bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Serotonin, Impulsivity, and Alcohol Use Disorders in the Older Adolescent: A Psychobiological Study
Authors: Soloff Paul H. , Lynch Kevin G. , Moss Howard B. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) among adolescents are associated with a high prevalence of conduct disorder (CD), much as type II alcoholism in adults is associated with impulsive‐aggressive behavior and antisocial personality traits. Adults with impulsive personality disorders and AUD demonstrate diminished central serotonergic responsiveness to serotonergic agonists. Dysregulation of central serotonergic function may contribute to a vulnerability to impulsive‐aggressive behavior, CD, and AUD. We studied older adolescents, both male and female, to examine the relationships between sex, dispositional impulsivity, aggressivity, CD, and responsiveness to serotonergic challenge with d,l fenfluramine (FEN) early in the development of AUD.Methods: Thirty‐six adolescents between the ages of 16 and 21 years were assessed for DSM‐IV AUD and other Axis I disorders by using the Psychoactive Substance Use Disorders section of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM III‐R, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School‐Age Children–Present and Lifetime Version, and CD interviews. Impulsivity and aggressivity were assessed by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Lifetime History of Aggression, Buss‐Durkee Hostility Inventory, Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire, Youth Self Report, and Multidimensional Personality Questionnaires. FEN was administered as 0.8 mg/kg to a maximum of 60 mg, and blood was sampled at fixed intervals for prolactin, cortisol, fenfluramine, and norfenfluramine levels.Results: Eighteen adolescents (12 male, 6 female) with AUD scored significantly higher on all measures of impulsivity and aggressivity compared with 18 healthy controls (12 male, 6 female). There were no significant differences between groups in peak prolactin or cortisol responses (minus baseline), or area‐under‐the‐curve determinations (AUC); however, 9 subjects with AUD and comorbid CD had significantly elevated cortisol AUC levels compared with subjects with AUD and no CD or with normal controls. In the total sample, cortisol AUC was associated positively with measures of aggression.Conclusions: Adolescents with early‐onset AUD are characterized by impulsivity and aggressivity compared with healthy peers but do not demonstrate the diminished prolactin or cortisol responses to FEN characteristic of adult alcoholics with impulsive‐aggression.
Nicotine Is More Reinforcing in Smokers With a Past History of Alcoholism Than in Smokers Without This History
Authors: Hughes John R. , Rose Gail L. , Callas Peter W. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Whether smokers with a past history (PH) but not current history of alcohol dependence are more nicotine dependent than smokers with no such history (NH) is unclear. The present study was an experimental test of this hypothesis.Method: Twenty PH and 10 NH smokers abstained from smoking for 16 hr on each of 4 days. On each of 3 days, participants received three doses per day of 0, 2, or 4 mg nicotine gum in a within‐subjects, randomized, double‐blind, crossover design. To examine subjective effects, participants completed the Profile of Mood States, Addiction Research Inventory, and other ratings before and after each dose. To examine nicotine reinforcement, participants reported preference among the gums, reported on money versus gum choices, and, on the 4th day, underwent a double‐blind self‐administration test.Results: Across the 21 subjective measures, with one exception, PH and NH smokers did not differ in subjective response to nicotine. However, across all three reinforcement measures, nicotine was a more potent reinforcer in PH than NH smokers.Conclusions: These results provide a behavioral mechanism to explain prior findings that PH smokers are more nicotine dependent than NH smokers.
Validation of Multidimensional Scaling‐Based Modeling of Alcohol Expectancies in Memory: Age and Drinking‐Related Differences in Expectancies of Children Assessed as First Associates
Authors: Dunn Michael E. , Goldman Mark S. 
