Functional polymorphism of CYP2E1 gene and alcohol use disorders in a Tibetan population.
Zhong Nan Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban. 2008 Apr;33(4):284-92.



To investigate the relationship between the CYP2E1*c1/*c2 polymorphism and alcohol use disorders, and the potential influence of the CYP2E1*c1/*c2 polymorphism on the severity and dimensions of alcohol use disorders in Tibetan.

Three hundred and forty Tibetans with Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score >/=10 and another 315 matched control subjects with AUDIT score

The frequency of the CYP2E1*c2 allele in subjects with alcohol use disorders (16.2%) was significantly higher than that of the controls (10.8%), with a P value of 0.005 and OR value of 1.60 (95% CI: 1.15~2.21). There was also a significant difference in genotype frequencies between the 2 groups (chi(2)=8.75, P=0.01). Subjects with alcohol use disorders had higher frequencies of genotypes with at least one copy of allele c2 (28.5% vs. 18.7%; chi(2)=8.65, P=0.003; OR=1.73) than the control group.

The association of CYP2E1*c2 allele with alcohol use disorders was much stronger in males than in females, with a male OR value of 2.30. CYP2E1*c2 allele was associated with increased alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders in males.

There is the positive association among CYP2E1*c2 allele, alcohol use disorders, and the amount of alcohol consumption in Tibetan population.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: sphatal@iop.kcl.ac.uk
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An epidemiological survey of alcohol use disorders in a Tibetan population
Psychiatry Research Volume 159, Issues 1-2, 30 May 2008, Pages 56-66

We performed an epidemiological survey in order to detect the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in a sub-group of the population of Tibet.

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire, the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire (SADQ), and a 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) were used to obtain epidemiological data on alcohol use disorders and to assess the severity of ‘problem drinking’ and general mental health status. The AUDIT is a reliable and valid screening tool for both alcohol abuse and dependence in theTibetan population to identify individuals with alcohol use problems. The cut-off points were set to be 10 and 13 of the AUDIT scores as a diagnostic discriminator of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, respectively, with both sensitivity and specificity > 0.84.

The prevalence of alcohol abuse, was 2.7% (female: 2.0%; male: 6.2%), alcohol dependence 13.5% (female: 7.6%; male: 25.4%) and alcohol use disorders 16.2% (female: 9.6%; male: 31.6%). Age and sex were the main factors affecting an individual's alcohol use and general mental health status.

The epidemiological data on alcohol use disorders documented in this project may be helpful in future work seeking more valid causal inferences or interpretations related to this prevalent health problem in Tibet.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: sphatal@iop.kcl.ac.uk

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Alcohol and violence in the emergency department: a regional report from the WHO collaborative study on alcohol and injuries.
Salud Publica Mex. 2008;50 Suppl 1:S6-11.


To determine the relative risk (RR) of non-fatal unintentional and violence-related injury associated with alcohol consumption in three emergency departments in Latin America (2001-2002).

About 46% of violence-related cases involved alcohol (versus 11.5% for non-violence related cases). The risk of violence-related injury increased with drinking and had an OR= 15.0 (95% confidence interval (CI), 5.8-39.1), with an OR= 4.2 (CI= 2.7-6.5) for unintentional injuries.

Increasing amounts of drinking may have pronounced consequences on the risk of triggering an injury, especially for a violence-related injury. The RR estimates provided here can be useful for new estimates on alcohol and the burden of disease.


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News Release - First Addiction Science Award to be Given to Students at International Science Fair
For Release May 8, 2008

NIDA Teams with Scholastic to Create Award at Intel International Science and Engineering

This year, for the first time, three students will receive awards for exemplary projects in Addiction Science at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest science competition for high school students. The 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.
. . . . . .

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National Alcohol Harm Reduction Campaign to be launched on May 19th

May 08. 2008

The Department of Health will be launching a national campaign to "raise awareness of units and the health risks of regularly exceeding Government 'lower risk' drinking levels". The launch on the 19th May will continue the Know Your Limits campaign and will be offering a range of further resources including websites and materials for practitioners. The Department of Health will also be launching an e-learning training module for practitioners on the use of alcohol screening and brief advice.

For further details see the practitioners' briefing on the forthcoming campaign, and resources here.

