Lifestyle changes and 14-year change in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in a cohort of male physicians

Although cross-sectional studies have identified lifestyle factors associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), no studies have examined the association between changes in lifestyle factors and long-term changes in HDL-C.

We examined the association between changes in lifestyle factors and changes in HDL-C over a 14-year period in a cohort of 4,168 US male physicians, followed up between 1982 and 1997 and with HDL-C measured at both time points. Using linear regression, we examined the association between HDL-C change and categorized changes in alcohol consumption, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), and smoking, adjusting for age, baseline HDL-C, and other covariates.

Stable BMI of <25 kg/m² or BMI reduction from ≥25 to <25 kg/m² were associated with increases in HDL-C of 3.1 to 4.7 mg/dL over 14 years. Alcohol consumption of ≥1 drink daily or increase in alcohol consumption from <1 to ≥1 drink daily was associated with increases in HDL-C of 2.4 to 3.3 mg/dL over 14 years. Adopting a sedentary lifestyle was associated with decreases in 14-year decreases in HDL-C.

These findings suggest that reductions in BMI and increases in alcohol consumption are associated with 14-year increases in HDL-C, whereas decreases in physical activity are associated with 14-year decreases in HDL-C.

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In This Issue
 
2 First Accredited Addiction
Medicine Training
Programs to be
Announced
 
3 Message from
the President
 
4 ABAM and The ABAM
Foundation Further
Dialogue with Organized
Medicine
 
5 ABAM Announces
the Maintenance of
Certification (MOC)
Program
 
6 Educating and Expanding
the Addiction Medicine
Workforce
 
7 Health Care Reform to
Transform Addiction
Treatment Delivery
 
8 Dr. Volkow Helps Award
First ABAM Diplomate
Certificates



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Decline in Age of Drinking Onset in Ireland, Gender and Per Capita Alcohol Consumption

We sought to examine the fall in age of first drinking in Ireland and to determine whether there were gender differences. We also aimed to determine whether there was a relationship between the per capita alcohol consumption evident when people entered later adolescence and their age of drinking onset.

 

Information on age of first drinking was based on retrospective recall of 9832 interviewees from the pooled samples obtained from two population surveys. We examined the change in age of first drinking, by birth cohort and by gender, utilizing survival analysis. We utilized Pearson's correlation to explore the relationship between median age of first drinking within each birth cohort and the mean per capita alcohol consumption when that birth cohort was aged 16 years. 

The average age of first drinking fell steadily and significantly across birth cohorts from the late 1930s to the early 1990s. This change was significantly greater in females. Per capita alcohol consumption was very highly negatively correlated with the median age at which each birth cohort commenced drinking (r = −0.96, P < 0.001). 

The prevailing level of drinking in society at the point when young people enter later adolescence is very closely associated with the age at which they commence drinking. Per capita consumption may be contributing to the changes in age of onset of drinking and/or both may share a similar set of determinants. In light of this apparent relationship, it is possible that efforts to reduce per capita alcohol consumption may also reduce underage drinking.

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Request Reprint E-Mail:  smythbo@tcd.ie 

Factors associated with alcohol and drug use among traffic crash victims in southern Brazil

To investigate the prevalence of and factors associated with alcohol- or drug-related traffic crashes (TC) in a sample of TC victims who were admitted to the two emergency rooms of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil.

A cross-sectional study with consecutive samples was used. Victims of non-fatal TCs (as drivers, passengers or pedestrians) who had presented at emergency rooms during the 45 days of data collection were selected. Subjects participated in a structured interview, were breathalyzed and underwent salivary drug testing. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to verify factors associated with alcohol or drug use.

Of the 609 victims who participated in the interview, 72% were male, and the median age was 29 years (interquartile range 23.0–40.0 years). The drivers were mostly men (p < 0.001), with a higher binge drinking rate (p = 0.003) and marijuana use (p = 0.005) than seen in pedestrian and passengers. The prevalence of a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) ranged from 7.8% among the drivers to 9.2% among the pedestrians (p = 0.861), and the cannabis prevalence was 13.3% among the -drivers. 

The variables associated with an alcohol-related accident were binge drinking in the prior 12 months (OR 2.4; CI 95% 1.1–5.1) and coming from a party/bar (OR 8.7; CI 95% 2.8–26.7). Alcohol abuse or dependence increased by 5.2-fold the chance of another substance-related TC.

