bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of the elimination of a state monopoly on distilled spirits’ retail sales: a time‐series analysis of Iowa
Authors: HOLDER HAROLD D. , WAGENAAR ALEXANDER C.
Published: January 2006

Since the end of prohibition in the USA, only one slate, Iowa, has eliminated its state retail monopoly of distilled spirits sales for off‐premise consumption. In March 1987 all slate retail stores were closed, and private establishments were licensed to sell distilled spirits. Interrupted time‐series analyses of apparent spirits consumption in Iowa, controlling for nationwide sales trends over the past two decades, identified a statistically significant 9.5% increase in spirits sales following the policy change. While there was a corresponding 13.7% decline in wine sales, and no change in beer sales, privatization of spirits retail sales yielded a net increase in total alcohol consumption in Iowa. No changes were found in spirits sales in states bordering Iowa.
Changes in the use of intoxicants after onset of pregnancy
Authors: IHLEN B. M. , AMUNDSEN A. , SANDE H. A. , DAAE L.
Published: January 2006

A sample of 416 pregnant women were interviewed with emphasis on their use of alcohol, tobacco, and legally prescribed and illegal drugs before and after onset of pregnancy. The results indicate a significant reduction in alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and the use of legally prescribed and illegal drugs in connection with the pregnancy. There was no correlation between socio‐economic level and use of intoxicants. There was a correlation, however, between the use of intoxicants by the pregnant women and the use of such substances by other significant persons in their environment.
The efficiency of a questionnaire in detecting heavy drinkers
Authors: SEPPÄ KAIJA , SILLANAUKEE PEKKA , KOIVULA TIMO
Published: January 2006

The suitability of the nine‐question Malmö modified Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (Mm‐MAST) was tested on 133 40‐year‐old men and 140 45‐year‐old men attending a voluntary population health screening in a typically week‐end‐drinking society. With a cut‐off level of two yes' answers 29% of the middle‐aged male population has been reported to give a positive result in this questionnaire. In our study alcoholics were excluded. The amount and type of alcohol consumed per week was asked. The subjects were divided into three groups: (1) social drinkers (0 or 1 yes' answer), (2) suspect abusers (two “yes” answers), and (3) abusers (three or more yes' answers or drinking at least 280 g absolute alcohol per week). Group 2 reported drinking more than group I, but according to biological markers they belonged better to group 1 than group 3. With the originally recommended cut‐off level of two yes'answers 50.8% of 40‐year‐old men and 36.5% of 45‐year‐old men in our study proved positive. With the three yes’answer criterion the corresponding percentages were 28.5 and 24.0. Forty‐ and 45‐year‐old men in group 2 gave many positive answers in the question concerning week‐end drinking and avoidance of alcohol for a time, as did 40‐year‐old men in the question concerning bad conscience after drinking. Beer and spirits were the most popular beverage combination and week‐end drinking was the commonest drinking habit. The number of positive answers correlated well with the announced amount of alcohol. In Mm‐MAST typical week–end drinking is linked with many positive answers although the weekly amount of alcohol remains low. In many cases the questionnaire was the only way to diagnose alcohol abuse. It should be kept in mind that the specificity of questionnaires is not equal in different cultures. Concerning the Mm‐MAST questionnaire we recommend three yes’answers as a cut‐off level in week‐end‐drinking societies.
Screening for hepatitis B and vaccination of injecting drug users in NHS drug treatment services
Authors: FARRELL MICHAEL , BATTERSBY MALCOLM , STRANG JOHN
Published: January 2006

Hepatitis B vaccines are now available for people at high risk of infection. Injecting drug users are at particular risk. A UK national survey of statutory drug treatment facilities was conducted to assess what screening and vaccination procedures were offered to drug taken. Of the respondents 64% did not screen for hepatitis B and 71% did not offer vaccination to hepatitis B negative individuals. However, 63% of respondents said they would advise vaccination for injecting drug users who continued to share. Fifty‐eight per cent thought that the partners of hepatitis B positive clients should be screened and 50% thought that vaccination of partners was advisable. A policy of screening and vaccination for hepatitis B is recommended.
Withdrawal symptoms and alcohol dependence: fruitful mysteries★
Authors: EDWARDS GRIFFITH
Published: January 2006

Five types of question are posed around withdrawal symptoms. (1) The reasons for the fluctuations over time in medical awareness of alcohol's capability to produce withdrawal symptoms. (2) What type of drinking schedules instigate withdrawal experience? (3) Do withdrawal phenomena get worse over time? (4) The ‘addiction memory’ question; and lastly (5) Is withdrawal a reinforcer for drinking behaviour? These issues point to a need for a renascence in the kind of research which is based on clinical observation and on listening to what patients have to tell, with such lines of work brought into much closer contact than before with corresponding laboratory investigation.
The prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of high‐risk and problem drinking at an industrial worksite
Authors: WEBB GLORIA R. , REDMAN SELINA , HENNRIKUS DEBORAH , ROSTAS JOHN A. P. , SANSON‐FISHER ROBERT W.
Published: January 2006

