Genetic Dissociation of Ethanol Sensitivity and Memory Formation in Drosophila melanogaster
Genetics, Vol. 178, 1895-1902, April 2008,


The ad hoc genetic correlation between ethanol sensitivity and learning mechanisms in Drosophila could overemphasize a common process supporting both behaviors.

To challenge directly the hypothesis that these mechanisms are singular, we examined the learning phenotypes of 10 new strains. Five of these have increased ethanol sensitivity, and the other 5 do not.

We tested place and olfactory memory in each of these lines and found two new learning mutations. In one case, altering the tribbles gene, flies have a significantly reduced place memory, elevated olfactory memory, and normal ethanol response. In the second case, mutation of a gene we name ethanol sensitive with low memory (elm), place memory was not altered, olfactory memory was sharply reduced, and sensitivity to ethanol was increased.

In sum, however, we found no overall correlation between ethanol sensitivity and place memory in the 10 lines tested. Furthermore, there was a weak but nonsignificant correlation between ethanol sensitivity and olfactory learning.

Thus, mutations that alter learning and sensitivity to ethanol can occur independently of each other and this implies that the set of genes important for both ethanol sensitivity and learning is likely a subset of the genes important for either process.

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Drugs and alcohol: Alcohol stories

Four young people talk about their personal experiences with alcohol

Wednesday May 21, 2008
EducationGuardian.co.uk

This programme, aimed at KS3/4, focuses on four young people, each with a story to tell about their personal experience of alcohol, and how it can change a person's life.

Marcio arrived from Angola with his grandmother three years ago; following her death he turned to drink, looking to forget his problems. Tasha contracted a sexually transmitted infection after drinking too much at a party. Curtis damaged his chances for a career as a professional snooker player by drinking too much and Becky struggled with alcoholism through her teenage years.

All of them have learned from their experience, and have something to offer to the viewers of Alcohol Stories.

Watch the video now in Quicktime or RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.

Click here to subscribe to this and future episodes via iTunes, or here for the RSS feed.

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Underage Drinking

30% of 16 year olds are regularly getting drunk - Knowing the facts about alcohol and how to talk to young people about alcohol can help to prevent the harm that teenage alcohol use can cause. Visit the HSE's Health Promotion Site to read more about Underage Drinking

HSE launches new Alcohol Awareness Campaign

19th May 2008:

The Health Service Executive has launched a new alcohol awareness campaign aimed at delaying the age at which young people start to drink.

The HSE Alcohol Awareness Campaign features a thought provoking television advertisement, depicting a number of young people in a variety of situations where they are exposed to and gain access to alcohol. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness in adults about the extent of underage drinking, the ease of access which young people have to alcohol and the benefits in delaying the age at which young people start to drink.
The campaign has been launched as preliminary results of research carried out by the HSE reveal that:

• 91% of adults agree that underage drinking is a problem in Ireland today
• 50% of those questioned believe there is nothing they can do to stop young people from drinking alcohol
• Just 15% believed their own drinking habits influence the drinking habits of young people around them
• 81% of those questioned believe that it's easy for under 18's to access alcohol in pubs and off licences
• Just 40% of those questioned would drink less if they thought it would discourage young people around them from drinking alcohol . . . . . . .
  

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News Release - Discovery of Possible Link Between Protein Deletion and Addiction Wins Top Honors at ISEF

Texas High School Senior Wins First-Ever NIDA Scholastic Addiction Science Award

An ambitious exploration of the basic mechanisms underlying addiction received top honors in the new Addiction Science category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest science competition for high school students.

The project, The Novel Role of the GluCl α; Ion Channel and Diazepam Binding Genes in Alcohol Addiction, was developed by Kapil Vishveshwar Ramachandran, a 16-year-old senior from Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. The new Addiction Science award is co-sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company. This is the first series of awards given exclusively for projects that advance addiction science.
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Risk factors for alcohol-related liver injury in the island population of China: A population-based case-control study
World J Gastroenterol 2008 April;14(14):2255-2261

To investigate the association of alcohol dose, duration of drinking and obesity with abnormal alcohol-related liver injury indicators, the prevalence of alcohol-related liver injury in the island population of China.

Randomized multistage stratified cluster sampling from the island population of China was used in the population-based case-control study. Then interview, physical examination, laboratory assessments and ultrasonography were done.

Daily alcohol intake >= 20 g, duration of drinking >= 5 years and obesity were closely related to alcohol-related liver injury (P <>= 20 g daily alcohol intake group and <>= 5 years drinking group and < 5 years drinking group was 34.44% and 8.53%, respectively.