The large number of individuals found in TC-related emergency room visits in a short time frame is evidence of the Brazilian epidemic of TC. The data showed that alcohol abuse or dependence also increases the risk of intoxication by other drugs, and they point to alcohol and drug use as a major problem requiring specific TC-related public policies and law enforcement.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:  raqueldeboni@msn.com 

Does the Response to Alcohol Taxes Differ Across Racial/Ethnic Groups? Some Evidence from 1984-2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Excessive alcohol use remains an important lifestyle-related contributor to morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and worldwide. It is well documented that drinking patterns differ across racial/ethnic groups, but not how those different consumption patterns would respond to tax changes. Therefore, policy makers are not informed on whether the effects of tax increases on alcohol abuse are shared equally by the whole population, or policies in addition to taxation should be pursued to reach certain sociodemographic groups.

To estimate differential demand responses to alcohol excise taxes across racial/ethnic groups in the U.S.

Individual data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 1984-2009 waves (N = 3,921,943, 39.3% male; 81.3% White, 7.8% African American, 5.8% Hispanic, 1.9% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1.4% Native American, and 1.8% other race/multi-race) are merged with tax data by residential state and interview month. Dependent variables include consumption of any alcohol and number of drinks consumed per month. Demand responses to alcohol taxes are estimated for each race/ethnicity in separate regressions conditional on individual characteristics, state and time fixed effects, and state-specific secular trends.

The null hypothesis on the identical tax effects among all races/ethnicities is strongly rejected (P < 0.0001), although pairwise comparisons using t-test are often not statistically significant due to a lack of precision. Our point estimates suggest that the tax effect on any alcohol consumption is largest among White and smallest among Hispanic. Among existing drinkers, Native American and other race/multi-race are most responsive to tax effects while Hispanic least. 

For all races/ethnicities, the estimated tax effects on consumption are large and significant among light drinkers (1-40 drinks per month), but shrink substantially for moderate (41-99) and heavy drinkers (= 100).

Extensive research has been conducted on overall demand responses to alcohol excise taxes, but not on heterogeneity across various racial/ethnic groups. Only one similar prior study exists, but used a much smaller dataset. The authors did not identify differential effects. With this much larger dataset, we found some evidence for different responses across races/ethnicities to alcohol taxes, although we lack precision for individual group estimates. Limitations of our study include the absence of intrastate tax variations, no information on what type of alcohol is consumed, lack of controls for subgroup baseline alcohol consumption rates, and measurement error in self-reported alcohol use data.

Tax policies aimed to reduce alcohol-related health and social problems should consider whether they target the most harmful drinking behaviors, affect subgroups in unintended ways, or influence some groups disproportionately. This requires information on heterogeneity across subpopulations. Our results are a first step in this direction and suggest that there exists a differential impact across races/ethnicities, which may further increase health disparities. Tax increases also appear to be less effective among the heaviest consumers who are associated with highest risk.

More research, including replications in different settings, is required to obtain better estimates on differential responses to alcohol tax across races/ethnicities. Population heterogeneity is also more complex than our first cut by race/ethnicity and needs more fine-grained analyses and model structures.

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Request Reprint E-Mail:   ran@rand.org

Effect of central nicotinic activation on drinking behavior

Intracerebroventricular injections of angiotensin II (ANG) and nicotine activate the subfornical organ (SFO), an essential central nucleus for ANG-induced drinking.  Nicotine has been, however, reported to induce little drinking behavior.

To clarify this paradox, we investigated effects of nicotine and ANG on activity of SFO neurons and drinking behavior.

In extracellular recordings many SFO neurons (57%) were excited by the both drugs. The nicotine-induced excitation was transient, whereas the ANG-induced was long-lasting. After intracerebroventricular injection of nicotine, the latency to drinking was dose-dependently shortened, but the drinking volumes were much smaller than those by ANG. 

These suggest that central nicotinic activation contributes to induction of drinking behavior while drinking volume is small because effects of nicotine on neurons are short-lasting.

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Request Reprint E-Mail:   ono@kyu-dent.ac.jp 

Maternal voluntary drinking in C57BL/6J mice: Advancing a model for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) remain the most common preventable cause of behavioural abnormalities and cognitive deficits, yet little is known about the biological mechanisms involved in FASD pathology. 

