Results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings

This report presents the first information from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The survey is the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. The survey interviews approximately 67,500 persons each year. Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons in this report described using terms such as "increased," "decreased," or "more than" are statistically significant at the .05 level.

Alcohol Use

• Slightly more than half of Americans aged 12 or older reported being current drinkers of alcohol in the 2010 survey (51.8 percent). This translates to an estimated 131.3 million people, which was similar to the 2009 estimate of 130.6 million people (51.9 percent).
• In 2010, nearly one quarter (23.1 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge drinking. This translates to about 58.6 million people. The rate in 2010 was similar to the estimate in 2009 (23.7 percent). Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the 30 days prior to the survey.
• In 2010, heavy drinking was reported by 6.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older, or 16.9 million people. This rate was similar to the rate of heavy drinking in 2009 (6.8 percent). Heavy drinking is defined as binge drinking on at least 5 days in the past 30 days.
• Among young adults aged 18 to 25 in 2010, the rate of binge drinking was 40.6 percent, and the rate of heavy drinking was 13.6 percent. These rates were similar to the rates in 2009.
• The rate of current alcohol use among youths aged 12 to 17 was 13.6 percent in 2010, which was lower than the 2009 rate (14.7 percent). Youth binge and heavy drinking rates in 2010 (7.8 and 1.7 percent) were also lower than rates in 2009 (8.8 and 2.1 percent).
• There were an estimated 10.0 million underage (aged 12 to 20) drinkers in 2010, including 6.5 million binge drinkers and 2.0 million heavy drinkers.
• Past month and binge drinking rates among underage persons declined between 2002 and 2010. Past month use declined from 28.8 to 26.3 percent, while binge drinking declined from 19.3 to 17.0 percent.
• In 2010, 55.3 percent of current drinkers aged 12 to 20 reported that their last use of alcohol in the past month occurred in someone else's home, and 29.9 percent reported that it had occurred in their own home. About one third (30.6 percent) paid for the alcohol the last time they drank, including 8.8 percent who purchased the alcohol themselves and 21.6 percent who gave money to someone else to purchase it. Among those who did not pay for the alcohol they last drank, 38.9 percent got it from an unrelated person aged 21 or older, 16.6 percent from another person younger than 21 years old, and 21.6 percent from a parent, guardian, or other adult family member.
• In 2010, an estimated 11.4 percent of persons aged 12 or older drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year. This percentage had dropped since 2002, when it was 14.2 percent. The rate of driving under the influence of alcohol was highest among persons aged 21 to 25 (23.4 percent).

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Press Release - Diageo takes multi-million dollar global partnership with Facebook to the next level

Diageo today announces plans to step-up their multi-million dollar strategic partnership with Facebook®, which will drive unprecedented levels of integration and joint business planning and experimentation between the two companies. > > > > Read More

Facebook deal with Diageo fuels under-age drinking fears

A multimillion-dollar deal agreed between Facebook and drinks company Diageo will fuel the under-age drinking epidemic by exposing increasing numbers of young people to alcohol marketing, health experts are warning.

Advertising to the predominantly young people who use Facebook has been hugely profitable for Diageo, which makes the drink of choice for most teenagers who can obtain it – Smirnoff vodka.

Announcing the deal, Diageo said Smirnoff had become "the number one beverage alcohol brand on Facebook worldwide". Its brands in the US had enjoyed a 20% increase in sales "as a result of Facebook activity". The deal will, said Diageo, "drive unprecedented levels of integration and joint business planning, and experimentation between the two companies".

Diageo said that more than 950 of its marketers had been trained in "Facebook boot camps" to build their social media capabilities and the company was recording "significant returns on investment" across a number of its brands. > > > > Read More

Social media guidelines drafted for alcohol brands

Alcoholic drinks brands looking to market their products through social media could will now have to follow a set of principles created by the European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) and the Distilled Spirits Council of the US (DISCUS).

The guidelines will come into effect in the US and Europe on September 30th and concern any alcohol brand wanting to use blogs, social networking sites, mobile apps and user-generated content

One of the key initiatives of the principles is to provide consistent age checking and monitoring of content, to ensure that it is being marketed at an appropriate audience and in a suitable way. > > > > Read More

Living Alone and Alcohol-Related Mortality: A Population-Based Cohort Study from Finland Kimmo Herttua and colleagues showed that living alone is asso

Social isolation and living alone are increasingly common in industrialised countries. However, few studies have investigated the potential public health implications of this trend. We estimated the relative risk of death from alcohol-related causes among individuals living alone and determined whether this risk changed after a large reduction in alcohol prices.