No significant dose-response relation was found between daily alcohol intake and abnormal alcohol-related liver injury indicators as well as between duration of drinking and abnormal alcohol-related liver injury indicators. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of alcohol-related liver injury between beer drinking group and yellow rice wine drinking group, hard liquor drinking group, multiple drinking group.

The risk threshold of daily alcohol intake is 20 g and duration of drinking inducing alcohol-related liver injury 5 years in the island population of China. Liver injury induced by obesity should be concerned.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: zlym@zju.edu.cn
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Mutual aid groups in psychiatry and substance misuse
Mental Health and Substance Use: dual diagnosis, Volume 1, Issue 2 June 2008 , pages 104 - 117



Mutuality is a feature of many 'self-help groups' for people with mental health and/or substance misuse needs. These groups are diverse in terms of membership, aims, organisation and resources. Collectively, in terms of the pathways for seeking help, support, social capital or simply validation as people, mutual aid groups figure at some time in the life story of many psychiatric and/or substance misuse patients. From the viewpoint of clinical services, relations with such groups range from formal collaboration, through incidental shared care, via indifference, to incomprehension, suspicion, or even hostility. How should mental health and substance misuse clinicians relate to this informal care sector, in practice?

To synthesise knowledge about three aspects of the relationship between psychiatric/substance misuse services and mutual aid groups:

• profile groups' engagement of people with mental health and/or substance misuse needs at all stages of vulnerability, illness or recovery;
• characterise patterns of health benefit or harm to patients, where such outcome evidence exists;
• identify features of mutual aid groups that distinguish them from clinical services.

A search of both published and unpublished literature with a focus on reports of psychiatric and substance misuse referral routes and outcomes, compiled for meta-synthesis.

Negative outcomes were found occasionally, but in general mutual aid group membership was repeatedly associated with positive benefits.

Greater awareness of this resource for mental health and substance misuse fields could enhance practice.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: a.baldacchino@dundee.ac.uk
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World Health Statistics 2008

World Health Statistics 2008 presents the most recent available health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member States. This fourth edition includes 10 highlights of health statistics as well as data on an expanded set of over 70 key health indicators. The indicators were selected on the basis of their relevance to global health monitoring and considerations of data availability, accuracy and comparability among Member States.

This publication is in two parts. Part 1 presents 10 topical highlights based on recent publications or results of new analyses of existing data. Part 2 presents key health indicators in the form of six tables for all WHO Member States: mortality and burden of disease; health service coverage; risk factors; health systems resources; inequities in health care coverage and health outcome; and basic demographic and socioeconomic statistics. This edition includes, for the first time, data on trends where the statistics are available and of acceptable quality.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

World Health Statistics 2008

[pdf 3.62Mb]

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT AND ASSOCIATED TABLES, BY SECTION

Part 1 - Ten highlights in health statistics

- Table of contents and introduction [pdf 153kb]

- Ten highlights in health statistics [pdf 3.71Mb]

Part 2 - Global health indicators (tables)

- Mortality and burden of disease [pdf 328kb]

- Health service coverage [pdf 259kb]

- Risk factors [pdf 261kb]

- Health systems resources [pdf 315kb]

- Inequitites in health care and health outcome [pdf 143kb]

- Demographic and socioeconomic statistics [pdf 217kb]

- Footnotes and explanatory notes [pdf 157kb]

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Rural environments reduce the genetic influence on adolescent substance use and rule-breaking behavior
Psychological Medicine Published online by Cambridge University Press 01Oct2007

There is increasing evidence that certain environmental factors can modify genetic effects. This is an important area of investigation as such work will help to guide the development of new intervention programs. In this paper, we address whether rural environments moderate the genetic influence on adolescent substance use and rule-breaking behavior (i.e. externalizing psychopathology).

Residency effects reached statistical significance in the male sample only. In urban environments, externalizing behavior was substantially influenced by genetic factors, but in rural environments, shared environmental factors became more influential. This was apparent at both the individual-variable and factor levels.

These findings suggest a gene–environment interaction in the development of male adolescents' problem behaviors, including substance use. The results fit within an expanding literature demonstrating both the contextual nature of the heritability statistic and how certain environments may constrain the expression of genetic tendencies.

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Local responses to the Alcohol Licensing Act 2003: The case of Greater London
Drugs: education, prevention and policy, Volume 15, Issue 3 June 2008 , pages 251 - 265

This paper describes a preliminary study of local implementation of the Licensing Act 2003 in Greater London. The study investigated variability in local polices, perceptions of the opportunities afforded by the changes in the licensing system and perceptions of barriers and problems arising in the initial implementation process during 2005.

The research was conducted in two stages: an analysis of the licensing policies of the 33 London boroughs and open discussion, in-depth interviews conducted in five London boroughs with licensing officers and chairs of licensing committees (elected councillors).

