Electrophysiological evidence of alcohol-related attentional bias in social drinkers low in alcohol sensitivity.

Low sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol is a known risk factor for alcoholism. However, little is known concerning potential information-processing routes by which this risk factor might contribute to increased drinking. 

We tested the hypothesis that low-sensitivity (LS) participants would show biased attention to alcohol cues, compared with their high-sensitivity (HS) counterparts. 

Participants performed a task in which alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverage cues were presented bilaterally followed by a target that required categorization by color. 

Response times were faster for targets appearing in alcohol-cued than non–alcohol-cued locations for LS but not for HS participants. 

Event-related potential markers of early attention orienting (P1 amplitude) and subsequent attention reorienting (ipsilateral invalid negativity amplitude) indicated preferential selective attention to alcohol-cued locations among LS individuals. 

Controlling for recent drinking and family history of alcoholism did not affect these patterns, except that among HS participants, relatively heavy recent drinking was associated with difficulty reorienting attention away from alcohol-cued locations. 

These findings suggest a potential information-processing bias through which low sensitivity could lead to heavy alcohol involvement. 

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Request Reprint E-Mail: shine@missouri.edu

Press Statement - The College of Emergency Medicine Calls for Policy-Makers to Take Action Against Alcohol-Related Harm

The College of Emergency  Medicine (CEM) is today calling for measures to tighten up control over the marketing of alcohol, in order to tackle alcohol-related harm and the
impact on Emergency Departments (EDs). 

Healthcare professionals operating in EDs and the wider hospital environment are confronted with the result of alcohol misuse on a daily basis, and vital resources are being drained treating and managing the problem.
 
Set to coincide with Freshers’ Week, during which time alcohol-related admissions to EDs rise significantly, the CEM is calling for co-ordinated action from all stakeholders to reduce the harms from alcohol. 

Shockingly, the recently published Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE 2010) indicated a statistic of 945,469 admissions to hospital for alcohol related harm in 2008/9 – 825 a day more than five years ago – costing the NHS and other public services around £20 billion per year.


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Effects of Alcohol Tax and Price Policies on Morbidity and Mortality: A Systematic Review

We systematically reviewed the effects of alcohol taxes and prices on alcohol-related morbidity and mortality to assess their public health impact.

We searched 12 databases, along with articles’ reference lists, for studies providing estimates of the relationship between alcohol taxes and prices and measures of risky behavior or morbidity and mortality, then coded for effect sizes and numerous population and study characteristics. We combined independent estimates in random-effects models to obtain aggregate effect estimates.

We identified 50 articles, containing 340 estimates. Meta-estimates were r=–0.347 for alcohol-related disease and injury outcomes, –0.022 for violence, –0.048 for suicide, –0.112 for traffic crash outcomes, –0.055 for sexually transmitted diseases, –0.022 for other drug use, and –0.014 for crime and other misbehavior measures. All except suicide were statistically significant.

Public policies affecting the price of alcoholic beverages have significant effects on alcohol-related disease and injury rates. Our results suggest that doubling the alcohol tax would reduce alcohol-related mortality by an average of 35%, traffic crash deaths by 11%, sexually transmitted disease by 6%, violence by 2%, and crime by 1.4%.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: wagenaar@gmail.com .  

Combined Impact of Lifestyle-Related Factors on Total and Cause-Specific Mortality among Chinese Women: Prospective Cohort Study Findings from the Shanghai Women's Health Study confirm those derived from other, principally Western, cohorts regarding the combined impact of lifestyle-related factors on mortality.

Although cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol drinking, obesity, and several other well-studied unhealthy lifestyle-related factors each have been linked to the risk of multiple chronic diseases and premature death, little is known about the combined impact on mortality outcomes, in particular among Chinese and other non-Western populations. 

The objective of this study was to quantify the overall impact of lifestyle-related factors beyond that of active cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Chinese women.

We used data from the Shanghai Women's Health Study, an ongoing population-based prospective cohort study in China. Participants included 71,243 women aged 40 to 70 years enrolled during 1996–2000 who never smoked or drank alcohol regularly. A healthy lifestyle score was created on the basis of five lifestyle-related factors shown to be independently associated with mortality outcomes (normal weight, lower waist-hip ratio, daily exercise, never exposed to spouse's smoking, higher daily fruit and vegetable intake). The score ranged from zero (least healthy) to five (most healthy) points. 