Maternal voluntary ethanol consumption in mice may be a useful model for establishing the biological basis of moderate ethanol exposure phenotypes, which make up the majority of FASD cases. 

We have employed a two-bottle choice paradigm of maternal ethanol consumption throughout gestation and the early postnatal period in C57BL/6J mice. 

We assessed the efficacy of this model to produce a range of FASD-relevant phenotypes and evaluated gene expression changes in the adult offspring.

Results showed stable maternal consumption and lack of maternal care differences between ethanol-consuming and water-only dams. 

Ethanol-exposed offspring showed delays in neonatal reflex and coordination development. Further, ethanol-exposed adolescent mice showed decreased activity in a novel environment that appeared to be the result of novelty-induced anxiety, and acquisition learning deficits. 

Evaluation of the neurotransmitter-associated genes Gabra6, Glra1, and Grin2c revealed significant down-regulation of Glra1 and Grin2c in the brains of ethanol-exposed young adult males. 

These results suggest that this model is able to produce a range of behavioural phenotypes consistent with prenatal ethanol exposure and may be used to evaluate resulting long-term genetic changes. Given the range of genetic resources available for inbred mouse strains, the model described here may prove to be a useful tool in evaluating the molecular basis of FASD.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:  mlkleibe@uwo.cae 


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Adolescent C57BL/6J Mice Show Elevated Alcohol Intake, but Reduced Taste Aversion, as Compared to Adult Mice: A Potential Behavioral Mechanism for Binge Drinking

Binge alcohol drinking during adolescence is a serious health problem that may increase future risk of an alcohol use disorder. Although there are several different procedures by which to preclinically model binge-like alcohol intake, limited-access procedures offer the advantage of achieving high voluntary alcohol intake and pharmacologically relevant blood alcohol concentrations (BACs). 

Therefore, in the current study, developmental differences in binge-like alcohol drinking using a limited-access cycling procedure were examined. In addition, as alcohol drinking has been negatively correlated with sensitivity to the aversive properties of alcohol, we examined developmental differences in sensitivity to an alcohol-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA).

Binge-like alcohol consumption was investigated in adolescent (4 weeks) and adult (10 weeks) male C57BL/6J mice for 2 to 4 h/d for 16 days. Developmental differences in sensitivity to an alcohol-induced CTA were examined in adolescent and adult mice, with saline or alcohol (3 or 4 g/kg) repeatedly paired with the intake of a novel tastant (NaCl).

Adolescent mice showed a significant increase in alcohol intake as compared to adults, with adolescents achieving higher BACs and increasing alcohol consumption over successive cycles of the binge procedure. Conversely, adolescent mice exhibited a dose-dependent reduction in sensitivity to the aversive properties of alcohol, as compared to adult mice, with adolescent mice failing to develop a CTA to 3 g/kg alcohol. Finally, extinction of an alcohol CTA was observed following conditioning with a higher dose of alcohol in adolescent, versus adult, mice.

These results indicate that adolescent mice consume more alcohol, per kilogram body weight, than adults in a binge-like model of alcohol drinking and demonstrate a blunted sensitivity to the conditioned aversive effects of alcohol. Overall, this supports a behavioral framework by which heightened binge alcohol intake during adolescence occurs, in part, via a reduced sensitivity to the aversive properties of alcohol.

 

 

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Request Reprint E-Mail:   chodge@med.unc.edu

Alcohol Intake in Prairie Voles is Influenced by the Drinking Level of a Peer

Peer interactions can have important effects on alcohol-drinking levels, in some cases increasing use, and in other cases preventing it. In a previous study, we have established the prairie vole as a model animal for the effects of social relationships on alcohol intake and have observed a correlation of alcohol intake between individual voles housed together as pairs. 

Here, we investigated this correlated drinking behavior, hypothesizing that 1 animal alters its alcohol intake to match the drinking of its partner.

Adult prairie voles were tested for baseline drinking levels with continuous access to 10% alcohol and water for 4 days. In Experiment 1, high alcohol drinkers (>9 g/kg/d) were paired with low alcohol drinkers (<5 g/kg/d) of the same sex on either side of a mesh divider for 4 days with continuous access to the same 2-bottle choice test. In Experiment 2, high drinkers were paired with high drinkers and low drinkers paired with low drinkers. In both experiments, animals were again separated following pairing, and drinking was retested in isolation. In Experiment 3, alcohol-naïve animals were tested for saccharin consumption (0.05%) first in isolation and then in high saccharin drinkers paired with low saccharin drinkers, and then in another isolation period.