Published: April 2006

Background: As evidence has accumulated that alcohol expectancies mediate the effects of other drinking antecedents, attempts to understand the mechanism by which expectancies influence behavior have focused on modeling memory processes. Previous expectancy work, however, has used relatively indirect approaches to retrieve and model information stored in memory. By using the method most recommended by memory researchers for directly obtaining uncontaminated memory contents, we assessed children's expectancies and related findings to empirically modeled organization and activation of expectancies in memory based on scaled instruments.Methods: Individual interviews were conducted with 462 children in 2nd through 5th grades, and surveys were completed by 1003 children in 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th grades. Interviews and surveys consisted of a measure designed to retrieve participants’ first expectancy associate to an alcohol prompt and several drinking quantity/frequency questions.Results: Older and higher drinking children were more likely to report positive expectancies as their first associate to an alcohol prompt. Age and drinking‐based findings were consistent with organizational structure, dimension emphasis shift, and paths of association identified by prior multidimensional scaling techniques.Conclusions: Consumption of alcohol among children corresponded to accessibility of positive expectancies in memory. In addition, the use of multidimensional scaling to study the organization and activation of alcohol expectancies in memory was validated.
Brief Intervention for Female Heavy Drinkers in Routine General Practice: A 3‐Year Randomized, Controlled Study
Authors: Aalto Mauri , Saksanen Reijo , Laine Pirkko , Forsström Raija , Raikaa Mia , Kiviluoto Markku , Seppä Kaija , Sillanaukee Pekka 
Published: April 2006

Background: Today, heavy drinking is a common health hazard among women. The evidence in favor of providing some kind of brief intervention to reduce drinking is quite convincing. However, we do not know if intervention works in a natural environment of routine health care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of long‐lasting, brief alcohol intervention counseling for women in a routine general practice setting.Methods: In five primary care outpatient clinics in a Finnish town, 118 female early‐phase heavy drinkers who consulted their general practitioners for various reasons were given brief alcohol intervention counseling. Intervention groups A (n= 40) and B (n= 38) were offered seven and three brief intervention sessions, respectively, over a 3‐yr period. The control group C (n= 40) was advised to reduce drinking at baseline. Main outcome measures were self‐reported weekly alcohol consumption, carbohydrate‐deficient transferrin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and gamma‐glutamyltransferase.Results: Depending on the outcome measure and the study group, clinically meaningful reduction of drinking was found in 27% to 75% of the heavy drinkers. Within all the groups, MCV significantly decreased. However, there were no statistically significant differences between study groups A, B, and C in the mean changes between the beginning and endpoint in the main outcome measures.Conclusions: The present study indicated that minimal advice, as offered to group C, was associated with reduced drinking as much as the brief intervention, as offered to groups A and B, given over a 3‐yr period. Furthermore, in the routine setting of the general practice office, the effectiveness of the brief intervention may not be as good as in special research conditions. The factors possibly reducing the effectiveness in a routine setting are unknown. Thus, different methods of implementing brief intervention need to be evaluated to find better ways to support general practice personnel in their efforts to help heavy‐drinking female patients to reduce their drinking.
Application of a Quality of Life Measure, the Life Situation Survey (LSS), to Alcohol‐Dependent Subjects in Relapse and Remission
Authors: Foster J. H. , Marshall E. J. , Peters T. J. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Recent studies have shown that quality of life (QOL) is improved significantly when subjects do not relapse to heavy drinking, and QOL deteriorates significantly on prolonged relapse. This article further investigates these relationships using a QOL index, the Life Situation Survey (LSS).Methods: Eighty‐two DSM‐IV alcohol‐dependent subjects admitted for alcohol detoxification were studied at baseline and 12 week follow‐up. Sociodemographic data were collected, and severity of alcohol dependence (SADQ) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12) were baseline indices only. The main outcome measure, the LSS, was administered at both time points.Results: Two subjects were lost to follow‐up and one died during the study period. Thus, the relapse/nonrelapse analysis related to 79 subjects. Fifty subjects (63%) had relapsed to heavy drinking at 3 months follow‐up. There was a significant correlation between LSS and GHQ‐12 scores. Significant changes occurred in total LSS scores as a result of relapse and nonrelapse. The improvement in LSS scores associated with nonrelapse was larger than the deterioration that accompanied relapse. In those subjects who did not relapse to heavy drinking, the mean follow‐up score remained in the poor/borderline LSS range. Remission from heavy drinking was accompanied by significant improvements in appetite, sleep, and self‐esteem. Relapse to heavy drinking coincided with a significant deterioration in mood/affect, public support, and work/life role scores.Conclusion: QOL as assessed by the LSS in recently detoxified alcoholics is impaired significantly. In the nonrelapse group, there was a significant improvement in LSS scores after 3 months. Relapse was accompanied by a smaller deterioration in LSS scores. The LSS can play an important role in monitoring the clinical care and progress of alcohol‐dependent subjects.