During an average follow-up of 9 years, 2,860 deaths occurred, including 775 from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 1,351 from cancer. Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality decreased progressively with an increasing number of healthy lifestyle factors. Compared to women with a score of zero, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for women with four to five factors were 0.57 (0.44–0.74) for total mortality, 0.29 (0.16–0.54) for CVD mortality, and 0.76 (0.54–1.06) for cancer mortality. 

The inverse association between the healthy lifestyle score and mortality was seen consistently regardless of chronic disease status at baseline. The population attributable risks for not having 4–5 healthy lifestyle factors were 33% for total deaths, 59% for CVD deaths, and 19% for cancer deaths.

In this first study, to our knowledge, to quantify the combined impact of lifestyle-related factors on mortality outcomes in Chinese women, a healthier lifestyle pattern—including being of normal weight, lower central adiposity, participation in physical activity, nonexposure to spousal smoking, and higher fruit and vegetable intake—was associated with reductions in total and cause-specific mortality among lifetime nonsmoking and nondrinking women, supporting the importance of overall lifestyle modification in disease prevention.

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Experimental effect of positive urgency on negative outcomes from risk taking and on increased alcohol consumption.

 

The current pair of experimental studies sought to further validate the role of positive urgency (acting rashly when in an extreme positive emotional state) as a risk factor for impulsive and maladaptive behavior. 

Previous research has supported the use of emotion-based dispositions to rash action in predicting a wide range of maladaptive acts. However, that research was conducted in the field and relied on self-reported behavior, thus lacking tight experimental controls and direct observation of risky behaviors.

In the 2 experimental studies described here, we found that among college students (1) positive urgency significantly predicted negative outcomes on a risk-taking task following a positive mood manipulation (n = 94), and (2) positive urgency significantly predicted increases in beer consumption following positive mood induction (n = 33).

Positive urgency's role was above and beyond previously identified risk factors; these findings, combined with prior cross-sectional and longitudinal field studies, provide support for the role of positive urgency in rash action.






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Request Reprint E-Mail: mcyders@iupui.edu

Is it beneficial to have an alcoholics anonymous sponsor?.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) attendance is predictive of increased abstinence for many problem drinkers and treatment referral to AA is common. Strong encouragement to acquire an AA sponsor is likewise typical, and findings about the benefits associated with social support for abstinence in AA support this practice, at least indirectly. Despite this widespread practice, however, prospective tests of the unique contribution of having an AA sponsor are lacking. 

This prospective study investigated the contribution of acquiring an AA sponsor using a methodologically rigorous design that isolated the specific effects of AA sponsorship. 

Participants were recruited from AA and outpatient treatment. Intake and follow-up assessments included questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and urine toxicology screens. Eligibility criteria limited prior treatment and AA histories to clarify the relationship of interest while, for generalizability purposes, broad substance abuse criteria were used. 

Of the 253 participants, 182 (72%) provided complete data on measures central to the aims of this study. Overall reductions in alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use were found over 12-months and lagged analyses indicated that AA attendance significantly predicted increased abstinence. 

During early AA affiliation but not later logistic regressions showed that having an AA sponsor predicted increased alcohol-abstinence and abstinence from marijuana and cocaine after first controlling for a host of AA-related, treatment, and motivational measures that are associated with AA exposure or are generally prognostic of outcome.

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Request Reprint E-Mail:  jtonigan@unm.edu  

Parental alcohol involvement and adolescent alcohol expectancies predict alcohol involvement in male adolescents.

Current models of adolescent drinking behavior hypothesize that alcohol expectancies mediate the effects of other proximal and distal risk factors. 

This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that the effects of parental alcohol involvement on their children's drinking behavior in mid-adolescence are mediated by the children's alcohol expectancies in early adolescence. 

A sample of 148 initially 9–11 year old boys and their parents from a high-risk population and a contrast group of community families completed measures of drinking behavior and alcohol expectancies over a 6-year interval. We analyzed data from middle childhood (M age = 10.4 years), early adolescence (M age = 13.5 years), and mid-adolescence (M age = 16.5 years).  The sample was restricted only to adolescents who had begun to drink by mid-adolescence. 