In Experiment 1, high drinkers paired with low drinkers significantly decreased their alcohol intake and preference from baseline drinking in isolation, and drinking levels remained significantly lower during isolation following pairing. Interestingly, there was variability between pairs in whether the high drinker decreased or the low drinker increased intake. In Experiment 2, high drinkers paired with high drinkers did not significantly change their intake level or preference, nor did low drinkers paired with low drinkers, and no changes occurred during the subsequent isolation. In Experiment 3, there was no change in saccharin intake or preference when high drinkers were paired with high drinkers or low paired with low, or in the subsequent isolation.

Alcohol drinking of prairie voles can be altered under social conditions, such that 1 animal changes its alcohol intake to more closely match the intake of the other animal, helping to explain previous findings of correlated alcohol drinking. The effect does not extend to saccharin, a naturally rewarding sweet substance. This behavior can be used to model the peer pressure that can often affect alcohol intake in humans.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:  ryabinin@ohsu.edu 

Efficacy of Extended-Release Naltrexone in Patients with Relatively Higher Severity of Alcohol Dependence

Because some literature reviews have suggested that naltrexone’s benefit may be limited to less-severe alcohol dependence, and exclusively to reduction in heavy drinking rather than abstinence, we examined the efficacy of once per month, injectable extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX 380 mg) in patients with relatively higher severity alcohol dependence.

Post hoc analyses examined data from a multicenter, placebo-controlled, 24-week randomized trial of XR-NTX for alcohol dependence (N = 624). We analyzed treatment effects in alcohol-dependent patients who had higher baseline severity, as measured by: (i) the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS) or (ii) having been medically detoxified in the week before randomization. Efficacy was also examined via the relationship between pretreatment severity indices and reporting at least 4 days of lead-in abstinence prior to treatment—a major predictor of good outcome in the original study.

Higher severity alcohol-dependent patients, defined by the ADS, when receiving XR-NTX 380 mg (n = 50) compared with placebo (n = 47), had significantly fewer heavy-drinking days in-trial (hazard ratio=0.583; p = 0.0049) and showed an average reduction of 37.3% in heavy-drinking days compared with 27.4% for placebo-treated patients (p = 0.039). Among those who had a detoxification just prior to randomization, these reductions were 48.9% (XR-NTX 380 mg; n = 11) and 30.9% (placebo; n = 15) (p = 0.004). Subjects with at least 4 days of pretreatment abstinence (n = 82) versus those without (n = 542) had significantly higher pretreatment ADS scores (p = 0.002) and were more likely to require detoxification prior to randomization (p < 0.001). Patients with lead-in abstinence experienced significantly better maintenance of initial and 6-month abstinence.

These secondary analyses support the efficacy of XR-NTX 380 mg in relatively higher severity alcohol dependence for both reduction in heavy drinking and maintenance of abstinence, with implications for the role of adherence pharmacotherapy.



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Request Reprint E-Mail:    pettinati_h@mail.trc.upenn.edu 

Involvement of Arginine Vasopressin and V1b Receptor in Alcohol Drinking in Sardinian Alcohol-Preferring Rats

Recent animal studies have shown that the level of stress-responsive arginine vasopressin (AVP) gene expression in the amygdala is increased during early withdrawal from long-term heroin or cocaine administration. The selective AVP V1b receptor antagonist SSR149415 (capable of exerting antidepressant-like and anxiolytic effects in animal models) also blocked stress-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior. 

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of alcohol and to determine whether (i) there are genetically determined differences in basal AVP mRNA levels in the medial/central amygdala (Me/CeA) and medial hypothalamus (MH) between selectively bred Sardinian alcohol-preferring (sP) and alcohol-nonpreferring (sNP) rats; (ii) the AVP mRNA levels are altered by long-term alcohol drinking in sP rats; and (iii) the V1b receptor antagonist SSR149415 alters alcohol drinking in sP rats.

