Aims

To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Preventing alcohol harm: Early results from a cluster randomised, controlled trial in Victoria, Australia of comprehensive harm minimisation school drug educatio

 





 
 
In Australia, the burden of alcohol-attributable harm falls most heavily on young people. Prevention is important, and schools have long been seen as appropriate settings for pre-emptive interventions with this high risk group. This paper evaluates the effectiveness, in relation to alcohol harm prevention, of the Drug Education in Victorian Schools (DEVS) programme, nine months after implementation. This intervention dealt with both licit and illicit drugs, employed a harm minimisation approach that incorporated interactive, skill based, teaching methods and capitalised on parental influence through home activities.
 
A cluster randomised, controlled trial of the first ten lessons of the DEVS drug education programme was conducted with year eight students, aged 13–14 years. Twenty-one secondary schools in Victoria, Australia were randomly allocated to receive the DEVS programme (14 schools, n = 1163) or the drug education usually provided by their schools (7 schools, n = 589). Self-reported changes were measured in relation to: knowledge and attitudes, communication with parents, drug education lessons remembered, proportion of drinkers, alcohol consumption (quantity multiplied by frequency), proportion of student drinkers engaging in risky consumption, and the number of harms experienced as a result of alcohol consumption.
 
In comparison to the controls, there was a significantly greater increase in the intervention students’ knowledge about drugs, including alcohol (p ≤ 0.001); there was a significant change in their level of communication with parents about alcohol (p = 0.037); they recalled receiving significantly more alcohol education (p < 0.001); their alcohol consumption increased significantly less (p = 0.011); and they experienced a lesser increase in harms associated with their drinking (p ≤ 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two study groups in relation to changes in attitudes towards alcohol or in the proportion of drinkers or risky drinkers. There was, however, a notable trend of less consumption by risky drinkers in the intervention group.
 
A comprehensive, harm minimisation focused school drug education programme is effective in increasing general drug knowledge, and reducing alcohol consumption and harm.
 
 
 
Request Reprint E-Mail:     r.midford@ecu.edu.au
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Monday, July 15, 2013

Alcohol News - 28/2013




 Radio Sweden (Sweden) - State alcohol shop sues food
chain over online wine offer
A government-sponsored report has suggested tighter controls of alcohol marketing, after it increased markedly in the last few years. Meanwhile, monopoly alcohol retailer Systembolaget has sued the food retail chain City Gross for announcing recently that online customers would be offered wine for purchase.
Radio Sweden (Sweden) - Alcohol sales fall
Alcohol sales from Sweden's state-owned alcohol sales (off-licence) monopoly Systembolaget fell by 2.2 percent between March and June 2013 compared to the same period last year, according to new figures.
News ERR (Estonia) - Alcohol, Tobacco Still Eroding Healthy Life Expectancy, Experts Say
Healthy life expectancy has dropped in the last three years to just 55.5 - seven years off the EU average. Experts point to a combination of increased tobacco and alcohol use and financial insecurity from the last recession.
NordAN - Alcohol advertising in Nordic and Baltic countries
Nordic Alcohol and Drug Policy Network (NordAN) is focusing on alcohol advertising and its role to drinking and especially on young peoples relationship to alcohol in Nordic-Baltic region.
Stuff.co.nz - Alcohol strongly linked to cancer – study
Alcohol has been identified as one of the leading contributors to breast cancer deaths in a University of Otago study.
WalesOnline (Wales) - Binge drinkers to be filmed and shown their behaviour as alcohol treatment centre hailed a success
A teacher passed out in a taxi, a student saved from hypothermia and a French foreign exchange student glassed were among those helped at a world-first alcohol treatment centre.
New York Daily News (USA) - Alcohol labeling: Coming to a liquor store near you
People tend to overlook 'liquid calories,' particularly those that come from alcoholic beverages – because if you don't chew, it seems like it doesn't count. Sadly, that's not the case.
Northern Star - Legalise drug to curb drinking says alcohol research expert
THE head of Australia's leading alcohol research body has said that marijuana should be legalised in an effort to curb binge drinking.
Metro.us - Preschool habits can predict future alcohol use, according to a new study
A new study shows that how children act before they reach age five might predict their alcohol use a decade later.
Telegraph.co.uk (UK) - Conservatives retreat over minimum price on alcohol
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is expected to tell MPs that the Prime Minister’s personal pledges to restrict access to cheap alcohol will not be implemented.
UPI.com (USA) - Alcohol making more appearances in movies for U.S. Teens
Branded alcohol is making more and more appearances in movies rated for U.S. teen audiences, a researcher says.
Scotsman (UK) - Alcohol pricing: SNP to press ahead on price law
THE Health Secretary Alex Neil yesterday underlined his determination to press ahead with alcohol minimum pricing, saying he is fully committed to the “life-saving” policy.
Toronto NewsFIX - Women Drinking Alcohol at Increased Risk of Numerous Cancers
Women who drink alcohol are unknowingly putting themselves at increased risk of cancer. This is the finding of a study performed by researchers from Britain’s University of Oxford, who studied more than 1.3 million women.
The Local.es (Spain) - Spain raises taxes on alcohol and tobacco
The Spanish government, which is struggling to cut one of the eurozone's largest public deficits during a double-dip recession, on Friday raised taxes on tobacco and alcohol, except wine and beer.
News-Medical.net - Smoking and heavier alcohol consumption speed up cognitive decline
The combination of smoking and heavy drinking speeds up cognitive decline, according to new research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Irish Mirror (Ireland) - We're paying the tab for our costly booze culture
There is no doubt we have a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Is this another result of both the Celtic Tiger and its demise?
The Sidney Morning Herald (Australia) - Government bows to liquor industry on discounts
Supermarket giants have strongarmed the state government into backing out of its planned ban on shopper docket alcohol discounts.