We conducted a population-based natural experimental study of a change in the price of alcohol that occurred because of new laws enacted in Finland in January and March of 2004, utilising national registers. The data are based on an 11% sample of the Finnish population aged 15–79 y supplemented with an oversample of deaths. The oversample covered 80% of all deaths during the periods January 1, 2000–December 31, 2003 (the four years immediately before the price reduction of alcohol), and January 1, 2004–December 31, 2007 (the four years immediately after the price reduction). Alcohol-related mortality was defined using both underlying and contributory causes of death. During the 8-y follow-up about 18,200 persons died due to alcohol-related causes. Among married or cohabiting people the increase in alcohol-related mortality was small or non-existing between the periods 2000–2003 and 2004–2007, whereas for those living alone, this increase was substantial, especially in men and women aged 50–69 y. For liver disease in men, the most common fatal alcohol-related disease, the age-adjusted risk ratio associated with living alone was 3.7 (95% confidence interval 3.3, 4.1) before and 4.9 (95% CI 4.4, 5.4) after the price reduction (p<0.001 for difference in risk ratios). In women, the corresponding risk ratios were 1.7 (95% CI 1.4, 2.1) and 2.4 (95% CI 2.0, 2.9), respectively (p ≤ 0.01). Living alone was also associated with other mortality from alcohol-related diseases (range of risk ratios 2.3 to 8.0) as well as deaths from accidents and violence with alcohol as a contributing cause (risk ratios between 2.1 and 4.7), both before and after the price reduction.

Living alone is associated with a substantially increased risk of alcohol-related mortality, irrespective of gender, socioeconomic status, or the specific cause of death. The greater availability of alcohol in Finland after legislation-instituted price reductions in the first three months of 2004 increased in particular the relative excess in fatal liver disease among individuals living alone.

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Deep brain stimulation in addiction: a review of potential brain targets

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an adjustable, reversible, non-destructive neurosurgical intervention using implanted electrodes to deliver electrical pulses to areas in the brain.

DBS is currently investigated in psychiatry for the treatment of refractory obsessive–compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome and depressive disorder. Although recent research in both animals and humans has indicated that DBS may be an effective intervention for patients with treatment-refractory addiction, it is not yet entirely clear which brain areas should be targeted.

The objective of this review is to provide a systematic overview of the published literature on DBS and addiction and outline the most promising target areas using efficacy and adverse event data from both preclinical and clinical studies.

We found 7 animal studies targeting six different brain areas: nucleus accumbens (NAc), subthalamic nucleus (STN), dorsal striatum, lateral habenula, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hypothalamus, and 11 human studies targeting two different target areas: NAc and STN.

Our analysis of the literature suggests that the NAc is currently the most promising DBS target area for patients with treatment-refractory addiction. The mPFC is another promising target, but needs further exploration to establish its suitability for clinical purposes.

We conclude the review with a discussion on translational issues in DBS research, medical ethical considerations and recommendations for clinical trials with DBS in patients with addiction.


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Alcohol induced depressive-like behavior is associated with a reduction in hippocampal BDNF

Strong positive correlation between depression and alcoholism is evident in epidemiological reports. However, a causal relationship for this co-morbidity has not been established.

We have observed that chronic daily exposure to a relatively high dose of alcohol can induce depressive-like behavior in rats and that pretreatment with nomifensine or imipramine can block the “depressogenic” effects of alcohol.

Since brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is considered to play an important role in depressive-like behaviors and its elevation, particularly in the hippocampus, appears to be critical for the action of many antidepressants, we hypothesized that: 1. WKY rats, a putative animal model of depression, will show a lower hippocampal BDNF compared to their control Wistar rats, 2. Alcohol-induced depressive like behavior will be associated with a significant decrease in hippocampal BDNF and 3. Treatments with antidepressants will normalize hippocampal BDNF.

These postulates were verified by measuring hippocampal BDNF in Wistar and WKY rats at baseline, following chronic (10 day) treatment with alcohol and combination of alcohol with nomifensine or imipramine. Alcohol was administered via inhalation chamber (3 h/day) such that a blood alcohol level of approximately 150 mg% was achieved. Nomifensine (10 mg/kg) or imipramine (10 mg/kg) was administered i.p. daily immediately after alcohol exposure. BDNF was measured by standard ELISA kit.

The results support a role for central BDNF in depressogenic effects of alcohol and antidepressant effects of nomifensine and imipramine. Moreover, depression per se as manifested in WKY rats may be associated with a reduction in hippocampal BDNF.



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Neuroprotective effects of the 17β-estradiol against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity and oxidative stress in the developing male rat cerebellum: Biochem

During particular periods of central nervous system (CNS) development, exposure to ethanol can decrease regional brain growth and can result in selective loss of neurons. Unfortunately, there are few effective means of attenuating damage in the immature brain.

