bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
AIDS and the transition to illicit drug injection—results of a randomized trial prevention program
Authors: JARLAIS DON C. DES , CASRIEL CATHY , FRIEDMAN SAMUEL R. , ROSENBLUM ANDREW 
Published: January 2006

AbstractIllicit drug injection is a major component of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, Europe and some developing countries. Prevention of illicit drug injection would not only reduce HIV transmission but would also reduce the other health, psychological and social problems associated with illicit drug injection. One hundred and four subjects who were using heroin intranasally (‘sniffing’) were recruited for a study of the transition to drug injection. Eligibility criteria included sniffing as the most frequent route of administration and no more than 60 injections in the past 2 years. All subjects received thorough basic information about AIDS, including HIV antibody test counseling. Subjects were then randomly assigned to a four‐session social learning based AIDS/drug injection prevention program or a control condition. Eighty‐three subjects were successfully followed at a mean time of 8.9 months. Twenty (24%) of the followed subjects reported injecting illicit drugs during the follow‐up period. Drug injection during follow‐up was associated with being in the control group, intensity of non‐injected drug use, prior injection, and having close personal relationships with current intravenous (IV) drug users.
Psychopathology, stress and HIV‐risk injecting behaviour among drug users
Authors: HARTGERS C. , VAN DEN HOEK J. A. R. , COUTINHO R. A. , VAN DER PLIGT J. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe relations between psychopathology (or psychological morbidity) and stress (measured by the GHQ‐30 and VOEG‐13) and HIV‐risk injecting behaviour were investigated among 151 and 166 drug users, respectively, participating in a HIV study in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Scores indicative of psychopathology were obtained by 72% of respondents. Drug users with psychopathology are older, long‐term polydrug users and injectors, who experience considerable stress. Drug users in the sample also have higher stress levels than the general population, but, in contrast to the general population, stress does not increase with age. Stress is associated with long‐term polydrug use, with cocaine use and with the female sex. Among HIV‐positive injecting drug users (IDU's) no positive relation was found between psychopathology or stress and lending of used needles to others. Among HIV‐negative IDUs only psychopathology is associated with an increased HIV risk. Our findings suggest that HIV‐risk reduction programmes should consider more seriously the role of psychopathology in attempts to persuade drug users to reduce their risks.
Severity of dependence and route of administration of heroin, cocaine and amphetamines
Authors: GOSSOP MICHAEL , GRIFFITHS PAUL , POWIS BEVERLY , STRANG JOHN 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study investigates severity of dependence upon heroin, cocaine and amphetamines in a group of 200 heroin users, 75% of whom were not in contact with any treatment agency. For drug takers who were current users of more than one drug, heroin produced more severe dependence than either cocaine or amphetamine and many users of these stimulant drugs reported having experienced no problems of dependence. Severity of dependence was influenced by route of administration as welt as type of drug. Heroin taken by injection was associated with more severe dependence than smoked heroin. For cocaine, injection and smoking were associated with equivalent dependence ratings, and both of these routes were associated with more severe dependence than cocaine used intranasally. For amphetamine, there were no differences in severity of dependence ratings for injection, intranasal or oral use. Severity of dependence was correlated with dose and duration of drug use; it was also associated with previous attendance at a drug treatment agency, though dependence problems were also common among heroin users who had never received treatment. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Adolescent drug sellers: trends, characteristics and profiles
Authors: SMART REGINALD G. , ADLAF EDWARD M. , WALSH GORDON W. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis study examines drug setting among representative samples of High school students in Ontario. It involves three approaches, (i) examining the trend in drug selling between 1983 and 1989, (ii) assessing differences between sellers and non‐sellers on demographic characteristics, levels of alcohol and drug use, and problems, and (iii) drawing detailed profiles of drug seller types. Drug selling declined considerably between 1983 and 1989. Sellers were more likely to be males and to use alcohol and drugs more often than non‐sellers. Sellers also had more alcohol and drug problems and engaged in more delinquent acts. Drug sellers who sold cannabis only were less frequent users of drugs, less likely to have drug problems, and were also delinquent.
Unemployment and use of drug and alcohol among young people: a longitudinal study in the general population
Authors: HAMMER TORILD 
Published: January 2006

