bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Self‐Reported Alcohol Consumption and Adverse Consequences of Drinking in Three Areas of Britain: General Population Studies
Authors: Crawford Alex , Plant Martin A. , Kreitman Norman , Latcham Richard W. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryOfficial rates of alcohol‐related problems are highest in the North, and lowest in the South of Britain. As pan of a wider study of regional variations, surveys of self‐reported levels of alcohol consumption and adverse consequences of drinking were simultaneously conducted within 3 areas of Britain. These were Highland and Tayside Regions in Scotland, and part of the South East Thames Area Health Board in England. These areas have markedly different rates of alcohol related problems. It was found that these variations were not reflected in differences in either levels or patterns of self‐reported alcohol consumption. It is suggested that care has to be exercised when interpreting official statistics relating to area differences in problem‐drinking.
Tar and Nicotine Yields of U.K. Cigarettes 1972–1983: Sales‐weighted Estimates from Non‐industry Sources
Authors: Jarvis M. J. , Russell M. A. H. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryWe have estimated sales‐weighted tar and nicotine yields of cigarettes in the United Kingdom from 1972 to 1983 using sources outside the tobacco industry. Our estimates are shown to be valid and accurate, and can be quickly updated.The data show a substantial decline of 27 per cent in overall sales‐weighted tar yields from an average of 20.5mg per cigarette in 1972 to 15.0mg in 1983, whereas the sales‐weighted nicotine yields over this period have remained static at about 1.3mg per cigarette. Likewise, the proportion of smokers who smoke a low‐tar brand (<11mg) has stuck at about 15 per cent since 1977. This suggests a barrier to consumer acceptability which appears to be linked mare closely to nicotine than to tar. Finally, there has been an overall 26 per cent reduction in the ratio of tar yield to nicotine yield, from a sales‐weighted average of 15.5 in 1972 to 11.5 in 1983. Thus it appears that, without having to reduce their nicotine intake, British smokers may now be exposed to about a quarter less tar than in 1972, and this includes the majority who have not switched to a low tar brand.
Alcoholism and the Nature of Outcome
Authors: Duckitt Anita , Brown David , Edwards Griffith , Oppenheimer Edna , Sheehan Margaret , Taylor Colin 
Published: January 2006