The study of 833 employees aimed to determine the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of high‐risk and problem drinking in an industrial population. Variables measured included stressful life events, neuroticism, job satisfaction, years of service, job classification and type of shift. As measured by a 7‐day retrospective diary, 12.5% of the sample were abstainers, 78.7% were light drinkers and 8.8% were high‐risk drinkers. As measured by the Mortimer‐Filkins test of problem drinking, 79.2% were non‐problem drinkers, 15.2% were presumptive problem drinkers and 5.7% were problem drinkers. Variables that best predicted high–risk drinking were marital status, type of shift and education. Variables that best predicted problem drinking were stressful life events, marital status, education and neuroticism. The results indicate the need for a work‐based intervention and provide information to identify at‐risk employees and assist in the design of appropriate treatment programmes, including assistance with social and other problems.
Methadone treatment in medical private practice: outcome according to the number of courses followed
Authors: MEYSTRE‐AGUSTONI GIOVANNA , WIETLISBACH VINCENT , MARTIN JEAN , HALLER‐MASLOV ELVIRE
Published: January 2006

In the Swiss Canton of Vaud, methadone treatment is mostly provided by the private medical practitioners. 562 opioid dependent persons followed at least one course of treatment between 1976 and 1986; at that time, 209 of them had completed a first course, 118 a second one and 31 a third one. Evolution of the persons was observed from the end of their last course to the end of the study. Outcome was evaluated according to the rank of the last course. Whatever its rank, each course resulted in about 17% of stable abstainers and 6% of chronic opioid‐dependent persons. In contrast, the risks to start a new course, to be imprisoned and to enter into a therapeutic community showed a clear gradient with the rank of the course: they were about 38%, 27% and 10% respectively one year after a first or a second course, and rose to 43%, 38% and 28% one year after a third course.
The alcohol treatment‐seeking process from a problems perspective: responses to events
Authors: WEISNER CONNIE
Published: January 2006

All consecutive intakes of a US county's publicly operated and contracted alcohol treatment programs were sampled (N=747) and interviewed regarding problematic events in the year prior to treatment. The paper examines the relationship of the responses of family and friends and of community institutions to events reported as major reasons for coming to treatment. Events (N= 1824) are the unit of analysis. For most events, treatment was suggested less than half the time the event occurred, and there was little agreement between families and friends and community institutions for which types of events treatment was suggested. There were positive relationships between treatment suggestion and the reporting of events as major reasons for treatment.
Social and drug‐taking behaviour of ‘maintained’ opiate addicts
Authors: STRANG JOHN , JOHNS ANDREW , GOSSOP MICHAEL
Published: January 2006

The roles of the prescribing of maintenance methadone and of prescribing injectable drugs in the management of opiate addicts have become subjects of active debate since the advent of HIV. Data are presented on the social circumstances and drug‐taking behaviour of 26 opiate addicts who had been receiving maintenance methadone (24 of whom had been receiving at least part of the prescription as injectible methadone ampoules).
Fallacies and phobias about addiction and pain
Authors: LANDER JANICE
Published: January 2006

Research has indicated that approximately three‐quarters of patients in acute care hospitals experience moderate to severe pain. It is thought that inadequately controlled pain is the result of poor clinical performance on the part of nurses and physicians. Faulty knowledge about pain mechanisms and pharmacology have been targeted as the source of their poor performance. In addition, practitioners may have fallacious beliefs about narcotics and pain. This study examined some of the misconceptions nurses have about addiction and pain management. A number of fallacies were identified. These included a very strong opiophobia or fallacy about addiction liability of narcotics even under conditions of normal hospital use.
Review and analysis of literature on indicators of women's drinking problems
Authors: SCHMIDT CATHERINE , KLEE LINNEA , AMES GENEVIEVE
Published: January 2006

Our goal is to identify more relevant indicators of women's drinking problems. We first reviewed the literature on women's drinking problems to uncover the major issues and research problems that previous studies have raised. We then systematically analyzed 464 indicators of women's alcohol problems cited in the literature from 1970–86. We calculated the frequency of their appearance by source (literature review, clinical studies, research articles, or surveys) and organized them into a comprehensive indicator taxonomy that included physiological, social, psychological and behavioral categories. The resulting taxonomy can serve as a baseline for grounding indicators of women's alcohol problems collected from other sources, such as ethnographic studies of particular populations or surveys of the general population.
Crack and cocaine use in South London drug addicts: 1987–1989
Authors: STRANG JOHN , GRIFFITHS PAUL , GOSSOP MICHAEL
Published: January 2006

There has been great concern in recent years about the abuse of cocaine, particularly in its smokable form ‘crack’. This paper presents data drawn from 441 patients seen by a South London Community Drug Team between 1987 and 1989. Only four (1%) cited cocaine abuse as the main drug problem. Heroin was the most common main drug. Detailed information was available on 355 of these subjects. During the study period 63 patients reported using cocaine and the proportion of subjects using cocaine increased from 13% to 29%. Within the sub‐group of cocaine users, there was a marked increase in the use of smokable forms of cocaine from 15% in 1987 to 75% in 1989. In view of the increased dependence risk associated with smoking cocaine, this is seen as an ominous development.
Dyschromatopsia in heroin addicts
Authors: Dias P. L. R.
Published: January 2006

