabidiols are one specific type of cannabinoid produced by industrial hemp. Several different products come from industrial hemp through utilization of various parts of the plant. For instance, hemp fiber from the stem has been used for textiles and construction materials, while the oil from the seeds is used in cosmetics and other personal care items . In addition to the industrial uses of the plant, there is a growing interest in the pharmaceutical applications of industrial hemp.Cannabidiols have been used in the treatment of epilepsy, as an appetite enhancer,as an antidepressant, and also as an analgesic . Researchers have also discovered the potential benefits of CBD’s as an anti-inflammatory and aid in sleep support.

Other products containing CBD have shown anti-stress and relaxation qualities without the drowsy feeling that other anti-stress and anxietymedications may cause. As the plant produces a wide variety of cannabinoids,on which research is just beginning, there is a need for large amounts of compound-producing plant tissue to be grown in controlled environments.There are various procedures to yield plant tissue, but one unique way is through tissue culture.The tissue culture method breaks tradition, in that, there is no soil or sunshine needed to initiate production and growth of the cells. In the wild and in agriculture,there are many confounding variables that can impact plant growth and compound production. Plant tissue culture is one method to ensure the least amount of confounding variables for plant growth. In addition, this in vitro approach is the quickest and most reliable way to preserve a germ line that has been bred for the production of specific compounds. The process involves aseptic cultures, exemplified through thorough sterilization of plant tissue, a nutrient medium containing mineral salts, sugars and hormones for the explant tissue to thrive, and the production of callus as the explant utilizes the nutrients in the medium .

The purposes of this study were to determine: 1) the optimal concentrations/ratios of auxin-to-cytokinin; and 2) to determine an optimal mineral salts mix in media to generate and grow tissue callus for select cultivars of industrial hemp. The sterilized leaf tissue was cut into explants in the sterile hood. The tissue was generally cut into 3 cross sections/explants per leaf using a sterile scalpel and tweezers then placed on the appropriate treatment media. Three explants were placed on each Petri dish. The plates were then sealed with parafilm to ensure they did not dry out and to also help minimizing the risk of contamination. All plates were stored in the dark in an incubator at 25˚C for approximately 30 days.The explant/callus was inspected frequently to ensure contamination had not occurred, and if it had, the callus was moved to another Petriplate of the same hormone concentration to continue growing. Approximately30 days after the setup of the experiment, the explants/callus were weighed and then transferred to fresh media for the callus to continue to grow. When the callus was transferred, it was transferred to the same media type.

The explants were transferred to new media approximately every 30 days four times ,the hormone concentration/ratio and mineral salts media that yielded the most callus was determined through statistical methods for each cultivar. In this experiment, the majority of plates that contained no auxin tended to form  roots.Minocha suggested that the reason media lacking auxin produced roots was because of the availability of endogenousauxin in the plant occurring naturally. Jiang et al .found that the optimal hormone concentration for callus initiation was a 4.4:2.7 ratio.They also found the optimal concentration for callus growth occurred at a 4.6:2.7 ratio.

Finally, it has beneficial effects in the treatment of anxiety, depression and psychosis by alleviating some symptoms of these diseases. In terms of toxicity, CBD has few adverse effects, the most frequent side effects reported being sedation and dizziness.In 2012, a pioneering randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial of cannabidiol versus amisul pride, a potent antipsychotic medication, demonstrated that CBD has comparable antipsychotic properties in alleviating both positive and negative schizophrenia symptoms and yields to similar significant clinical improvement than amisulpride in the treatment of acute schizophrenia .Moreover, CBD displayed a substantially superior side-effect profile than that of amisulpride. Indeed, compared to amisulpride, treatment with CBD was associated with significantly fewer extrapyramidal symptoms , less weight gain and lower prolactin increase, a predictor of galactorrhea and sexual dysfunction .

Furthermore, CBD was well tolerated and did not significantly affect cardiac or hepatic functions. Interestingly, the results of Leweke et al. were correlated with increased levels of anandamide, suggesting that inhibition of anandamide deactivation may contribute to the antipsychotic effects of CBD which potentially represents a completely new mechanism of action in the treatment of schizophrenia.In summary, studies conducted with cannabidiol show that cannabis types with a high concentration of cannabidiol are significantly less strongly associated with psychotic symptoms. By regulating dopaminergic activities, CBD has the features of a potential efficient antipsychotic medication, while being deprived of the deleterious side effects of the conventional antipsychotic pharmacotherapies.In fact, CBD exerts clinically relevant antipsychotic effects and has a better safety and tolerability profile compared with current antipsychotic medications . A dose-response relationship exists between the amounts of cannabis used and the likelihood of developing psychosis or psychotic features: the risk increases with the quantity, frequency and duration of cannabis consumption.Similarly, early age of cannabis use is correlated with an increased probability of manifesting such symptoms.