From the policy analysis and interviews it was evident that licensing authorities varied in their level of engagement in licensing matters. Although there were reservations, the majority of respondents welcomed the changes in the administration and procedures, in particular the opportunity to have more control of licensing in their locality.

Overall respondents did not report major problems or difficulties arising from the new arrangements and the extension of hours. However, it was recognized that it was still too early in the process to draw firm conclusions.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: rachel.herring@lshtm.ac.uk
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Mapping alcohol: Health, policy and the geographies of problem drinking in Britain
Drugs: education, prevention and policy, Volume 15, Issue 3 June 2008 , pages 233 - 249

While parallels can be drawn between contemporary problem drinking in Britain and apparently similar cases from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, little attention has been paid to the ways in which drink is represented as a spatial problem.

Closer analysis reveals that the mapping of 'clusters' of alcohol outlets or trouble spots has waxed and waned over the last hundred and fifty years, and that the appearance, disappearance and re-emergence of the cluster in policy discussions owes a good deal to changing understandings of the nature of public drinking.

Both temperance and contemporary epidemiological approaches favour the cluster because they assume that the supply of alcohol lies at the root of the problems seen to be associated with drink, and mapping clusters makes this supply visible.

In contrast the disease theory of alcoholism favours individual rather than social causes, and has little use for maps of clusters; as a consequence the cluster seems to disappear from discussions in the middle years of the twentieth century.

The paper concludes that the history of problem drinking demonstrates the need to pay closer attention to changing constructions of drink as problem and the need for a more sophisticated understanding of the history of medicine and public health.

It also makes clear the need to look beyond the State and the market as spaces in which the risks of alcohol are calculated.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: j.kneale@geog.ucl.ac.uk
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Drinking places: Where people drink and why

The links between alcohol and where people drink it in two contrasting communities.

It is well-established that attitudes to alcohol vary by social group, but there is little research on how geography affects these attitudes.

This report investigates where people drink alcohol and why in two contrasting communities, one urban and one rural. Looking at a range of drinking, from abstinence to bingeing, the project:

• explores how socio-economic processes shape local drinking cultures;
• evaluates the benefits and problems associated with alcohol use;
• examines how attitudes to and use of alcohol vary across social groupings both within and between the two communities;
• explores how attitudes have changed between generations and the impact of local history on those attitudes;
• identifies the policy implications of the local specificity of drinking cultures.

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The place of drink: Geographical contributions to alcohol studies
Drugs: education, prevention and policy, Volume 15, Issue 3 June 2008 , pages 219 - 232

This paper considers how geographies of alcohol, drinking and drunkenness have been considered within and beyond the discipline of geography. We argue that while there has been a large amount of relevant, detailed and rich research considering 'geographical' issues, alcohol studies has tended to under-theorize the role of space and place.

While geographers, on the other hand, have been relatively slow to engage with the alcohol, drinking and drunkenness, we show that geography have much to offer future research agendas. Despite recent progress, however, a failing of geographers' engagement with alcohol, drinking and drunkenness has been an inability to transcend disciplinary boundaries.

We conclude by arguing that geographical research into alcohol, drinking and drunkenness must continue to pursue theoretical and empirical advances, but also offer policy-relevant 'public geographies' that speak to non-academic audiences.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: mark.jayne@manchester.ac.uk
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France to ban happy hours in bid to stem 'le binge drinking'

By Henry Samuel in Paris

19/05/2008

France is planning to ban happy hours in bars in a bid to stem the rise of “le binge drinking”, until recently seen as a uniquely British problem.

The government proposals follow calls from doctors and politicians to tackle excessive alcohol consumption.

The cross-ministry report, which was leaked to the press, also calls for a ban on the sale in nightclubs of bottles of strong alcohol, including spirits, and raising tax levels on strong beer.
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£6m drinking campaign 'not enough'

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent

19/05/2008

A new £6 million government campaign to tackle problem drinking will have limited success as long as alcohol remains cheap and easily available, doctors have warned.

Ministers will today launch a new series of advertisements designed to educate the public on how many alcoholic units are in each drink.