Results from zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses showed that 1) maternal drinking during their children's middle childhood predicted number of drinking days in middle adolescence; 2) negative and positive alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted odds of any intoxication in middle adolescence; and 3) paternal alcoholism during their children's middle childhood and adolescents' alcohol expectancies in early adolescence predicted frequency of intoxication in middle adolescence. 

Contrary to predictions, child alcohol expectancies did not mediate the effects of parental alcohol involvement in this high-risk sample. Different aspects of parental alcohol involvement, along with early adolescent alcohol expectancies, independently predicted adolescent drinking behavior in middle adolescence. 

Alternative pathways for the influence of maternal and paternal alcohol involvement and implications for expectancy models of adolescent drinking behavior were discussed. 

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Request Reprint E-Mail:   jcranfor@med.umich.edu
  

Risky Decisions and Their Consequences: Neural Processing by Boys with Antisocial Substance Disorder Adolescents with conduct and substance problems (

Adolescents with conduct and substance problems (“Antisocial Substance Disorder” (ASD)) repeatedly engage in risky antisocial and drug-using behaviors. We hypothesized that, during processing of risky decisions and resulting rewards and punishments, brain activation would differ between abstinent ASD boys and comparison boys.

We compared 20 abstinent adolescent male patients in treatment for ASD with 20 community controls, examining rapid event-related blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses during functional magnetic resonance imaging. In 90 decision trials participants chose to make either a cautious response that earned one cent, or a risky response that would either gain 5 cents or lose 10 cents; odds of losing increased as the game progressed. We also examined those times when subjects experienced wins, or separately losses, from their risky choices. We contrasted decision trials against very similar comparison trials requiring no decisions, using whole-brain BOLD-response analyses of group differences, corrected for multiple comparisons. During decision-making ASD boys showed hypoactivation in numerous brain regions robustly activated by controls, including orbitofrontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, anterior cingulate, basal ganglia, insula, amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebellum. While experiencing wins, ASD boys had significantly less activity than controls in anterior cingulate, temporal regions, and cerebellum, with more activity nowhere. During losses ASD boys had significantly more activity than controls in orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, brain stem, and cerebellum, with less activity nowhere.

Adolescent boys with ASD had extensive neural hypoactivity during risky decision-making, coupled with decreased activity during reward and increased activity during loss. These neural patterns may underlie the dangerous, excessive, sustained risk-taking of such boys. The findings suggest that the dysphoria, reward insensitivity, and suppressed neural activity observed among older addicted persons also characterize youths early in the development of substance use disorders.

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Even low alcohol concentrations affect obstacle avoidance reactions in healthy senior individuals

Alcohol is a commonly used social drug and driving under influence is a well-established risk factor for traffic accidents. To improve road safety, legal limits are set for blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and driving, usually at 0.05% (most European countries) or 0.08% (most US states, Canada and UK). Alcohol, even at these low concentrations, affects brain function and increases fall risk. An increased fall risk has been associated with impaired obstacle avoidance skills. Low level BACs are likely to affect obstacle avoidance reactions during gait, since the brain areas that are presumably involved in these reactions have been shown to be influenced by alcohol.

Therefore we investigated the effect of low to moderate alcohol consumption on such reactions. Thirteen healthy senior individuals were subjected to an obstacle avoidance task on a treadmill after low alcohol consumption. Fast stepping adjustments were required to successfully avoid suddenly appearing obstacles. Response times and amplitudes of the m. biceps femoris, a prime mover, as well as avoidance failure rates were assessed.

After the first alcoholic drink, 12 of the 13 participants already had slower responses. Without exception, all participants' biceps femoris response times were delayed after the final alcoholic drink.

The present results clearly show that even with BACs, considered to be safe for driving, obstacle avoidance reactions are inadequate, late, and too small. This is likely to contribute to an increased fall risk. Therefore we suggest that many of the alcohol-related falls are the result of the disruptive effects of alcohol on the online corrections of the ongoing gait pattern when walking under challenging conditions.