This observation could be explained by the fact that the brain of young people aged between 14 and 25 years has not reached its complete maturation and therefore is more vulnerable to the psychotomimetic effects of THC and the adverse central manifestations of cannabis . These observations illustrate the critical role played by the endo cannabinoid system in the brain maturation, particularly during adolescence.Regarding genetic susceptibility, it has been demonstrated that psychosis inducing effects of cannabis use are related to genetic variability in the catechol-0-methyltransferase gene. This vulnerability increases when individuals are exposed to childhood abuse. Cannabis consumption increases the likelihood of developing psychotic experiences in Val carriers only when they are exposed to childhood abuse. Similarly, AKT1 and DRD2 genotypes are involved in the likelihood of developing psychosis.The characterization of potential genes presenting a risk of psychotic outcomes will facilitate the comprehension of the cannabis-psychosis link and will help identify the persons who present a genetic vulnerability to the psychotogenic effects of cannabis.

Child trauma plays also a deleterious role in the expression of psychosis or psychotic features by a progressive sensitization mechanism: exposure to traumatic experiences during childhood may induce neurobiological changes characterized by an over-reactivity of the hypothalamus and the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, abnormalities in the neurotransmitter system and structural brain changes .Cigarette smoking has also been considered a risk factor for the development of psychosis or psychotic symptoms.A biological mechanism involving dopamine release and nicotinic cholinergic neurotransmission could be involved .Finally, urbanicity increases the strength of the cannabis-psychosis relationship.This phenomenon could be explained by the fact that living in urban areas may enhance cannabis use and render people more vulnerable to the psychotomimetic effects of THC by neurobiological mechanisms .None of each of the six risk factors described is neither necessary, nor sufficient to do so alone.On the other hand, cannabidiol plays a protective role in the cannabis-psychosis relationship.

Cannabis species with a high concentration of cannabidiol are significantly less strongly associated with psychotic symptoms, rendering CBD a promising efficient antipsychotic medication. Large randomized-controlled clinical trials will eventually confirm or infirm the qualitative and quantitative antipsychotic potential of cannabidiol .However, the causal and temporal association between the use of cannabis and the development of psychosis or psychotic features is not clear and remains controversial. Population statistics argue against the causal relationship.While cannabis use among adolescents has increased substantially in the past 40 years , the population trends in schizophrenia incidence have not .Macleod and colleagues have suggested that a non-causal explanation is possible for most of the associations between cannabis use and psychosis: “Cannabis use could be a marker, rather than a cause of a life trajectory more likely to involve adverse outcomes” .Moreover, a large number of studies cannot determine if psychotic features predispose individuals to use cannabis or if cannabis use increases psychotictraits.

Cytosolic GSgenes were induced following pathogen infection in tobacco and similar induction occurred in Arabidopsis following infectivity by E. amylovora . Glutamine levels have been also correlated with the activation of defense responses in plants .PAL catalyzes the non-oxidative conversion of phenylalanine to cinnamic acid and ammonia. Also, amidases catalyze the hydrolysis of carboxylic amide bonds to liberate carboxylic acids and ammonia. Presently it is unknown if these defense enzymes are involved in the CT and glufosinate interactions as studied here, but it would be a large and interesting undertaking to study.Weed defense mechanisms against pathogens are important to bioherbicidal efficacy and to interactions of bioherbicides and herbicides. PAL activity can increase dramatically in response to various stimuli . This increase denzyme activity leads to increased production of cinnamic acid, phenolic products and phytoalexins, some of which are toxic to bacteria and fungi.