SummaryA great deal of previous work has been directed to conceptual and methodological issues relating to descriptions of outcome’ in studies of career, natural history, and treatment of alcoholism. There is still no consensus even on basic measures of drinking behaviour which would allow comparison between reports, and the ‘dynamic’ of relationships between variables remains obscure. This paper uses data from a 10–12 year follow‐up of 68 interviewed male alcoholics to explore simple and partial correlations between outcome variables, relating both to the total follow‐up period and the 12 months prior to interview. In several instances significant correlations are found between outcomes in different domaines, but the levels of correlation which are reached suggest that outcome cannot be conceived as a simple unitary dimension, while the pattern of partial correlations begins to reveal the underlying dynamic of relationships. Outcome may need to be conceived not just in terms of end points or scores, but in terms of the processes in which the individual becomes caught up.
Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Research 8. Scotland
Authors: PLANT MARTIN , PLANT MOIRA L. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryScotland is part of the United Kingdom. In spite of this Scotland has a considerable degree of autonomy in relation to the provision of help for problem drinkers. It is noted that traditionally Scottish culture is ambivalent towards the use and misuse of alcohol. Scientific interest in this topic has been evident since the early Nineteenth Century and a disproportionately high percentage of U.K. alcohol research has been conducted in Scotland.
The Severity of Alcoholism and its Relation to Intellectual Impairment and Cerebral Atrophy
Authors: MELGAARD B. , DANIELSEN U. T. , SØRENSEN H. , AHLGREN P. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThe seventy of alcoholism has been evaluated in a group of chronic alcoholics by means of a modified Missouri Alcohol Seventy Scale and an alcohol exposure index. No correlation could be established between severity scores and intellectual impairment or cerebral atrophy.
The Validity of the Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD) Questionnaire: a short self‐report questionnaire for the assessment of alcohol dependence
Authors: DAVIDSON ROBIN , RAISTRICK DUNCAN 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThe evidence for the unitary nature of alcohol dependence is discussed and the usefulness of existing instruments to measure dependence is reviewed. Three separate studies are presented that support the validity of SADD. Several measures of construct and concurrent validity are investigated including comparison with the SADQ and EADS. Attention is drawn to the discriminating characteristics of SADD in the mild/moderate dependence range.
How Much is Too Much? Estimates of hazardous drinking based on clients' self‐reports
Authors: SANCHEZ‐CRAIG MARTHA 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThe utility of an empirically determined criteria of consumption for determining problem from problem‐free drinking in treated clients was assessed. The criterion used was an average of four or more drinks/on an average of 3 or more days per week. Subjects were 55 early‐stage problem drinkers followed‐up after treatment and categorized as ‘problem’ or ‘problem‐free’ on the basis of their self‐reports. Significantly higher levels of alcohol consumption were obtained for the problem group. While the mean quantity and frequency of drinking of this group were above both criterion levels, the mean quantity and frequency of the problem‐free group were below. Self‐reported drinking was corroborated by independent measures of GGT (gamma glutamyl transpeptidase). Of the subjects who exceeded both criteria 77% reported problems, of those who were below both criteria 4.5% had problems, and of those who were above only one criterion about 40% reported problems. These findings can be useful to clinicians, as a rule of thumb, in assisting problem drinkers who wish to reduce their alochol intake to non‐hazardous levels.
Use of Urinary Nicotine Concentrations to Estimate Exposure and Mortality from Passive Smoking in Non‐Smokers
Authors: RUSSELL M. A. H. , JARVIS M. J. , WEST R. J. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryData on urinary nicotine concentrations in smokers and non‐smokers were used to estimate exposure and risks from passive smoking in non‐smokers. The average concentration in 188 urban non‐smokers was 10.8 ng/ml which was 0.7% of the average of 1471 ng/ml in a sample of 229 cigarette smokers. This suggests that the amount of nicotine that non‐smokers absorb from passive smoking is about 0.7% of the intake of smokers. The proportionate intake of tar and gases such as carbon monoxide is likely, if anything, to be higher. If the risk of death is in direct proportion to dose, passive smoking may account for the premature death of about 1000 non‐smokers a year in Britain and more than 4000 per year in the United States.
Monoamines and Alcohol
Authors: NUTT DAVID , GLUE PAUL 
Published: January 2006

SummaryFor many years alcohol (ethanol) has been known to interact with the three major CNS neurotransmitters, noradrenaline, dopamine, and 5‐hydroxytryptamine. This work, originally based on animal studies, has more recently been extended into man with interesting findings both on the effects of alcohol on monoamine neurotransmitters and possibilities that abnormalities of these substances may act as pre‐disposing factors for alcoholism. Studies on noradrenaline show that it seems to be affected by alcohol in all phases of administration with an overall tendency to increasing turnover, and is most obviously manifest by the withdrawal signs. Drugs which affect noradrenergic receptors to reduce turnover, e.g. clonidine, seem to be of value in treating alcohol withdrawal. Abnormalities of dopamine function may contribute to the paranoid psychosis which may develop in alcoholism, and also to the hallucinosis and confusion seen in withdrawal. 5‐HT seems to be involved in alcohol appetite and preference. It may also be involved in the development of tolerance. The possibility that reduced noradrenaline and/or 5‐HT function may predispose to alcoholism is supported by a number of observations. However, much further work in this direction is needed before we can be certain of the role of either of these neurotransmitters.
Neuropsychological Deficits in Alcoholics: the relative contributions of gender and drinking history
Authors: ACKER CLARE 
Published: January 2006