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Relationships Between Alcohol-Related Memory Association and Changes in Mood: Systematic Differences Between High- and Low-Risk Drinkers
Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on May 9, 2008



Heavy alcohol use is common in undergraduates and is associated with health-risk behaviors, negative consequences, and increased risk for future alcohol dependence. Alcohol-related memory associations (AMAs) and mood changes are independently related to student drinking, but more research on how these variables interact is needed.

To examine (i) how AMAs predict drinking behavior after accounting for depression, and (ii) how changes in negative and positive mood predict AMAs among low- and high-risk drinkers.

Negative mood changes predicted AMAs in high-risk drinkers but not in low-risk drinkers, and the opposite was found for positive mood changes.

The negative mood–AMA association appeared related to risky drinking, and these subtle implicit cognitive processes may warrant a special focus in intervention programs for high-risk drinkers.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: a.kelly@uq.edu.au
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Opinion - Alcohol abuse: 'There is no short-term fix for the problem'
Saturday, 10th May 2008

THE SNP is right to be concerned over the levels of alcohol abuse in Scotland. It is not surprising that it has identified curtailing binge drinking as its number one health priority.

And if the legacy of the last government in terms of improving the nation's health was to ban smoking in public places, the new government could cement its place in history were it able to even arrest the growth in the country's booze culture, as for the moment eradicating it seems just too much to ask.

Without doubt one of the biggest problems it faces is that children are falling prey to alcohol at a younger age than ever. Today the Evening News reveals that every month one child under the age of 12 is detained overnight in hospital in the Lothians to be treated for the effects of excess alcohol consumption.
. . . . . .

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Position Statement - Alcohol Consumption and Cancer Risk

This Cancer Institute NSW Position Statement provides the NSW community with information about the risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption and also briefly considers the other effects of alcohol on health. Avoidance of alcohol is recommended by the Cancer Institute NSW, an if people chose to drink, the Cancer Institute NSW suggests that they do so in moderation.

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Alcohol as a cause of Cancer
May 2008

Alcohol consumption is a known risk factor for cancer and in 1988 alcohol was classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Group 1 carcinogen. This is the highest IARC classification for humans. Alcohol is a risk factor for cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, and liver. The carcinogenicity of alcoholic beverages was reassessed by IARC in February 2007. The Working Group concluded that the occurrence of malignant tumours of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colo-rectum and female breast were causally related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

The key national guidelines that outline recommendations in relation to alcohol consumption are published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). This guidance has recently been revised with the draft guidelines released in October 2007 for public consultation.

The new guidelines recommend lower alcohol intake than the previous 2001 edition. The draft guidelines recommend that for low risk of both immediate and long-term harm from drinking, men and women should not exceed two standard drinks in any one day. This recommendation is consistent with that of the World Health Organization (WHO)9. However, it is important to recognise that this guidance takes into consideration all health risks and benefits associated with alcohol consumption. An increased risk of cancer may actually be evident at levels of alcohol intake classified by the NHMRC as ‘low risk’. The draft guidance from the NHMRC states that alcohol is a cause of cancer of the mouth, throat and oesophagus, and is a risk factor for cancer of the stomach, breast, liver and pancreas, and it has also been associated with bowel cancer risk.

The aim of this literature review is to provide a summary of the current evidence relating to the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer.

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Sexual uses of alcohol and drugs and the associated health risks: a cross sectional study of young people in nine European cities
BMC Public Health 2008, 8:155

Young people in European countries are experiencing high levels of alcohol and drug use and escalating levels of sexually transmitted infections. Individually these represent major public health priorities. Understanding of the association between sex and substance use, and specifically the strategic roles for which young people utilise substances to facilitate sexual activity, remains limited.

Respondents reported strategic use of specific substances for different sexual purposes. Substances differed significantly in the purposes for which each was deployed (e.g. 28.6% of alcohol users use it to facilitate sexual encounters; 26.2% of cocaine users use it to prolong sex) with user demographics also relating to levels of sexual use (e.g. higher levels of: ecstasy use by males to prolong sex; cocaine use by single individuals to enhance sensation and arousal). Associations between substance use and sex started at a young age, with alcohol, cannabis, cocaine or ecstasy use before age 16 all being associated with having had sex before the age of 16 (odds ratios, 3.47, 4.19, 5.73, 9.35 respectively). However, sexes differed and substance use under 16 years was associated with a proportionately greater increase in early sex amongst girls. Respondents' current drug use was associated with having multiple sexual partners. Thus, for instance, regular cocaine users (c.f. never users) were over five times more likely to have had five or more sexual partners in the last 12 months or have paid for sex.