The Farnsworth‐Munsell 100‐hue test was employed to determine whether there was any defect of colour vision in 29 confirmed male heroin addicts who had been successfully detoxified. Forty age‐matched males served as controls. A typical normal error score on the FM test is about 40 and an error score of over 100 indicates poor colour discrimination; 86.2% of the eyes of the control group had an error score below 100 while only 17.2% of the eyes of heroin addicts had an error score below 100. The colour confusion among the heroin addicts was in the blue‐purple (475–495 mu) range. These results indicate that colour vision defects are more common in heroin addicts.
Oral tobacco: prevalence, health risks, dependence potential and public policy
Authors: WEST ROBERT , KRAFONA KOFI
Published: January 2006

This paper discusses public health policy with regard to oral tobacco use. It notes that in the UK, oral tobacco use is extremely rare. Concern that it might become prevalent among schoolchildren has proved unfounded. Smokeless tobacco almost certainly carries health risks but these risks are probably less than from smoking. What little evidence exists suggests that smokeless tobacco may be less dependence‐inducing than cigarettes. In the light of this, the UK Government's decision to ban oral tobacco products is hard to reconcile with their continuing to permit the sale and advertising of cigarettes. A cynic would view the Government's ban as a‘no cost’ measure to placate the public health lobby and ease the pressure for more restrictions on cigarette promotion. The inconsistency in the Government's approach to Skoal Bandits and cigarettes may be used as a focus for pressure to change in the laws governing promotion of cigarettes.
The dubious evidence for smokeless tobacco
Authors: Venitt S.
Published: January 2006

Abstract. The argument put forward by West & Krafona that the continued availability of Skoal Bandits in the UK would have led to a decrease in tobacco‐related diseases is not supported by the available evidence. It has not been established that young people take up snuff dipping instead of smoking. On the contrary, most studies suggest that both habits co‐exist. That smokeless tobacco is less addictive than cigarette smoking is by no means proven—it may well be that both habits are equally addictive. The aggressive marketing techniques of a leading American smokeless tobacco manufacturer resulted in the creation of a new generation of snuff dippers in the USA; there is little to suggest that the same would not have happened in the UK and in other countries targeted by this and other manufacturers.
Metyrapone‐induced withdrawal symptoms
Authors: KENNEDY J. A. , HARTMAN N. , SBRIGLIO R. , KHURI E. , KREEK M. J.
Published: January 2006

The metyrapone test is widely used in endocrinological testing to assess the integrity of hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis function; we have used it to study the metabolic basis of addictive disease and opioid dependence. In recent studies, we have observed that metyrapone administration in long‐term methadone‐maintained patients and in patients undergoing slow dose reduction to drug‐free status following chronic treatment may induce a narcotic withdrawal‐like syndrome. Although metyrapone is known to produce mild adverse reactions in non‐opiate dependent subjects, narcotic withdrawal‐like symptoms have not been previously observed or reported. The metyrapone test was administered to 15 former heroin addicts: 10 (8 male, 2 female) in steady‐state methadone maintenance therapy (30 to 90 mg/d) and 5 (3 male, 2 female) in the final phase of a slow methadone dose reduction procedure (0 to 10 mg/d). Eight out of 15 methadone maintenance subjects exhibited a narcotic withdrawal‐like syndrome ranging from ‘moderate’ to “severe’ and four additional subjects had‘mild’ symptoms, occurring within 1 h after metyrapone administration, and resolving within 2 h of onset. No significant symptoms were seen in 3 methadone maintained subjects nor in any of 9 normal volunteers (7 male, 2 female). The mechanism by which metyrapone induces symptoms resembling narcotic withdrawal in opiate‐dependent individuals is unknown but physicians performing this test should be aware of this possible response.
Communicative competence in sons of alcoholics
Authors: CARTER CATHLEEN , NOCHAJSKI THOMAS H. , LEONARD KENNETH E. , BLANE HOWARD T.
Published: January 2006

Sons of alcoholic (SA), depressive (SD), and social drinking (SN) fathers gave 3‐min speeches under low‐and high‐stress conditions. Trained raters, unaware of group membership, scored each speech on a variety of communicative competence dimensions. The results gave evidence that the SA group, relative to the SN group, showed deficits in all six speech variables. Further results suggested that the SA group was unaffected by level of stress, while the SD group showed a decrease in communicative clarity from speech 1 (low stress) to speech 2 (high stress). The results suggest lower levels of communicative competence among adult sons of alcoholics. The implication of this finding with regard to the psychosocial functioning of children of alcoholics is discussed.
Alcohol consumption and unemployment among men: the Scottish Heart Health Study
Authors: LEE AMANDA J. , CROMBIE IAN K. , SMITH WILLIAM C. S. , TUNSTALL‐PEDOE HUGH
Published: January 2006