In Experiment 1, AVP mRNA levels were measured in the Me/CeA and MH of alcohol-naïve sP and sNP rats, and sP rats exposed to the standard, homecage 2-bottle “alcohol versus water” choice regimen 24 h/d for 17 days. In Experiment 2, SSR149415 (0, 3, 10, or 30 mg/kg; intraperitoneal) was acutely administered 30 minutes before lights off to alcohol-experienced sP rats. Alcohol, water, and food intake were monitored 6 and 24 hours later.

We found higher basal AVP mRNA levels in both Me/CeA and MH of alcohol-naïve sP than sNP rats; alcohol consumption decreased AVP mRNA levels in both brain regions of sP rats, suggesting genetically determined differences between the 2 rat lines and in the effects of alcohol drinking in sP rats. Acute treatment with SSR149415 significantly reduced alcohol intake of sP rats.

The stress-responsive AVP/V1b receptor system is 1 component of the neural circuitry underlying high alcohol drinking in sP rats.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:    yan.zhou@rockefeller.edu  

Trends in Alcohol Services Utilization from 1991–1992 to 2001–2002: Ethnic Group Differences in the U.S. Population

During the early 1990s in the United States, changes to the provision and financing of alcohol treatment services included reductions in inpatient treatment services and in private sector spending for treatment. 

We investigated trends in alcohol services utilization over the 10-year period from 1991–1992 to 2001–2002 among U.S. whites, blacks, and Hispanics.

Data come from 2 household surveys of the U.S. adult population. The 1991 to 1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey and the 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions conducted face-to-face interviews with a multistage cluster sample of individuals 18 years of age and older in the continental United States. Treatment utilization represented both total utilization and the use of alcohol services. Data analyses were prevalence rates and multivariate logistic regressions for lifetime utilization with drinkers and individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs).

From 1991–1992 to 2001–2002, drinking-related emergency room and human services use increased for drinkers, while total utilization and the use of private health professional services and mutual aid decreased for individuals with AUDs. In drinkers and individuals with AUDs, blacks and Hispanics were less likely than whites to use private health professional care. Hispanics with AUDs were less likely than whites with AUDs to use alcohol or drug programs. Ethnicity interacted with alcohol severity to predict alcohol services utilization. At higher levels of alcohol severity, blacks and Hispanics were less likely than whites to ever use treatment and to use alcohol services (i.e., human services for Hispanic drinkers, mental health services for blacks with AUDs, and mutual aid for Hispanics with AUDs).

Our findings showed increases from 1991–1992 to 2001–2002 in alcohol services utilization for drinkers, but reductions in utilization for individuals with AUDs. Blacks and Hispanics, particularly those at higher levels of alcohol severity, underutilized treatment services compared to whites. These utilization trends for blacks and Hispanics may reflect underlying disparities in healthcare access for minority groups, and language and logistical barriers to utilizing services.



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Request Reprint E-Mail:   Karen.Chartier@UTSouthwestern.edu 

Binge Drinking and Declarative Memory in University Students

Binge drinking (BD), which is characterized by sporadic consumption of large quantities of alcohol in short periods, is prevalent among university students. Animal studies have shown that BD is associated with damage to the hippocampus, a region of the brain that plays a key role in learning and memory. The temporal cortex undergoes structural and functional changes during adolescence. 

The aim of the present study was to examine the association between BD and declarative memory in male and female university students.

The participants were 122 students (between 18 and 20 years of age): 62 BD (30 women) and 60 non-BD (29 women). The neuropsychological assessment included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Weschler Memory Scale-3rd ed. (WMS-III) Logical Memory subtest, to evaluate verbal declarative memory, and the WMS-III Family Pictures subtest, to measure visual declarative memory.

The BD students remembered fewer words in the interference list and displayed greater proactive interference in the RAVLT; they performed worse in the Logical Memory subtest, both on immediate and delayed recall. There were no differences between the groups in performance of the Family Pictures subtest. No significant interactions were observed between BD and sex.

Binge drinking is associated with poorer verbal declarative memory, regardless of sex. The findings are consistent with the vulnerability of the adolescent hippocampus to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. Longitudinal studies will help determine the nature of this relationship, the neurodevelopmental trajectories for each sex, and the repercussions on academic performance.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:   maria.parada@usc.es

Healthy Subjects with a Family History of Alcoholism Show Increased Stimulative Subjective Effects of Alcohol

Research has shown that subjects with a family history positive (FHP) of alcoholism are at increased risk for alcoholism and that this group reacts differently to alcohol than family history negative (FHN) subjects. These different levels of sensitivity may make FHP persons more likely to consume alcohol. 