Event‐Related Potentials and Cue‐Reactivity in Alcoholism
Authors: Herrmann Martin J. , Weijers H.‐Gerd , Wiesbeck Gerhard A. , Aranda Derlis , Böning Jobst , Fallgatter Andreas J. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Relapse is a major problem in the treatment of addictive behaviors. Conditioning models of alcohol addiction suggest that stimuli associated with previous drug use (cues) may initiate relapse in a definite group of alcoholics. Event‐related potentials (ERPs) might be useful to reveal the brain functional substrates of cue‐reactivity.Methods: In a preliminary investigation, 11 alcohol‐dependent patients who did not take part in the electrophysiological study completed a structured interview to rate 80 words as to the degree of relatedness to alcohol. Based on these results, cue‐reactivity for 15 alcohol‐related and 15 unrelated word cues, each repeated eight times, was investigated in 19 alcohol‐dependent men (44.2 ± 8.5 years) and 19 healthy control men (42.5 ± 12.5 years).Results: A cue‐reactivity that consisted of significantly higher amplitudes in the ERPs after alcohol‐related words compared with unrelated words was found in alcohol‐dependent patients, but not in controls, at the electrode location Pz [F (1,36) = 5.2, p < 0.05].Conclusions: Consistent with the hypothesis, only alcohol‐dependent patients were characterized by signs of increased cerebral activity associated with alcohol‐related compared with unrelated cues. Therefore, the results support the concept of cue‐reactivity in alcoholism based on a neurobiological measurement. Future investigations will show whether this cue‐reactivity can be applied to assess the risk of relapse in individual alcohol‐dependent patients.
Demographic Characteristics, Life Context, and Patterns of Substance Use Among Alcohol‐Dependent Treatment Clients in a Health Maintenance Organization
Authors: Tam Tammy W. , Weisner Constance , Mertens Jennifer 
Published: April 2006

Background: Although individuals dependent only on alcohol and those dependent on both alcohol and drugs typically are not studied together in clinical trials, they are treated together in most treatment programs. In this study we compared epidemiological characteristics of the alcohol‐only and alcohol‐and‐drug dependents in a treatment sample to assess differential treatment needs.Method: Patients admitted to treatment at a health maintenance organization's chemical dependency program were sampled and interviewed by using a structured questionnaire. The sample included 491 alcohol‐only and 217 alcohol‐and‐drug dependents. Demographic characteristics, lifetime and current substance use, Addiction Severity Index composite scores, and DSM‐IV criteria for alcohol and drug dependence were assessed at admission .Results: The odds of alcohol‐and‐drug dependence were higher among males, African Americans (when compared with whites), those who were younger, and those with less than college education. The risk was also higher among those who initiated heavy drinking or drug use before the age of 18. Increased psychiatric and family/social problems also were associated with combined dependence.Conclusions: Even in this relatively homogeneous socioeconomic status population, demographic characteristics were important predictors of type of dependence. Treatment programs which provide services that address prevention and psychosocial problems should pay attention to age of initiation as well as psychiatric and social problems.
The Infant Rat Learns About Alcohol Through Interaction with an Intoxicated Mother
Authors: Molina Juan Carlos , Pepino Marta Yanina , Johnson Johnmarc , Spear Norman E. 