In this study, the possible antioxidant and neuroprotective properties of 17β-estradiol against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity was investigated.

17β-estradiol (600 μg/kg) was injected subcutaneously in postnatal day (PD) 4 and 5, 30 min prior to intraperitoneal injection of ethanol (6 g/kg) in rat pups. Ninety minutes after injection of ethanol, the activities of several antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (Gpx) in vermis of cerebellum were assayed. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels were also measured as a marker of lipid peroxidation. Behavioral studies, including rotarod and locomotor activity tests were performed in PD 21–23 and histological study was performed after completion of behavioral measurements in postnatal day 23.

The results of the present work demonstrated that ethanol could induce lipid peroxidation, increase TBARS levels and decrease glutathione peroxidase levels in pup cerebellum.

We also observed that ethanol impaired performance on the rotarod and locomotor activities of rat pups. However, treatment with 17β-estradiol significantly attenuated motoric impairment, the lipid peroxidation process and restored the levels of antioxidants. Histological analysis also indicated that ethanol could decrease vermis Purkinje cell count and 17β-estradiol prevented this toxic effect.

These results suggest that ethanol may induce lipid peroxidation in the rat pups cerebellum while treatment with 17β-estradiol improves motor deficits by protecting the cerebellum against ethanol toxicity.


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Reques Reprint E-Mail: irangoudarzi@du.ac.ir

Modeling binge-like ethanol drinking by peri-adolescent and adult P rats

Alcohol binge-drinking, especially among adolescents and young adults, is a serious public health concern. The present study examined ethanol binge-like drinking by peri-adolescent [postnatal days (PNDs 30–72)] and adult (PNDs 90–132) alcohol-preferring (P) rats with a drinking-in-the-dark-multiple-scheduled-access (DID-MSA) procedure used by our laboratory.

Male and female P rats were provided concurrent access to 15% and 30% ethanol for three 1-h sessions across the dark cycle 5 days/week.

For the 1st week, adolescent and adult female P rats consumed 3.4 and 1.6 g/kg of ethanol, respectively, during the 1st hour of access, whereas for male rats the values were 3.5 and 1.1 g/kg of ethanol, respectively. Adult intakes increased to ~ 2.0 g/kg/h and adolescent intakes decreased to ~ 2.5 g/kg/h across the 6 weeks of ethanol access.

The daily ethanol intake of adult DID-MSA rats approximated or modestly exceeded that seen in continuous access (CA) rats or the selection criterion for P rats (≥ 5 g/kg/day).

However, in general, the daily ethanol intake of DID-MSA peri-adolescent rats significantly exceeded that of their CA counterparts.

BELs were assessed at 15-min intervals across the 3rd hour of access during the 4th week. Ethanol intake was 1.7 g/kg vs. 2.7 g/kg and BELs were 57 mg% vs. 100 mg% at 15- and 60-min, respectively. Intoxication induced by DID-MSA in female P rats was assessed during the 1st vs. 4th week of ethanol access. Level of impairment did not differ between the 2 weeks (106 vs. 97 s latency to fall, 120 s criterion) and was significant (vs. naïve controls) only during the 4th week.

Overall, these findings support the use of the DID-MSA procedure in rats, and underscore the presence of age- and sex-dependent effects mediating ethanol binge-like drinking in P rats.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: ribell@iupui.edu

Stress and consumption of alcohol in humans with a Type 1 family history of alcoholism in an experimental laboratory setting

This paper investigates how stress interacts with alcohol consumption in subjects with a family history of alcoholism. One mechanism for increases in alcohol intake may be that stress alters the subjective effects produced by the drug.

58 healthy volunteers, divided into two groups of family history positive (FHP) and two groups of family history negative (FHN) participated in two laboratory sessions, in which they performed in one out of two sessions a stress task. Then subjects were allowed to choose up to six additional drinks of ethanol or placebo depending on which session they were randomly assigned to start with.

It was found that FHP subjects increased their consumption of alcohol after stress.

It is possible that both stress and alcohol specifically exaggerate the feelings of the reward in the FHP individuals in such way that it may increase the likelihood of consuming more alcohol.

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

JRF report: Young people, alcohol and the media

A new study by The Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) explores media representations of alcohol and their influence on teenage drinking.

Download Young people, alcohol and the media or access the summary here. > > > > Read More

Editorial: Alcohol program an example for campuses

We support the University of Wisconsin-Madison's policy that requires students who commit alcohol-related violations to take a class aimed at educating them about potential dangers of alcohol misuse.

Northeastern Wisconsin contributes significantly to the UW-Madison student body, so efforts to address a social problem can strike close to home. If the policy produces positive results, it may be something for UW-Green Bay to consider, even though its campus size and climate differ greatly from Madison.

