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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Thursday, December 13, 2012

News Release - Study to curb alcohol-exposed pregnancies receives funding


A Sanford Research initiative to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in American Indian communities has been granted funding of more than $800,000 by the National Institutes of Health.

Titled “Tribal collaborations in the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies,” the three-year project will focus on non-pregnant American Indian women and will be led by Jessica D. Hanson, PhD, an assistant scientist for the Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention Research at Sanford Research.

Hanson and her team plan to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. That model is currently in use with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota as part of Project CHOICES, which--through the use of motivational interviewing and encouragement of contraception use--is focused on the prevention of AEP in non-pregnant American Indian women seen at tribal clinics.

The study aims to implement and sustain the already successful CHOICES program, or a similar initiative, at other tribal health facilities in South Dakota.   > > > >  Read More
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Avoiding Addiction When It's in Your DNA


To understand more about the link between addiction and genes, science correspondent Miles O'Brien drinks a mixture of 30 grams of pure ethanol and Diet Coke, the equivalent of three stiff drinks, and undergoes a series of tests.  > > > >  Read More
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European Research Council PhD Studentships







University College London -Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health

Ref: 1297732

Duration of Studentship 3 years

Stipend £18,746 per annum plus UK/EU fees of £4,200 per year

Vacancy Information Applications are invited for two fully-funded three-year PhD studentships for suitably qualified students to conduct research into the health consequences of alcohol consumption across the life-course using data from existing longitudinal observational cohort studies.
The epidemiology of alcohol use and alcohol-related consequences plays a vital role by monitoring populations’ alcohol consumption patterns and acute and chronic problems associated with drinking. Such studies aid efforts to explain relationships between these variables by investigating mechanisms linking alcohol consumption to harm and ultimately to reduce the health burden associated with drinking. Research on the health impact of alcohol consumption needs to take consideration of changes in drinking behaviour over the life-course. The current evidence base lacks the consideration of the complexity of lifetime consumption patterns, the major predictors of change in drinking and the subsequent health risks.

The scope of the research to be undertaken is broad, and thus there is flexibility to adapt the PhD project to the skills, experience, and interests of the successful candidates.  > > > >   Read More
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Press Release - Global Beer, Wine and Spirits CEOs Back New Initiatives




Building on their longstanding commitment to public health, the world’s leading producers of beer, wine and spirits have agreed to a new series of actions in five key areas that are designed to strengthen and expand existing efforts to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. Ten targeted actions over the next five years include:

 Reducing underage drinking, via enforcement of current laws and encouraging governments to introduce and enforce minimum purchase ages

 Continuing to strengthen and expand marketing codes of practice that are rooted in our resolve not to engage in marketing that could encourage excessive and irresponsible consumption, with a particular focus on digital marketing

 Making responsible product innovations and developing easily understood symbols or equivalent words to discourage drinking and driving and consumption by pregnant women and underage youth

 Reducing drinking and driving by collaborating with governments and non-governmental organizations to educate and enforce existing laws

 Enlisting the support of retailers to reduce harmful drinking and create ‘guiding principles of responsible beverage alcohol retailing’
> > > >   Read More
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Monday, December 10, 2012

Neural Evidence for Emotional Involvement in Pathological Alcohol Craving

Reducing craving is a key to success in the treatment of alcohol dependence. The emotion circuit may be involved in pathological craving for alcohol. In this study, we investigated neural correlates of emotional involvement in craving in alcohol dependence.                    
 
The study included 17 detoxified alcoholic patients and 25 social drinkers. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation (blood oxygen level-dependent signals) while participants reported craving and emotion in response to visually presented, alcohol-related stimuli and emotional stimuli.
 
In the craving-rating paradigm, negative emotional stimuli as well as alcohol cues activated craving-related brain regions in alcoholic patients. Activations of the inferior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex by negative emotional stimuli were negatively correlated with craving; meanwhile limbic activation was positively correlated with craving. For the emotion paradigm, greater limbic activation was evident by alcohol-related stimuli in the alcohol-dependent group.
 
Our findings constitute neural evidence for emotional involvement in pathological craving for alcohol, underscoring the importance of emotion management in abstinent alcoholic patients for relapse prevention.         
 
 
Read Full Abstract       
 
Request Reprint E-Mail:    keen@yuhs.ac
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Reducing craving is a key to success in the treatment of alcohol dependence. The emotion circuit may be involved in pathological craving for alcohol. In this study, we investigated neural correlates of emotional involvement in craving in alcohol dependence.                    