There is growing concern about the relationship between health‐related behaviour and employment status. Data from the Scottish Mean Health Study included information on the self‐reported drinking habits of 4170 full‐time employed and 479 unemployed men. This enabled the patterns of alcohol consumption in the unemployed to be compared to those of the full‐time workers. There were appreciable differences in both frequency and quantity of reported alcohol consumption between the two groups and a higher percentage of the unemployed reported being non‐drinkers. Nevertheless, the unemployed drinkers drank more alcohol than those in employment, even after standardization for both age and social class (27.9 units vs 20.7 units per week). Binge drinking was common in both groups, but the proportion was higher among the unemployed (58.8% of the unemployed reported drinking more than eight units in any day in the previous week compared to 33.5% among the full‐time workers). In an attempt to validate these findings and to assess the possible health consequences of heavy drinking, serum gamma‐glutamyl transferase levels were analysed. Overall, the unemployed were found to have higher levels, this finding being largely influenced by the excess of heavy drinkers. The reasons behind these differences in drinking behaviour between the employed and unemployed need to be identified before any cause and effect hypotheses can be generated, and counselling given where needed.
Inebriate institutions in North America, 1840–1920
Authors: BAUMOHL JIM
Published: January 2006

This paper analyses two contemporaneous types of 19th‐century North American inebriate institutions and attempts by their promoters to develop a public treatment system. Inebriate‘homes’ or‘retreats’ descended from a tradition of therapeutic temperance that originated in the Washingtonian Movement of the 1840s. They were small, urban, private and charitable, dedicated to voluntaristic and Christian principles, and were intimately connected with local temperance groups that provided support after residential treatment. Inebriate asylums took inspiration from insane asylums and were large, public, coercive and isolated in rural areas. Their promoters were steeped in the deterministic, hereditarian neurologism of Victorian psychiatry. Asylum enthusiasts dominated the public treatment movement, but developed a largely disciplinary and custodial vision that undermined their political appeal. As inebriate asylums could not easily be distinguished from insane asylums, almshouses or jails, legislators regarded them as superfluous and very few were established. Prohibition destroyed what public inebriate institutions existed. Inebriate colonies, usually connected with county jails, were the only survivors of the 19th‐century treatment movement apart from private sanitaria and a few inebriate wards in city or county hospitals.
Some reflections on dynamics and dilemmas in a DDU
Authors: SUMMERHILL DEREK
Published: January 2006

Some difficulties in the management of addiction in a Drug Dependence Unit are discussed. Staff time with clients on prescribed methadone is dominated by enquiries into covert drug abuse and they must contend with passive aggression and denial. Dependency issues, to which the DDU may contribute, arise with chronic clients. Psychodynamic themes, even where identified as important, are difficult to follow through and link to outcome. There are inherent constraints in a medical model of management addressing behaviours which are as much the property of social context as of definable individual psychopathology. The AIDS crisis may bring new funds but also new pressures: DDUs may come to be judged essentially by their ability to shield the general population from HIV. This would have implications for the ethos of individual treatment and for team make‐up.
An evaluation of the psychoactive substance dependence syndrome in its application to opiate users
Authors: STRIPP ANDREW M. , BURGESS PHILIP M. , PATTISON PHILIPPA E. , PEAD JOHN , HOLMAN C. PAUL
Published: January 2006

The Psychoactive Substance Abuse and Dependence (PSDA) section of the revised, 3rd edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM‐III‐R) bears a close correspondence to the conceptualization of a dependence syndrome as posited by Edwards, Arif & Hodgson (1981). Further, DSM‐III‐R represents a major shift in psychodiagnostics. The present study investigated hypothesized properties of the dependence syndrome and examined the characteristics of DSM‐III‐R criteria with a sample of opiate users. Findings indicated general support for the unidimensional postulate of the dependence syndrome but did not support the weighting of syndrome elements within DSM‐III‐R. The implications of such findings for the proposed DSM‐IV are discussed.
Relationship between male pancreatitis morbidity and alcohol consumption in Western Australia, 1971‐84
Authors: SMITH D. IAN , BURVILL PETER W.
Published: January 2006

Acute pancreatitis morbidity rates for Western Australian men aged 20 to 39 years, and over 40 years, were related to per adult ( 15 years) alcohol consumption, using the Mann‐Whitney U test. A significant result was obtained for the young men. The male 20 years and over chronic pancreatitis morbidity rate was also significantly related to alcohol consumption. Various reasons for the results are discussed, and in particular from the view point that changes in the level of alcohol consumption appear to affect subsequent pancreatitis morbidity rates.
A response to commentaries: the effects of self–selection
Authors: SHAPER A. G.
Published: January 2006

