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.

___________________________________________

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Does Gender Matter? A Vignette Study of General Practitioners’ Management Skills in Handling Patients with Alcohol-Related Problems
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2009 44(6):620-625;

The aims of this study were to analyse the perceptions of female and male primary care physicians (PCPs) of alcohol problems in male and female patients, their recommendations to reduce or abstain from alcohol, their referrals to treatment and their views of safe levels of drinking for male and female patients. These factors were related to the physicians’ own alcohol consumption.

Male patients were less likely to be advised to stop drinking altogether than female patients and were less likely to be referred, according to this vignette study. Taking into account that male patients have a higher prevalence of alcohol problems, this may be of considerable importance for men's health outcomes. Implications of these findings are the need to increase awareness of male excessive drinking and that gendered perceptions might bias alcohol management recommendations.


Request Reprint E-Mail: magnus.geirsson@vgregion.se

_______________________________________________________________


at
Lack of Leadership Confidence Relates to Problem Drinking in Women: Gender Identity, Heavy Episodic Drinking and Alcohol Use Disorders in Swedish Women
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2009 44(6):626-633

The aim of this study was to analyse in women the association between four dimensions of gender identity, heavy episodic drinking (HED) and alcohol use disorders (AUD), taking into account age, personality, psychiatric co-morbidity and level of education.

Of the four gender identity dimensions, only low scores on leadership remained significantly associated with AUD and HED after adjustment for age and personality. Clinical work could focus on the development of leadership abilities in women scoring low on these items to improve the ability.


Request Reprint E-Mail: gunnel.hensing@socmed.gu.se
________________________________________________________________


at

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Scientific Management Review Board: Substance Use, Abuse and Addiction Working Group

Wednesday, October 14, 2009\
The Scientific Management Review Board
Total Running Time: 02:21:24


____________________________________________________

at
News Release - Alcohol Tolerance Switch Found in Fruit Flies

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found a genetic “switch” in fruit flies that plays an important role in making flies more tolerant to alcohol.

This metabolic switch also has implications for the deadly liver disease cirrhosis in humans. A counterpart human gene contributes to a shift from metabolizing alcohol to the formation of fat in heavy drinkers. This shift can lead to fatty liver syndrome – a precursor to cirrhosis.

In the study, published in the October print issue of the journal Genetics, the research team measured the time it takes for flies to stagger due to alcohol intake while simultaneously identifying changes in the expression of all their genes. They used statistical methods to identify genes that work together to help the flies adapt to alcohol exposure. In looking at corresponding human genes, a counterpart gene called ME1 was associated with alcohol consumption in humans, as people with certain variations of the gene showed a tendency to drink stronger alcoholic beverages. . . . . . .

______________________________________________________________



at
Alcohol Sensitivity in Drosophila: Translational Potential of Systems Genetics
Genetics. Published Articles Ahead of Print: August 3, 2009

Identification of risk alleles for human behavioral disorders through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has been hampered by a daunting multiple testing problem. This problem can be circumvented for some phenotypes by combining genome-wide studies in model organisms with subsequent candidate gene association analyses in human populations.

Here, we characterized genetic networks that underlie the response to ethanol exposure in Drosophila melanogaster by measuring ethanol knock-down time in 40 wild-derived inbred Drosophila lines. We associated phenotypic variation in ethanol responses with genome-wide variation in gene expression and identified modules of correlated transcripts associated with a first and second exposure to ethanol vapors as well as the induction of tolerance.

We validated the computational networks and assessed their robustness by transposon-mediated disruption of focal genes within modules in a laboratory inbred strain, followed by measurements of transcript abundance of connected genes within the module. Many genes within the modules have human orthologues, which provides a stepping stone for the identification of candidate genes associated with alcohol drinking behavior in human populations.

We demonstrated the potential of this translational approach by identifying seven intronic SNPs of the Malic Enzyme 1 (ME1) gene that are associated with cocktail drinking in 1,687 individuals of the Framingham Offspring cohort, implicating that variation in levels of cytoplasmic malic enzyme may contribute to variation in alcohol consumption.



Request Reprint E-Mail: anholt@ncsu.edu

__________________________________
at
News Release - 90,000 PEOPLE COULD DIE AS A RESULT OF THEIR DRINKING OVER NEXT TEN YEARS

Almost 100,000 people could die over the next ten years as a direct result of their drinking, a charity has today warned. Research from the Alcohol & Health Research Unit at the University of the West of England and Alcohol Concern shows that 90,800 people could die avoidable deaths from alcohol-related causes by 2019 if we continue to drink at the average rate of the past 15 years.

The research maps the whole population’s level of drinking with the number of deaths from alcohol-related causes. The new findings also show there has been a trebling of deaths from 3,054 in 1984 to 8,999 in 2008, as consumption has increased over the past 25 years. . . . . .