Here, we tested the hypothesis that subjects FHP for type 1 alcoholism (according to Cloninger) are more sensitive than control subjects to the stimulative, properties of alcohol following a single moderate dose of alcohol.

Fifty-one healthy men and women (22 FHP and 29 FHN) participated in 2 laboratory sessions, in which they consumed a beverage containing ethanol (0.6 g/kg in juice) or placebo (juice alone) in a randomized order. Primary dependent measures were self-report questionnaires of mood states.

Subjects with family history of type 1 alcoholism showed increased stimulative responses and an elevated positive mood state after ethanol compared to controls.

At this moderate dose, ethanol increased stimulative subjective responses in individuals who were “family history positive.” This enhanced sensitivity could motivate to exaggerated drinking and thereby increase the risk for developing alcoholism.



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Request Reprint E-Mail:   anna.soderpalm@neuro.gu.se  

Extensive Deep Gray Matter Volume Reductions in Children and Adolescents with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

The link between the numerous cognitive, motor, and behavioral difficulties of individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and underlying specific structural brain injuries can be investigated using high-resolution imaging. Differential sensitivity of the brain’s “relay” stations, namely the deep gray matter structures, may play a key factor given their multifaceted role in brain function. 

The purpose of our study was to analyze differences in deep gray matter volumes of children and adolescents with FASD relative to age/sex-matched controls and to examine whether any volume differences were consistent across the age range of neurodevelopment.

Children and adolescents (N = 28, 6 to 17 years) diagnosed with FASD and 56 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (i.e., 2 matched controls per FASD subject) underwent 3-dimensional T1-weighted MRI scans that were used for the automated volume measurement (FreeSurfer) of the intracranial space, total white matter, cortical gray matter, and 6 deep gray matter structures, namely the hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus, with left and right measured separately. Volumes were compared between FASD and controls, as well as changes with age.

Significant reductions of volume in FASD were observed for the intracranial vault (7.6%), total white matter (8.6%), total cortical gray matter (7.8%), and total deep gray matter (13.1%). All 6 deep gray matter structures showed significant volume reductions bilaterally with the caudate (approximately 16%) and globus pallidus (approximately 18%) being most affected. The hippocampus, thalamus, and globus pallidus showed reductions in all 3 age subgroups (6 to 9, 10 to 13, and 14 to 17 years) but the caudate and putamen had smaller volumes for FASD only within the 2 youngest subgroups; the amygdala was only smaller for FASD in the 2 oldest subgroups.

Significant, but variable, volume reductions throughout the deep gray matter are observed over a wide age range of 6 to 17 years in FASD.



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Request Reprint E-Mail:    christian.beaulieu@ualberta.ca 

Alcohol News - 20/2011

ERR News (Estonia/Finland) - Study: Estonia Now Drinking Less Alcohol than Finland

People reined in alcohol buying during the recession along with other discretionary spending, and it can be said that the country now drinks less than neighboring Finland, according to the Institute of Economic Research. But there are some signs that the share of illegal alcohol is growing.

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PRWeb (Denmark) - New Genetic Research Indicates Children with Alcoholic Parents More Likely to Need Alcoholism Treatment

A recent study from The University of Copenhagen has indicated that when parents have alcohol use disorders, their children are more likely to inherit the same issue and need alcoholism treatment at some point down the line. The study showed that this genetic relationship was isolated from other factors contributing to alcoholism, such as social status and gender. The data will be published in the July 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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The Canberra Times (Australia) - Booze culture out of control: police

Police say their latest national blitz on drunken behaviour confirms that Australia's culture of alcohol and violence is out of control.’

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Los Angeles Times - Gastric bypass weight-loss surgery increases risk of alcoholism, study says

Gastric bypass surgery for weight loss doubles the risk of developing alcoholism compared with Lap-Band surgery, Swedish researchers reported Monday.

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Fox News - Internet Use Linked to Teen Drinking

Teens who drink alcohol spend more time using the computer for activities such as social networking than do those who don't drink alcohol, according to a new study.