Another product of PAL catalysis is ammonia. This increased enzyme activity leads to increased production of cinnamic acid, phenolic products and phytoalexins,some of which are toxic to bacteria and fungi. Another product of PALcatalysis is ammonia. Furthermore, PAL was suggested as a target site for herbicides and PAL activity was shown to be elevated or inhibited by variousherbicides.The fungal pathogen Alternaria cassiae,has bioherbicidal activity against sicklepod, and alters phenylpropanoidmetabolism in this weed . PAL activity levels were increased prior tovisual symptoms of pathogenesis when A. cassiae spores were applied to seedlings.PAL activity was elevated 3-fold above uninoculated plants and remained high for several days. Similar results were reported for Alternaria crassa, a fungalbioherbicide that controls jimson weed. Many examples have been reported and summarized with respect to the correlation of PALactivity with pathogen challenge and plant defense e.g. . Nitrilases are involved in a wide variety of biological processes, some related to plant defense and certain amidohydrolases are reported to contribute to the biosynthesis of auxin, the ubiquitous plant growth hormone .

Ammonia and creating an alkaline environment are important in the pathogenesis of some plant pathogens. For example, during colonization of a fungus related to CT, ammonia accumulates in the host plantmaking it more alkaline, thus promoting the activities of extracellular enzymes such as pectate lyase . Similarly, ammonia secretion, modulation of pH toalkaline conditions and ammonia accumulation have been shown to be critical factors related to the pathogenicity of C. coccodes on tomato . Plant pathogens and compounds that alter ammonia in a given host, may interact with pathogenesis. Although some typical effects of CTwere observable in the combined treatment of glufosinate and CT, the degree of toxicity of glufosinateon this bioherbicide may have prevented a synergistic interaction response when these two weed control agents were applied at these concentrations together on hemp sesbania. Possibly, by modifying the relative concentrations of glufosinate and CT, i.e. ,so that the herbicide concentration is lowered,while the CT concentration is raised,might result in synergy. Also,glufosinate could be applied and allowed to be absorbed by the weed for a more extended time, which would effectively reduce the herbicide concentration on the weed surface, and perhaps lower toxicity to CT, thus allowing a higher conidial germination rate, formation of appresoria and infection of this weed host.

Synergy is also a concentration dependent phenomenon, and thus altering the concentration ratio of the components may promote or suppress this outcome.Several Colletotrichum species, have been reported to have synergistic interactions with various herbicides . Synergy was also reported in combinations of glufosinate and two bacterial bioherbicides on some weeds . Cannabis is the most widely used drug in the world. According to the UnitedNations Office on Drugs and Crime, the number of cannabis consumers worldwidewas estimated in 2018 to be 192 million users, with the highest prevalencebeen among young people . Cannabis contains 565 known chemicals, of which 144 are grouped under thename cannabinoids. The major psychoactive ingredient of cannabis is delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. Other cannabinoids present in Indian hemp include delta 8-tetrahydrocannabinol , cannabidiol,cannabinol,cannabicyclol,cannabichromene and cannabigerol.Cannabinoids exert some of their actions by binding to specific receptors: theCB1 cannabinoid receptors, discovered by Devane et al. in 1988 , then cloned by Matsuda et al. in 1990 and the CB2 cannabinoid receptors identified byMunro et al. in 1993 .More than 250 controlled clinical trials have demonstrated their efficacy in a dozen pathologies.

Fresh weight analysis of seedling shoots treated with H2O and with Silwet L-77 were not significantly different from each other in either species and plant growth in the MV and MV-Sector BSH treatments were reduced by 20 and 15%, in hemp sesbania and sicklepod,respectively .Previous studies have examined the effects of MV spore preparations on growth and development of hemp sesbania and sicklepod seeds , and were also chosen for studies here. The effects of imbibing weed seeds in mycelial preparations of MV and MV-Sector BSH showed that MV was slightly more toxic to hemp sesbania than to sickle pod and was also slightly more potent than the MV-SectorBSH to the early growth of both species . Comparison of SDS-PAGE protein profiles on gels of MV and the sector cell extracts,demonstrated that many bands were similar with respect to presence and abundance and Figure 5. However, some differences were observed and generally more bands appeared to be in greater relative abundance in the MV-Sector BSH versus the MV parent gel and Figure 5.

Protein bands 1 and 3 were more abundant in MV versus MV-Sector BSH , whereas four bands were more abundant in the sector compared to its parent. Comparison of the protein profiles of the liquid culture supernatants of un-inoculated media with supernatants of the MV and MV-Sector BSH showed that both organisms were able to transform media proteins. Some differences in protein bands in the media culture supernatants of MV and MV-Sector BSH were observed,possibly indicating differential substrate preference of the organisms for proteins supplied by the media, and/or to variance in the production of extracellular proteins .Other strains of Myrothecium verrucaria are known to produce various hydrolyticenzymes including xylanases , pectinases , and proteases . Such enzymes play important roles in determining host range and virulence. The nature of these protein differences will need to be examined using native gels and 2-Dgel electrophoresis to determine any possible role as virulence factors.Early bioherbicidal studies on spore formulations of this parent strain of MV showed that the fungus produced trichothecenes that have mammalian toxicity.Another M. verrucaria isolate from leafy spurge exhibited a dissimilar weed host specificity range, but also produced trichothecenes .