It will be aimed at the over 25s, particularly middle class wine drinkers who drink at home in the evening.
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A Few Too Many
Is there any hope for the hung over?

by Joan Acocella

Of the miseries regularly inflicted on humankind, some are so minor and yet, while they last, so painful that one wonders how, after all this time, a remedy cannot have been found. If scientists do not have a cure for cancer, that makes sense. But the common cold, the menstrual cramp? The hangover is another condition of this kind. It is a preventable malady: don’t drink. Nevertheless, people throughout time have found what seemed to them good reason for recourse to alcohol. One attraction is alcohol’s power to disinhibit—to allow us, at last, to tell off our neighbor or make an improper suggestion to his wife. Alcohol may also persuade us that we have found the truth about life, a comforting experience rarely available in the sober hour. Through the lens of alcohol, the world seems nicer. (“I drink to make other people interesting,” the theatre critic George Jean Nathan used to say.) For all these reasons, drinking cheers people up. See Proverbs 31:6-7: “Give . . . wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” It works, but then, in the morning, a new misery presents itself.
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A Modeling Study Suggesting a Possible Pharmacological Target to Mitigate the Effects of Ethanol on Reward-Related Dopaminergic Signaling
J Neurophysiol 99: 2703-2707, 2008.

Midbrain dopaminergic neurons are involved in several critical brain functions controlling goal-directed behaviors, reinforcing/reward processes, and motivation. Their dysfunctions alter dopamine release and contribute to a vast range of neural disorders, from Parkinson's disease to schizophrenia and addictive behaviors. These neurons have thus been a natural target of pharmacological treatments trying to ameliorate the consequences of several neuropathologies.

From this point of view, a clear experimental link has been recently established between the increase in the pacemaker frequency of dopaminergic neurons in vitro after acute ethanol application and a particular ionic current (I_h). The functional consequences in vivo, however, are not clear and they are very difficult to explore experimentally.

Here we use a realistic computational model of dopaminergic neurons in vivo to suggest that ethanol, through its effects on I_h, modifies the temporal structure of the spiking activity. The model predicts that the dopamine level may increase much more during bursting than during pacemaking activity, especially in those brain regions with a slow dopamine clearance rate.

The results suggest that a selective pharmacological remedy could thus be devised against the rewarding effects of ethanol that are postulated to mediate alcohol abuse and addiction, targeting the specific HCN genes expressed in dopaminergic neurons

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Request Reprint E-Mail: michele.migliore@yale.edu
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BMA response to government campaign on alcohol units (issued Monday 19 May 2008)



People could be risking their health and driving over the limit because they don’t know how many alcohol units they’re consuming. This is why the BMA is backing the Government ‘Know Your Limits’ campaign, launched in England today (Monday 19 May 2008).
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Minister Wallace Promises To Give Priority To Tacking Our Alcohol Culture, Ireland


19 May 2008

Ms Mary Wallace T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with special responsibility for Health Promotion and Food Safety, promised to give particular priority in her new role to tackling our alcohol culture.

Two recent reports from the Health Research Board and the Health Service Executive have clearly shown the negative impact of alcohol misuse in Irish society.
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Changes in undergraduate student alcohol consumption as they progress through university
BMC Public Health 2008, 8:163

Unhealthy alcohol use amongst university students is a major public health concern. Although previous studies suggest a raised level of consumption amongst the UK student population there is little consistent information available about the pattern of alcohol consumption as they progress through university.

The aim of the current research was to describe drinking patterns of UK full-time undergraduate students as they progress through their degree course.

Students reported consuming significantly more units of alcohol per week at Year 1 than at Years 2 or 3 of their degree. Male students reported a higher consumption of units of alcohol than their female peers. When alcohol intake was classified using the Royal College of Physicians guidelines [1] there was no difference between male and females students in terms of the percentage exceeding recommended limits. Compared to those who were low level consumers students who reported drinking above low levels at Year 1 had at least 10 times the odds of continuing to consume above low levels at year 3. Students who reported higher levels of drinking were more likely to report that alcohol had a negative impact on their studies, finances and physical health. Consistent with the reduction in units over time students reported lower levels of negative impact during Year 3 when compared to Year 1.

The current findings suggest that student alcohol consumption declines over their undergraduate studies; however weekly levels of consumption at Year 3 remain high for a substantial number of students. The persistence of high levels of consumption in a large population of students suggests the need for effective preventative and treatment interventions for all year groups.

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21st Birthday Drinking: Extremely Extreme
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 2008, Vol. 76, No. 3, 511–516


Despite public recognition of the hazards of 21st birthday drinking, there is little empirical information concerning its prevalence, severity, and risk factors.

Data from a sample of 2,518 college students suggest that 21st birthday drinking poses an extreme danger: (a) 4 of every 5 participants (83%) reported drinking to celebrate, (b) birthday drinkers indicated high levels of consumption, (c) 12% of birthday drinkers (men and women) reported consuming 21 drinks, and (d) about half of birthday drinkers exceeded their prior maximum number of drinks.

Current problematic alcohol involvement and its typical correlates strongly predicted both the occurrence and severity of 21st birthday drinking.

It is imperative that investigators consider a variety of potential interventions to minimize the harm associated with this rite of passage.

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