The policy was developed by the Chancellor's Alcohol Policy Group in cooperation with University Health Services. The required class is called BASIC — Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students — and gives students the option of participating in a group session (two 90-minute programs costing $78) or two one-on-one programs with a professional substance abuse counselor for $200.

The cost is in addition to the fines students have to pay for underage drinking citations or any other alcohol-related offense. > > > > Read More

Determining the relative importance of the mechanisms of behavior change within Alcoholics Anonymous: a multiple mediator analysis

Evidence indicates that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) participation reduces relapse risk but less is known about the mechanisms through which AA confers this benefit. Initial studies indicate self-efficacy, negative affect, adaptive social networks and spiritual practices are mediators of this effect, but because these have been tested in isolation, their relative importance remains elusive. This study tested multiple mediators simultaneously to help determine the most influential pathways.

Prospective, statistically controlled, naturalistic investigation examined the extent to which these previously identified mechanisms mediated AA attendance effects on alcohol outcomes controlling for baseline outcome values, mediators, treatment, and other confounders.

Nine clinical sites within the United States.

Adults (n = 1726) suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD) initially enrolled in a randomized study with two arms: aftercare (n = 774); and out-patient (n = 952) comparing three out-patient treatments (Project MATCH).

AA attendance during treatment; mediators at 9 months; and outcomes [percentage of days abstinent (PDA) and drinks per drinking day (DDD)] at 15 months.

Among out-patients the effect of AA attendance on alcohol outcomes was explained primarily by adaptive social network changes and increases in social abstinence self-efficacy. Among more impaired aftercare patients, in addition to mediation through adaptive network changes and increases in social self-efficacy, AA lead to better outcomes through increasing spirituality/religiosity and by reducing negative affect. The degree to which mediators explained the relationship between AA and outcomes ranged from 43% to 67%.

While Alcoholics Anonymous facilitates recovery by mobilizing several processes simultaneously, it is changes in social factors which appear to be of primary importance.

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Press Release - Distinguished IU scientists awarded IU President's Medal

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has awarded emeriti faculty members John Preer and Ting-Kai Li with the President's Medal for Excellence. The awards are among the highest honors an IU president can bestow. > > > > Read More

Mindfulness and modification therapy for behavioral dysregulation: results from a pilot study targeting alcohol use and aggression in women†

Objectives: Increasing evidence suggests that deficits in mindfulness (awareness, attentiveness, and acceptance of the present moment) play a role in a range of disorders involving behavioral dysregulation. This paper adds to that literature by describing a transdiagnostic psychotherapy (Mindfulness & Modification Therapy; MMT) developed to target behavioral dysregulation.

An open-treatment pilot-trial investigated the feasibility, acceptability, and pre-post effects of MMT targeting women (N = 14) court-referred for alcohol abuse/dependence and aggression.

Pre-post comparisons revealed significant decreases in alcohol use, drug use, and aggression. In addition, the retention rate was 93%.

Preliminary evidence suggests that MMT is a feasible and acceptable treatment that decreases dysregulated behaviors such as substance use and aggression, while also potentially increasing retention.



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Press Release - UN General Assembly announces historic commitment to fight noncommunicable diseases

WHO welcomes the adoption today by the UN General Assembly of the political declaration on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, chronic respiratory disease and cancer which together kill some 36 million people each year. For the first time, global leaders have reached consensus in the General Assembly on concrete actions to tackle these diseases.

Governments agreed on the need for global targets to monitor these diseases and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. The UN General Assembly has asked WHO to develop a framework for monitoring global progress and to prepare, before the end of 2012, recommendations for a set of global targets to monitor trends and assess the progress in countries to reduce the toll of suffering, disability and premature death due to these diseases. > > > > Read More

Ethanol metabolism activates cell cycle checkpoint kinase, Chk2

Chronic ethanol abuse results in hepatocyte injury and impairs hepatocyte replication. We have previously shown that ethanol metabolism results in cell cycle arrest at the G2/M transition, which is partially mediated by inhibitory phosphorylation of the cyclin-dependent kinase, Cdc2.

To further delineate the mechanisms by which ethanol metabolism mediates this G2/M arrest, we investigated the involvement of upstream regulators of Cdc2 activity.

Cdc2 is activated by the phosphatase Cdc25C. The activity of Cdc25C can, in turn, be regulated by the checkpoint kinase, Chk2, which is regulated by the kinase ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM).

To investigate the involvement of the regulators of Cdc2 activity, VA-13 cells, which are Hep G2 cells modified to efficiently express alcohol dehydrogenase, were cultured in the presence or absence of 25 mM ethanol. Immunoblots were performed to determine the effects of ethanol metabolism on the activation of Cdc25C, Chk2, and ATM.

