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.

___________________________________________

Monday, October 19, 2009

Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk and Dietary Patterns inthe E3N-EPIC Prospective Cohort Study
American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on October 14, 2009

Since evidence relating diet to breast cancer risk is not sufficiently consistent to elaborate preventive proposals, the authors examined the association between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk in a large French cohort study.

Two dietary patterns were identified: "alcohol/Western" (essentially meat products, French fries, appetizers, rice/pasta, potatoes, pulses, pizza/pies, canned fish, eggs, alcoholic beverages, cakes, mayonnaise, and butter/cream) and "healthy/Mediterranean" (essentially vegetables, fruits, seafood, olive oil, and sunflower oil).

The first pattern was positively associated with breast cancer risk, especially when tumors were estrogen receptor-positive/progesterone receptor-positive. The "healthy/Mediterranean" pattern was negatively associated with breast cancer risk, especially when tumors were estrogen receptor-positive/progesterone receptor-negative.

Adherence to a diet comprising mostly fruits, vegetables, fish, and olive/sunflower oil, along with avoidance of Western-type foods, may contribute to a substantial reduction in postmenopausal breast cancer risk.



Request Reprint E-Mail: boutron@igr.fr

_____________________________________________________________
at
Knowledge of drinking guidelines does not equal sensible drinking
The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9697, Page 1242, 10 October 2009

The report Reducing alcohol harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse concluded that the UK's current approach to alcohol-related policy, prevention, and treatment is ineffective and uncoordinated.

Among the recommended platforms for action were revision of policies for the pricing and promotion of alcohol, mandatory labelling, and revised sensible drinking guidelines. The focus on clear labelling and guidance carries with it the assumption that providing such information and facilitating its comprehension will reduce irresponsible drinking behaviour.

In our opinion, such efforts are not sufficient to affect drinking behaviour; to demonstrate this, we explored the relation between drinking behaviour and knowledge of sensible drinking guidelines in a sample of medical students at a London institution.

Read Full Article (PDF)
_______________________________________________________
at
WHO to discuss with Member States working document on draft alcohol Strategy

On 8 October 2009 the WHO will hold an informal consultation meeting with Member States in Geneva.

The meeting will discuss the feedback from Member States on the Working document for developing a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol.

The working document reflects the outcomes of the consultations held with Member States and other stakeholders. And it provides background information, the aims and objectives, and target areas for action by Member States.

Member States’ feedback on the content of the working document will help to shape the draft global strategy which will be submitted to the Executive Board at its 126th session in January 2010.
_______________________________________________________
at
Summary and presentations from Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action meeting

Follow the link to access the summary report and presentations from the 5th meeting of the DG SANCO Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action, which took place from June 24 – 25 2009.
_______________________________________________________
at
The price of alcohol: an extra 6,000 early deaths a year
Sam Lister, Health Editor
October 19, 2009

Nearly 9,000 people are dying from alcohol-related diseases every year, three times the number 25 years ago, according to research.

The study, conducted by the Alcohol & Health Research Unit at the University of the West of England, mapped the level of drinking per person and the number of deaths from alcohol-related causes, showing that rising consumption is linked directly to more people dying. . . . . . .

_________________________________________________________
at
Home buyers face questions on alcohol and smoking under new mortgage rules
Elizabeth Judge
October 10, 2009

Homebuyers could be forced to provide detailed information about the amount of money they spend on alcohol each month to qualify for a new mortgage under a new clampdown on reckless lending. . . . . .. .


________________________________________________________
at
Motivations for Alcohol Use among Men Aged 16-30 Years in Sri Lanka
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6, 2408-2416;

Psychometric properties of a new scale that measures motivations towards alcohol use were examined using a sample of 412 male alcohol users in Sri Lanka aged 16-30 years. In addition, associations between drinking motives and drinking frequency were explored.

Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a 3-factor model consisting of the factors personal enjoyment, tension reduction, and social pressure fit the data well. Overall, tension-reduction motivation was found to be prominent in the context of young males’ drinking behavior in Sri Lanka.

Associations between stress and alcohol use among young males warrant further investigations.

Read Full Text (PDF)
_____________________________________________
at
Pharmacotherapy of Addictive Disorders.
Clinical Neuropharmacology. 32(5):277-289, September/October 2009.