An epidemic of recreational drug use and binge drinking exposes millions of young Europeans to routine consumption of substances which alter their sexual decisions and increase their chances of unsafe and regretted sex. For many, substance use has become an integral part of their strategic approach to sex, locking them into continued use. Tackling substances with both physiological and psychological links to sex requires approaching substance use and sexual behaviour in the same way that individuals experience them; as part of the same social process.

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Health, alcohol and EU law: understanding the impact of European single market law on alcohol policies
The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on May 8, 2008



Many professionals in the alcohol field see the role of the the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as negative for health.

This review examines ECJ and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) case law in the context of two broader debates: firstly the extension of European Union (EU) law into alcohol policy (the ‘juridification’ of alcohol policy), and secondly the extent to which alcohol policy is an example of the dominance of ‘negative integration’ (the removal of trade-distorting policy) over ‘positive integration’ (the creation of European alcohol policies).

From looking at taxation, minimum pricing, advertising and monopoly policies, the extension of the scope of the these courts over alcohol policy is unquestionable. However, the ECJ and EFTA Court have been prepared to prioritise health over trade concerns when considering alcohol policies, providing certain conditions have been met.

While a partial juridification of alcohol policy has led to the negative integration of alcohol policies, this effect is not as strong as sometimes thought; EU law is more health friendly than it is perceived to be, and its impact on levels of alcohol-related harm appears low. Nevertheless, lessons emerge for policymakers concerned about the legality of alcohol policies under EU law.

More generally, those concerned with alcohol and health should pay close attention to developments in EU law given their importance for public health policy on alcohol.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: b.p.baumberg@lse.ac.uk
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Toward an alcohol use disorder continuum using item response theory: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions
Psychological Medicine (2006), 36: 931-941



Item response theory (IRT) was used to determine whether the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse and dependence are arrayed along a continuum of severity.

All DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence criteria, except alcohol-related legal problems, formed a continuum of alcohol use disorder severity. Abuse and dependence criteria did not consistently tap the mildest or more severe end of the continuum respectively, and several criteria were identified as potentially redundant. The drinking in larger amounts or for longer than intended dependence criterion had the greatest discrimination and lowest severity than any other criterion. Although several criteria were found to function differentially between subgroups defined in terms of sex and age, there was evidence that the generalizability and validity of the criterion forming the continuum remained intact at the test score level.

DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse and dependence form a continuum of severity, calling into question the abuse–dependence distinction in the DSM-IV and the interpretation of abuse as a milder disorder than dependence. The criteria tapped the more severe end of the alcohol use disorder continuum, highlighting the need to identify other criteria capturing the mild to intermediate range of the severity. The drinking larger amounts or longer than intended dependence criterion may be a bridging criterion between drinking patterns that incur risk of alcohol use disorder at the milder end of the continuum, with tolerance, withdrawal, impaired control and serious social and occupational dysfunction at the more severe end of the alcohol use disorder continuum.

Future IRT and other dimensional analyses hold great promise in informing revisions to categorical classifications and constructing new dimensional classifications of alcohol use disorders based on the DSM and the ICD.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: bgrant@willco.niaaa.nih.gov

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IRETA Recovery Symposium



Agendas (Day 1 & 2)

Resources (Disk)

Presentations (Power Points)

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Boris bans alcohol on London transport

By Toby Helm and James Kirkup

08/05/2008

Drinking alcohol is to be banned on London buses and the Underground from next month as part of a New York-style "zero tolerance" approach to crime announced by Boris Johnson

The new mayor of London – whose policies are being monitored by David Cameron for possible adoption by a future Conservative government – said the move was central to his drive to cut crime and reduce anti-social behaviour across the capital.
. . . . . .

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Recovery Symposium
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On May 2, 2008, representatives from the recovery community, public and private addiction treatment providers, governmental agencies and others gathered in Philadelphia for a Recovery Symposium called Aligning Concepts, Practice and Contexts to Promote Long-Term Recovery: An Action Plan. Here’s the agenda for the day. The entire Symposium was videotaped. Coming soon! will be a video that you can download and watch the entire day’s proceedings.