AbstractA prospective study of a representative sample of nearly 2000 young people aged 17–20 years was started in 1985. It was followed up twice, in 1987 and in 1989. The Central Bureau of Statistics in Norway was responsible for the data collection. Sixty‐five per cent of the stratified sample (1985) participated in all the three surveys. The aim of this paper has been to explore the relationship between unemployment and the use of drugs and alcohol. The results show that unemployment does not appear to influence the consumption of alcohol. In a high consumption group, unemployment seems to lead to a decrease in alcohol consumption, though there was a clear tendency to increase use of cannabis. The results seem to indicate that there was no increase in use of alcohol or drugs in response to stress as a result of unemployment, though unemployment may lead to a stronger identification with or joining marginalized or deviant subcultures which in turn leads to an increased use of cannabis.
Smoking: a special need?
Authors: FIDLER WENDY , MICHELL LYNN , RAAB GILLIAN , CHARLTON ANNE 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe smoking behaviour of 665 children aged 12–15 years with special educational needs was compared with that of a control group of 842 children in mainstream education. Each child was interviewed using a structured questionnaire and reported smoking behaviour was validated against scores on a carbon monoxide monitor. We identified as the most at risk group children with emotional and behavioural disorders. They had the highest smoking rates and were the heaviest smokers. In contrast, children with learning difficulties had slightly lower smoking rates than those of the control. There were significant associations between the children's smoking behaviour and the smoking behaviour of siblings and ‘other adults’ in the household, belonging to single parent families, low self‐esteem and large friendship groups. The reported smoking rates of the families of both groups of special needs children was found to be considerably higher than that in the control group or in the general population.
Assessment of drug involvement: applications to a sample of physicians in training
Authors: CLARK DAVID C. , DAUGHERTY STEVEN R. , BALDWIN DEWITT C. , HUGHES PATRICK H. , STORR CARLA L. , HEDEKER DONALD 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe investigators examined survey data of lifetime and recent drug use in national samples of 2036 senior medical students and 1772 resident physicians to lest whether patterns of lifetime drug use could be characterized adequately by a single underlying dimension of ‘drug involvement’. The data analysis was based on a two parameter normal item response theory (IRT) model using the marginal maximum likelihood estimation method. The result! showed that a single latent dimension of ‘drug involvement’ characterized individual drug use differences on the following measures: substances ever used, substances used in the previous year or previous month, and the sequential order of first use for each substance. The dimension was equivalent for students and resident physicians, and for both genders. Those who professed ‘no religion’ tended to be more drug involved. Physicians‐in‐training with a higher drug involvement score based on lifetime use were more likely: (a) to have used higher‐ranking drugs (such as LSD and prescription opiates) in the past year; and (b) to have used a greater number of different drugs during the past month. Subjects first began to use each of the substances in a relatively invarient sequence corresponding to that predicted by the model. The implications of this model for evaluating the drug use histories of physicians‐in‐craining, for identifying subgroups at greater risk for continued drug involvement after the beginning of medical training, and for further psychological, biological, and sociocultural research on the nature of ‘drug involvement’ are discussed.
Drinking amongst medical patients: levels of risk and models of change
Authors: ORFORD JIM , SOMERS MARCIA , DANIELS VICTORIA , KIRBY BRIAN 
Published: January 2006

AbstractResults are reported of a study in which 547 general hospital medical in‐patients were screened, using a computer‐administered questionnaire, for alcohol consumption, problems and concerns. Of males, 22.5% were classified as “risk drinkers”, of women 6.5%. Rates of risk were particularly high amongst younger male patients. It was concluded that certain screening questionnaire items were more useful than others in the general hospital context, and that standard questionnaires developed for other populations should not automatically be used in general hospitals. Comparisons with items relating to other health behaviours suggested that the medical profession, the general public and the patients themselves might be relatively insensitive to the risks associated with heavy drinking in comparison to those associated with smoking, weight and lack of exercise. Data from initial screening and from 75% of patients who were asked to repeat the questionnaire six months later, were used to test certain assumptions of a model of change based in part upon that of Prochaska & DiClemente (1986). Results suggested that processes of change were more complex than the model supposed.
Why children start smoking cigarettes: predictors of onset
Authors: CONRAD KAREN M. , FLAY BRIAN R. , HILL DAVID 
Published: January 2006