_______________________________________________________________
at
Dissociable Control of Impulsivity in Rats by Dopamine D2/3 Receptors in the Core and Shell Subregions of the Nucleus Accumbens
Neuropsychopharmacology advance online publication 21 October 2009

Previous research has identified the nucleus accumbens (NAcb) as an important brain region underlying inter-individual variation in impulsive behavior. Such variation has been linked to decreased dopamine (DA) D2/3 receptor availability in the ventral striatum of rats exhibiting spontaneously high levels of impulsivity on a 5-choice serial reaction time (5-CSRT) test of sustained visual attention.

This study investigated the involvement of DA D2/3 receptors in the NAcb core (NAcbC) and the NAcb shell (NAcbS) in impulsivity. We investigated the effects of a DA D2/3 receptor antagonist (nafadotride) and a DA D2/3 partial agonist (aripiprazole) infused directly into either the NAcbC or NAcbS of rats selected for high (HI) and low (LI) impulsivity on the 5-CSRT task.

These findings indicate an opponent modulation of impulsive behavior by DA D2/3 receptors in the NAcbS and NAcbC. Such divergent roles may have relevance for the etiology and treatment of clinical disorders of behavioral control, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and drug addiction.


Request Reprint E-Mail: jwd20@cam.ac.uk

_______________________________________________________
at
Congressional briefing on Substance Abuse Policy: "What We Know and Where We Need to Go"



  • David Colby, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Evaluation at RWJF, will summarize the panel discussion and key lessons learned from the Foundations investment in this area.
  • Dennis McCarty, Ph.D., Oregon Health and Science University, speaks about delivery and quality of substance abuse treatment, integration with primary care and patient-centered medical homes, disparities and cost of care.

  • Marjorie Gutman, Ph.D., SAPRP Co-Director, speaks about criminal justice, prevention policies in schools and among youth, prescription drug abuse and clinical trials for drug prevention

  • Harold Holder, Ph.D., Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), speaks about data collection, prevention, availability and pricing


  • Michael Cummings, Ph.D., M.P.H., Roswell Park Cancer Institute, speaks about tobacco regulation, pricing, marketing, smoke-free air laws and cessation treatments.

____________________________________________________

at
News Release - Teens behaving badly?
By Cheryl Walker
Office of Communications and External Relations
Published October 15, 2009

Drinking. Drugs. Caving into peer pressure. When parents expect their teenagers to conform to negative stereotypes, those teens are in fact more likely to do so, according to new research by Professor of Psychology Christy Buchanan.

“Parents who believe they are simply being realistic might actually contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Buchanan, who studies adolescent development and behavior. “Negative expectations on the part of both parents and children predict more negative behaviors later on.” . . . . .


_________________________________________________________________
at
Alcohol hinders having a baby through IVF, couples warned
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 October 2009

Couples who share a bottle of wine a week reduce their chances of having a baby through IVF by more than a quarter, according to a study by American fertility specialists.

Research into alcohol consumption among couples being treated at a fertility clinic found fewer successful pregnancies when the women drank several glasses of wine a week, or the man had a daily beer. . . . . . .


______________________________________________________
at

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Coaches’ Attitudes and Involvement in Alcohol Prevention Among High School Athletes
Journal of Community Health Online First 17 October 2009

A total of 288 high school coaches completed a survey on their attitudes toward and involvement in alcohol prevention among male high school athletes.

Results indicated that coaches felt alcohol use was less of a problem among high school student-athletes than high school students in general. Only one-third of coaches (39%) worked at a school requiring them to talk to their athletes about alcohol use.

Coaches most likely to be involved in alcohol prevention were those who had attended an alcohol prevention class/workshop and those who worked for schools with strong alcohol prevention policies and schools that required them to talk with athletes about alcohol use.


Request Reprint E-Mail: keith.king@uc.edu

___________________________________________________________
at
Selective and Brain Penetrant Neuropeptide Y Y2 Receptor Antagonists Discovered by Whole-Cell High Throughput Screening
Molecular Pharmacology Fast Forward First published on October 16, 2009

The role of neuropeptide Y Y2 receptor (Y2R) in human diseases such as obesity, mood disorders and alcoholism could be better resolved by use of small molecule chemical probes that are substantially different from the currently available Y2R antagonist, BIIE0246.

Presented here are five potent, selective and publicly available Y2R antagonists identified by a high throughput screening (HTS) approach. These compounds belong to four chemical scaffolds that are structurally distinct from the peptidomimetic BIIE0246.

In contrast to BIIE0246, Schild analysis with NPY suggests that two of the five compounds behave as competitive antagonists. Profiling against a panel of 40 receptors, ion channels, and transporters found in the central nervous system showed that the five Y2R antagonists demonstrate greater selectivity than BIIE0246.