Below are some of the materials that were distributed to attendees:

1. Building a Science of Recovery: Pre-Symposium Brief
   (Alexandre B. Laudet, PhD)
   
   
2. Recovery Literature Bibliography
   (Health Systems Research)
   
   
3. National Summit on Recovery: Conference Report
   (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment)
   
   
4. What is Recovery? A Working Definition from the Betty Ford Institute
   (Betty Ford Consensus Panel)
   
   
5. What does recovery mean to you? Lessons from the recovery experience for research and practice
   (Alexandre B. Laudet, )

Read Full List of Materials
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Press Release - New clinics help combat alcohol abuse across Notts
Wednesday 7 May 2008


In response to the growing problem of alcohol in the UK, Nottinghamshire Community Health has set up more than twenty clinics across the county dedicated to helping those with alcohol problems.

For the first time, the services being provided are concerned with the prevention of alcohol problems as well as the treatment of health problems relating to alcohol.

Five alcohol workers staff the clinics, working with local people with alcohol issues to help to reduce their levels of drinking and provide advice on reducing their likelihood of harm.
. . . . . . .

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Over half of 30-year-old Finnish males at-risk drinkers

Many heavy users underestimate impact of consumption

Nearly two thirds of young men in Finland can be seen to consume too much alcohol. According to a study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 63% of men aged 25-34 are at-risk drinkers.

Among women in the same age range, 30% are seen to drink excessively. The proportions decline with age among both men and women.

Alcohol consumption of young Finnish men was discussed on Tuesday at a seminar of the Public Health Institute, where participants pondered ways to encourage timely intervention in cases in which drinking is getting out of hand. The number of at-risk drinkers was measured with a survey involving interviews with about 3,000 Finns.
. . . . . . .

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Group calls for warning labels on liquor
7 May 08



The German Child Protection Agency called on Wednesday for warning labels on liquor – like those on cigarettes – to combat rising rates of binge drinking among youth.

“Warning labels like those on cigarettes would be the right step and an additional way of protecting youth from alcohol abuse,” agency president Heinz Hilgers told German newspaper Bild in its Wednesday edition.
. . . . . .

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Youth binge drinking rises sharply in Germany: study
5 May 08


More German teenagers are ending up in the emergency room amid a sharp increase in binge drinking last year among the country's youth, according to a government study released on Monday.

Children between the ages of 12 and 17 years old consumed an average of 50 grammes of pure alcohol each week in 2007, according to the German government's annual report on drugs and addiction. Children in 2006 consumed 34 grammes of pure alcohol each week.

And 26 percent of German children in the study reported binge drinking - consuming five or more drinks in a row - last year, an increase from the 20 percent who reported binge drinking in 2006.

The number of hospital visits due to alcohol overconsumption among Germans aged 10 to 20 has also more than doubled since 2000, according to the report. Some 19,500 German youth in that age group were hospitalized after drinking - including 663 in Berlin alone between April and December last year.

"We cannot underestimate the influence of alcohol advertising that often targets youth culture and images," German Drug Commissioner Sabine Bätzing said, criticizing companies for not showing the negative effects of drinking to excess.
. . . . . . .

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Experts target women as middle-class drinkers face health threat

07 May 2008

By Lyndsay Moss

Health Correspondent

WOMEN who overindulge by consuming too much wine are to be targeted in efforts to tackle Scotland's dangerous alcohol culture, it emerged yesterday.

Scottish Government officials and health experts are keen to highlight the problem of women who may be drinking over recommended limits without realising it.

They want to show that alcohol misuse is not just a problem affecting teenagers and poorer people, but also has an impact among middle-class women for whom wine-drinking has become part of daily life.
. . . . . . .

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Alcoholism Gender Gap Is Closing

TUESDAY, May 6 (HealthDay News) -- Drinking and alcohol dependence has increased substantially among women, particularly white and Hispanic women born since 1945, new study finds.

Alcohol use and dependency appeared to remain stable for men, while young Americans report having more lifetime alcohol problems than older Americans, despite having had less time to develop issues with drinking.

The findings were published in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. . . . . . .

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Why alcohol makes us do stupid things
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

29/04/2008

A few glasses of alcohol - enough to reach the drink-drive limit - are enough to rob drinkers of their fears so they are more likely to take risks, concludes a brain scan study that provides a vivid insight into "Dutch courage."

The Government's Know Your Limits TV anti drunkenness advertisement shows a young man, imagining he is dressed as a superhero, who climbs some scaffolding but slips and falls.