Substance use disorders are highly prevalent in the United States and cause considerable damage to our society. They are underrecognized and undertreated despite a vast body of literature demonstrating the efficacy of treatment using both psychosocial and psychopharmacological modalities.

For the last decade, research and progress into the biological basis of the addictive process has led to a rapidly growing number of pharmacological agents used to interrupt the addictive process at its various stages such as the initiation of substance abuse, the transition from abuse to dependence, and the prevention of drug reinstatement or relapse.

Aversive agents, opiate antagonists, and glutamate-based interventions are currently approved to treat alcohol use disorders with future promise with GABAergic, serotonergic, and endocannabinoid system agents.


Request Reprint E-Mail: Stephen.Ross@med.nyu.edu
______________________________________________________________
at
The Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders.
Clinical Neuropharmacology - Vol 32 September/October 2009 pg. 269-276

Addiction is increasingly understood as a neurobiological illness where repetitive substance abuse corrupts the normal circuitry of rewarding and adaptive behaviors causing drug-induced neuroplastic changes.

The addictive process can be examined by looking at the biological basis of substance initiation to the progression of substance abuse to dependence to the enduring risk of relapse.

Understanding the neurobiology of the addictive process allows for a theoretical psychopharmacological approach to treating addictive disorders, one that takes into account biological interventions aimed at particular stages of the illness.


Request Reprint E-Mail: Stephen.Ross@med.nyu.edu
________________________________________________________
at

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Alcohol self-administration acutely stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, but alcohol dependence leads to a dampened neuroendocrine state
Eur J Neurosci. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 October 1. Published in final edited form as: Eur J Neurosci. 2008 October; 28(8): 1641–1653.

Clinical studies link disruption of the neuroendocrine stress system with alcoholism, but remaining unknown is whether functional differences in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis precede alcohol abuse and dependence or result from chronic exposure to this drug.

The present results, combined with previous studies, suggest that multiple adaptations to stress regulatory systems may be brought about by excessive drinking, including a compromised hormonal response and a sensitized brain stress response that together contribute to dependence.

Read Full Text (PDF)
______________________________________________________________
at
News Release - A New Understanding Of Why Seizures Occur With Alcohol Withdrawal

CHICAGO – Epileptic seizures are the most dramatic and prominent aspect of the “alcohol withdrawal syndrome” that occurs when a person abruptly stops a long-term or chronic drinking habit. Researchers have shown that the flow of calcium ions into brain cells via voltage-gated calcium channels plays an important role in the generation of alcohol withdrawal seizures, because blocking this flow suppresses these seizures. . . . . . .


____________________________________________________

at
The Influence of GABRA2, Childhood Trauma, and Their Interaction on Alcohol, Heroin, and Cocaine Dependence
Biological Psychiatry Article in Press 14 October 2009

The GABRA2 gene has been implicated in addiction. Early life stress has been shown to alter GABRA2 expression in adult rodents. We hypothesized that childhood trauma, GABRA2 variation, and their interaction would influence addiction vulnerability.

We found that exposure to childhood trauma predicted substance dependence. Polysubstance dependence was associated with the highest CTQ scores. The African Americans had four common haplotypes within the distal haplotype block: two that correspond to the Caucasian and Asian yin-yang haplotypes, and two not found in other ethnic groups. One of the unique haplotypes predicted heroin addiction, whereas the other haplotype was more common in control subjects and seemed to confer resilience to addiction after exposure to severe childhood trauma. The yin-yang haplotypes had no effects. Moreover, the intron 2 SNP rs11503014, not located in any haplotype block and potentially implicated in exon splicing, was independently associated with addiction, specifically heroin addiction. Childhood trauma interacted with rs11503014 variation to influence addiction vulnerability, particularly to cocaine .

Our results suggest that at least in African-American men, childhood trauma, GABRA2 variation, and their interaction play a role in risk-resilience for substance dependence.


Request Reprint E-Mail: maenoch@niaaa.nih.gov
_________________________________________________________________
at

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Effect of topiramate treatment on ethanol consumption in rats
Psychopharmacology Online First 13 October 2009

Results from clinical studies have shown that topiramate effectively reduces alcohol consumption in a population of heavy-drinking alcohol-dependent humans.

Topiramate treatment produced a modest, but persistent (average of 5 days), reduction in ethanol consumption in P rats, and this effect did not vary with level of consumption. Topiramate did not affect ethanol consumption in either group of Wistar rats.