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Derivation and Characterization of Replicate High- and Low-Alcohol Preferring Lines of Mice and a High-Drinking Crossed HAP Line

Selectively breeding lines of mice and rats to differ in alcohol intake has proven useful for defining which traits correlate with high alcohol drinking behavior, as well as for creating animal models of alcoholism.

This study reports the derivation of two novel sets of selected lines, High Alcohol Preferring (HAP) and Low Alcohol Preferring (LAP) replicate 2 and 3 lines.

Mice were mass-selected using the same procedure as in the replicate 1 lines: using HS/Ibg as a progenitor, mice were selected for differences in 2-bottle choice intake of 10% alcohol during a 4-week testing period.

In addition, another high-drinking line, the crossed HAP (cHAP) line was selectively bred from a progenitors that were a cross of replicate 1 (S27) × replicate 2 (S21) HAP lines.

All lines were characterized for saccharin intake. Overall, the response to selection of the HAP and LAP replicate 2 and 3 lines was quite similar.

As anticipated, following selection, the cHAP line drank more than either parent HAP line (consuming 26.0 g/kg per day of alcohol by S11), suggesting that this method of crossing replicate lines and selecting from that cross captures more alleles than any single selected line, as well as producing a line with exceptionally high voluntary alcohol intake.
As expected, saccharin consumption was highly associated with alcohol consumption; data from 7 lines (HAP 1, 2, and 3, LAP 1, 2, and 3, and cHAP) indicated a genetic correlation between 10% alcohol and 0.32% saccharin intake of 0.91.

Overall, these findings show the practicality of developing replicate lines divergent in alcohol preference, and validate a novel procedure for generating very high-drinking mouse populations.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: ngrahame@iupui.edu

Alcohol News - 38/2010

YLE News (Finland) - Finns Less Tolerant of Alcohol Consumption
Attitudes towards alcohol consumption and binge drinking in Finland have hardened significantly, with a majority of Finns agreeing on the need for restraint in alcohol use.
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/09/finns_less_tolerant_of_alcohol_consumption_1983229.html

Helsinkin Sanomat (Finland) - Nearly 70% would reduce blood-alcohol threshold for drink-driving cases
Finnish attitudes towards binge-drinking are becoming increasingly strict. Bans and restrictions are accepted these days with more relish than in earlier years.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Nearly+70+would+reduce+blood-alcohol+threshold+for+drink-driving+cases/1135260166163

JP.dk (Denmark) - Carlsberg puts alcohol locks on beer trucks
Workers will need to breathe into breathalysers to start their vehicles Brewery giant Carlsberg’s promise to equip their beer trucks with alcohol ignition locks went into force today, and 300 vehicles have been fitted with the devices, reported TV2 News....
http://jp.dk/uknews/article2184081.ece

The Local (Sweden) - Swedish team targets addict relapse molecule
People who have used cocaine are at a greater risk of becoming addicted even after long drug-free periods, researchers at Linköping University have discovered.
http://www.thelocal.se/29080/20100917/

Truck News (Sweden) - Swedes spec'ing alcolocks to prevent impaired truck driving
Volvo has announced that 25% of the trucks it sells in Sweden now come with a factory-fitted alcolock to prevent impaired driving.
http://www.trucknews.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000385234

ERR News (Estonia) - Alcohol Proves a Factor in 58% of Drownings
In the first eight months of this year, 85 people drowned in Estonia, of whom 72 were men and 49 were under the influence of alcohol.
http://news.err.ee/c9f5b10f-86d2-495f-96f0-aaf1e7f9c8e9

TopNews United States (Scotland) - New Study: Native Scots Run Twice the Risk of Giving in Due to Alcohol Related Reasons
As per a novel study, native Scots have twofold risk of dying be cause of alcohol related troubles, in comparison to those people from Scotland, who belong the southern border.
http://topnews.us/content/226271-new-study-native-scots-run-twice-risk-giving-due-alcohol-related-reasons

FOX43.com (USA) - Colleges Try To Discourage Binge Drinking Among Freshmen
Most colleges have intensive programs designed to educate students about alcohol and drug abuse and to inform them about campus resources to help. For many, including Quinnipiac, UConn and Trinity College, that educational process begins in the summer before freshman year with an online class that also provides administrators with an overall assessment of students' alcohol use before they come to campus.
http://www.fox43.com/health/hc-college-drinking-freshmen-worst-in20100920,0,394524.story