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The Age (Australia) - Police admit alcohol message not getting through

Police nabbed 170 people for alcohol-related offences across the weekend in Victoria as senior police conceded their messages weren't getting through to young adults.

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RTE.ie (Ireland) - Trial hears concerns over blood alcohol levels

A manslaughter trial in Nenagh has heard blood alcohol levels can be unreliable when it comes to post mortem examinations.

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Medical News Today (Australia) - Alcohol Restrictions May Help Lower Injury Rates In Indigenous Communities

Rates of serious injury requiring aeromedical retrieval by the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) are at their lowest recorded level in four remote Queensland Indigenous communities, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. These low injury rates have occurred after government restrictions on access to alcohol in these communities.

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Rapid News Network - New Study Shows Alcohol Makes Women Fat

Being overweight is not always just the result 0f incorrect Nutrition and lack of exercise. According to the results of a new EPIC study (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) of the German Institute of Human Nutrition, Alcohol also contributes to being overweight and partially to blame for excess pounds.

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Scotsman (Scotland) - SNP: Minimum alcohol prices by next year

A NEW minimum price for alcohol is likely to become law within a year, after the SNP vowed the measure would be the key priority of its second term in office.

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Timaru Herald (New Zealand) - Alcohol 'toxic tide' in Nelson

Alcohol is a "toxic tide running through the community", and parents need help to prevent their teens being swept away, says a Nelson doctor.

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Voxy (New Zealand) - NZ Should Follow Scots Alcohol Pricing Lead

A minimum price for alcoholic drinks is set to become law in Scotland within a year, following the re-election of the Scottish Nationalist Party, who had vowed to make this a key priority.

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Wine Spectator (Australia) - Aussie Health Group Says No to Alcohol, Even in Moderation

An Australian health organization has issued an eyebrow-raising report urging people to abstain from alcohol completely in order to reduce their risk of cancer.

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News-Medical.net - School-based prevention programs can help reduce alcohol problems in young people

School prevention programs aimed at curbing alcohol misuse in children are somewhat helpful, enough so to deserve consideration for widespread use, according to a large, international systematic review.

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Medill Reports: Chicago (USA) - Study: Adult-supervised drinking harms teens, saying ‘no’ better

Parents who allow their teens to drink in adult-supervised settings, hoping it will teach them responsible drinking, may be doing more harm than good, according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

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The Guardian (UK) - Could an intensive, abstinence-based approach solve prisoners' drug addiction?

Keith Wallace describes his early home life as "traumatic and chaotic". His mother had a psychiatric illness and, unable to cope, her five sons were taken into care. Describing the years he spent in care as "providing some much needed stability", Wallace says it just wasn't enough to give him the start in life he needed and he began using cannabis and drinking alcohol as a teenager as "an escape".

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GenevaLunch (France) - French to crack down on drunk driving, speed on roads

French road safety officials meeting in Paris 11 May agreed to a series of radical changes to crack down on speeders and drunk drivers, shortly after April figures were released that show a sharp increase in road fatalities.

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Epileptiform Activity in Alcohol Dependent Patients and Possibilities of Its Indirect Measurement

Alcohol dependence during withdrawal and also in abstinent period in many cases is related to reduced inhibitory functions and kindling that may appear in the form of psychosensory symptoms similar to temporal lobe epilepsy frequently in conditions of normal EEG and without seizures. Because temporal lobe epileptic activity tend to spread
between hemispheres, it is possible to suppose that measures reflecting interhemispheric information transfer such as electrodermal activity (EDA) might be related to the psychosensory symptoms.
 
We have performed measurement of bilateral EDA, psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) and alcohol
craving (ACQ) in 34 alcohol dependent patients and 32 healthy controls. The results in alcohol dependent patients show that during rest conditions the psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) are related to EDA transinformation (PTI) between left
and right EDA records (Spearman r = 0.44, p,0.01).
 
The result may present potentially useful clinical finding suggesting a possibility to indirectly assess
epileptiform changes in alcohol dependent patients.


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Stimulant and Sedative Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol produces both stimulant and sedating effects in humans. These two seemingly opposite effects are central to the understanding of much of the literature on alcohol use and misuse. 

In this chapter we review studies that describe and attempt to measure various aspects of alcohol's subjective, autonomic, motor, cognitive and behavioral effects from the perspective of stimulation and sedation. 