A major criticism of the hypothesis which states that non–drinkers are mainly a selected group of ex–drinkers who have given up for reasons of ill health, particularly cardiovascular disease, is that such a high selective migration seems unlikely. It is emphasized that ex–drinking status is related to a wide range of disorders although it is particularly marked for cardiovascular disorders. In addition, mortality in middle–aged men is affected most strongly by cardiovascular disease. Virtually all previous prospective studies have not paid sufficient attention to the reasons for people changing their drinking behaviour, or to the burden of disease in non–drinkers. The increase in HDL–cholesterol associated with light drinking (the ‘narrow window’ of protective effect) is small and unlikely to account for significantly reduced coronary heart disease mortality. Studies claiming a protective effect for alcohol are entreated to examine closely the burden of disease in their alcohol intake groups, particularly the non– and occasional drinkers.
Some legal issues relating to passive smoking at the workplace
Authors: HOWARD GILLIAN
Published: January 2006

This paper will discuss some of the current legal issues concerning passive smoking at the workplace. Employers who introduce ‘No Smoking’ policies must take care in the manner in which they introduce any rules and the extent to which the new rules affect those employees who have always been permitted to smoke at work. Changing the rules in an arbitrary fashion may give rise to claims for breach of contract. Smokers may also sue for constructive dismissal should the new rules be imposed in an unreasonable manner. But employers who have followed a fair procedure may have the right to discipline or finally dismiss any smoker who refuses to accept the new rules.
The relationship of sex‐related alcohol expectancies to alcohol consumption and sexual behavior
Authors: LEIGH BARBARA CRITCHLOW
Published: January 2006

Recent psychosocial research on alcohol expectancies beliefs about the effects of alcohol on behavior, moods and emotions has suggested that these expectancies mediate not only decisions about drinking but the alcohol effects displayed by those who have been drinking. Results of a study of drinking and sexual behavior showed that individuals of different gender and sexual orientation differed in their beliefs about the effects of alcohol on sexual responding. In addition, expectations of sexual enhancement and disinhibition were related to the initiation of sexual activity and to the proportion of sexual encounters that took place while drinking, and interacted with sex guilt to predict the amount drunk in the most recent sexual encounter. These results suggest that beliefs about the effects of alcohol on sex may affect the characteristics of sexual encounters that involve drinking.
Alcohol input and creative output*
Authors: LUDWIG ARNOLD M.
Published: January 2006

Is alcohol use a help or a hindrance for creativity? And, conversely, what effect does creative activity have on alcohol use? In order to answer these questions, relevant information was obtained from the biographies of 34 well known, heavy drinking, 20th century writers, artists or composers/performers. Analysis of this information yielded a number of interesting findings. Alcohol use proved detrimental to productivity in over 75% of the sample, especially in the latter phases of their drinking careers. However, it appeared to provide direct benefit for about 9% of the sample, indirect benefit for 50% and no appreciable effect for 40% at different times in their lives. Creative activity, conversely, can also affect drinking behavior, leading, for instance, to increased alcohol consumption in over 30% of the sample. Because of the complexities of this relationship, no simplistic conclusions are possible.
Tobacco and the European common agricultural policy
Authors: JOOSSENS LUK , RAW MARTIN
Published: January 2006

The common agricultural policy of the European Community subsidizes tobacco production to the tune of 1300 million ecu a year (US$ 1500 million, UK£ 900 million). This amounts to 2 500 ecu ($3100, £1700) per minute, and is more in one year than the total amount spent on tobacco subsidies by the US in the last 50 years. The purpose of this policy was to maintain farmers' incomes and adapt community production to demand. Demand for the dark tobaccos which dominate EC production has fallen, while demand for light flue cured tobacco like Virginia has risen. A complex system of production subsidies and quotas was intended to discourage production of the dark tobaccos, for which there is virtually no market, and lead to more Virginia production. The policy has failed. Expenditure has spiralled out of control, production of unmarketable tobacco varieties has risen enormously, and the EC is the world's largest importer of raw tobacco. As a result tobacco is being bought by the community for intervention storage and surpluses of the dark high tar varieties are being ‘exported’ to eastern Europe and north Africa at giveaway prices. There has been no effective monitoring or control of this policy. This paper explains how this has happened and argues that, in view of the health risks attached to tobacco, these subsidies should be abolished.
Preliminary results from a meta‐analysis of drinking behavior in multiple longitudinal studies*
Authors: FILLMORE KAYE MIDDLETON , HARTKA ELIZABETH , JOHNSTONE BRYAN M. , LEINO E. VICTOR , MOTOYOSHI MICHELLE , TEMPLE MARK T.
Published: January 2006