 
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Are the 1976–1985 birth cohorts heavier drinkers? Age-period-cohort analyses of the National Alcohol Surveys 1979–2010




To estimate age-period-cohort models predicting alcohol volume, heavy drinking and beverage-specific alcohol volume in order to evaluate whether the 1976–1985 birth cohorts drink relatively heavily.
 
Data from seven cross-sectional surveys of the USA conducted between 1979 and 2010 were utilized in negative binomial generalized linear models of age, period and cohort effects predicting alcohol measures.
 
General population surveys of the USA.
 
Thirty-six thousand four hundred and thirty-two US adults (aged 18 years or older).
 
Monthly number of alcohol drinks, beer, wine and spirits drinks, and days drinking five or more drinks in the past year derived from beverage-specific graduated frequency questions.
 
Relative to the reference 1956–60 birth cohort, men in the 1976–1980 cohort for were found to consume more alcohol [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.222: confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.39) and to have more 5+ days (the number of days having five or more drinks) (IRR = 1.365: CI 1.09–1.71) as were men in the 1980–85 cohort for volume (IRR = 1.284: CI 1.10–1.50) and 5+ days (IRR = 1.437: CI 1.09–1.89). For women, those in the 1980–85 cohort were found to have higher alcohol volume (IRR = 1.299: CI 1.07–1.58) and more 5+ days (IRR = 1.547: CI 1.01–2.36). Beverage-specific models found different age patterns of volume by beverage with a flat age pattern for both genders' spirits and women's wine, an increasing age pattern for men's wine and a declining age pattern from those in their early 20s for beer.
 
In the USA, men born between 1976 and 1985, and women born between 1981 and 1985 have higher alcohol consumption than in earlier or later years.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:    wkerr@arg.org
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Gene specific modifications unravel ethanol and acetaldehyde actions


Ethanol is metabolized into acetaldehyde mainly by the action of alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver, while mainly by the action of catalase in the brain. Aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 metabolizes acetaldehyde into acetate in both organs.

Gene specific modifications reviewed here show that an increased liver generation of acetaldehyde (by transduction of a gene coding for a high-activity liver alcohol dehydrogenase ADH1*B2) leads to increased blood acetaldehyde levels and aversion to ethanol in animals.

Similarly aversive is an increased acetaldehyde level resulting from the inhibition of liver aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) synthesis (by an antisense coding gene against aldh2 mRNA).