Ethanol metabolism increased the active forms of ATM and Chk2, as well as the phosphorylated form of Cdc25C. Additionally, inhibition of ATM resulted in approximately 50% of the cells being rescued from the G2/M cell cycle arrest and ameliorated the inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdc2.

Our findings demonstrated that ethanol metabolism activates ATM. ATM can activate the checkpoint kinase Chk2, resulting in phosphorylation of Cdc25C and ultimately in the accumulation of inactive Cdc2.

This may, in part, explain the ethanol metabolism–mediated impairment in hepatocyte replication, which may be important in the initiation and progression of alcoholic liver injury.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: dclemens@unmc.edu

Effects of fenfluramine, 8-OH-DPAT, and tryptophan-enriched diet on the high-ethanol intake by rats bred for susceptibility to stress

The swim-test susceptible (SUS) line of rats has been bred in our laboratory for the characteristic of reduced motor activity in the swim test following exposure to an acute stressor. Testing of multiple generations of SUS rats has also revealed that they consume large amounts of ethanol voluntarily. As reported for lines of rats that show a propensity for high-ethanol intake, the SUS rats show evidence of low serotonergic function.

Because serotonergic function has often been shown to be involved in the regulation of alcohol consumption, here we examined the effects of manipulations of serotonin transmission on intake of ethanol by SUS rats.

Fenfluramine, a serotonin-releasing drug, was injected at various doses (0.625, 1.25, 2.5, and 5.0mg/kg) twice per day and ethanol intake was measured using a two-bottle free-choice method. The 8-OH-DPAT, a 5‑HT_1A agonist, was injected at various doses (0.03125, 0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0mg/kg) before a 1-h session of exposure to ethanol (single-bottle test, water available the other 23h per day). A diet enriched with 3% tryptophan (TRP), the amino acid precursor for serotonin synthesis, was administered in a restricted feeding schedule (5h per day) with ethanol intake measured the last 4h.

Fenfluramine decreased ethanol intake at all doses tested. The 8-OH-DPAT increased ethanol intake at lower doses, presumably acting at autoreceptors, which inhibit serotonergic neurons, and decreased intake at higher doses, presumably acting at postsynaptic 5-HT_1A receptors. TRP-enriched diet also significantly decreased ethanol intake. Food and water intake were less or unaffected by these three manipulations.

With all three manipulations, ethanol intake remained suppressed one or more days after the day of tests that decreased ethanol intake.

These data suggest that SUS rats, like many other lines/strains of rodents that consume large amounts of alcohol, show an inverse relationship between serotonin transmission and voluntary intake of ethanol.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: cwest@emory.edu

An in vitro model for studying the effects of continuous ethanol exposure on N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor function

Long-term ethanol exposure has deleterious effects on both glial and neuronal function. We assessed alterations in both astrocytic and neuronal viability, and alterations in N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function, in cocultures of rat cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) and astrocytes after continuous ethanol exposure (CEE).

Treatment of cells with 100 mM EtOH once every 24 h for 4 days resulted in a mean ethanol concentration of 57.3 ± 2.1 mM. Comparisons between control and post–ethanol-treated cells were made 4 days after the last ethanol treatment.

CEE did not alter glial cell viability, as indicated by the absence of either changes in astrocytic morphology, actin depolymerization, or disruption of astrocytic intracellular mitochondrial distribution at any day postethanol treatment. The CGCs were healthy and viable after CEE, as indicated by phase-contrast microscopy and the trypan-blue exclusion method.

Whole-cell patch-clamp experiments indicated that NMDA-induced currents (I_NMDA) were altered by CEE treatment. Similar to previous results obtained during the withdrawal phase from chronic ethanol exposure, I_NMDA from CEE-treated cells were significantly larger than I_NMDA from NMDARs in control CGCs, but returned to control values by the fourth day post-CEE.

However, after the last ethanol dosing and during a time when ethanol concentrations remained high, I_NMDA were significantly smaller than control values.

Identical results were observed in CGCs expressing the NR2A or NR2B subunit. In summary, both neurons and astrocytes remained healthy following exposure to CEE with no signs of neurotoxicity at the cellular level, and modulation of NMDAR function is consistent with findings from prior experiments.

Thus, we conclude that the CEE paradigm in glial–neuronal cocultures readily lends itself to long-term in vitro studies of ethanol effects that include glial–neuronal interactions and the ability to study ethanol withdrawal-induced neurotoxicity.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: lisa.popp@TTUHSC.edu

Baseline trajectories of heavy drinking and their effects on postrandomization drinking in the COMBINE Study: empirically derived predictors of drinki

The Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions (COMBINE) Study sought to answer questions about the benefits of combining behavioral and pharmacological interventions (naltrexone and acamprosate) in alcohol-dependent patients.

