No abstract

We investigated a Swedish family with nonsyndromic progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Thirteen candidate loci for autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss were tested for linkage in this family. We found significant LOD scores (>3) for markers at candidate locus DFNA12 (11q22-q24) and suggestive LOD scores (>2) for markers at locus DFNA2 (1p32). Our results for markers on chromosome 11 narrowed down the candidate region for the DFNA12 locus. A detailed analysis of the phenotypes and haplotypes shared by the affected individuals supported the notion that two genes segregated together with hearing impairment in the family. Severely affected family members had haplotypes linked to the disease allele on both chromosomes 1 and 11, whereas individuals with milder hearing loss had haplotypes linked to the disease allele on either chromosome 1 or chromosome 11. These observations suggest an additive effect of two genes, each gene resulting in a mild and sometimes undiagnosed phenotype, but both together resulting in a more severe phenotype.

Research shows that young people's online practices have become a continuous, seamless and routine part of their physical and social worlds. Studies report contradictory findings on whether social media promotes intoxication-driven drinking cultures among young people or diminishes their alcohol consumption. By applying actor-network theory, our starting point is that the effects of social media depend on what kinds of concerns mediate its use. Social media alone cannot make young people drink more or less but influences their drinking in relation to specific attachments that we call here 'assemblages'. The data consist of individual interviews among girls (n = 32) and boys (n = 24) between 15 and 19 years old from Sweden, covering topics such as alcohol use, social media habits and leisure time activities. The paper maps the variety of assemblages that mediate young people's online practices and analyzes how young people's drinking-related social media assemblages increase, decrease or exclude their alcohol consumption. The analysis shows that social media-related attachments seem to reduce our interviewees' use of alcohol by providing competing activities, by transforming their drinking under the public eye, by reorganizing their party rituals to be less oriented towards drinking and by facilitating parents' monitoring of their drinking situations. ARTICLE HISTORY

Background: Gambling participation and problems change over time and are influenced by a variety of individual and contextual factors. However, gambling research has only to a small extent studied gamblers' own perceptions of transitions in and out of problem gambling. Method: Qualitative telephone interviews were made with 40 gamblers who had repeatedly participated in the Swelogs Swedish Longitudinal Gambling Study. The framework approach was used for analyses, resulting in a multiple-linkage typology. Results: Our analyses revealed four configurations of gambling: (a) stable low frequency with no or minor harm, (b) decreasing high frequency with occasional harm, (c) fluctuating with moderate harm, and (d) increasing high frequency with substantial harm. Natural recovery and return to previous levels of gambling intensity were common. Change occurred either gradually, as a result of adjustment to altered personal circumstances, or drastically as a consequence of determined decisions to change. Personal and contextual factors such as psychological well-being, supportive relationships, and meaningful leisure activities played a part in overcoming harmful gambling and keeping gambling on a nonproblematic level. Gambling advertising was commonly perceived as aggressive and triggering. Conclusions: The experience of harm is highly subjective, which should be taken into account when developing preventive measures. Considering the fluid character of gambling problems, help and support should be easily accessible and diversified. To repeatedly be interviewed about gambling and its consequences can contribute to increased reflection on, and awareness of, one's own behaviours and the societal impacts of gambling.

No abstract