Although subjective sedative and stimulatory effects can be measured, it is not entirely clear if all motor, cognitive and behavioral effects can be unambiguously assigned to either one or the other category. Increased heart rate and aggression seem strongly associated with stimulation, but motor slowing and cognitive impairment can also show a similar time course to stimulation, making their relation to sedation problematic. 

There is good agreement that alcohol's ability to induce striatal dopamine release is the mechanism underlying alcohol's stimulatory effects; however, the change in brain function underlying sedation is less well understood. 

In general, stimulatory effects are thought to be more rewarding than sedative effects, but this may not be true for anxiolytic effects which seem more closely related to sedation than stimulation. 

The two major theories of how response to alcohol predicts risk for alcoholism both postulate that individuals at high risk for alcohol use disorders have a reduced sedative response to alcohol compared to individuals not at high risk. In addition one theory proposes that alcoholism risk is also associated with a larger stimulatory response to alcohol.

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Request Reprint E-Mail:   dan.hommer@mail.nih.gov

Talking Policy — Commentary Alcohol restrictions in Indigenous communities: an effective strategy if Indigenous-led

While it is encouraging to read Margolis and colleagues’ findings in this issue of the Journal that in four Indigenous communities in Cape York, Queensland, there has been a marked reduction in aeromedical retrievals for serious injuries, the extent to which this is an indicator of a reduction in alcohol-related harm is uncertain.

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Talking Policy — Commentary Alcohol restrictions in Indigenous communities: necessary but not sufficient

Supply-reduction measures play a vital role in combating the devastating toll of excessive alcohol consumption in Australian Indigenous communities.1 The study by Margolis and colleagues in this issue of the Journal shows an association between increasing alcohol restrictions and falling rates of serious injury in Aboriginal communities in Cape York, Queensland.2 As the authors acknowledge, their study does not address possible unintended consequences, such as substitution of other drugs (especially marijuana) or displacement of drinkers to places where alcohol is available. Nor does it examine the important issue of the degree of local support for the restrictions.  > > > >  Read More

Increasing alcohol restrictions and rates of serious injury in four remote Australian Indigenous communities

To document rates of serious injuries in relation to government alcohol restrictions in remote Australian Indigenous communities.

An ecological study using Royal Flying Doctor Service injury retrieval data, before and after changes in legal access to alcohol in four remote Australian Indigenous communities, Queensland, 1 January 1996 – 31 July 2010.

Changes in rates of aeromedical retrievals for serious injury, and proportion of retrievals for serious injury, before and after alcohol restrictions.

After alcohol restrictions were introduced in 2002–2003, retrieval rates for serious injury dropped initially, and then increased in the 2 years before further restrictions in 2008 (average increase, 2.34 per 1000 per year). This trend reversed in the 2 years after the 2008 restrictions (average decrease, 7.97 per 1000 per year). There was a statistically significant decreasing time trend in serious-injury retrieval rates in each of the four communities for the period 2 years before the 2002–2003 restrictions, 2 years before the 2008 restrictions, and the final 2 years of observations (2009–2010) (P < 0.001 for all four communities combined). Overall, serious-injury retrieval rates dropped from 30 per 1000 in 2008 to 14 per 1000 in 2010, and the proportions of serious-injury retrievals decreased significantly for all four communities.

The absolute and the proportional rates of serious-injury retrievals fell significantly as government restrictions on legal access to alcohol increased; they are now at their lowest recorded level in 15 years.


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Attachment security and alexithymia in a heavy drinking sample

Attachment difficulties have been proposed as a key risk factor for the development of alexithymia, a multifaceted personality trait characterised by difficulties identifying and describing feelings, a lack of imagination and an externally oriented thinking style.
 

This study investigated the relationship between attachment and alexithymia in an alcohol-dependent population.

Participants were 210 outpatients in a Cognitive Behavioural Treatment programme assessed on the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Revised Adult Attachment Scale. 

 

Significant relationships between anxious attachment and alexithymia factors were confirmed.

Furthermore, alexithymic alcoholics reported significantly higher levels of anxious attachment and significantly lower levels of closeness (secure attachment) compared to non-alexithymic alcoholics. 

These findings highlight the importance of assessing and targeting anxious attachment among alexithymic alcoholics in order to improve alcohol treatment outcomes.

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