This paper introduces the scope and rationale of The Collaborative Alcohol‐Related Longitudinal Project and describes the individual longitudinal studies which contribute to this large collaborative project, representing studies from 15 countries, It also serves as an introduction to four reports of the preliminary findings from the project. The project is distinguished by (I) its interdisciplinary research approach which has assembled a multidisciplinary group of scholars to direct and interpret analyses, (2) its use of primary data from multiple longitudinal studies, (3) the parallel analyses of primary data from multiple studies, using comparable measures across studies receded to a standard format and common analytic model, and (4) its use of meta‐analysis to combine results across studies. Its research objectives include determining the cross‐study consistency of findings of (1) the incidence and chronicity of drinking patterns and problems, (2) exogeneous factors which initiate and alter drinking careers, (3) socio‐behavioral factors measured in childhood and adolescence which predict adult drinking problems, (4) inter‐generational biological and social factors which predict adult drinking problems, and (5) aggregate‐level factors which account for study differences. The method of sampling of studies from the world's alcohol‐related general population longitudinal research is described.
An integrated approach to meta‐analysis in alcohol studies*
Authors: JOHNSTONE BRYAN M. , LEINO E. VICTOR , MOTOYOSHI MICHELLE M. , TEMPLE MARK T. , FILLMORE KAYE MIDDLETON , HARTKA ELIZABETH
Published: January 2006

The research design and methods utilised by the Collaborative Alcohol‐Related Longitudinal Project are described. The project design addresses the critical need to develop procedures to assess the replicability of research results in alcohol studies. Key features of the research plan include: re‐analysis of original data from multiple longitudinal studies of drinking behavior in the general population; centralization of all data analyses, developed and implemented by an interdisciplinary core staff; development of the research plan and interpretation of results in co‐operation with original investigators of studies included in the project; and use of modeling procedures from meta‐analysis to quantify the relative contribution of factors influencing the distribution of effect estimates across studies, including both methodological differences and aggregate level variables. The final section describes statistical methods for meta‐analysis used by the project, including procedures for the calculation and combination of estimates of effect magnitude, categorical and continuous modeling procedures for use with effect sixes, and random effects models.
A meta‐analysis of life course variation in drinking*
Authors: FILLMORE KAYE MIDDLETON , HARTKA ELIZABETH , JOHNSTONE BRYAN M. , LEINO E. VICTOR , MOTOYOSHI MICHELLE , TEMPLE MARK T.
Published: January 2006

Meta‐analysis combines remits from multiple longitudinal studies to describe life course variation by age and sex for quantity of drinking per typical occasion (20 studies) and frequency of drinking during one month (27 studies). There is cross‐study heterogeneity for the Time 1 means of the drinking variables blocking for age and sex. Age distributions for the Time I means are similar by gender within nations; in the aggregate, males exceed females in the magnitude of drinking. Dramatic shifts in the standarized mean difference (M2 ‐ M1) occur among the young; greater homogeneity and moderate change (declines) occur later in life. Implicated in improving cross‐study homogeneity for M 2– M1 among the young are interval between measurements, nation, Time 1 per capita consumption (PCC), difference in PCC and the Time 1 mean. Lower unstandardized regression coefficients are found for quantity among youth, but are not consistently homogeneous within nations; the association for frequency becomes increasingly stable with increasing age. Nation and interval are implicated in improving homogeneity. Decline in quantity occurs among the old. M2‐M1, produces homogeneously higher regressions for groups of the young who increase quantity v. those who do not. Linkage of the group‐level and individual‐level findings is discussed.
Problem drinking and family history
Authors: FLETCHER KERON D. , PRICE DAVID K. , COOK CHRISTOPHER C. H.
Published: January 2006

Data on SADQ, GHQ, disciplinary, financial and relationship problems were collected from 103 problem drinkers and 96 controls. Problem drinkers were significantly more severely affected than controls on all measures except financial problems. Of the problem drinkers, 55% had a positive family history, and this group were more severely affected on SADQ, GHQ and financial problem measures than family history negative subjects. The most severely affected group were those with a positive family history who also reported significant childhood problems, and the least affected were those without a family history who did not report significant childhood problems.
Effectiveness of three types of spouse‐involved behavioral alcoholism treatment
Authors: McCRADY BARBARA S. , STOUT ROBERT , NOEL NORA , ABRAMS DAVID , NELSON HILARY FISHER
Published: January 2006

Treatment was provided to 45 alcoholics and their spouses in one of three out‐patient behavioral treatment conditions: (1) minimal spouse involvement (MSI) (n = 14), (2) alcohol‐focused spouse involvement (AFSI) (n=12), or (3) alcohol‐focused spouse involvement plus behavioral marital therapy (ABMT) (n = 19). Subjects were followed for 18 months after treatment. Subjects in all conditions reported significant decreases in frequency of drinking and frequency of heavy drinking, and reported increased life satisfaction. This information was corroborated by independent reports of the spouses. Patterns of outcome varied across the three treatment conditions, with ABMT subjects showing gradual improvement in proportions of abstinent days and abstinent plus light drinking days over the last 9 months of follow‐up. Subjects in the other two treatment conditions showed gradual deterioration in proportion of abstinent days and abstinent plus light drinking days. Subjects assigned to the ABMT condition were less likely to experience marital separations, and reported greater improvement in marital satisfaction and subjective well‐being than the other experimental groups. Clinical and theoretical significance of these findings are discussed.
Young people's alcohol consumption in public drinking places: reasoned behaviour or related to the situation?
Authors: KNIBBE RONALD A. , OOSTVEEN TON , VAN DE GOOR IEN
Published: January 2006