Furthermore, the ability of these antagonists to penetrate the blood-brain barrier makes them better suited for pharmacologic studies of Y2R function in both the brain and periphery.


Request Reprint E-Mail: hodderp@scripps.edu

______________________________________________________
at
Department of Health to deliver national liver strategy

The Department of Health today announced it would deliver a National Liver Strategy to combat the rise of liver disease, the 5th most common cause of death in England. Liver disease rates have doubled in the last decade and are currently costing the NHS £460 million a year.

The rise in liver disease is attributable to trends in alcohol consumption, which alongside obesity are key lifestyle factors determining risk. A Daily Mail story reports that last year 105 people a day were admitted to hospital with a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease. The Department of Health will will recruit a National Clinical Director to develop and implement the national liver strategy. . . . . .

______________________________________________________________
at
Policy options for alcohol price regulation: the importance of modelling population heterogeneity
Addiction Early View 19 October 2009

Internationally, the repertoire of alcohol pricing policies has expanded to include targeted taxation, inflation-linked taxation, taxation based on alcohol-by-volume (ABV), minimum pricing policies (general or targeted), bans of below-cost selling and restricting price-based promotions. Policy makers clearly need to consider how options compare in reducing harms at the population level, but are also required to demonstrate proportionality of their actions, which necessitates a detailed understanding of policy effects on different population subgroups. This paper presents selected findings from a policy appraisal for the UK government and discusses the importance of accounting for population heterogeneity in such analyses.

Age, sex and level of drinking fundamentally affect beverage preferences, drinking location, prices paid, price sensitivity and tendency to substitute for other beverage types. Pricing policies vary in their impact on different product types, price points and venues, thus having distinctly different effects on subgroups. Because population subgroups also have substantially different risk profiles for harms, policies are differentially effective in reducing health, crime, work-place absence and unemployment harms.

Policy appraisals must account for population heterogeneity and complexity if resulting interventions are to be well considered, proportionate, effective and cost-effective.


Request Reprint E-Mail: p.meier@sheffield.ac.uk

______________________________________________________________

at
News Release - Charge For Harm Alliance Launches Campaign to Pass AB 1019
California Coalition Promotes Alcohol Mitigation Fee

Los Angeles, CA (October 19, 2009) --- The Charge for Harm Alliance – a diverse coalition of treatment and prevention providers, public health advocates, consumers advocates, public safety groups, youth and labor – launched a campaign today to pass an alcohol mitigation fee in California in 2010.

Over 100 people rallied with the new Alliance in South Central Los Angeles to advocate for the passage of AB 1019, the Alcohol-Related Services Program. Simultaneously, Supervisor Bevan Dufty of San Francisco held a hearing on a resolution asking San Francisco to support AB 1019. A new web site loaded with information on the bill and alcohol harm was launched at www.ChargeForHarm.org.

AB 1019, authored by Assembly Member Jim Beall (D-San Jose), would stablish the Alcohol-RelatedServices Program within the California Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs. A $1.44 billion annual alcohol mitigation fee will fund the program and mark the first time the industry has begun to pay its fair share of California’s annual alcohol-related trauma care, hospitalization, reatment, prevention, and criminal justice costs. As AB 1019 is a fee program, it only requires a majority vote in Sacramento. . . . . . .

Read Full Release (PDF)
____________________________________________________________
at
Opioids in the Nucleus Accumbens Stimulate Ethanol Intake
Physiol Behav. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 October 19. Published in final edited form as: Physiol Behav. 2009 October 19; 98(4): 453–459.

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) participates in the control of both motivation and addiction. To test the possibility that opioids in the NAc can cause rats to select ethanol in preference to food, Sprague-Dawley rats with ethanol, food, and water available, were injected with two doses each of morphine, the μ-receptor agonist [D-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]-Enkephalin (DAMGO), the δ-receptor agonist DAla-Gly-Phe-Met-NH2 (DALA), the k-receptor agonist (±)-trans-U-50488 methanesulfonate (U-50,488H), or the opioid antagonist naloxone methiodide (m-naloxone). As an anatomical control for drug reflux, injections were also made 2 mm above the NAc.

The main result was that morphine in the NAc significantly increased ethanol and food intake, whereas m-naloxone reduced ethanol intake without affecting food or water intake. Of the selective receptor agonists, DALA in the NAc increased ethanol intake in preference to food.

This is in contrast to DAMGO, which stimulated food but not ethanol intake, and the k-agonist U-50,488H, which had no effect on intake. When injected in the anatomical control site 2 mm dorsal to the NAc, the opioids had no effects on ethanol intake.

These results demonstrate that ethanol intake produced by morphine in the NAc is driven in large part by the δ-receptor. In light of other studies showing ethanol intake to increase enkephalin expression in the NAc, the present finding of enkephalin-induced ethanol intake suggests the existence of a positive feedback loop that fosters alcohol abuse.