Although MV possessed desirable bioherbicidal traits , production of undesirable mycotoxins remained problematic with regard to the development of a commercial product. Approaches to possibly reduce or eliminate these mycotoxins were considered, and cultural manipulation of carbon and nitrogen source/level , spore clean-up or washing and growth of MV in liquid culture without spore production were found successful. Of these techniques, the mycelial form of MV was found to be the most efficient for further studies .We have also previously shown that MV has produced other mutant sectors that had varying degrees of virulence when tested on kudzu . In those tests a white sector was found, but it exhibited no bioherbicidal efficacy on kudzu and was not tested on other weeds. In these present studies a white mutant was discovered and isolated, and shown to be virulent in several tests on hemp sesbania, sicklepod,kudzu and glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth. The fact that this virulent sector is stable, does not produce spores and exhibits bioherbicidal activity on major weeds indicatesit may be a useful stand-alone bioherbicide or as a tool for future comparative studies with MV.

Since this sector reproduces only through mycelial growth, it is assumed that that the production of trichothecenes is also mitigated. However, this will have to be monitored. Future studies can be envisioned, including more extensive host range tests with weeds , interactions with herbicides and tests for efficacy in the field. Since some proteins differed in MV-Sector BSH cells and in culture supernatants compared to those of MV, their identity and possible function in infection and virulence processes should be examined. Heat is a valuable entity that has served a variety of needs throughout human history, but only relatively recently has heat been used for weed control, where it may serve as an alternative to chemical herbicides. Much of the research involved with heat to control weeds has been via four general methods: controlled burning, flaming of weeds, hot water treatment and steam application. Heat injury can cause denaturation/aggregation of cellular proteins and protoplast expansion/rupture, resulting in plant tissue desiccation, potentially leading to death .Depending on the heat treatment exposure time, protein denaturation in plant tissues may be initiated at 45˚C . Temperatures of 55˚C – 95˚C can be lethal to plant leaf and stem tissues. Exposure to a flame for only 0.065 – 0.130s was sufficient to kill leaf tissue and higher temperatures were more effective.For example, cellular structural changes were more pronounced when the cellular temperature changed more rapidly compared to gradual and lower temperature changes .

According to the age of first illicit drug use, in our study, 7.5% of participants had consumed illicit drugs at 14–15 years old, 17.5% at 16–17 years old, and 9.7% at 18 years old or older, being in line with previous study in which the age of first illicit drug use were around 15 years old . In addition, we explored the difficulty of obtaining different illicit drugs. More than half of the students claimed that obtaining cannabis was easy or very easy. Instead, only around 30% of students claimed that obtaining cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines was easy or very easy. Our data on student perceived availability showed higher percentages than previous studies in Europe, where cannabis was also the most widely available drug , followed by ecstasy , cocaine , amphetamine , and methamphetamine . In addition, we did not find any different by gender; instead, according to a ESPAD study, boys were more likely to consider cannabis to be easily available than girls .

Most of the students were single, which is very common for those living at home with their parents at this age. Some studies showed that living with the family is a protective factor and working during university studies is detrimental to risky consumption compared to living with roommates or alone, which supports previous studies carried out with students . Interventions to counteract these risk behaviors should also include strengthening prosocial participation and parental control. Likewise, we consider it important in future studies to take into account other variables not considered in our analyses such as place of residence , family composition, family consumption, self-perception of family functional status,family support, and social class, among others. These variables could be related to drug use in the univer-sity student population since various studies highlight the family as a factor to take into account in the use of adolescents and young people . On the other hand, the illicit drug consumption between different nationalities were also explored; we found that France and Belgium reported high consumption regarding to the illicit drug ever in life, as well as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamines consumption ever in life.