As he lies broken on the ground, a voiceover states: "Too much alcohol makes you feel invincible when you're most vulnerable."

Today, in the Journal of Neuroscience, a brain imaging study reveals why people are more prepared to take risks when they are intoxicated, marking the first study of its kind on alcohol's effect on the response of neuronal circuits to threats.
. . . . . . .

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-Synuclein expression in the brain and blood during abstinence from chronic alcohol drinking in mice
Neuropharmacology Article in Press, Corrected Proof Online 8 April 2008



-Synuclein is a presynaptic protein proposed to serve as a negative regulator of dopaminergic neurotransmission.

Recent research has implicated -synuclein in chronic neuroadaptations produced by psychostimulant and opiate use, as well as in genetically determined susceptibility to alcoholism in humans.

The aim of our study was to characterize the changes in -synuclein expression after short-term abstinence from chronic alcohol drinking in mice.

-Synuclein protein levels were elevated by up to 80% in the amygdala of mice withdrawn from alcohol for 24 h or 48 h. No changes in -synuclein levels were found in the mesencephalon or striatum/accumbens. The levels of -synuclein mRNA remained unchanged in all brain regions examined (the striatum, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area). -Synuclein mRNA was up-regulated in the whole blood 48 h after alcohol withdrawal.

The accumulation of -synuclein in the amygdala, observed in this study, seems to be a common feature of alcohol and opiate abstinence. This finding suggests a role of -synuclein in common neuroadaptations produced by long-term alcohol and drug use. Although -synuclein expression in the blood seems unrelated to that in the brain, it may serve as a peripheral biomarker of chronic alcohol consumption.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: nfprzewl@kinga.cyf-kr.edu.pl

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Gene expression changes in a zebrafish model of drug dependency suggest conservation of neuro-adaptation pathways
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1623-1634 (2008)

Addiction is a complex psychiatric disorder considered to be a disease of the brain's natural reward reinforcement system. Repeated stimulation of the `reward' pathway leads to adaptive changes in gene expression and synaptic organization that reinforce drug taking and underlie long-term changes in behaviour.

The primitive nature of reward reinforcement pathways and the near universal ability of abused drugs to target the same system allow drug-associated reward and reinforcement to be studied in non-mammalian species. Zebrafish have proved to be a valuable model system for the study of vertebrate development and disease.

Here we demonstrate that adult zebrafish show a dose-dependent acute conditioned place preference (CPP) reinforcement response to ethanol or nicotine. Repeated exposure of adult zebrafish to either nicotine or ethanol leads to a robust CPP response that persists following 3 weeks of abstinence and in the face of adverse stimuli, a behavioural indicator of the establishment of dependence.

Microarray analysis using whole brain samples from drug-treated and control zebrafish identified 1362 genes that show a significant change in expression between control and treated individuals. Of these genes, 153 are common to both ethanol- and nicotine-treated animals.

These genes include members of pathways and processes implicated in drug dependence in mammalian models, revealing conservation of neuro-adaptation pathways between zebrafish and mammals.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: C.H.Brennan@qmul.ac.uk
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Alcohol misuse 'costing £2.25bn'
6 May 2008

Official figures have revealed that the misuse of alcohol is costing Scotland £2.25bn per year.

A report by the Scottish Government's Health Analytical Services Division said the latest statistics were more than double previous estimates.
. . . . . .

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Presents costs of alcohol use and misuse based on a "Cost of Illness" approach.

May 2008

The costs presented here are based on a "Cost of Illness Approach". This is a prevalence based methodology which attempts to quantify the costs associated with a particular illness or health related behaviour including both incident cases in the base year but also costs from individuals who still suffer. In this case it refers to alcohol use/ misuse.


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Alcohol 'main staff welfare risk'
6 May 2008

Four out of five employers say alcohol is the biggest threat to the well-being of their staff, according to a survey.

The study, by Norwich Union Healthcare, interviewed 1,000 people and 250 businesses about drinking habits.

One in three employees admitted they have been to work with a hangover and more than one in ten has been drunk at their desk.

Staff said they made mistakes, struggled to concentrate and had to go home early as a result of drinking.

Of those who had had a hangover or been drunk at work, 85% confirmed it affected their performance or mood.

More than a third (36%) found it hard to concentrate, 35% were less productive, 42% felt tired to the point of being sleepy, and 25% did the minimum amount of work and went home as soon as possible.
. . . . . . .