Helium - Links between alcohol and depression
Serotonin is a neurotransmitters been indicated as a contributing factor in mood disorders. Neurotransmitters are brain chemical that cause an effect in the brain.
http://www.helium.com/items/1957693-seratonin-as-a-possible-link-between-depression-and-alcoholism

Co-Operative News (UK) – Call for UK-wide action on alcohol sales
The Co-operative Group has called on the UK Government to work closely with the Scottish Government after the SNP administration announced plans to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol in an attempt to curb the nation’s drink-related problems.
http://www.thenews.coop/news/Retail%20Societies/1923

London Free Press (UK) - Courts must always take drunk driving seriously
Impaired driving has been a scourge on Canadian roads for decades. While campaigns have been waged, warnings issued and laws tightened, drinking and driving is not going away.
http://www.lfpress.com/comment/editorial/2010/09/20/15408156.html

The Nation, Pakistan - Alcohol, diabetes, hepatitis up liver cancer risk: study
Heavy alcohol use, diabetes, and viral hepatitis combine synergistically to raise the risk of developing liver cancer, according to a new report.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/18-Sep-2010/Alcohol-diabetes-hepatitis-up-liver-cancer-risk-study

Science AAAS (USA) - Advisers Say NIH Should Merge Alcohol, Drug Abuse Institutes
A group of outside advisers to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins has recommended merging the two NIH institutes that study alcoholism and drug abuse.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/09/advisers-say-nih-should-merge-al.html

Sify (Russia) - Alcohol unaffected by recession in Russia
Production of alcohol such as vodka, beer and wine in Russia has not been affected by the global economic crisis, according to the federal statistics bureau Rosstat.
http://sify.com/news/alcohol-unaffected-by-recession-in-russia-news-international-kjshaibjihg.html

Medical News Today - Alcohol Consumption After Breast Cancer Diagnosis May Increase Recurrence Risk
In the Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) study, 1,897 participants diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer between 1997 and 2000 and recruited on average 2 years post-breast cancer diagnosis were evaluated for the association between alcohol intake and breast cancer recurrence and death.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/201544.php

Wall Street Journal (Thailand) - Global Liquor Makers Fight Graphic Labels in Thailand
Alcohol companies world-wide are lining up to fight a Thai plan to require graphic warning labels about alcohol on the country's domestic and imported beer, wine and liquor bottles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704392104575475513718846130.html

ABC Online (Australia) - Concern over alcohol related violence
There is concern over alcohol-related crime in the New South Wales south east, with assault and under-age drinking at alarming high levels.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/15/3011914.htm

TopNews United Kingdom (UK) - 90% of Youngsters Try Alcohol by 15
It has been revealed by the data gathered by the Australian Secondary Students Drug and Alcohol Survey that by the time young people turn 15, 90% of them try alcohol.
http://topnews.co.uk/213220-90-youngsters-try-alcohol-15

The Press Association (Scotland) - Caffeinated alcohol ban considered
The Scottish Government will "carefully consider" Labour calls to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks such as Buckfast, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5g-b2YyI8KT0ja24_p048UmTi_0sg

ABC Online - Alcohol linked to early onset dementia
New research suggests that up to a fifth of all cases of early onset dementia are alcohol related.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s3013988.htm


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National Survey of Drinking and Driving attitudes and Behaviors

Twenty percent of the public 16 and older had in the past year driven a motor vehicle within two hours of drinking alcohol.

About two-thirds of these, or 13% of the total population 16 and older had done so in the past 30 days. The survey produced an estimate of 85.5 million past-month drinking-driving trips, up from 73.7 million trips in 2004 and reversing a declining trend in such trips since 1995. More than three-fourths (78%) of the trips were made by males.

Those who reported driving within two hours of drinking in the past year tended to be more frequent drinkers than did other drivers who drink but do not drive afterwards.

More than one in four (28%) drinking drivers usually consumed alcoholic beverages 3 or more days a week, compared to 10% of drivers who drink but do not drink and drive.