SummaryAlcoholic inpatients at Bexley Hospital Treatment Unit were selected for cognitive assessment on a routine ‘consecutive admission’ basis. The male and female alcoholic groups performed significantly worse on the cognitive tests than matched controls.The ‘consecutive admission’ samples of 72 males and 33 females differed widely on drinking history data; males having significantly severer histories. The females performed worse on tests of immediate recall, and psychomotor speed. This performance difference endured whether the male and female groups were equated for drinking history differences statistically (by co‐variance analysis), or by selection criteria (subject matching).The finding is discussed in the context of a greater vulnerability in women to the deleterious effects of alcohol, while noting the methodological complexities which prevent firm conclusions about causality. One possible conclusion is that females are more susceptible than males to the harmful effects of prolonged heavy drinking on cognitive performance. Alternatively, it may be that those females who become alcoholic are ‘at risk’ in some unspecified way which is reflected in the present performance differences.
Cannabis Psychosis in Young Psychiatric Inpatients
Authors: ONYANGO RICHARD S. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryA survey of 25 consecutive admissions to a psychiatric hospital of patients aged 35 and under reveals that cannabis use is reported by up to 48% of patients, but that it could be verified by urine tests in only 17.4%. The presence of cannabis in the urine appeared to play little part in the phenomenology of the illness in all except one patient. A case history of this one identified patient with cannabis psychosis is described and discussed.
‘I Need Heroin’. Thirty Years’ Experience of Drug Dependence and of the Medical Challenges at Local, National, International and Political Level. What Next?
Authors: CONNELL PHILIP H. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThis lecture reviews the experiences of the author over some 30 years of work in the field of drug misuse at local, national and international levels. Attention is drawn to the situation existing in the late 1960's when the Dangerous Drugs Act 1967 came into force. The thinking behind the then new approach is reviewed. Developments since 1968 are reviewed and in particular the work of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is highlighted in that it has produced important reports which have been accepted by government and on which published government policies have been based. The creation of the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence and the Standing Conference on Drug Abuse is noted. Nevertheless, grave anxiety is expressed that because of problems in financing, problems of co‐ordination, problems of setting up evaluation and the paucity of experts in this field the situation may arise that in 20 years’ time the urgent and present need for evaluation has not been met and clinical practice remains personal and idiosyncratic. The new factors of AIDS and ‘designer drugs’ are referred to and the presence at any one time of a large handicapped population of drug misusers who do not accept treatment but require basic health care in society is stressed.
Cannabis Psychosis
Authors: GHODSE A. HAMID 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThere is clear evidence from countries where heavy use of cannabis is common, that it can cause a short‐lived, toxic psychosis characterized by confusion, delusions, hallucinations and emotional lability. This clinical experience is supported by laboratory experiments showing that, A‐P tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the most active constituent of cannabis, has dose‐related psychotomimetic effects. Evidence that cannabis causes a functional, paranoid psychosis or a chronic psychosis that persists after drug use ceases, is much less convincing although regular, heavy users may suffer repeated short episodes of psychosis and effectively maintain themselves in a chronic psychotic condition. Prolonged effects such as flashbacks and depersonalization may occur because cannabis and its metabolites are eliminated only very slowly from the body. Reports of such consequences, at present often dismissed as anecdotal, therefore, warrant careful attention and analysis.
Abstinence or Controlled Drinking in Clinical Practice: a test of the dependence and persuasion hypotheses
Authors: ORFORD JIM , KEDDIE ALISTAIR 
Published: January 2006

SummaryForty‐six clients of a clinical psychology service were assigned, in accordance with a three‐step design which involved a random element, to abstinence (ABST) or controlled drinking (CD), and were followed up to 12 months after initial assessment. No support was found for the dependence hypothesis: those with higher levels of dependence/severity assigned to CD and those with lower levels assigned to ABST were just as likely as other clients to do well, and there was no relationship between level of dependence/severity and the type of drinking outcome (ABST or CD). There was tentative support for the hypothesis that experience in the follow‐up year would be related to initial beliefs and preferences, although these were not independent of treatment type. The present report is not able to comment on the prediction of outcome in the longer term.
Sex Differences in Alcohol Consumption and its Associated Morbidity in Young Civil Servants
Authors: JENKINS RACHEL 
Published: January 2006