Read Full Article
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Pediatrics supplement now available

Underage Drinking: Understanding and Reducing Risk in the Context of Human Development

The articles in this supplement present the results of the discussions about underage drinking that took place among members of the NIAAA Team on Underage Drinking and its group of outside experts. We, the editors, believe they accurately and comprehensively address the nature of the complex relationship between development and underage drinking that was elucidated as the group interacted over time.

To provide an overarching framework for the articles that follow, the first article provides a developmental framework for understanding and addressing underage drinking. The next three articles present information on underage drinking divided into three age groupings: children under age 10, early adolescents ages 10–15 and late adolescents ages 16–20. As noted above, although these articles are divided by age, we wish to make it very clear that all who participated in the deliberations of the Underage Drinking Research Initiative view development as a continuous process that unfolds in different ways for different individuals, and which is not fully captured by chronological age. For this same reason certain topics necessarily appear in multiple articles because they are not confined in the course of natural development to a single age group.

Finally, to begin the transition of this basic work "from bench to bedside" the final three articles review the state of the science on prevention and treatment interventions for underage drinking.

Read Full Contents

To see an article, click its "Full Text" or "PDF" link. To review many abstracts, check the boxes to the left of the titles you want, and click the "Get All Checked Abstract(s)" button. To see one abstract at a time, click its "Abstract" link.
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AFRICAN JOURNAL OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL STUDIES
Volume 6, Number 2, 2007

CONTENTS

Composition of surrogate alcohol from South-Eastern Nigeria.
Obiora S. Ejim, Bruna Brands, Ju¨rgen Rehm, & Dirk W. Lachenmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Relationships of drinking behaviour, gender, and age with self-reported alcohol-related problems
in Namibia
Heli Mustonen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Field tales of hazardous home brewed alcoholic beverages: the case of Selebi Phikwe, Botswana
Joseph M. N. Pitso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

A conversation with Alan Haworth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

List of published articles, 2000–2007. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Announcements . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

In Memory of Olabisi Odejide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120


Read Full Issue (PDF)
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African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies
Volume 6, Number 1, 2007

CONTENTS

The relationship between sexuality-related alcohol expectancies and
drinking across cultures
Alexandra Bogren, Arlinda Kristjanson, & Sharon Wilsnack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Addiction and HIV in Kenya: a description of treatment services and integration
Lynn E. Sullivan, Barrett G. Levine, Marek C. Chawarski, Richard S. Schottenfeld,
& David A. Fiellin. . . . . . . . . . 17

Substance use and sexual behaviour among African adolescents in the
North-West Province of South Africa
Acheampong Yaw Amoateng, Ishmael Kalule-Sabiti, & Prakash Narayanan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Alcohol and drug abuse in Ethiopia: past, present and future
Abebaw Fekadu, Atalay Alem, & Charlotte Hanlon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The relationship between substance abuse, nicotine use and positive and negative
symptoms in schizophrenic patients at Mathari Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
Caleb J. Othieno, Benson N. Gakinya, Ali Omar, & David M. Ndetei. . . . . . . . . . . . . 54


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Drugs and Society in Africa
8TH BIENNIAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Announcement & Call for Participation

The Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA), a leading non-profit organization devoted to research on psychoactive substance abuse and the prevention of substance-related health and social problems in Africa, announces its eighth biennial international conference. Researchers, health care professionals, policymakers, other experts and students interested in all issues related to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs are invited to participate in this important conference.

Main Conference Theme:

Substance Abuse and Social Development
23 & 24 July 2008
Education Resource Centre
1 Harper Street, Zone 1, Wuse District
Abuja, NIGERIA
. . . . . .

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French moms-to-be ignorant of alcohol risk
May 5, 2008

CLERMONT-FERRAND, France, May 5 (UPI) -- More than 52 percent of pregnant French women drink alcohol during their pregnancies, a study found.

The study, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, found most of those women were uninformed about the risks to their babies' health.

"Our results surprised us because we didn't think that the women were so massively going to answer that they were so ignorant of the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy," study leader Ingrid de Chazeron of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Clermont-Ferrand, France, said in a statement. De Chazeron said the percentage of U.S. moms-to-be having a drink a day is much less -- about 12 percent.
. . . . . . .