While few 16- to 20-year-olds reported drinking and driving, those that did averaged 5.7 drinks per sitting during the times they drink alcohol (inclusive of all drinking occasions, not just drinking and driving).

For 21- to 24-year-old drinking drivers, their average alcohol intake was 4.2 drinks per sitting.

The average number of drinks dropped sharply again for 25- to 34-year-old drinking drivers (3.0), then declined more slowly across ensuing age groups.


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Pregnancy and complex social factors

The NICE guideline ‘Antenatal care: routine care for the healthy pregnant woman’ (NICE clinical guideline 62). The guideline has been developed in collaboration with the Social Care Institute for Excellence.

It is for professional groups who are routinely involved in the care of pregnant women, including midwives, GPs and primary care professionals who may encounter pregnant women with complex social factors in the course of their professional duties. It is also for those who are responsible for commissioning and planning healthcare and social services.

In addition, the guideline will be of relevance to professionals working in social services and education/childcare settings, for example school nurses, substance misuse service workers, reception centre workers and domestic abuse support workers. outlines the care that women should be offered during pregnancy. However, pregnant women with complex social factors may have additional needs.

This guideline sets out what health care professionals as individuals, and antenatal services as a whole, can do to address these needs and improve pregnancy outcomes in this group of women.


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"A Disease Like Any Other"? A Decade of Change in Public Reactions to Schizophrenia, Depression, and Alcohol Dependence

Clinicians, advocates, and policy makers have presented mental illnesses as medical diseases in efforts to overcome low service use, poor adherence rates, and stigma. The authors examined the impact of this approach with a 10-year comparison of public endorsement of treatment and prejudice.

Modules of the 1996 and 2006 General Social Survey describing individuals meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, major depression, and alcohol dependence to explore whether more of the public 1) embraces neurobiological understandings of mental illness; 2) endorses treatment from providers, including psychiatrists; and 3) reports community acceptance or rejection of people with these disorders. Multivariate analyses examined whether acceptance of neurobiological causes increased treatment support and lessened stigma.

In 2006, 67% of the public attributed major depression to neurobiological causes, compared with 54% in 1996. High proportions of respondents endorsed treatment, with general increases in the proportion endorsing treatment from doctors and specific increases in the proportions endorsing psychiatrists for treatment of alcohol dependence (from 61% in 1996 to 79% in 2006) and major depression (from 75% in 1996 to 85% in 2006). Social distance and perceived danger associated with people with these disorders did not decrease significantly. Holding a neurobiological conception of these disorders increased the likelihood of support for treatment but was generally unrelated to stigma. Where associated, the effect was to increase, not decrease, community rejection.

More of the public embraces a neurobiological understanding of mental illness. This view translates into support for services but not into a decrease in stigma. Reconfiguring stigma reduction strategies may require providers and advocates to shift to an emphasis on competence and inclusion.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: pescosol@indiana.edu

Addiction Recovery Peer Service Roles: Recovery Management in Health Reform

Addiction Recovery Peer Service Roles: Recovery Management in Health Reform synthesizes and
integrates the insights, challenges and ideas generated at the July 1, 2010, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and Faces & Voices of Recovery Roundtable on Peer Recovery Support Services.

Local, state and federal officials are embracing a new orientation toward recovery from addiction as the nation begins to implement health care reform.

The roundtable provided an opportunity to raise the profile of new services developed by recovery community organizations to support people seeking or in recovery from addiction – services that exemplify this new recovery orientation.


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The ISAJE/WHO Young Scholars Award 2010

The ISAJE/WHO Young Scholars Award aims to provide recognition for the contributions to addiction science of young scholars from low and middle income countries and to promote their involvement in the field. The award is given for the best paper published by a young scholar from a low or middle income country on any topic related to addiction. The winner will receive a certificate and financial support to attend an international scientific or clinical meeting in the addiction or substance abuse field, to be chosen by the winner in consultation with the Award Committee.

Applications are invited for the 2010 award. To be eligible, the paper must have been published either online or in print form in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2010. The research reported should have been carried out predominantly in a low or middle income country, as specified by the World Bank classification. Applicants must be less than 35 years old and should be the lead author in the paper being submitted for the award. They should hold a current academic or research position in a low or middle income country; or should have held such a position at the time the research for the paper was carried out. The deadline for receiving applications is 15 November 2010. > > > >

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‘Alcohol, less is better’ project: outcomes of an Italian community-based prevention programme on reducing per-capita alcohol consumption

To evaluate differences in the individual alcohol consumption after a community-based prevention programme.