SummaryAn examination of alcohol consumption and its relationship with minor psychiatric morbidity, general practitioner consultations, sickness absence and labour turnover in a cohort of young white collar employees revealed substantial sex differences in the quantity of alcohol consumed in the previous week, and also in the degree to which consumption of more than 30 units/week was associated with increased levels of psychological symptoms, general practitioner consultations sickness absence and labour turnover. These findings underline the need for urgent revaluation of what is a safe quantity of alcohol to consume for either sex.
Aspects of the Provision of a Drug Screening Service for a Therapeutic Community
Authors: ANNESLEY R. , FORREST A. R. W. , JENNER F. A. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryA system for providing a drug screening service to a Therapeutic Community is. described. It has proved acceptable to both clinical and laboratory staff, being economical in its use of expensive reagents, whilst generating rapid and reliable results.
Female Alcoholics: a controlled CT brain scan and clinical study
Authors: JACOBSON ROBIN 
Published: January 2006

SummaryA consecutive series of 26 female alcoholics and 41 controls were interviewed and examined with a CT brain scan. Alcoholics had greater ventricular enlargement, and widening of sulci and conical fissures than controls. These abnormalities occurred after a much shorter drinking history and at a lower peak alcohol consumption than usually reported in male alcoholics. The clinical associations of the CT scan changes are described, and the implications are discussed.
The Distribution of Alcohol Consumption—30 years on
Authors: DUFFY J. C. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThe Ledermann theory and its implications for alcohol control policy have been the source of considerable controversy. This paper describes the original theory and subsequent modifications, and a brief review of the extensive debate on the subject is presented. It is concluded that the implications of the Ledermann theory concerning alcoholism and the experience of alcohol‐related harm are based on an inadequate foundation. More precise estimation of risk functions relating harm to consumption will be of importance in the development and acceptability of alcohol control policy.
Alcoholism and the Patterning of Outcome: a multivariate analysis
Authors: TAYLOR COLIN , BROWN DAVID , DUCKITT ANITA , EDWARDS GRIFFITH , OPPENHEIMER EDNA , SHEEHAN MARGARET 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThis study takes a particular data set deriving from 10‐year follow‐up information on 68 male alcoholics as basis for exploring patterns of outcome in multivariate terms. A Principal Components Analysis demonstrates that degree of dependence is intrinsic to the patterning of outcome. The overall relationship between dependence and holistic outcome is a ‘Janus’ effect: high dependence may be related either to good or to bad outcome in different circumstances. When there is good outcome in terms simply of abstinence, dependence then further predicts within abstinent patients the overall quality of outcome which will be achieved. The need for a multivariate model is underlined.
The Concept of Control and Alcoholism
Authors: BERGMARK ANDERS , OSCARSSON LARS 
Published: January 2006

