The morbidity and mortality related to respiratory tract diseases is enormous, with hundreds of millions of individuals afflicted and four million people dying each year. Understanding the immunological processes in the mucosa that govern outcome following pathogenic encounter could lead to novel therapies. There is a need to study responses at mucosal surfaces in humans for two reasons: (i) Immunological findings in mice, or other animals, often fail to translate to humans. (ii) Compartmentalization of the immune system dictates a need to study sites where pathogens reside. In this manuscript, we describe two novel non-invasive nasal mucosal microsampling techniques and their use for measuring immunological parameters: 1) using nasal curettes to collect cells from the inferior turbinate and; 2) absorptive matrices to collect nasal lining fluid. Both techniques were well tolerated and yielded reproducible and robust data. We demonstrated differences in immune populations and activation state in nasal mucosa compared to blood as well as compared to nasopharyngeal lumen in healthy adults. We also found superior cytokine detection with absorptive matrices compared to nasal wash. These techniques are promising new tools that will facilitate studies of the immunological signatures underlying susceptibility and resistance to respiratory infections.

Background Research shows that cannabis users exhibit deficits in prospective memory (PM) and executive function, which persist beyond acute intoxication. However, many studies rely on self‐reports of memory failures or use laboratory‐based measures that may not mimic functional deficits in the real world. The present study aimed to assess real‐world memory functioning. Method Twenty cannabis‐only users and 20 non‐illicit drug users were recruited. Participants completed a substance use inventory and a mood scale, followed by a non‐immersive virtual reality task assessing PM and executive functioning. The task involved the participant playing the role of an office worker for the day and performing routine office duties. A number of subscales were used to assess facets of executive function (planning, adaptive thinking, creative thinking, selection, prioritisation) and PM (time‐based, event‐based and action‐based PM). Results Multivariate analysis of variance revealed cannabis users performed worse overall on the task, with poor performance on the planning, time‐based PM and event‐based PM subscales. In addition, indices of cannabis (length, dose, frequency, total use) were correlated with performance on these three subscales. Conclusions The present study expands on previously established research, providing support for the cannabis‐related deficits in PM and executive functioning, and the role of different aspects of cannabis use in these deficits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Seddon, AL, Law, AS, Adams, AM and Simmons, FR Exploring the relationship between executive functions and self-reported media-multitasking in young adults http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/9407/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively.

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