‘Alcohol, less is better’ is a controlled intervention trial. The intervention adopted a community approach, based on the active involvement of community leaders and institutional or volunteer organizations. Between 1999 and 2006, 2.5 years of activities aiming at informing and sensitizing the community on the harmful effects of alcohol on social life and health were carried out in 10 selected small Italian communities, involving a total of 123 235 individuals. Eight communities were chosen as control group.

Changes in self-reported individual alcohol consumption before and after the intervention were assessed on a random sample of intervention (n = 3382) and control (n = 2644) populations, using telephone and mailed surveys. Linear and log-linear models for repeated measures were used to evaluate differences between intervention and control samples.

Overall, a significant reduction of individual self-reported alcohol consumption was observed in the intervention sample (−1.1 drinks/week) relative to control sample (+0.3 drinks/week).

The reduction was significantly greater in males than in females . In the young (15–24-year-olds) intervention and control samples showed opposite trends (−0.4 drinks/week and +1.7 drinks/week, respectively).

A coordinated community-based intervention can reduce alcohol consumption in the general population.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: vincenzo.bagnardi@unimib.it

Early temperament, propensity for risk-taking and adolescent substance-related problems: A prospective multi-method investigation

One hundred thirty seven adolescents (M = 15.3 yrs, SD = 1.0 yr, n = 72 girls) were recruited into temperament groups when they were 4 months of age based on reactivity to novel auditory/visual stimuli (Fox, Henderson, Rubin, Calkins, & Schmidt, 2001).

Behavioral inhibition was observed across infancy (14 and 24 months). Additionally, self-reported substance-related problems and behavioral risk-taking was assessed during adolescence.

High behavioral inhibition increased risk for substance-related problems among boys, whereas high behavioral inhibition protected against substance-related problems among girls,

Additionally, high behavioral inhibition protected lower risk-taking children from adolescent substance-related problems whereas high behavioral inhibition increased risk for substance-related problems among higher risk-taking children,

Findings from this prospective, multi-informant, longitudinal study suggest that risk-taking and gender may interact with temperamental traits to place adolescents at differential risk for substance-related related behavior problems.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: lrw@asu.edu

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Request Reprint E-Mail: lrw@asu.edu

Intervention defensiveness as a moderator of drinking outcome among heavy-drinking mandated college students

The efficacy of the Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP; Miller, et al., 2000) was evaluated in 204 heavy-drinking college students randomly assigned to either ASTP (n = 119) or an assessment-only control (n = 85) condition.

The volunteer ASTP sample (n = 119) was also compared to a sample of students mandated to ASTP following a first-time sanction (n = 90).

At baseline, mandated students reported lower levels of peak drinking, negative consequences, readiness to change and higher defensiveness than voluntary students.

However, the voluntary sample showed reductions in problem drinking indicators over time such that there were no differences from mandated students at follow-up.

There were no outcome differences between volunteers assigned to ASTP versus assessment-only.

A new measure of defensiveness was evaluated and had a significant moderating effect on ASTP outcome for peak drinking consumed on a peak occasion at follow-up among mandated students.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: rbjork@uw.edu

I didn't feel like drinking but I don't know why: The effects of evaluative conditioning on alcohol-related attitudes, craving and behavior

The goal of the present research was to test the value of evaluative conditioning (EC) to unobtrusively change alcohol-related attitudes and drinking behavior.

In the EC paradigm, participants had to spot an irrelevant target picture in a series of trials in which many different stimuli were presented. In the experimental condition, beer-related pictures (CSs) were consistently paired with negative words and pictures (USs) in a number of trials. In the control condition, participants were exposed to the same stimuli, but without the critical alcohol-negative pairings.

After the EC task, participants participated in an allegedly second experiment in which we measured beer-related attitudes, craving for beer, and actual drinking behavior both during a bogus taste test and during the week following the experiment.

