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Yahoo Newsreports in a study of adults who experienced psychosis for the first time, having smoked marijuana daily was linked to an earlier age of onset of the disorder, according to UK researchers.

"This is not a study about the association between cannabis and psychosis, but about the association between specific patterns of cannabis use . . . and an earlier onset of psychotic disorders," Dr. Marta Di Forti, who led the research at the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College, said in an email.

Among more than 400 people in South London admitted to hospitals with a diagnosed psychotic episode, the study team found the heaviest smokers of high-potency cannabis averaged about six years younger than patients who had not been smoking pot.

Psychosis is a general term for a loss of reality, and is associated with several psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Some previous research has suggested that using cannabis might trigger psychosis in some people, especially those who may be vulnerable because of a family history of related mental illnesses or specific gene mutations.

In the new study, published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, the researchers focused on patterns of cannabis use, gender and the relationship of those factors to the timing of a first psychotic episode.

Age is significant, Di Forti's team notes in their report, because the teenage years and early twenties are a critical time for professional and educational development, so experiencing an acute psychotic episode for the first time early on may negatively affect the "likelihood of achieving optimum level of function."

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Jerusalem Post reports Israel's 11th premier passes away eight years after a stroke left him comatose; Sharon was one of Israel’s legendary politicians and military leaders; Sharon's son Gilad: "He went when he decided to go."

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon died on Saturday at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, days after his condition deteriorated dramatically.
Sharon would have turned 86 next month. His family gathered at the hospital to be with him in his final moments. His sons Omri and Gilad had been by his side since his condition deteriorated on January 1.

Sharon was one of Israel’s legendary politicians and military leaders. He played an instrumental role in IDF victories in the Sinai desert in both the 1967 Six Day War and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. His victories on the battlefield, immortalized by the image of him in an IDF uniform with a white bandage wrapped around his wounded forehead, earned him the title, “Arik, King of Israel.”

He was equally fearless in the political arena, where he was the father of two parties, Likud and Kadima. As defense minister in 1982, he oversaw the Lebanon War before he was ousted from office in 1983 as a result of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre for which the Kahn Commission of Inquiry found him indirectly responsible.

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Peoplereports theactress, who has earned both praise and criticism for dropping trou in her hit HBO comedy, got into a heated exchange Thursday when, during a panel discussion at a Television Critics Association event in Pasadena, Calif., a reporter pressed her about the nudity featured on the show.

"I don't get the purpose of all of the nudity on the show ... Your character is often naked just at random times for no reason," the reporter remarked, which prompted a pointed response from Dunham.

"It's because it's a realistic expression of what it's like to be alive, I think, and I totally get it," the actress, 27, said. "If you are not into me, that's your problem, and you're going to have to work that out with professionals."

Immediately, show producer Judd Apatow, who was also on hand during the panel talk, jumped in to defend Dunham and took the journalist to task, Entertainment Weekly reports.

"That was a very clumsily stated question that's offensive on its face, and you should read it and discuss it with other people how you did that," Apatow added. "It's very offensive."

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The MorningCall reports shifting nervously and continuing to proclaim his innocence, a substitute teacher pleaded no contest Friday to a charge stemming from his alleged molestation of a third-grade boy at an Allentown elementary school — a case with troubling problems for the prosecution, according to the presiding judge. 

The plea deal includes no jail time for 48-year-old Michael Agrippine, who told Lehigh County Judge Kelly L. Banach he's the victim. The boy's mother strongly protested the plea, calling it an injustice, and urged the judge to reject it.

Agrippine entered the plea to endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor that was added Friday. But he insisted he didn't molest the boy a year ago in a bathroom stall at Union Terrace Elementary School, as alleged.

"Being accused of something this horrifying goes against everything I've done in my life," said Agrippine, of Upper Saucon Township. "This has shattered my soul. … I thought police were heroes who were there to protect and serve. I didn't know I needed to be protected from them."

While Banach said Agrippine's alleged confession to police was questionable and the alleged victim was not completely credible, she said Agrippine still needs to be watched carefully.

"Notwithstanding the problems with the case, quite frankly, I think you're a person who needs watching," the judge said. "You're squirrelly, to put it plainly."

In return for the plea, charges of aggravated indecent assault of a child and intercourse/sexual contact with a student at a school, both felonies, were dropped. Indecent assault of a person under 14, a misdemeanor, was also dropped. The crime Agrippine pleaded no contest to is not a sex offense under Megan's Law, so he does not have to register his address.

Agrippine, who has no prior criminal record and has been free on $75,000 bail, will serve five years of probation and give up his teaching certificate in Pennsylvania. Banach ordered him to undergo sex offender treatment and have no unsupervised contact with any children except his own. 

I don't believe for a second this comes out of nowhere," the judge said. "I don't know the particulars, but I believe something happened. To me, you are a person of concern. I'm glad you relinquished your right to teach."

In pleading no contest, Agrippine isn't admitting he molested the student but is acknowledging he could have been proved guilty at trial.

"I'll continue to proclaim my innocence. I'll continue to be a law-abiding citizen. I am the victim in this case," Agrippine said, adding he's "afraid to walk into another classroom again" and now works in the steel industry.

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