Two contrasting perspectives are used to study correlates of young people's (16–25 years) alcohol consumption in public drinking places. One perspective is the theory of reasoned behaviour, or the Fishbein‐Ajzen model, extended with self‐efficacy. The other perspective assumes that exposure to drinking situations and aspects of the actual drinking situation (size of drinking group and group pressure) determine young people's alcohol consumption. Multiple regression analysis shows that variables indicating situational influences are correlated with the alcohol consumption of young men and women, even when controlling for the Fishbein‐Ajzen variables. Among young men frequency of visiting public drinking places contributes more to the explained variance than the four Fishbein‐Ajzen variables together. Young people's alcohol consumption in public drinking places appears to be less fully controlled by alcohol‐specific beliefs, norms and perceived skills than the Fishbein‐Ajzen model assumes. The Fishbein‐Ajzen variables are only weakly correlated with the variables indicating situational influences. It is concluded that, from the individual's perspective, the influence of situational factors means that pan of his consumption is determined by more or less accidental circumstances like the opportunities to drink, the size of the drinking group and group pressure.
Changes in the use of drugs among Norwegian youth year by year from 1968 to 1989
Authors: IRGENS‐JENSEN OLAV
Published: January 2006

The Norwegian National Institute far Alcohol and Drug Research has each spring, since 1968, conducted a survey of the youth of Oslo, the capital of Norway, to determine their use of drugs and their attitudes towards them. These and other surveys, as well as data from the police, provide a basis for a description of certain main traits in the development of drug use in Norway. The surveys suggest–amongst other things–that there has been no increase in the use of drugs among young people in Norway since the beginning of the 1980s. Cannabis is by far the illicit drug most commonly used, and use of drugs like amphetamines, cocaine and heroin seems to be rather limited. The surveys also suggest that alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking declined somewhat among Norwegian youth towards the end of 1980s.
Protection of participants and experimental design in clinical abuse liability testing
Authors: MENDELSON JACK H.
Published: January 2006

The protection of participants in clinical abuse liability testing requires adherence to the basic practices of respect for persons, beneficence and justice. Informed consent procedures must ensure protection of confidentiality, specification of potential risks and benefits, and careful explanation of the nature of the research project and the procedures of the study. All participants should be assured that their participation is voluntary, and that they may freely decline or withdraw from the study. The selection of subjects for participation in clinical abuse liability testing should involve consideration of social and behavioral factors which may co‐vary with risk for substance abuse. Protection of participants also involves attempts to achieve excellence in the design and conduct of the research in order to enhance the contribution of such studies to science and humanity.
Drug abuse potential evaluation in animals
Authors: BALSTER ROBERT L.
Published: January 2006

Animal laboratory studies can provide useful information concerning the potential of drugs for abuse. Over the past SO years, methods have been developed for use with animal subjects which allow the evaluation of pharmacological properties of drugs which are particularly relevant to their abuse. The methods for preclinical drug abuse liability testing are reviewed under six headings: (1) establishment of the degree of pharmacological equivalence to known drugs of abuse, (2) drug discrimination studies, (3) tests of tolerance and cross‐tolerance, (4) tests of physical dependence capacity, (5) drug self‐administration tests of reinforcing effects, and (6) evaluation of toxicity and performance impairment at self‐administered doses. Preclinical studies can be helpful early in drug development to select lead compounds with low abuse potential for further study. In the case of new or already marketed medications, animal testing can often compliment and extend abuse liability evaluation in human subjects. The results of abuse potential evaluation studies can be useful in making decisions about the possible need for regulation under national and international drug laws, and thus play an important role in drug abuse prevention.
Drug metabolism and interactions in abuse liability assessment
Authors: SELLERS EDWARD M. , OTTON S. VICTORIA , BUSTO USOA E.
Published: January 2006

The interpretation of acute abuse liability studies and drug interaction studies would be importantly strengthened by the routine inclusion of drug concentration measurements at appropriate sampling times. Reliance on mean kinetic data misrepresents the variation in drug kinetics and fails to take experimental advantage of the natural differences in the population which may represent the extremes of abuse risk. Pharmacokinetic‐pharmacodynamic studies to better understand the relationship of plasma drug concentration, drug concentration in the receptor biophase and specific drug reinforced behaviour will ensure proper study design and yield useful theoretic information. Multi‐ and poly‐drug abuse (including heavy smoking and heavy ethanol use) are very common. Such patterns of use can have quite large effects on drug kinetics. Because of the potentially large qualitative and quantitative differences in drug metabolism and kinetics between pre‐clinical species and the human, data should be gathered at the earliest possible time with respect to human metabolic rates, patterns, and identification of inhibitors. The availability of human liver microsomes facilitates such studies.
Methods for the assessment of abuse liability of psychomotor stimulants and anorectic agents in humans
Authors: FOLTIN RICHARD W. , FISCHMAN MARIAN W.
Published: January 2006