Our goals were to identify trajectories of heavy drinking before randomization in COMBINE, to characterize patients in these trajectories, and to assess whether prerandomization trajectories predict drinking outcomes.

We analyzed daily indicators of heavy drinking 90 days before randomization using a trajectory-based approach. Each patient was assigned to the most likely prerandomization heavy-drinking trajectory, and the baseline characteristics of participants in the baseline trajectories were compared.

The main and interactive effects of these trajectories and treatment factors (acamprosate, naltrexone, or combined behavioral intervention) on summary drinking measures during active treatment (16 weeks) were assessed.

We identified five trajectories of heavy drinking prerandomization: “T1: frequent heavy drinkers”; “T2: very frequent heavy drinkers”; “T3: nearly daily heavy drinkers”; “T4: daily heavy drinkers”; and “T5: daily heavy drinkers stopping early” before randomization.

Trajectory membership was significantly associated with all drinking outcomes. Patients in “T5: daily heavy drinkers stopping early” had comparable drinking outcomes to those in “T1: frequent heavy drinkers,” whereas the remaining trajectories were associated with significantly worse outcomes. The baseline trajectory did not interact significantly with the treatment condition.

These exploratory analyses confirmed the hypothesis that baseline trajectories predict postrandomization drinking outcomes. Interestingly, “T5: daily heavy drinkers stopping early” had outcomes that were comparable to the least severe baseline trajectory “T1: frequent heavy drinkers,” and baseline trajectories of heavy drinking did not moderate the treatment effects.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: ralitza.gueorguieva@yale.edu

Publication trends in addiction research

As opportunities to use and abuse drugs have tremendously increased during the past 50 years, so has addiction research.

Here, we provide a systematic review on publication trends in the addiction research field. We examined publication trends in different subject categories of journals including general and multi-disciplinary science, neuroscience, pharmacology, psychiatry and, as a final and most important category, substance abuse.

In this first report, we provide a brief comprehensive overview on what has been published in terms of addiction in the general and multi-disciplinary science category versus Addiction Biology within the past decade.

We reviewed the literature within three time windows 1999/2000, 2004/2005 and 2009/2010 and selected the number of publications (1) according to the country/region where the original study was conducted; (2) according to the drug classes; (3) according to animal versus human studies; (4) and in terms of methodological trends such as genetic association studies and neuro-imaging.

We found a 350% increase in addiction-related publications in the general and multi-disciplinary science category within the past decade. This increase, however, was mainly due to increased publication output from the United States.

Concerning drug classes, alcohol-, nicotine- and psychostimulant-related publications clearly increased between 1999 and 2010, whereas published papers related to opioids decreased over time. There were also strongly increasing trends for genetic and imaging studies in the addiction field over time.

These publication trends are also reflected to a certain degree by published studies in Addiction Biology.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: rainer.spanagel@zi-mannheim.de

Optogenetics: potentials for addiction research

Research on the biology of addiction has advanced significantly over the last 50 years expanding our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying reward, reinforcement and craving. Novel experimental approaches and techniques have provided an ever increasing armory of tools to dissect behavioral processes, neural networks and molecular mechanisms.

The ultimate goal is to reintegrate this knowledge into a coherent, mechanistic framework of addiction to help identify new treatment. This can be greatly facilitated by using tools that allow, with great spatial and temporal specificity, to link molecular changes with altered activation of neural circuits and behavior. Such specificity can now be achieved by using optogenetic tools.

Our review describes the general principles of optogenetics and its use to understand the links between neural activity and behavior. We also provide an overview of recent studies using optogenetic tools in addiction and consider some outstanding questions of addiction research that are particularly amenable for optogenetic approaches.



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Request Reprint E-Mail: zs220@cam.ac.uk

Genetic variations in the dopaminergic system and alcohol use: a system-level analysis

Alcohol use is highly heritable and has been associated with many gene variants, including those related to dopamine (DA). However, single gene association studies have shown inconsistent and small effects.

Using a system-level approach, the current study aimed to estimate the overall effect of genetic variations in the DA system on alcohol use among male drinkers.

One hundred seventy-six male college students who reported to have ever drunk alcohol were enrolled. Alcohol use was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Ninety-eight representative polymorphisms in all major DA neurotransmitter genes were genotyped.

Using analysis of variance, we identified six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)s that made statistically significant contributions to alcohol use. Next, main effects and interactions of these SNPs were assessed using multiple regression. The final model accounted for approximately 20% of the variance for alcohol use. Finally, permutation analyses ascertained the probability of obtaining these findings by chance to be low, p ranging from 0.024 to 0.048.