The situation is diametrically different when acetaldehyde is generated in the brain. When the brain ventral tegmental area (VTA) is endowed with an increased ability to generate acetaldehyde (by transfection of liver rADH) the reinforcing effects of ethanol are increased, while a highly specific inhibition of catalase synthesis (by transduction of a shRNA anti catalase mRNA) virtually abolishes the reinforcing effects of ethanol as seen by a complete abolition of ethanol intake in rats bred for generations as high ethanol drinkers.

Data shows two divergent effects of increases in acetaldehyde generation: aversive in the periphery but reinforcing in the brain.


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Addiction is a reward deficit and stress surfeit disorder



Drug addiction can be defined by a three-stage cycle—binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation—that involves allostatic changes in the brain reward and stress systems.

Two primary sources of reinforcement, positive and negative reinforcement, have been hypothesized to play a role in this allostatic process. The negative emotional state that drives negative reinforcement is hypothesized to derive from dysregulation of key neurochemical elements involved in the brain reward and stress systems.

Specific neurochemical elements in these structures include not only decreases in reward system function (within-system opponent processes) but also recruitment of the brain stress systems mediated by corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and dynorphin-κ opioid systems in the ventral striatum, extended amygdala, and frontal cortex (both between-system opponent processes).

CRF antagonists block anxiety-like responses associated with withdrawal, block increases in reward thresholds produced by withdrawal from drugs of abuse, and block compulsive-like drug taking during extended access. Excessive drug taking also engages the activation of CRF in the medial prefrontal cortex, paralleled by deficits in executive function that may facilitate the transition to compulsive-like responding.

Neuropeptide Y, a powerful anti-stress neurotransmitter, has a profile of action on compulsive-like responding for ethanol similar to a CRF1 antagonist.

Blockade of the κ opioid system can also block dysphoric-like effects associated with withdrawal from drugs of abuse and block the development of compulsive-like responding during extended access to drugs of abuse, suggesting another powerful brain stress system that contributes to compulsive drug seeking.

The loss of reward function and recruitment of brain systems provide a powerful neurochemical basis that drives the compulsivity of addiction.


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Modeling alcohol use disorder severity: an integrative structural equation modeling approach


Alcohol dependence is a complex psychological disorder whose phenomenology changes as the disorder progresses. Neuroscience has provided a variety of theories and evidence for the development, maintenance, and severity of addiction; however, clinically, it has been difficult to evaluate alcohol use disorder (AUD) severity. 

This study seeks to evaluate and validate a data-driven approach to capturing alcohol severity in a community sample. 

Participants were non-treatment seeking problem drinkers (n = 283). A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to (a) verify the latent factor structure of the indices of AUD severity; and (b) test the relationship between the AUD severity factor and measures of alcohol use, affective symptoms, and motivation to change drinking. 

The model was found to fit well, with all chosen indices of AUD severity loading significantly and positively onto the severity factor. In addition, the paths from the alcohol use, motivation, and affective factors accounted for 68% of the variance in AUD severity. Greater AUD severity was associated with greater alcohol use, increased affective symptoms, and higher motivation to change.

Unlike the categorical diagnostic criteria, the AUD severity factor is comprised of multiple quantitative dimensions of impairment observed across the progression of the disorder. The AUD severity factor was validated by testing it in relation to other outcomes such as alcohol use, affective symptoms, and motivation for change. Clinically, this approach to AUD severity can be used to inform treatment planning and ultimately to improve outcomes.


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Expression, covariation, and genetic regulation of miRNA Biogenesis genes in brain supports their role in addiction, psychiatric disorders, and disease




The role of miRNA and miRNA biogenesis genes in the adult brain is just beginning to be explored. In this study we have performed a comprehensive analysis of the expression, genetic regulation, and co-expression of major components of the miRNA biogenesis pathway using human and mouse data sets and resources available on the GeneNetwork web site (genenetwork.org).

We found a wide range of variation in expression in both species for key components of the pathway—Drosha, Pasha, and Dicer. Across species, tissues, and expression platforms all three genes are generally well-correlated.

No single genetic locus exerts a strong and consistent influence on the expression of these key genes across murine brain regions. However, in mouse striatum, many members of the miRNA pathway are correlated—including Dicer, Drosha, Pasha, Ars2 (Srrt), Eif2c1 (Ago1), Eif2c2 (Ago2), Zcchc11, and Snip1. The expression of these genes may be partly influenced by a locus on Chromosome 9 (105.67–106.32 Mb).