Naltrexone therapy for alcohol abuse may then act, in part, in the NAc by blocking this opioid-triggered cycle of alcohol intake.

Read Full Text (PDF)

____________________________________________________________
at

Monday, October 19, 2009

Civilian Aviation Fatalities Involving Pilot Ethanol and a Previous Record of Substance Abuse
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, Volume 80, Number 10, October 2009 , pp. 841-844(4)

Pilots are subject to the same temptations as the general population, but due to the demands of flying, the use of ethanol or other impairing substances are more likely to have severe consequences. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires pilots to report all adverse legal actions involving their use of ethanol and/or other drugs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate fatal civil aviation accidents between the years 2000 and 2007 in which ethanol was present in the pilot and the pilot had a record of previous drug and/or alcohol offenses.

These results confirm earlier reports that pilots with previous alcohol and/or drug offenses are more likely than others to engage in repeated substance abuse in association with flying with resultant fatal accidents.

These findings support the NTSB's recommendation that the FAA implement more thorough verification of alcohol and drug offenses as a means of identifying pilots at increased risk of causing accidents.


Request Reprint E-Mail: sabra.botch@faa.gov.
___________________________________________________________
at
Europe's health ministries start discussions for Council conclussions on alcohol related harm

Europe's health Ministries have started discussing the Council Conclussions on the prevention and reduction of alcohol related harm on the 1 October.

The Council Conclussions are expected to follow Sweden's priority areas:
1) Alcohol advertising and commercial communications
2) Alcohol and ageing
3) Cross-border trade of alcoholic beverages
4) Harm caused by alcohol to the unborn child

Sweden, which holds the ratating EU presidency has prepared a draft document setting out the priorities.

According to EurActiv Sweden wants national governments to implement the EU alcohol strategy with renewed vigour and to incorporate new evidence on the role of pricing policy as an effective tool in curbing Europe's drinking habits. The Swedish presidency also wants Member States to support evidence-based preventative measures to reduce alcohol consumption during pregnancy and is calling for more research into the links between alcohol and the spread of infectious diseases, including HIV.

Sweden wants health ministers to put pressure on the EU executive to take further steps to protect young people from alcohol advertising. It wants a proactive approach to enforcing regulatory and self-regulatory codes on responsible marketing.

EurActiv points out that this is a hot topic in several countries where drinks companies sponsor high-profile sporting events, several of which attract a young audience.

Sweden intents to have an agreed set of conclusions by the time health ministers meet again on 1 December


___________________________________________________________________


at
Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Health: Current Evidence
Table of Contents: September-October 2009


INTERVENTIONS & ASSESSMENTS

Heroin to Treat Opioid Dependence: A Randomized Trialhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/saitz_oviedo-joekes.html
Meta-analysis Confirms Methadone Maintenance Reduces Illicit Opioid Use and Improves Treatment Retention in Patients with Opioid Dependencehttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/walley_mattick.html
Methadone Maintenance Therapy Decreases Arrestshttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/kunins_schwartz.html
Impaired Memory in Subjects Receiving Opioid Agonist Treatment Who Also Abuse Benzodiazepineshttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/rastegar_rapeli.html
Impact of Buprenorphine Inquiries and Treatment on an Urban Community Health Centerhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/gourevitch_cunningham.html
Improving Entry into Post-detoxification Treatmenthttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/tetrault_carroll.html
Injectable Risperidone for the Treatment of Methamphetamine Dependencehttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/tetrault_meredith.html
HEALTH OUTCOMES

AUDIT-C Scores Greater than 7 Predict Fracture Riskhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/kunins_harris.html

Does Heavy Alcohol Use Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer?http://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/kraemer_gong.html

Alcohol Consumption Limits Associated with Alcohol Problems in Older Adultshttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/friedmann_moos.html

Greater Alcohol Intake Increases the Risk for Hypertension, but Perhaps Not for Consumers of Red Winehttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/ellison_nunez-
cordoba.html

Moderate Alcohol Intake Is Associated with Better Endothelial Functionhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/ellison_suzuki.html


More than Half of All Deaths in Russia among People Aged 15-54 Years Are Attributable to Alcoholhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/bertholet_zaridze.html


Action toward Change Predicts Reduced Alcohol Consumption among Unhealthy Drinkers, but Recognition of the Problem Does Nothttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/issues/issue_sept09/rastegar_bertholet.html


SLIDE PRESENTATIONS

Update on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Healthhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/update.html

Journal Clubhttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/club.html

CME Opportunitieshttp://www.bu.edu/aodhealth/cme.html

___________________________________________________________
at
Results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:National Findings

This report presents the first information from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The survey is the primary source of information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. The survey interviews approximately 67,500 persons each year. Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons in this report described using terms such as "increased," "decreased," or "more than" are statistically significant at the .05 level.














_______________________________________________________
at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)