Besides, the consumption of cannabis in the last 30 days was also statically significant, with France and Belgium being the ones with the highest consumption. This was in line with the bivariate analysis, in which nationality were significantly associated with the consumption of illicit drugs, cannabis, and ecstasy ever in life. According to the ESPAD study , France had more consumption in any drug , following by Spain and Belgium . Cannabis use was the same in Spain and France , being lower in Belgium . Despite this, Belgium presented higher consumption of ecstasy and amphetamines than Spain and France . Due to the differences previously found between countries, this could allow a broader vision to develop more specific drug use prevention programs . Finally, only 58% of nursing students claimed to have received knowledge of the problem of illicit drug use at university; this may be explained by the fact that there are a greater number of first-year students, and they have not yet acquired the knowledge.

Despite this, previous studies showed that nursing students have little knowledge of different drugs, as well as the potential uses of medical marijuana, and the risks associated with it . In this line, some authors claimed specific risk factors for drug use in nursing students, increased stress, and anxiety in the context of academic workload and lack of education on addiction or alcohol within schools of nursing curricula . Furthermore, a study by Strobbe et al. included risk factors for the use of illicit drugs in nursing students, the lack of education about the use of substances, inconsistent policies and procedures, and insufficient available interventions. This appears contrary to what is expected of these health professionals, since those who study health sciences should be the best candidates to acquire self-care skills and behave in a way that limits the adverse consequences for the health of inappropriate lifestyles . Substance misuse in nursing students may have more widespread negative sequelae, when compared to other students, since the impacts of substance misuse in nurses and nursing students have the potential to not only affect the individual but also the patients that they may care for . Despite this, the risk factors studied are not specific to nursing students. There is a profound paucity in the literature regarding to the prevalence of substance use among nursing students, as well as its risk factors . Therefore, to reduce the risk of nursing students and later newly graduated nurses in the use of drugs, larger and long-term studies should be carried out to understand the factors that influence the use of illicit drugs in nursing students, including the previously mentioned variables, so as to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based interventions within nursing schools .

Spain is divided into territories known as autonomous communities that differ in their socioeconomic characteristics and health indicators. Participants in this study were recruited from five municipalities belonging to two Spanish autonomous communities with similar socioeconomic characteristics: Burela in the northwest and Centelles, Torelló, Sant Joan de Vilatorrada and Sant Fruitós de Bages in the northeast . To select the most similar municipalities, the following indicators were used: personal income tax, number of inhabitants, percentage of population of non-Spanish origin and the distance to the region capital. Burela differs from the other four municipalities by being a multicultural town that harbours more than fifty different nationalities within its 9500 inhabitants.

The multicultural coexistence in Burela raises new challenges in the search for better social integration in Galiza, a context with a short history of immigrants’ reception. Studies have pointed out the various effects of socioeconomic context and ethnicity, as well as the influence of acculturation process on adolescents . As the population of adolescents is very diverse and young, it will be interesting to study the potentially existing inequalities in such a paradigmatic context. Burela is a very different population compared to most of the Galician municipalities with respect to its number of inhabitants. Therefore, we compared Burela to four municipalities, Centelles, Torelló, Sant Joan de Vilatorrada and Sant Fruitós de Bages, that were selected based on their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and which are more similar to Burela than the rest of municipalities included in the study of Obradors and colleagues . In Spain, the access to health care is universal and free. Burela has one reference public hospital and one center of primary care services. Likewise, each of the four Catalan municipalities have one reference hospital and one center of primary care services.

Through our review of the literature, we identified a comprehensive body of research that analyzed addiction rates among TGD individuals as a single, non-stratified group. The vast majority of these studies reached a similar conclusion: the prevalence of addiction is significantly higher in transgender populations compared to cisgender populations. While we did locate a few studies where prevalence rates were not statistically different between the two populations, and some studies with contradictory results, these other studies were perhaps even more illuminating because they highlighted alternative disparities that are often overlooked in traditional prevalence studies. For instance, a study measuring the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking concluded that transgender participants actually reported lower rates than both cisgender men and cisgender women . However, when measuring the prevalence of alcohol-related problems among the same sample, transgender participants reported higher rates than either of the cisgender reference groups.