Published: April 2006

Background:Infant rats detect the presence of alcohol in milk when the dam suffers a moderate state of alcohol intoxication. The present study examined when rat pups begin to show behavioral changes indicative of the interaction with an intoxicated dam. The study also attempted to determine if infantile experiences involving a moderately intoxicated dam result in alcohol‐derived memories with a particular hedonic content.Methods:Infant rats were allowed to interact during postnatal days (PDs) 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 with alcohol‐intoxicated (EtOH dose: 2.5 g/kg) or alcohol‐free dams. After the interaction took place, some pups were tested in terms of ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) and motor reactivity when isolated and placed on each of two distinctive tactile surfaces (sandpaper or soft fabric) presented in a counterbalanced order, and the second of which was always paired with ambient ethanol odor. At PD 14 pups were evaluated in terms of the preference for texture (sandpaper versus soft fabric) and odor (alcohol versus clove) as well as alcohol ingestion.Results:Very early in life (PD 3) USVs and overall activity were significantly higher in pups that had previously interacted with an intoxicated dam than in those exposed to an alcohol‐free dam. Although this difference was not apparent during the following days, it was clear that a specific memory of alcohol's chemosensory cues was formed. Pups interacting with intoxicated dams followed by pairing of ethanol odor and an arousing texture (sandpaper), later avoided this texture in the preference test; pups that interacted with alcohol‐free dams did not show this effect. The former animals also exhibited less consumption of alcohol than preweanlings never exposed to alcohol in the context of nursing.Conclusions:In conjunction with prior studies these results indicate that very early in ontogeny the infant processes the presence of ethanol, and perhaps its effect on its mother, within the nursing context. Under the present experimental circumstances infants appear to acquire alcohol‐related information that comprises an aversive hedonic component.
Acute Tyrosine Depletion and Alcohol Ingestion in Healthy Women
Authors: Leyton M. , Young S. N. , Blier P. , Baker G. B. , Pihl R. O. , Benkelfat C. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Recently we reported that, in vervet monkeys, ingestion of an amino acid mixture deficient in the catecholamine precursors, phenylalanine and tyrosine, produced a decrease in alcohol self‐administration. We now report the results of a similar study in humans.Methods: Three groups of healthy female social drinkers were administered a nutritionally balanced amino acid mixture (B, n= 13), a mixture deficient in the serotonin precursor, tryptophan (Trp‐free, n= 14), or a phenylalanine/tyrosine deficient mixture (Phe/Tyr‐free, n= 12). Six hours after administration of the amino acid mixture, alcohol ingestion was measured during a free‐choice “Taste Test.”Results: Compared to the B mixture, Phe/Tyr‐free, but not Trp‐free, significantly decreased the ingestion of alcohol [p < 0.02]. Neither Phe/Tyr‐free nor Trp‐free significantly decreased orange juice ingestion or the self‐reported “Liking” of either substance. Some subjects experienced transient nausea and/or regurgitated the amino acid mixtures, but excluding these subjects did not change the results.Conclusions: The results suggest that (a) Phe/Tyr‐free may be a suitable method for investigating the role of catecholamines in the self‐administration and subjective effects of alcohol, (b) acutely decreased catecholamine neurotransmission might disrupt mechanisms mediating alcohol self‐administration, and (c) acutely decreased serotonin neurotransmission seems not to alter alcohol self‐administration.
Alcohol‐Induced Brain Pathology and Behavioral Dysfunction: Using an Animal Model To Examine Sex Differences
Authors: Savage Lisa M. , Candon Paul M. , Hohmann Heather L. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Human epidemiological studies suggest that the female brain may be more susceptible to the toxic effects of alcohol and that this is the reason why women show greater behavioral dysfunction after chronic alcohol exposure. This hypothesis was tested by using a rat model of chronic alcoholism [chronic ethanol treatment (CET)]. The investigation assessed sex differences in neuropathology and behavior after chronic exposure and subsequent withdrawal from alcohol.Methods: Young male and female rats (∼3 months old) were assigned to either a CET group, which received a 20% ethanol drinking solution for 20 weeks, or a pair‐fed control group, which received ad libitum tap water and a restricted diet for 20 weeks. After the CET groups were phased off the 20% alcohol solution, learning and memory abilities were examined by using matching‐to‐position and nonmatching‐to‐position tasks. Neuropathology was assessed in the frontal cortex and medial septal region.Results: CET was shown to cause behavioral deficits. The behavioral dysfunction was sex, task, and process dependent; i.e., CET‐female rats displayed a delay‐dependent impairment on delayed matching‐to‐position, whereas CET‐male rats displayed a delay‐independent impairment on delayed nonmatching‐to‐position. CET resulted in a significant reduction in the frontal cortical (FR1) and collosal thickness, as well as a decrease in cells staining immunopositive for choline acetyltransferase in the medial septal region. However, relative to male rats exposed to CET, female rats did not show any accelerated neuropathology after CET.Conclusions: Chronic exposure to ethanol does result in both brain and behavior dysfunction in male and female rats. The results demonstrate that different cognitive processes are altered by chronic ethanol exposure in male and female rats. However, the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for these differences remain to be determined.