The results from this study establish in a rodent model that topiramate effectively and persistently reduces ethanol consumption and suggests that its efficacy may depend on genetic vulnerability but not level of drinking.


Request Reprint E-Mail: wlynch@virginia.edu

_______________________________________________________
at
The genetics of addiction
By Claudia Wallis, contributor
October 16, 2009

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Why do some people get hooked on drugs and alcohol, while others can party hard and walk away? We tend to think it's a matter of willpower or moral fiber, but it has more to do with a roll of the genetic dice.

Large-scale studies of twins provide strong evidence that addiction ranks "among the most heritable of mental illnesses," says Dr. David Goldman, who heads the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. . . . . .

______________________________________________________________
at
Alcohol consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women with diabetes: Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study
European Journal of Nutrition Online First 13 October 2009

Although several observational studies have consistently reported an inverse association between moderate alcohol consumption and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), it is yet not well established if this association also exists among people with type 2 diabetes.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the association between the frequency and quantity of alcohol intake and the risk of developing CHD among postmenopausal women with diabetes.

Moderate alcohol consumption of postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes may have a benefit on CHD similar to that seen in postmenopausal nondiabetic women. The potential risks of alcohol on noncardiac outcomes may need consideration when recommending alcohol to women with diabetes.


Request Reprint E-Mail: swapnil.rajpathak@einstein.yu.edu

_______________________________________________________________
at
Alcohol Acutely Increases Vascular Reactivity together with Insulin Sensitivity in Type 2 Diabetic Men
Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes Online First 15 October 2009

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increased insulin sensitivity and reduced cardiovascular risk.
We hypothesized that this relates to a direct effect of alcohol and therefore investigated whether acute alcohol intake altered insulin sensitivity or endothelial function in patients with type 2 diabetes. .

We conclude that alcohol intake acutely increases endothelium-dependent brachial artery vasodilation in patients with type 2 diabetes together with insulin sensitivity.

This acute effect might explain some beneficial effects of low alcohol consumption in epidemiological observations.


Request Reprint E-Mail: michael.wolzt@univie.ac.at


_________________________________________________




at
GAIN Coordinating Center
2008 Data from CSAT Now Available

We are pleased to announce that the 2008 Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) data sets are ready for use by grantees and others interested in using them for secondary analysis. This article provides basic information about the number and type of records included in these two types of data sets and how to access them.
. . . . . . .
_______________________________________________________________
at
Substance use among non-fatally injured patients attended at emergency departments in Spain
Drug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 105, Issue 3, 1 December 2009, Pages 194-201

To describe the prevalence of recent use of alcohol, medication, and illegal drugs among patients who attended emergency departments (EDs) as a result of suffering an injury due to any external mechanism and to identify factors associated with alcohol and drug use.

A high proportion of injured patients who were treated in an EDs tested positive for psychoactive drugs. Routine testing at trauma departments would maximize the identification of patients who may benefit from referral to specialized addiction treatment centers, or brief interventions.


Request Reprint E-Mail: cperez@aspb.cat

________________________________________________________________

at
An IRT-based measure of alcohol trait severity and the role of traitedness in trait validity: A reanalysis of Project MATCH data
Drug and Alcohol Dependence Volume 105, Issue 3, 1 December 2009, Pages 177-184

With the variability among alcohol users in mind, Project MATCH hypothesized several treatment matching relationships based on alcohol severity and alcohol dependence, but found limited effects.

However, it is possible that the existing examinations of Project MATCH data did not fully characterize the nature of severity of alcohol dependence, as these analyses have examined dependence severity as an additive symptom count similar to the diagnostic strategy represented in the DSM-IV.

We examined dependence severity as a latent trait hypothesized to have a characteristic developmental progression using Item Response Theory (IRT), and examined the implications of this approach to severity scaling in the Project MATCH data.

Overall, findings did not support the incremental utility of a latent trait representation of alcohol severity.


Request Reprint E-Mail: lmorey@psych.tamu.edu

______________________________________________________
at
My alcoholic father
Isabel Ashdown
The Guardian, Saturday 17 October 2009

Isabel Ashdown's father was an alcoholic – it killed him when he was only 50. To the outside world, he was charming and charismatic but at home, his unpredictable rages meant the family lived in a continual state of tension . . . . . .

__________________________________________________________
at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)