These results confirmed that DA-related gene variants made strong contributions to reported alcohol use and suggest that multiple regression can be a promising way to explore the genetic basis for multi-gene-determined human behaviors.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: dongqi@bnu.edu.com

Alcohol News - 38/2011

prMac (Latvia) - DrinkControl Lite - Track Drinks and Related Expenses on iPhone for Free

Happy Moments today is pleased to announce DrinkControl Lite 2.0.345, alcohol usage and expenses tracker for iPhone. DrinkControl Lite is used for recording the beverages taken and related expenses.
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Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) - Rise in alcohol tax is to focus specifically on milder drinks

Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry assumes that the aim is to make room for Class-2 beer with lower alcohol content.
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Hartwall (Finland) - Preliminary Inspection Committee supervises the TV alcohol advertising of members of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry

Last spring, the Finnish Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry decided that the content of the TV alcohol advertisements of its members will be inspected before release.
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www.stockholmnews.com (Sweden) - Alcohol will be permitted at old peoples´ homes

The four parties in the government all open up for a change in the law which will permit serving alcohol at old peoples’ homes.
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BakuToday (Lithuania) - The Government intends to put Lithuania in the category of moderate drinkers States

The Lithuanian Government approved the draft programme for the control of producers of alcohol and tobacco, reported today, 12 September BakuToday the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers.
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The Guardian (UK) - Price of alcohol is 'obscenely low'

The price of alcohol is "obscenely low" and heavy drinkers are being subsidised by ordinary shoppers in supermarkets, according to medical experts.
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Cancer Research UK - New insight into how alcohol is linked to breast and liver cancers

A US laboratory study has revealed how the breakdown of alcohol in human cells results in DNA damage that causes cell changes linked to cancer.
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The Age (Australia) - Experts see red over wine 'myth'

RED wine's reputation for preventing heart attacks has come under fire from health experts who have declared every drink of alcohol can do you damage.
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CNN International - WHO outlines steps to reduce leading causes of death

To decrease deaths from noninfectious diseases, countries should pass excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol, encourage smoke-free public places, reduce salt and trans fat in foods, and increase awareness of diet and physical activity, according to a World Health Organization report.
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Daily Mail - Sport and demon drink: Alcohol is a poison, adding to the risk of injury

Drinking excessively in modern sport goes against everything you are taught, so what England's players have apparently been doing in New Zealand makes no sense. Alcohol is a poison, so you don't want it in your blood and when it is, you are putting yourself at severe risk of injury.
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WebMD (USA) - Drinking on the Rise Among U.S. Women

Women are catching up to men when it comes to how much and how often they drink alcohol. As a result, they are increasingly at risk for developing alcohol problems.
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AllAfrica.com (Zimbabwe) - Alcohol, Tobacco Taxes to Go Up

CONCERNED by the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, the Government is considering raising alcohol and tobacco taxes to finance the prevention and treatment of such conditions.
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Los Angeles Times (USA) - Drinking problems have increased in last 60 years

An analysis of 31 studies on alcohol drinking patterns worldwide has found that people born in North America after World War II are more likely than other groups to engage in binge drinking and develop alcoholism. Younger groups consistently consume more alcohol than older generations.
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Voxy (New Zealand) - Alcohol Reform Bill not to pass before election

The Government is maintaining its impotent response to New Zealand's heavy drinking culture and not even passing the Alcohol Reform Bill before the election, says Alcohol Action.
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Indiana Public Media - Study: Parents Have Misperception Of Kids’ Drug, Alcohol Use

A new study looks at parents’ perception of alcohol and marijuana use among teenagers. The study from the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital says that 10 percent of parents think their own teens drank alcohol in the last year and five percent think their teens smoked marijuana in the last year.
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Sydney Morning Herald - UN summit targets obesity, alcohol and smoking

WORLD leaders will agree to a deal at a United Nations meeting tomorrow to try to curb the spread of preventable ''lifestyle'' diseases, amid concern that progress is already being hampered by powerful food, alcohol and tobacco lobbyists.
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Radio-Info.com - New study: "Young people are being overexposed to alcohol ads on the radio"

There could be implications for radio advertising in this story. A 2003 deal obligated beer and distilled spirits advertisers to keep alcohol ads away from media where those under the age of 21 are particularly likely to be represented.
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Independent Online (South Africa) - Hope for alcohol syndrome babies

For the first time, many South African babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) will be diagnosed at birth – giving them a far better chance at getting help.
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Sydney Morning Herald (Russia) - Beer's no longer lunch for Russians

WITH a stroke of the presidential pen, beer has been reclassified as an alcoholic drink instead of a foodstuff in Russia.
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Telegraph.co.uk (UK) - Boris Johnson: 'stay sober, stay free from jail' says London mayor