Read Full Article
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Upregulation of β-Catenin Levels in Superior Frontal Cortex of Chronic Alcoholics
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research OnlineEarly Articles 28 Apr 2008

Chronic and excessive alcohol misuse results in neuroadaptive changes in the brain. The complex nature of behavioral, psychological, emotional, and neuropathological characteristics associated with alcoholism is likely a reflection of the network of proteins that are affected by alcohol-induced gene expression patterns in specific brain regions. At the molecular level, however, knowledge remains limited regarding alterations in protein expression levels affected by chronic alcohol abuse. Thus, novel techniques that allow a comprehensive assessment of this complexity will enable the simultaneous assessment of changes across a group of proteins in the relevant neural circuitry.

A proteomics analysis was performed using antibody microarrays to determine differential protein levels in superior frontal cortices between chronic alcoholics and age- and gender-matched control subjects. Seventeen proteins related to the catenin signaling pathway were analyzed, including α-, β-, and δ-catenins, their upstream activators cadherin-3 (type I cadherin) and cadherin-5 (type II cadherin), and 5 cytoplasmic regulators c-Src, CK1ε, GSK-3β, PP2A-Cα, and APC, as well as the nuclear complex partner of β-catenin CBP and 2 downstream genes Myc and cyclin D1. ILK, G_α1, G_β1, and G_β2, which are activity regulators of GSK-3β, were also analyzed.

Both α- and β-catenin showed significantly increased levels, while δ-catenin did not change significantly, in chronic alcoholics. In addition, the level of the β-catenin downstream gene product Myc was significantly increased. Average levels of the catenin regulators c-Src, CK1ε, and APC were also increased in chronic alcoholics, but the changes were not statistically significant.

Chronic and excessive alcohol consumption leads to an upregulation of α- and β-catenin levels, which in turn increase downstream gene expressions such as Myc that is controlled by β-catenin signaling. This study showed that the β-catenin signal transduction pathway was upregulated by chronic alcohol abuse, and prompts further investigation of mechanisms underlying the upregulation of α- and β-catenins in alcoholism, which may have considerable pathogenic and therapeutic relevance.

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A Longitudinal Analysis of Alcohol Outlet Density and Assault
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research OnlineEarly Articles 28 Apr 2008

The majority of studies that have examined the local-level relationship between alcohol outlet density and violence have utilized cross-sectional data. These studies have consistently demonstrated that there is a spatial link between outlets and violence, but because of their design they have not been able to determine whether changes in outlet density result in changes in rates of violence. The few studies that have examined this question over time have found that the violence rates are related to changes in outlet density.

This study provides further evidence of this link and examines the characteristics of regions in which changes in outlet density are most strongly associated with changes in violence rates.

The initial models found overall positive relationships between all 3 types of alcohol outlets and violence. When separate models were developed for postcode clusters, they demonstrated that the link between outlet density and violence was significant in all neighborhood types, but the specific relationships varied substantially.

Changes in the number of alcohol outlets in a community are linked to changes in the amount of violence the community experiences. This relationship varies across the clusters of suburbs examined, with packaged liquor outlets consistently associated with violence in suburban areas and general (hotel) and on-premise (nightclubs, restaurants, and bars) licenses associated with violence in inner-city and inner-suburban areas.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: michaell@turningpoint.org.au
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NIAAA Clinician's Guide Online Training

Video Cases: Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much

§ Four engaging, 10-minute video cases in a variety of settings § Meet the patients: Four heavy drinkers at different levels of severity and readiness to change § Interactive learning exercises § 17-minute tutorial with animated graphics Free CME/CE credits though Medscape ® § Physicians: 1.5 credit hours § Nurses: 1.5 nursing contact hours (0.25 hours in pharmacology)

Read Information on Video Cases

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Characteristics of DUI offenders convicted in wet, dry, and moist counties
Accident Analysis & Prevention Volume 40, Issue 3, May 2008, Pages 976-98


Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of local alcohol sales policies on reducing the incidence of driving under the influence (DUI), less is known about whether characteristics of DUI offenders convicted in alcohol-restricted areas differ from those convicted in areas where alcohol is more readily available.

A total of 21,647 DUI assessment records were divided into four groups based on the alcohol sales policy of the county of conviction and were compared.

DUI offenders convicted in counties that limit or ban the sale of alcohol were more likely to be male, have more drug problems, meet DSM-IV-TR substance abuse or dependence criteria, and have multiple DUI convictions.

Implications for practitioners and policy makers are discussed.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: webster@uky.edu

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