AbstractWe review findings from 27 prospective studies of the onset of cigarette smoking conducted since 1980. Almost 300 measures of predictors of smoking onset were examined, and 74% of them provided multivariate support for predictors of onset derived from theory and previous empirical findings. Expected relationships were strongly supported for (a) socioeconomic status, with students with compromised status being more likely to try smoking; (b) social bonding variables, particularly peer and school bonding, with less support for family bonding; (c) social learning variables, especially peer smoking and approval, prevalence estimates, and offers/availability, with less consistent support for parent smoking and approval; (d) refusal skills self efficacy; (e) knowledge, attitudes and intentions, with the expected stronger predictions from intentions than from attitudes than from knowledge; and (f) broad indicators of self‐esteem. The few investigators who analyzed their data separately by age, gender, or ethnicity found many differences by these factors, though there were too few of them to detect any pattern with confidence. Though the 27 studies are far from perfect, we believe that they confirm the importance of many well‐accepted predictors and raise some questions about others. In particular, family smoking, bonding and approval each received unexpectedly low support, ft is not clear whether this lack of support reflects reality as it has always been, is due to a changing reality, reflects developmental changes, either in the age of subjects or the stage of onset, or is due to poor measurement and too few tests. Future prospective studies need to be theory‐driven, use measures of known reliability and validity, report analyses of scale properties, and use statistical methods appropriate to the hypotheses or theories under study. Finally, we encourage more investigations of the potentially different predictors of transitions to experimental or regular cigarette smoking. This will require multi‐wave studies and careful measurement of changes in smoking behavior.
Diminished responsibility and the drug scene
Authors: TROTT RONALD J. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis article sets out the provisions of S.2 (1)–(3) of the Homicide Act 1957 and the judicial interpretations placed thereon and relates the importance of this section to the offence of murder and considers the province of the expert in regard to the Act and the difficulties encountered when experts interpret the words ‘disease’ and ‘injury’. This is illustrated in relation to a recent Murder case where the Defendant had taken LSD and cannabis voluntarily, and deals with the question as to whether construction of the Act involves any assumption that permament injury and non‐self‐induced injury are necessary ingredients to bring the defendant within provisions of S.2 (1), i.e. abnormality of mind induced by injury substantially impairing mental responsibility. Similarities are suggested between persons suffering from hallucinations, due to delirium tremens, severe concussion cases and LSD trip cases, and the question is posed as to whether it would be logical to say that temporary injury to the brain by poisoning has occurred in situations where there is a motiveless and bizarre killing following ingestion of large quantities of alcohol or drugs.
Estimated prevalence of injecting drug use in Glasgow
Authors: FRISCHER MARTIN 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe prevalence of injecting drug use in Glasgow during 1989 was derived using log‐linear analysis to model the relationship between unnamed identifier information obtained from Strathclyde Police, the Scottish HIV‐test Reporting Scheme and Treatment Agencies. Whereas previous attempts have required, although rarely demonstrated, independence between samples, the method adopted here did not necessitate this assumption. The best model resulted from taking the dependency between the HIV‐test and treatment samples into account, and yielded an estimate of 9424 (95% confidence interval ± 2460), which represents 11–19 per 1000 population aged 15–55 in Glasgow. The estimated male:female ratio was 2.64:1 and the modal injecting drug user (IDU) aged 20–24. While there are no indicators that prevalence has begun to decline, the extent of the hidden population suggests that around 1 in 7 were receiving some form of treatment for drug use. Available evidence suggests that buprenorphine, temazepam and amphetamines, rather than heroin, are the most commonly injected drugs. These findings should facilitate assessment of the service requirements of this group, and provide a basis from which the number of IDUs infected with HIV and the number likely to progress to AIDS can be determined.
Outreach to injecting drug users and female sexual partners of drug users on the Lower East Side of New York City
Authors: ABDUL‐QUADER ABU S. , DES JARLAIS DON C. , TROSS SUSAN , McCOY EDWARD , MORALES GREGORY , VELEZ IVETTE 
Published: January 2006

In this specially commissioned BJA series experienced clinicians will be giving their personal and frontline views as to how the practical business of treating people with substance problems is best handled.AbstractIn 1984, outreach to injecting drug users and their female sexual partners was initiated as pan of HIV behavioral research projects. HIV, health, drug treatment and family planning information and services were provided in addition to recruiting subjects to the research program. Such outreach also poses certain problems—especially potential disruption of neighborhood day‐to‐day life and clashes with police. This paper discusses an outreach program to injecting drug users and their female sexual partners that was initiated in New York City to provide HIV‐related information and services. We examine the successes of the program and problems that were involved in conducting outreach to persons who are typically not accessible through formal institutional channels.
A statistical approach to an alcoholic drinking history
Authors: ALANKO TIMO , POIKOLAINEN KARI 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe drinking history of a middle‐aged male was analyzed statistically on the basis of eight and a half years of notes on the number of drinks consumed per day. During the period his average number of drinks per drinking day increased from about 7 in 1974 to a peak of about 16 in 1980 while the number of abstinent days varied between 23% and 54% with no clear trend. These figures are of the same magnitude as published reports on drinking among alcoholics. Time‐series models of intake or drinking frequency could not describe adequately the time‐structure of annual or monthly consumption. Occurrence of drinking was analyzed as a random series of events. The time‐structure of the series was highly irregular and deviated greatly from the Poisson hypothesis which assumes that each day has an equal probability of becoming a drinking day indepedently of previous days. Instead, drinking days were clustered into sprees with an average length of 7 days, high variance and a very skew distribution, separated by abstinence periods with an average length of 4 days and a similarly shaped distribution. The entire history could be partitioned into 286 alternating drinking and abstinence intervals, one day intervals included. The drinking rhythm was very stable: no significant trends in the lengths of either type of interval could be found. The main findings are the surprising stability of the drinking rhythm, its independence of the growing amounts consumed, and the independently varying abstinence interval lengths. Even in the absence of reporting and memory bias, such a pattern of drinking may produce very inaccurate recall of the actual long‐term alcohol intake, if the recall period is short. The results suggest that periods shorter than one month should be avoided when asking questions about alcohol intake, for example, in research on the effects of treatment on alcoholism or alcohol intake on health.
Prevalence estimates of pathological gambling in Seville (Spain)
Authors: LEGARDA JUAN JOSÉ , BABIO REYES , ABREU JUAN MARIA 
Published: January 2006