SummaryClinical perspectives, as e.g. the Alcohol Dependence Syndrome and the position stated by the advocates of controlled drinking suffer from a defective analysis of how the concept of control is used within their own theoretical framework. The basic problem seems to stem from the absence of an articulated and unambiguous definition of the concept control. In order to avoid theoretical inconsistencies we here propose, as an analytic device, a distinction between teleological and causal explanations of human behaviour. This distinction leads to two basic connotations of the control concept which are not compatible within a particular scientific discourse. Our main point is not that just one version of control is possible, but rather that the two basic interpretations of control which we propose create confusion when used as if they referred to the same phenomenon, or as if they were compatible.By analyzing the concept control–and the negation of it–within the Alcohol Dependence Syndrome and the theoretical framework which surrounds controlled drinking as a therapeutic goal, we attempt to point out the practical and theoretical problems generated by the use of an unarticulated control concept.
The Feasibility of Effective Psychopharmacological Treatments for Alcoholism
Authors: SINCLAIR J. D. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThe effects of lithium, anxiolytics, dopaminergic compounds, serotonin uptake inhibitors, opiates, opiate antagonists, and alcohol‐sensitizing drugs on the alcohol consumption of human alcoholics and laboratory animals are reviewed. There is increasing evidence that each of these classes of drugs might be beneficial in reducing alcohol abuse, including recent controlled studies on alcoholics with lithium, serotonin uptake Mockers, and disefulram. The usefulness of all of the current drugs, however, appears limited, and the ideal drug for use in treating alcoholism awaits discovery. Nevertheless, the fact that some drugs acting on the central nervous system are able to promote abstinence supports the feasibility of psychopharmacological treatment for alcoholism. Furthermore, since the known drugs that appear beneficial against human alcohol abuse also suppress voluntary alcohol selection by experimental animals, it seems likely that studies with animals could be used for screening other potentially effective drugs.
The Specific Gravity of the Brains of Alcoholic and Control Patients: a pathological study
Authors: HARPER CLIVE G. , KRIL JILLIAN J. , DALY JOHN M. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryIn recent pathological studies the authors have shown that the brain shrinkage seen in alcoholics is due to a loss of tissue from the white matter and not the cortical grey matter. In order to address the question of the pathogenesis of this shrinkage the Specific Gravity (SG) of the frontal, parietal and occipital grey and white matter of alcoholics and age‐ and sex‐matched controls was measured. The alcoholics were found to have a consistent, but not significant, reduction in SG. Alcoholics with Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) showed similar changes. The decrease in SG in alcoholics with cirrhosis was significant. This pattern of change, in the absence of a large variation in brain water content, suggests that the loss of tissue is probably balanced so that protein/lipid/ carbohydrate ratios are not appreciably different in controls and alcoholics.
The Economic Cost of Alcohol‐related Health Care in New Zealand
Authors: RAYNER TONY , CHETWYND JANE 
Published: January 2006

SummaryThis paper estimates the economic cost of the extra health care in New Zealand associated with the misuse of alcohol. From a range of different studies it was estimated that 7.8% of hospital operating costs were attributable to alcohol consumption. These additional costs formed 85.5% of the total increase in health costs related to excess alcohol consumption. The estimate of this total, NZ$108.3m., represented 0.4% of New Zealand GNP for 1981–82.
The Impact of Per Capita Consumption on Swedish Cirrhosis Mortality
Authors: Norström Thor 
Published: January 2006

SummaryOn the basis of Swedish data for the period 1931–80 the impact of per capita consumption on male cirrhosis mortality is estimated. The lag structure which is specified takes the short‐term as well as the long‐term effect into consideration. According to the findings, a one litre increase in per capita consumption leads to an increase in male mortality from cirrhosis of about 60% when enough time has passed for the total effect to have been established. This estimate appears to be quite large, e.g. it is approximately five times greater than one which was estimated from Danish data. The discrepancy will be a subject for further research.
The Detection of Problem Drinkers in the Accident & Emergency Department
Authors: YATES D. W. , HADFIELD J. M. , PETERS K. 
Published: January 2006

SummaryDemographic, clinical and biochemical information relating to alcohol use was obtained from every patient aged 16 and over attending two Accident & Emergency (A & E) departments over a 2‐week period (1693 cases) in an attempt to identify characteristics of patients with alcohol‐related problems. Measurement of the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) alone fails to detect the majority of heavy drinkers attending an A & E department and clinical assessment of drunkenness is not accurate in many cases. A combination of questionnaire and BAC measurement is more accurate. Many patients attend A & E departments in an inebriated state during the evening. However, many more, with alcohol problems, present at other times of the day. The latter are often sober, with none of the florid stigmata of physical, psychological, or social complications of alcohol abuse. Particular attention should be paid to male patients, those who claim to have been assaulted, those arriving by taxi and the unemployed. Casualty Officers should be advised to take a very brief alcohol history in such cases. Any patient thereby identified as having an alcohol‐related problem should be encouraged to discuss the issue at greater length with his or her general practitioner.