bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Measuring problem video game playing in adolescents
Authors: Tejeiro Salguero Ricardo A. , Morán Rosa M. Bersabé 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims  Some researchers suggest that for some people, video game playing is an addictive behaviour similar to substance dependence. Our aim was to design and validate a scale to measure the problems associated with the apparently addictive use of all types of video games and video game systems, because there is no instrument at the present time that can be used for this purpose.Design  We reviewed the DSM‐IV criteria for substance dependence and for pathological gambling, as well as the literature on the addictions in order to design a short scale (PVP; problem video game playing) that is quick and easy to apply.Participants  The scale was administered to 223 Spanish adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years. The study was carried out in Granada and Algeciras, Spain.Findings  Psychometric analyses show that the PVP seems to be unidimensional and has acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) at 0.69. The pattern of associations between the scale scores and alternative measures of problem play supports its construct validity (higher total scores in the scale were associated with higher frequency of play, mean and longest times per session, self and parents' perception of playing to excess, and scores in the Severity of Dependence Scale).Conclusions  Our results confirm that the excessive use of video games is associated with a number of problems which resemble a dependence syndrome, and the PVP appears as a useful instrument for the measurement of such problems.
The content of ecstasy tablets: implications for the study of their long‐term effects
Authors: Cole Jon C. , Bailey Mike , Sumnall Harry R. , Wagstaff Graham F. , King Les A. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To examine the variation in the content of ecstasy tablets seized in the north‐west of England during 2001 and to compare it to the UK average from 1991 to 2001.Measurements  All tablets submitted to the Forensic Science Service in the north‐west of England during 2001 were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC‐DAD). The mean MDMA content of these tablets are reported and compared to results from all Forensic Science Service laboratories in the United Kingdom from 1991 to 2001. Multiple samples (n= 80) from a single large seizure of White Dove tablets were analysed to determine the variation due to manufacturing.Findings  All tablets submitted from the north‐west of England to the Forensic Science Service in 2001 were found to contain 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and some also contained 3,4‐methylenedioxyethamphetamine (MDEA). The MDMA content of these tablets ranged from 20 to 109 mg and the mean was in the 60–69 mg range. Mitsubishi tablets were the most common type and they were found across the whole range. The low variation of MDMA content in the White Dove tablets suggests that these tablets were well manufactured. The data from the north‐west of England in 2001 are in agreement with tablet analyses over the past 10 years which show that the average MDMA content is falling.Conclusions  The amount of MDMA in ecstasy tablets is axiomatic to the discussion of their long‐term effects. In order for the observed differences in ecstasy users to be the result of MDMA‐induced neurotoxicity it is necessary for them to have ingested one or more neurotoxic doses. These data indicate that the amount of MDMA in ecstasy tablets is dropping and that dose‐effect relationships need to take this into account.
More Canadian students drink but American students drink more: comparing college alcohol use in two countries
Authors: Kuo Meichun , Adlaf Edward M. , Lee Hang , Gliksman Louis , Demers Andrée , Wechsler Henry 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To compare alcohol use among US and Canadian college students.Design  Results of the 1999 College Alcohol Study and the 1998 Canadian Campus Survey are compared.Setting  One hundred and nineteen nationally representative US 4‐year colleges and universities in 40 states and 16 nationally representative Canadian 4‐year universities.Participants  Randomly selected students under 25 years (12 344 US and 6729 Canadian).Measurements  Self‐reports of alcohol use and heavy alcohol use.Findings  The prevalence of life‐time and past year alcohol use is significantly higher among Canadian students than US students (92% versus 86%, 87% versus 81%). The prevalence of heavy alcohol use (typically consuming five or more drinks in a row for males/four or more for females) among past‐year and past‐week drinkers is significantly higher among US students than Canadian students (41% versus 35%, 54% versus 42%). In both countries younger students and students living at home with their parents are less likely to be heavy drinkers; students who report first drunkenness before the age of 16 are more likely to be heavy drinkers in college.Conclusion  Programs aimed at students' heavy alcohol use should target freshman at entry or earlier. Since students living with their parents are less likely to be heavy drinkers, parents may play a potentially important role in prevention efforts. The patterns of drinking in both countries may be influenced by the legal minimum drinking age. However, the relationship is complex and must be viewed in the context of other variables such as chronological age.