In a column for The Daily Telegraph, the mayor of London called for the introduction of mandatory “sobriety tests”, instead of jail for those convicted of alcohol-fuelled violence.
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U.S. News & World Report - Problem Drinking Linked to Brain Damage

Long-term alcohol abuse can result in significant damage to the brain, a new study shows.
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AFP (Russia) - Russia targets beer in fight against alcoholism

With a stroke of the presidential pen, beer was recently reclassified as an alcoholic drink in Russia, no longer a foodstuff, and its sales are to be restricted to cut alcohol abuse.
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Times of Malta (Malta) - Penalties on sale of alcohol to minors should be raised – MHRA

Penalties governing the sale of alcohol to minors should be raised substantially to a level that constituted a real deterrent, as had been announced by government in May this year, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said.
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Irish Times (Europe) - Europeans 'heaviest drinkers in world'

The World Health Organisation have announced an "action plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol" in Europe, which they say is the heaviest drinking region in the world.
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European Public Health Alliance (WHO Europe) - New Action Plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol adopted by 53 countries in Europe

Representatives from the 53 WHO European Region Member States met at the 61st session of the Regional Committee for Europe and adopted the European Action Plan to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
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The Chosun Ilbo (Korea) - Koreans Biggest Drinkers in Asia

Koreans drink more alcohol than any of their Asian neighbors, according to the World Health Organization. According to a report the WHO released in February on the annual average per capita consumption of alcohol by country, Koreans consume 14.80 liters to rank 13th in the world and No. 1 in Asia. The results were based on data gathered from 2003 to 2005.
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Alcohol, Tobacco Taxes to Go Up

CONCERNED by the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, the Government is considering raising alcohol and tobacco taxes to finance the prevention and treatment of such conditions.

The move will push retail prices of the products upwards.

Speaking ahead of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on NCDs, which begins here today, Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr Henry Madzorera said he would present the proposals to Cabinet after the Summit. > > > > Read More

National A.A. Archives Workshop

September 22-25, 2011
Helena, Montana

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Disease-driven detection of differential inherited SNP modules from SNP network

Detection of the synergetic effects between variants, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), is crucial for understanding the genetic characters of complex diseases.

Here, we proposed a two-step approach to detect differentially inherited SNP modules (synergetic SNP units) from a SNP network. First, SNP–SNP interactions are identified based on prior biological knowledge, such as their adjacency on the chromosome or degree of relatedness between the functional relationships of their genes. These interactions form SNP networks. Second, disease-risk SNP modules (or sub-networks) are prioritised by their differentially inherited properties in IBD (Identity by Descent) profiles of affected and unaffected sibpairs.

The search process is driven by the disease information and follows the structure of a SNP network. Simulation studies have indicated that this approach achieves high accuracy and a low false-positive rate in the identification of known disease-susceptible SNPs.

Applying this method to an alcoholism dataset, we found that flexible patterns of susceptible SNP combinations do play a role in complex diseases, and some known genes were detected through these risk SNP modules.

One example is GRM7, a known alcoholism gene successfully detected by a SNP module comprised of two SNPs, but neither of the two SNPs was significantly associated with the disease in single-locus analysis. These identified genes are also enriched in some pathways associated with alcoholism, including the calcium signalling pathway, axon guidance and neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction.

The integration of network biology and genetic analysis provides putative functional bridges between genetic variants and candidate genes or pathways, thereby providing new insight into the aetiology of complex diseases.



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Genes and Pathways Co-associated with the Exposure to Multiple Drugs of Abuse, Including Alcohol, Amphetamine/Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Marijuana, Mor

Drug addiction is a chronic neuronal disease. In recent years, proteomics technology has been widely used to assess the protein expression in the brain tissues of both animals and humans exposed to addictive drugs. Through this approach, a large number of proteins potentially involved in the etiology of drug addictions have been identified, which provide a valuable resource to study protein function, biochemical pathways, and networks related to the molecular mechanisms underlying drug dependence.

In this article, we summarize the recent application of proteomics to profiling protein expression patterns in animal or human brain tissues after the administration of alcohol, amphetamine/methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, morphine/heroin/butorphanol, or nicotine.

From available reports, we compiled a list of 497 proteins associated with exposure to one or more addictive drugs, with 160 being related to exposure to at least two abused drugs.

A number of biochemical pathways and biological processes appear to be enriched among these proteins, including synaptic transmission and signaling pathways related to neuronal functions.

The data included in this work provide a summary and extension of the proteomics studies on drug addiction. Furthermore, the proteins and biological processes highlighted here may provide valuable insight into the cellular activities and biological processes in neurons in the development of drug addiction.


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