Although stimulant drugs have been available and abused for centuries, it is only recently that procedures for evaluating their liability for abuse have been developed. This methodological development relies on several converging assessment procedures, combining to reveal the resultant profile of effects. The first of these, drug self‐administration, is based on the principle that those drugs which can serve as reinforcers, maintaining behavior leading to their delivery, have a high liability for abuse. In addition, the more traditional approach to measuring abuse liability has been through assessing self‐reported effects in which standardized questionnaires are used. A variant of this, a drug liking' scale has also been used. A third focus of measurement has been the accuracy with which subjects can identify the drug they have been administered, with some laboratories developing procedures for training subjects to discriminate specific substances. The profile of effects obtained with a specific compound can then be compared to the profile obtained with prototypic stimulants such as amphetamine or cocaine. The extent to which these profiles are similar would predict relative liability for abuse. This paper describes the data collected for amphetamine and concludes that the most accurate assessment of abuse liability is obtained when an unknown drug is compared to a drug with abuse liability using as many of these measures as possible.
Drug abstinence effects: opioids
Authors: PRESTON KENZIE L.
Published: January 2006

The capacity to produce physical dependence is an important factor in the abuse liability of the opioids, contributing both to their reinforcing efficacy and to the negative public health consequences of abuse. Validated methods for measuring the physical dependence capacity of opioids in humans are the Direct Addiction and Substitution/Suppression tests; however, both methods require that subjects be made physically dependent on morphine or on high doses of investigational drugs. New methods need to be developed. Possibilities include assessment of acute physical dependence and the modification of existing substitution test methods for use with subjects already dependent on therapeutic agents.
Psychological deficit from excessive alcohol consumption: evidence from a co‐twin control study
Authors: GURLING HUGH M. D. , CURTIS DAVID , MURRAY ROBIN M.
Published: January 2006

Twenty‐five pairs of monozygotic twins discordant for either the alcohol dependence syndrome or heavy drinking were studied to determine the adverse cognitive effects of alcohol. The twins and their co‐twins were well‐matched for premorbid history and personality but twins with high alcohol consumption performed significantly less well overall on cognitive testing than their co‐twins. Impaired performance in parts of the following tests was found: visual spatial ability, visual spatial recognition, Mill Hill vocabulary, Bexley Maudsley category sorting, tactual performance. The number of years of problem drinking correlated with inferior scores on subtests of the tactual performance test. This study provides further evidence that alcohol abuse produces long‐term cognitive sequelae which may not be grossly evident in clinical practice, and which may occur even at relatively low levels of intake.
The influence of setting on consumption in the balanced placebo design
Authors: WIGMORE STEPHEN W. , HINSON RILEY E.
Published: January 2006

Previous research using the balanced placebo design has demonstrated that instructions about alcohol content of a beverage affect consumption more than actual alcohol content. In the present experiment the balanced placebo design was expanded to include a dimension of context. The design was a 2×2×2 factorial with expectancy about alcohol content, actual alcohol content, and setting in which the experiment was conducted as factors. The setting factor involved conducting the experiment either in a laboratory setting typical of most balanced placebo research or in an actual bar‐room. Results obtained in the laboratory setting replicated the basic finding that subjects consumed more beverage when they believed it contained alcohol than when they believed it did not contain alcohol, regardless of actual alcohol content. Consumption in the bar‐room setting was higher than in the laboratory setting, and most importantly, consumption was not differentially affected by instruction about alcohol content or actual alcohol content. These results demonstrate the important role of setting on beverage consumption, and suggest the need to investigate factors thought to affect consumption in natural drinking environments.
Centre for behavioural research in cancer
Authors: HILL DAVID , BORLAND RON , KARAZIJA BRIGITTE
Published: January 2006

The Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC) is one of two research centres housed at the Anti‐Cancer Council of Victoria, the other being an epidemiological research centre. The CBRC's main focus for research is in smoking behaviour. A feature of the Centre is its close organisational and professional links with Victoria's large publicly funded smoking prevention programme. This provides opportunities to conduct programme‐related research, to influence the nature of tobacco reduction interventions and to evaluate outcomes.
Control versus abstinence in the treatment of pathological gambling: a two to nine year follow‐up
Authors: BLASZCZYNSKI A. , McCONAGHY N. , FRANKOVA A.
Published: January 2006

A structured gambling interview schedule, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Spielberger's State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale and Beck Depression Inventory were administered to 63 out of 120 pathological gamblers who had 5 years previously completed a behavioural treatment for uncontrollable gambling behaviour. Results indicated that both abstinence and controlled gambling outcomes were associated with continued improvement in self‐report and psychological indices of social functioning and psychopathology. Response to treatment was associated with a reduction in arousal levels, anxiety and depression. Uncontrolled gamblers failed to show post‐treatment changes on parameters of improvement. It was concluded that abstinence is not the only possible therapeutic outcome in behavioural treatment and further, that controlled gambling is not a temporary response which is followed by a return to continued uncontrollable gambling.