Children in fatal crashes: driver blood alcohol concentration and demographics of child passengers and their drivers
Authors: Voas Robert B. , Fisher Deborah A. , Tippetts A. Scott 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACT Aims  This study examines whether differences in two risk factors for crash‐related injury for children—riding with a drinking driver and failure to use restraints—are related to various driver characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity and drinking.Design, participants, measurements  Data on driver blood alcohol concentration (BAC), use of restraints and certain demographics were drawn from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Ethnicity data came from the Multiple Cause of Death File and socioeconomic information from the US Census. The use of restraints by child passengers and the drinking of alcohol by adult drivers are examined as a function of age, gender and membership of five racial/ethnic groups: White American, Black American, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islander American and Hispanic American. This study covers 160 770 drivers and 12 266 children younger than 16 years killed in motor vehicle crashes from January 1 1990 to December 31 1996.Findings  As might be expected, analyses of fatally injured drivers showed that, compared with men, women were more likely to be accompanied by children at the time of their crash, but those children were more likely to be restrained than if travelling with men. Drivers who had been drinking at the time of their crash were less likely to be transporting children and those children were less likely to be restrained. Analyses of killed children indicated that some ethnic groups, compared with White drivers, were more likely to be BAC‐positive and children were less likely to be restrained.Conclusions  These findings underscore the continuing need to understand cultural factors in traffic safety and develop and disseminate culturally appropriate education programs.
Psychometric properties of the Blood‐borne Virus Transmission Risk Assessment Questionnaire (BBV‐TRAQ)
Authors: Fry Craig L. , Lintzeris Nick 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To develop a standard measure of blood‐borne virus transmission risk behaviour, and examine the underlying psychometric properties.Design  The Blood‐borne Virus Transmission Risk Assessment Questionnaire (BBV‐TRAQ) was developed over three consecutive phases of the original BBV‐TRAQ study in adherence to classical scale development procedures, culminating in the recruitment of a development sample of current injecting drug users via convenience and snowball sampling.Setting  Needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), medical clinics, alcohol/drug agencies, peer‐based and outreach organizations across inner and outer metropolitan Melbourne.Participants  Two hundred and nine current injecting drug users. The mean age was 27 years, 68% were male, 65% unemployed, 36% with prison history and 25% in methadone maintenance.Measurements  BBV‐TRAQ items cover specific injecting, sexual and skin penetration risk practices. BBV‐TRAQ characteristics were assessed via measures of internal and test–retest reliability; collateral validation; and principal components analyses.Findings  The BBV‐TRAQ has satisfactory psychometric properties. Internal (a=0.87), test–retest (r=0.84) and inter‐observer reliability results were high, suggesting that the instrument provides a reliable measure of BBV risk behaviour and is reliable over time and across interviewers. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation produced a parsimonious factor solution despite modest communality, and indicated that three factors (injecting, sex and skin penetration/hygiene risks) are required to describe BBV risk behaviour.Conclusions  The BBV‐TRAQ is reliable and represents the first risk assessment tool to incorporate sufficient coverage of injecting, sex and other skin penetration risk practices to be considered truly content valid. The questionnaire is indicated for use in addictions research, clinical, peer education and BBV risk behaviour surveillance settings.
Impaired control over gambling in gaming machine and off‐course gamblers
Authors: O'Connor John , Dickerson Mark 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAim  To investigate and compare subjectively reported impaired control in two forms of gambling: off‐course Totalizator Agency Board (TAB) horse/dog racing and electronic gaming machines (EGMs). Additionally, gender differences in EGM play were investigated.Design   A survey sample of 84 male TAB gamblers and 137 EGM players (73 females and 64 males) was recruited at gambling sites.Setting  Hotels and clubs in Adelaide, South Australia, were used as recruiting venues. Interviews were either conducted on site if there was sufficient privacy, or relocated to nearby cafes.Participants  The inclusion criteria were gambling at least weekly and being over the age of 18. Female off‐course gamblers were not approached given their scarcity.Measurements  A general gambling involvement questionnaire was devised from pilot research. Impaired control was measured using a shortened version of The Scale of Gambling Choices.Findings  Impaired control over gambling has a robust factor structure, with little difference between EGM and TAB gamblers. Concurrent validity for the impaired control measure was demonstrated against measures of gambling involvement.Conclusion  Impaired control appears to be, in the main, a generic process across these two forms of gambling and for both sexes. Further refinement and application of the concept of impaired control to excessive gambling seems warranted given its strong face, construct and concurrent validity.