Another study reached the conclusion that alcohol consumption did not vary significantly between transgender and cisgender subgroups; however, when researchers measured an individual’s motivation for drinking, it was found that transgender participants were significantly more likely to identify negative reasons , while cisgender participants were much more likely to drink for positive social reasons . Although these types of studies were sparse, they provide additional context for the susceptibility of transgender populations to the downstream effects of addiction and highlight additional disparities that extend beyond traditional prevalence statistics. While there is a strong body of research comparing addiction rates between transgender and cisgender populations, the core purpose of our paper was to expand upon the empirically accepted conclusion that transgender individuals are, as a whole, at increased risk of addiction. Therefore, we focused on establishing the addiction discrepancies that exist between individual TGD subgroups. We identified a growing number of studies that compared addiction rates between TW and TM. Through our analysis of these studies, several differences in prevalence rates became apparent. Most notably, TM appeared to be at a higher risk than TW for most SUD categories . However, in our review of illicit drug use, it became evident that TW may be uniquely susceptible to methamphetamine use as well as injection drug use; the latter being particularly concerning given its association with parenterally transmitted infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C. Through our literature review, we identified a number of high-powered studies that analyzed a single TGD subgroup without the inclusion of a reference group.

The more likely explanation might be somewhat a combination of the first and third scenarios and suggests the challenge for the hemp food industry to separate hemp food from any association with either CBD oil or THC, whether this is through increased consumer education or the development of strains of Cannabis sativa which are guaranteed completely void of THC. Knowledge of the processes of varietal development is beyond the scope of this research and the authors acknowledge that the latter may not even be possible. That is, despite a belief in the physical and psychological benefits of hemp food, a positive attitude toward hemp food did not play a significant role in intention to consume it. The factor which provided the greatest contribution to intention to consume hemp food was consumers’ normative beliefs.

Subjective norms focused on consumers’ perceptions of what family, friends, peers and doctors would think of them consuming hemp food and whether they felt others like them would consume it as well. A high level of concern for the opinion of others and the mediating effect of the CBD construct on negative attitudes suggests that for this sample of the Australian population there remains a widespread stigma associated with hemp consumption. This stigma may be difficult to eradicate as it is the artifact of the previous illegal status of hemp food combined with decades of propaganda against cannabis use in any form . Consumers may find it difficult to disassociate hemp food from the more illicit uses of cannabis and seek the approval of others for confirmation of the acceptability of consuming hemp products. The normative beliefs and the mediated influence of negative beliefs through association with CBD oil are the only contributing factors to intention to consume hemp food in this study.

A final analysis of the findings from across the two phases of this research consisted of a meta-inference of qualitative with the quantitative findings under a pragmatic framework. Here it was revealed that the application of the theory of planned behavior and SEM in the quantitative phase two of this study was consistent with the outcomes of the initial interviews. Survey participants in the qualitative phase of the current study generally held positive attitudes toward hemp food and indicated they were likely to consume them at some time in the future, however, they also made contradictory statements indicating their reluctance to consume them at a time when they had to drive a car or attend their workplace, for example, yet denied they believed they would test positive. The issue of an association of hemp food with CBD oil and THC is complex and may not be easily resolved. This research evaluates the acceptance of hemp food in the Australian population and evaluates behavioral and normative beliefs within a population where consumption of cannabis products has been illegal until recent times.

The attitudes and beliefs surrounding cannabis may not extrapolate to a population where cannabis is a legal entity, or where hemp foods have been available for longer periods of time. However, the protocol of assessing negative attitudes as a separate construct under TPB may have utility for future research of alternate novel foods where highly salient negative associations are made to the food from external sources. The findings from the current study suggest some ambiguity may exist within the population between CBD oil and THC, the two more widely known properties of cannabis, and its association with hemp food, specifically hemp seed oil. Despite being highly conspicuous of hemp food, consumers may not be fully versed in their properties, effects, health benefits, etc., or aware of the differences between Cannabis sativa used in hemp food production, and Cannabis indica which is better known as marijuana. This may have contributed to the responses regarding the anxiolytic and relaxation effects of hemp food. Future research could focus on consumer understanding of hemp food’s specific properties and improve consumer education to address the identified lack of understanding. This may be of benefit to both the hemp food industry, and the medicinal cannabis quarter.

The findings also point to a potential for the development of a strain of cannabis fit for human consumption which is free from THC. While it is beyond the scope of this research and the competency of the researchers to suggest how or if this might be achieved, it would appear that innovation in food production is currently achieving goals never before imagined. Genetic modification, 3D printed foods, and foods produced using ultrasound or infusion heat treatment, for example, are highly advanced production methods for novel foods that may only be the tip of the innovation in the food production iceberg.Based on the reduction in seed development as compared to other crossing combinations, the triploids were determined to be infertile. Infertile hemp has been recommended as a strategy to mitigate yield reduction caused by pollination . As far as we are aware, this research represents the first report of triploid C. sativa female infertility.