We explored ~1500 brain phenotypes available for the C57BL/6J × DBA/2J (BXD) genetic mouse population in order to identify miRNA biogenesis genes correlated with traits related to addiction and psychiatric disorders.

We found a significant association between expression of Dicer and Drosha in several brain regions and the response to many drugs of abuse, including ethanol, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

Expression of Dicer, Drosha, and Pasha in most of the brain regions explored is strongly correlated with the expression of key members of the dopamine system. Drosha, Pasha, and Dicer expression is also correlated with the expression of behavioral traits measuring depression and sensorimotor gating, impulsivity, and anxiety, respectively.

Our study provides a global survey of the expression and regulation of key miRNA biogenesis genes in brain and provides preliminary support for the involvement of these genes and their product miRNAs in addiction and psychiatric
disease processes.


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Alcohol, Moods and Male–Female Differences: Daily Interactive Voice Response over 6 Months




The goal of this study was to better understand the predictive relationship in both directions between negative (anger, sadness) and positive (happiness) moods and alcohol consumption using daily process data among heavy drinkers. 

Longitudinal daily reports of moods, alcohol use and other covariates such as level of stress were assessed over 180 days using interactive voice response telephone technology. Participants were heavy drinkers (majority meeting criteria for alcohol dependence at baseline) recruited through their primary care provider. The sample included 246 (166 men, 80 women) mostly Caucasian adults. Longitudinal statistical models were used to explore the varying associations between number of alcoholic drinks and mood scores the next day and vice versa with gender as a moderator. 

Increased alcohol use significantly predicted decreased happiness the next day (P < 0.005), more strongly for females than males. Increased anger predicted higher average alcohol use the next day for males only (P< 0.005). 

This daily process study challenges the notion that alcohol use enhances positive mood for both males and females. Our findings also suggest a strong association between anger and alcohol use that is specific to males. Thus, discussions about the effects of drinking on one's feeling of happiness may be beneficial for males and females as well as anger interventions may be especially beneficial for heavy-drinking male.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:   valerie.harder@uvm.edu 

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Sunday, July 14, 2013

Empirical Derived AUD Sub Types in the US general population: A Latent Class Analysis

 
 
This study examined the homogenous expression of DSM-5 based alcohol use disorder (AUD) latent subtypes.
 
Using data from the NESARC Wave 2 (n = 22,177) the typology was established utilising latent class analysis (LCA) and the model was further validated by multivariate regression on a range of covariates.
 
Three AUD classes based on a severity gradient and one non-problematic class was the most parsimonious description of the data. These classes displayed both quantitative and qualitative differences on the covariates.
 
The resulting typology has high clinical utility, enhances AUD classification and adds to our understanding of AUD trajectories, prevention and treatment.
 
 
 
Request Reprint E-Mail:     Casey-m4@email.ulster.ac.uk
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Longitudinal Prediction of Divorce in Russia: The Role of Individual and Couple Drinking Patterns


 
The aim of the study was to explore associations between dimensions of alcohol use in married couples and subsequent divorce in Russia using longitudinal data. 

Follow-up data on 7157 married couples were extracted from 14 consecutive annual rounds (1994–2010) of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, a national population-based panel study. Discrete-time hazard models were fitted to estimate the probability of divorce among married couples by drinking patterns reported in the previous survey wave. 

 In adjusted models, increased odds of divorce were associated with greater frequency of husband and wife drinking (test for trend P = 0.005, and P= 0.05, respectively), wife's binge drinking (P = 0.05) and husband's heavy vodka drinking (P = 0.005). Couples in whom the wife drank more frequently than the husband were more likely to divorce (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.52–5.36), compared with other combinations of drinking. The association between drinking and divorce was stronger in regions outside Moscow or St. Petersburg. 

This study adds to the sparse literature on the topic and suggests that in Russia heavy and frequent drinking of both husbands and wives put couples at greater risk of future divorce, with some variation by region and aspect of alcohol use.


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Request Reprint E-Mail:   katherine.keenan@lshtm.ac.uk
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