The study included 17 detoxified alcoholic patients and 25 social drinkers. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation (blood oxygen level-dependent signals) while participants reported craving and emotion in response to visually presented, alcohol-related stimuli and emotional stimuli.

In the craving-rating paradigm, negative emotional stimuli as well as alcohol cues activated craving-related brain regions in alcoholic patients. Activations of the inferior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex by negative emotional stimuli were negatively correlated with craving; meanwhile limbic activation was positively correlated with craving. For the emotion paradigm, greater limbic activation was evident by alcohol-related stimuli in the alcohol-dependent group.

Our findings constitute neural evidence for emotional involvement in pathological craving for alcohol, underscoring the importance of emotion management in abstinent alcoholic patients for relapse prevention.


Read Full Abstract

Request Reprint E-Mail:   keen@yuhs.ac
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Drinking Patterns and Their Predictive Factors in CONTROL: a 12-Month Prospective Study in a Sample of Alcohol-Dependent Patients Initiating Treatment

To describe the drinking patterns and their baseline predictive factors during a 12-month period after an initial evaluation for alcohol treatment. 
                   
CONTROL is a single-center, prospective, observational study evaluating consecutive alcohol-dependent patients. Using a curve clustering methodology based on a polynomial regression mixture model, we identified three clusters of patients with dominant alcohol use patterns described as mostly abstainers, mostly moderate drinkers and mostly heavy drinkers. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify baseline factors (socio-demographic, alcohol dependence consequences and related factors) predictive of belonging to each drinking cluster. 
                   
The sample included 143 alcohol-dependent adults (63.6% males), mean age 44.6 ± 11.8 years. The clustering method identified 47 (32.9%) mostly abstainers, 56 (39.2%) mostly moderate drinkers and 40 (28.0%) mostly heavy drinkers. Multivariate analyses indicated that mild or severe depression at baseline predicted belonging to the mostly moderate drinkers cluster during follow-up (relative risk ratio (RRR) 2.42, CI [1.02–5.73, P = 0.045] P = 0.045), while living alone (RRR 2.78, CI [1.03–7.50], P = 0.044) and reporting more alcohol-related consequences (RRR 1.03, CI [1.01–1.05], P = 0.004) predicted belonging to the mostly heavy drinkers cluster during follow-up. 
                   
In this sample, the drinking patterns of alcohol-dependent patients were predicted by baseline factors, i.e. depression, living alone or alcohol-related consequences and findings that may inform clinicians about the likely drinking patterns of their alcohol-dependent patient over the year following the initial evaluation for alcohol treatment.


Read Full Abstract

Request Reprint E-Mail:   jjean-bernard.daeppen@chuv.ch
 
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FASD News - 50/2012

NEWS and ARTICLES

HealthCanal.com (Australia) - Population-based study provides new alcohol and pregnancy data

From the findings of the first-ever population-based study of its kind in Australia, a Curtin University researcher has released a report highlighting the impact of maternal alcohol consumption on the health and development of children.


Herald Sun (Australia) - Hospitals under fire from medical chief for offering alcohol to pregnant women

HOSPITALS are offering pregnant mums wine and beer - despite doctors' alarm over the number of "booze babies" born with brain damage.


SBS (Australia) - MPs want fetal alcohol warning on drinks

All alcoholic drinks should carry a health warning for pregnant women, a parliamentary committee says.


Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand) - Booze risks for unborn spur mum into action

A mother of a disabled son is pleading for warning labels to be slapped on alcohol to prevent hundreds of children being born brain-damaged every year.


ABC Online (Australia) - Inquiry to report on fetal alcohol problem

Australia's love of alcohol is well documented - even celebrated. Less publicised are the consequences of pregnant women who drink and damage their unborn babies.


Lethbridge Herald (Canada) - Reaching out to FASD victims

As a former young offenders centre employee and group home worker, Brent Lorenz learned to work with struggling kids before they got wrapped up in a life of crime. Now a constable with the Lethbridge regional police, he's the only police officer in the world who deals specifically with youth who have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).


Canada First Perspective (Canada) - Society 'will feel impact' of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

A First Nations leader said fetal alcohol spectrum disorder — also known as FASD — is an "alarming" problem amongst Canada's Aboriginal population.