Compared to participants in the control condition, participants in the experimental condition showed more negative attitudes toward beer, experienced less craving for beer, and consumed less beer both in the lab during the taste test and outside the lab during the week following the manipulation.

These findings suggest that unhealthy drinking behavior may be targeted through EC procedures.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: K.Houben@maastrichtuniversity.nl

How good is fine-grained Timeline Follow-back data? Comparing 30-day TLFB and repeated 7-day TLFB alcohol consumption reports on the person and daily

This study examined the correspondence of two types of Timeline Follow-back (TLFB) methods, a web-based self-administered, repeated 7-day TLFB and an interviewer-administered 30-day TLFB of alcohol consumption.

Participants were first- and second-year college students (n = 323, 58.5% female). Day-to-day correspondence of drinking reports and correspondence of person-level indicators of drinking were assessed.

Results indicated that correspondence between the TLFB-30 and TLFB-7 reports was generally good for summary indicators of drinking, but TLFB-7 data indicated a statistically significantly higher number of total drinks consumed, a higher number of days drinking 4+/5+ drinks per day, and a lower number of abstinent days than TLFB-30. Similarly, day-to-day comparison of drinking reports showed that drinking days were more frequently reported using the TLFB-7, a trend which was more pronounced for distal weekdays than recent weekdays. Correlations between TLFB-7 and TLFB-30 reports of drinks per drinking day were also lower for distal compared to recent weekdays (r = 0.61 vs. r = 0.76). Using a Poisson regression model, a linearly increasing trend in the absolute value of the difference between TLFB-7 and TLFB-30 drinking reports per day as length of recall increases was found.

Our results indicate that participants reported more drinking on the repeated TLFB-7 than on the standard TLFB-30. Furthermore, the result of daily level analyses showed that discrepancies between the methods increased as the length of recall increased.

These findings suggest that TLFB assessments covering longer intervals may have reduced accuracy on a fine-grained scale.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: bhoeppner@partners.org

Discrepancy between how children perceive their own alcohol risk and how they perceive alcohol risk for other children longitudinally predicts alcohol

This paper examined discrepancies between children's self-perceptions of the riskiness of alcohol use versus their perceptions of the riskiness of alcohol use for other children, and whether these discrepancies predicted children's future alcohol use.

Participants included 234 children (M = 11 years, 45.3% female) who completed baseline and one-year follow-up assessments on self-perceived riskiness of alcohol use, perceived riskiness of alcohol use for other same-age children, and own past year alcohol use.

When considering child age and gender, baseline alcohol use, and the individual reports of the riskiness of alcohol use, the interaction between alcohol use riskiness reports prospectively predicted greater odds of alcohol use.

The highest percentage of childhood alcohol use at one-year follow-up came from those children with both low self-perceived riskiness of alcohol use and high perceived riskiness of alcohol use for other children.

Children's perceptions of multiple people's risk from alcohol use result in identifying important subgroups of children at risk for early-onset alcohol use.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: adelosreyes@psyc.umd.edu

Event-level associations between affect, alcohol intoxication, and acute dependence symptoms: Effects of urgency, self-control, and drinking experienc

This study used experience sampling to examine within-person associations between positive affect, anxiety, sadness, and hostility and two outcomes: alcohol intoxication and acute dependence symptoms.

We examined the role of urgency, premeditation, and perseverance in predicting the alcohol outcomes and tested whether the affective associations varied as a function of urgency.

Participants completed baseline assessments and 21 days of experience sampling on PDAs. Hypotheses were partially confirmed.

Positive affect was positively, and sadness inversely, associated with intoxication. Hostility was associated with intoxication for men but not women.

Negative urgency moderated the association between anxiety and intoxication, making it stronger. However, positive urgency did not moderate the effect of positive affect.

Heavier drinkers exhibited the greatest number of symptoms, yet the association between intoxication and acute signs of alcohol disorder was attenuated among these individuals.

Results support the use of experience sampling to study acute signs and symptoms of high risk drinking and dependence.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: jsimons@usd.edu

Addiction: Cracking the code of addiction

Recent studies have started to reveal the contribution of epigenetic regulation to addiction-related behaviours and neuroadaptation. Two new studies focus on the role of the transcriptional repressor methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2).


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Request Reprint E-Mail: leonie.welberg@emory.edu