Understanding polydrug use: review of heroin and cocaine co‐use
Authors: Leri Francesco , Bruneau Julie , Stewart Jane 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTThe use of cocaine by heroin‐dependent individuals, or by patients in methadone or buprenorphine maintenance treatment, is substantial and has negative consequences on health, social adjustment and outcome of opioid‐addiction treatment. The pharmacological reasons for cocaine use in opioid‐dependent individuals, however, are poorly understood and little is known about the patterns of heroin and cocaine co‐use. We reviewed anecdotal evidence suggesting that cocaine is co‐used with opioid drugs in a variety of different patterns, to achieve different goals. Clinical and preclinical experimental evidence indicates that the simultaneous administration of cocaine and heroin (i.e. ‘speedball’) does not induce a novel set of subjective effects, nor is it more reinforcing than either drug alone, especially when the doses of heroin and cocaine are high. There is mixed evidence that the subjective effects of cocaine are enhanced in individuals dependent on opioids, although it is clear that cocaine can alleviate the severity of symptoms of withdrawal from opioids. We also reviewed preclinical studies investigating possible neurobiological interactions between opioids and cocaine, but the results of these studies have been difficult to interpret mainly because the neurochemical mechanisms mediating the motivational effects of cocaine are modified by dependence on, and withdrawal from, opioid drugs. Our analysis encourages further systematic investigation of cocaine use patterns among opioid‐dependent individuals and in laboratory animals. Once clearly identified, pharmacological and neuroanatomical methods can be employed in self‐administering laboratory animals to uncover the neurobiological correlates of specific patterns of co‐use.
Possible age‐associated bias in reporting of clinical features of drug dependence: epidemiological evidence on adolescent‐onset marijuana use
Authors: Chen Chuan‐Yu , Anthony James C. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims To probe recent evidence on apparent excess occurrence of marijuana dependence when marijuana smoking starts in adolescence.Design and participants A national sample of recent‐onset marijuana users was identified within public data files of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), 1995–98 (1866 adolescents and 762 adults).Measurements Marijuana dependence was assessed via seven standardized questions about its clinical features, such as being unable to cut down. Multivariate response models (GLM/GEE and MIMIC) were used to evaluate adolescent excess risk and possible item biases.Findings Among people who had just started to use marijuana, clinical features of marijuana dependence occurred twice as often among adolescents compared to adults, even with statistical adjustment for other covariates (P < 0.01 from GLM/GEE). MIMIC analyses suggest that adolescent‐onset users have somewhat higher levels of marijuana dependence, and they also provide evidence of age‐associated response bias for some but not all clinical features of marijuana dependence. That is, even with level of marijuana dependence held constant, adolescent recent‐onset users were more likely than adults to report being unable to cut down (P = 0.01) and tolerance (P = 0.029).Conclusion Nosologic, methodological and substantive reasons for observed age‐related excess in occurrence of marijuana dependence problems among early onset users deserve more attention in future research.
Decreased heroin availability in Sydney in early 2001
Authors: Day Carolyn , Topp Libby , Rouen David , Darke Shane , Hall Wayne , Dolan Kate 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAim  To examine the veracity of reports of a substantial decrease in the availability of heroin in Sydney in January 2001.Design  Cross‐sectional survey.Setting  Sydney, Australia.Participants  Forty‐one injecting drug users (IDUs) and 10 key informants (KIs).Findings  Almost all IDUs (93%) reported that heroin was harder to obtain at the time of interview (mid‐February 2001) than it was before Christmas 2000 and KIs concurred. IDUs (83%) and KIs (70%) also reported that the price of heroin had increased since Christmas, and that the purity of heroin had decreased (IDUs 73%; KIs 80%). Almost all IDUs reported a reduction in their heroin use and a subsequent increase in other drug use, particularly cocaine, benzodiazepines and cannabis. Similar reports about IDUs came from nine of the 10 KIs. Over half the KIs reported an increase in both property and violent crime as a result of the heroin shortage. This crime was reportedly occurring mainly between heroin suppliers and/or IDUs. Reports from other Australian jurisdictions suggest that the shortage was not specific to Sydney.Conclusions  The reduction in the availability of heroin provides a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of supply reduction.