AllAfrica.com (South Africa) - South Africa: Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Campaign in Carnavon

Alcohol is killing the moral fibre of our society, and it has now reached a point where unborn babies are disabled for life due to the fact that mothers are consuming alcohol during pregnancy. This phenomena has rocked the rural town of De Aar, to point where it is now the town with the highest reported incidences of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.




UPCOMING EVENTS

First International Conference on Prevention of FASD

Call for Abstracts Now Open


Provincial Outreach Program - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and the Justice System (webinar)

This webcast will share knowledge and information about FASD and the justice system by:

· briefly exploring what Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is;

· presenting on a program designed and implemented by the Asante Centre for youth involved in the justice system with FASD (including findings and statistics);

· sharing research findings focusing on substance abuse (drug and alcohol programs for youth with FASD) being lead by the Asante Centre; and

· describing Manitoba’s Youth Justice FASD program for youth involved the criminal justice system (including challenges and recommendations)


SFU - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Conferences

This conference is a 3-day juried hearing of evidence and scientific findings that allows for the engagement and collaboration of citizens, decision makers in government, and the justice system in addressing a specific set of key questions on legal issues of FASD.




MATERIALS and VIDEOS

Best Start - Breastfeeding and Alcohol Use: Parent Knowledge and Behaviours in Ontario, 2011

The Best Start Resource Centre would like to thank Leger Marketing for completing this Ontario parent survey about breastfeeding and alcohol use, providing the data analysis and identifying preliminary trends.


NOFAS - Tania Peterman on living with FASD

The National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) is the leading voice and resource of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) community. Founded in 1990, NOFAS is the only international non-profit organization committed solely to FASD primary prevention, advocacy and support.


CAPHC - Beyond Screening - Understanding the Core Deficits and Diagnosis of FASD

This webinar is an extension of our webinar series on screening tools for FASD.




IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Rodinka (Slovakia) - Čo by ste povedali tehotnej, ktorá pije alkohol?

Takouto jednoduchou otázkou začínala konferencia Návratu, venovaná FAS-cinujúcim deťom. Tak si skúste sami pred sebou v duchu odpovedať.


Delfi (Estonia) - Karskusliit: kinkige oma veel sündimata lapsele alkoholivaba 9 kuud

Alkoholi tarvitamine raseduse ajal põhjustab erinevaid kahjustusi vähemalt 1%-le Euroopa Liidu elanikest, mõjutades seega umbes 5 miljonit inimest. Tegemist on seega Euroopa Liidus sünnidefektide ja arenguhäirete juhtiva põhjusega, mis on samas 100% ennetatav.



 
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Sunday, December 9, 2012

PROSPECTIVE CORRELATES OF DRINKING CESSATION: VARIATION ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE

 
To assess age variation in correlates of drinking cessation.
 
Prospective study of a U.S. general population sample.
 
Face-to-face household interviews.
 
Past-year ≥monthly drinkers interviewed at baseline and 3-year follow-up (n=14,885).
 
Baseline values and selected changes over follow-up in alcohol consumption, alcohol use disorder (AUD), sociodemographic and health characteristics, other substance use and psychiatric comorbidity were used to predict drinking cessation in three age groups
 
Correlates of drinking cessation varied over the life course, with pregnancy/presence of an infant, nicotine or drug use disorder, incident AUD, cluster A personality disorder, liver disease and incident retirement being important at younger ages and high-school graduation, family income ≥$70,000, volume of ethanol intake, Asian race/ethnicity, mood disorder and incident cardiovascular disease being significant at older ages. Age-invariant correlates included smoking cessation over follow-up, OR=2.82 (95% CI=1.62-4.92) to 3.45 (2.20-5.39); college education, OR=0.42 (0.27-0.65) to 0.54 (0.36-0.83); Black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, OR = 1.74 (1.18-2.29) to 1.88 (1.21-2.93) and 1.58 (1.11-1.25) to 1.73 (0.83-3.63), respectively, and months since last drink, OR=1.24 (1.13-1.36) to1.29 (1.19-1.39).
 
Factors associated with ceasing alcohol use in US adults appear to differ over the life course, reflecting age variation in both their prevalence and impact and supporting the importance of role transitions and health problems (the “sick quitter” effect). The most consistent correlates of drinking cessation included factors reflecting ability/inability to give up potentially addictive substances and factors associated with perceived acceptability of drinking and subgroup-specific drinking contexts that might facilitate/impede continued drinking.


Read Full Abstract

Request Reprint E-Mail:    deborah.anne.dawson@gmail.com
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