Nifedipine Alleviates Alterations in Hippocampal Kindling After Repeated Ethanol Withdrawal
Authors: Veatch Lynn M. , Gonzalez Larry P. 
Published: April 2006

Background: Current clinical treatment of alcohol detoxification commonly includes pharmacotherapy to lessen the potential for seizures, especially in those patients undergoing repeated treatment. Basic research continues to study the alcohol withdrawal‐related “kindling” of seizures both to understand the mechanisms involved and to identify alternative treatments. Ethanol withdrawal has been shown to result in the delay of electrical kindling at several brain sites, which suggests a long‐lasting disruption of neuronal function.Methods: This study focused on the participation of the l‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels in this process by the treatment of animals during withdrawal with nifedipine, an agent that blocks these channels. Animals were randomly assigned to ethanol (ethanol‐exposed/ethanol‐naive) and drug treatment (nifedipine/vehicle) groups. Subjects receiving ethanol were exposed to five cycles of 3 days’ ethanol exposure, with each exposure cycle separated by a 1‐day withdrawal period. Drug treatment was administered twice during each withdrawal period. Twenty days after completion of ethanol exposure, animals received daily kindling stimulations to hippocampal area CA3 until the kindling criterion was attained.Results: Ethanol‐exposed animals that received vehicle treatment during ethanol withdrawal required more daily stimulations to become fully kindled than did ethanol‐naive controls. This delay in seizure development was most pronounced in the progression from focal seizure behaviors to more generalized seizures. Animals that received the same ethanol exposure but that were treated with nifedipine required significantly fewer stimulations than did ethanol‐exposed animals that received vehicle. Ethanol‐exposed/nifedipine‐treated animals did not differ from ethanol‐naive controls that received vehicle or nifedipine.Conclusions: Alcohol withdrawal‐related alterations in seizure‐sensitive neural circuitry such as the hippocampus persist long after cessation of ethanol exposure. Furthermore, the L‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels are involved in this effect in that blockade of these channels during acute withdrawal alleviates alterations in seizure mechanisms on a long‐term basis.
Amelioration of Ethanol‐Induced Neurotoxicity in the Neonatal Rat Central Nervous System by Antioxidant Therapy
Authors: Heaton Marieta Barrow , Mitchell J. Jean , Paiva Michael 
Published: April 2006

Background: The cerebellum of the neonatal rat is highly susceptible to ethanol, with profound loss of Purkinje cells resulting from even brief exposure during the first postnatal week. Developmental ethanol exposure previously has been shown to induce free radicals/oxidative stress processes and/or down‐regulate protective antioxidants. In an earlier study, we found antioxidants protected against ethanol neurotoxicity in a tissue culture environment. The present study was designed to determine whether similar protection could be manifested in the intact animal.Methods: Neonatal rats were administered a liquid diet via intragastric intubation on postnatal days 4 and 5 (P4‐P5), the peak period of ethanol sensitivity in the developing cerebellum. The diet consisted of milk formula with 12% ethanol, the isocaloric substitution of maltose‐dextrin for ethanol, or ethanol plus the antioxidant vitamin E. Unbiased three‐dimensional counting was utilized to analyze Purkinje cell numbers and density within defined volumes from these animals on P5.Results: These determinations revealed a substantial loss of Purkinje cells in the ethanol‐treated animals compared to controls (approximately 30–44%), but this loss was prevented by the inclusion of vitamin E (60IU/100 ml) in the diet. A lower concentration of the antioxidant (30IU/100 ml) was not effective in this regard, however.Conclusions: These results suggest that ethanol‐related cerebellar damage during this early postnatal period may be related to oxidative stress processes or the insufficiency of protective antioxidants. Thus, antioxidant treatment may represent a possible therapy for preventing or ameliorating the central nervous system (CNS) damage seen in the fetal alcohol syndrome.