AbstractPathological gambling is becoming an increasing concern for the Spanish population. Governmental figures from 1989 show that in the Autonomic Region of Andalucia, with a population of 7 million inhabitants, more than three hundred billion pesetas (approximately UK£1,500 million) were spent during 1988 gambling in casinos, slot machines and at bingo. These figures represent an increase of 15% over the figures of the previous year and suggest that gambling may have come a very important problem in Spain. This paper presents the first epidemiological study carried out in Spain on gambling and the estimated prevalence of pathological gambling in Seville, political capital of Andalucia. A sample of 598 individuals were interviewed with an adapted screening instrument. The results suggest that further epidemiological studies are required at a national level. They also indicate that preventive and treatment measures should also be taken urgently.
Obstacles to effective alcohol policy in the workplace: a case study
Authors: AMES GENEVIEVE , DELANEY WILLIAM , JANES CRAIG 
Published: January 2006

AbstractBased on a case study of an assembly plant in a large US corporation, this paper reports on cultural and environmental influences on the form and process of workplace alcohol policy. Utilizing both ethnographic and survey methods, research findings indicate that although alcohol policies are in place, management and union leaders are unclear about their source and content, and the general employee population perceives alcohol availability and on‐job drinking as poorly controlled. In grounded theory fashion, two conceptual themes are employed for organizing empirical explanations of the weakened policy and under‐controlled drinking. These are: (1) the dual alcohol policy dilemma, and (2) the union‐management debate over authority to discipline. The ambivalent nature of alcohol policy and organizational mechanisms involved in its implementation become risk factors for developing workplace‐related alcohol problems.
Alcohol consumption and related problems among primary health care patients: WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption—I
Authors: SAUNDERS JOHN B. , AASLAND OLAF G. , AMUNDSEN ARVID , GRANT MARCUS 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThis WHO collaborative project is the first phase of a programme of work aimed at developing techniques for early identification and treatment of persons with hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol use among patients attending primary health care facilities in several countries, and to examine the correlates of drinking behaviour and alcohol‐related problems in these culturally diverse populations. The broader purpose was to determine whether there was justification for developing alcohol screening instruments for cross‐national use. One thousand, eight hundred and eighty‐eight subjects in Australia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Mexico, Norway and the USA underwent a comprehensive assessment of their medical history, alcohol intake, drinking practices, and any physical or psychosocial problems related to alcohol. After non‐drinkers and known alcoholics had been excluded, 18% of subjects had a hazardous level of alcohol intake and 23% had experienced at least one alcohol‐related problem in the previous year. Intrascale reliability coefficients were uniformly high for the drinking behaviour (dependence) and adverse psychological reactions scales, and moderately high for the alcohol‐related problems scales. There were strong correlations between the various alcohol‐specific scales, and between these scales and measures of alcohol intake. Although the prevalence of hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption varied from country to country, there was a high degree of commonality in the structure and correlates of drinking behaviour and alcohol‐related problems. These findings strengthen the case for developing international screening instruments for hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption.
Reduced alcohol use in pregnancy and changed attitudes in the population
Authors: IHLEN B.‐M. , AMUNDSEN A. , TRøNNES L. 
Published: January 2006

AbstractThe objectives of this study were to investigate (1) changes in consumption of alcohol among pregnant women over a period of 5 years (1984/85–1990), (2) changes of attitudes towards drinking during pregnancy in the general population over the same period of time, and (3) possible connections between (1) and (2). The investigation was designed as a cross‐sectional study. Our subjects were two representative samples of pregnant women in Oslo, n = 577 and 425, and two representative samples of the Norwegian population, n = 1004 and 1204. The main outcome measures were a self‐completed questionnaire for the pregnant women and a personal interview for the general population sample. There was a significant reduction (50% decrease) in alcohol consumption among the second cohort of pregnant women compared with the first. Furthermore, we found an increase during the 5‐year period in the number of persons with a restrictive attitude towards alcohol use during pregnancy. There seems to be a connection between these two phenomena, but with our present state of knowledge it is hard to say anything about the causal relationship between them.