Prevalence and correlates of alcohol use: a population‐based study in Hong Kong
Authors: Janghorbani Mohsen , Ho Sai Yin , Lam Tai Hing , Janus Edward Denis 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTObjective  To estimate the prevalence and pattern of alcohol use and to analyse the socio‐demographic and biological correlates of alcohol drinking in Hong Kong Chinese.Design  A population‐based cross‐sectional study conducted from December 1994 to October 1996.Setting and participants  2900 randomly selected subjects age 25–74 years who participated in the Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study in Hong Kong.Results  Alcohol consumers comprised 55.4% (95% CI: 52.8–58.0) of men and 19.4% (95% CI: 17.4–21.4) of women. The median weekly ethanol consumed by male and female drinkers were 9.6 g and 3.6 g, respectively. Beer was the main source of alcohol; 61.5% of drinkers consumed beer as their main drink. In stepwise multiple regression among drinkers, male sex, smoking, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, primary or below education, diastolic blood pressure and separated or widowed marital status were associated positively with weekly ethanol consumption.Conclusion  In this representative sample of Hong Kong adults, the majority were either non‐drinkers or very light drinkers, which can be used as a benchmark to measure changes in drinking pattern in the future. The putative protective effect of alcohol on heart disease could be due to the higher level of HDL in moderate drinkers.
Cannabis condemned: the proscription of Indian hemp
Authors: Kendell Robert 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAims  To find out how cannabis came to be subject to international narcotics legislation.Method  Examination of the records of the 1925 League of Nations’ Second Opium Conference, of the 1894 Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission and other contemporary documents.Findings  Although cannabis (Indian hemp) was not on the agenda of the Second Opium Conference, a claim by the Egyptian delegation that it was as dangerous as opium, and should therefore be subject to the same international controls, was supported by several other countries. No formal evidence was produced and conference delegates had not been briefed about cannabis. The only objections came from Britain and other colonial powers. They did not dispute the claim that cannabis was comparable to opium, but they did want to avoid a commitment to eliminating its use in their Asian and African territories.
Death following ingestion of MDMA (ecstasy) and moclobemide
Authors: Vuori Erkki , Henry John A. , Ojanperä Ilkka , Nieminen Raija , Savolainen Taru , Wahlsten Pia , Jäntti Matti 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTFour deaths following the ingestion of moclobemide and MDMA (‘ecstasy’) are described. The probable cause of death in each case was serotonin syndrome as a result of an interaction between the two drugs. As none of the victims had been prescribed moclobemide it seems that each had taken the drug to enhance the effects of MDMA, with fatal consequences. Warnings are needed against misinformed attempts to potentiate the pharmacological effects of illicit drugs.
A meta‐analysis of estimated genetic and environmental effects on smoking behavior in male and female adult twins
Authors: Li Ming D. , Cheng Rong , Ma Jennie Z. , Swan Gary E. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTBackground  Numerous twin studies on smoking behavior have shown that genetic and environmental factors play significant and approximately equal roles in the determination of smoking initiation (SI) and smoking persistence (SP). However, estimates of heritability (h2), shared (c2) and unique environmental effects (e2) from the literature display considerable variability for SI and SP, due most probably to differences in statistical analysis models, age, gender, sample size, origin of cohorts and measurement of smoking behavior.Methods  A systematic literature search identified six studies for SI and 10 studies for SP. Data from these studies were obtained and re‐analysed by meta‐analytical techniques.Results  For SI, our results indicate that the parameters h2, c2 and e2 are (mean ± SEM): 0.37 ± 0.04, 0.49 ± 0.04 and 0.17 ± 0.03 in male adults, and 0.55 ± 0.04, 0.24 ± 0.06 and 0.16 ± 0.01 in female adults, respectively. These values were weighted by a combination of original estimates of variance from studies reporting variances plus estimated variances from studies where variances were not reported (called the combined variance method). Using the same approach for SP, we found that the parameters h2, c2 and e2 weighted by the combined variance method for the phenotype are (mean ± SEM): 0.59 ± 0.02, 0.08 ± 0.04 and 0.37 ± 0.03 in male adults, and 0.46 ± 0.12, 0.28 ± 0.08 and 0.24 ± 0.07 in female adults, respectively.Conclusions  Our results indicate that genetic factors play a more significant role for SI but a less significant role for SP in female adults compared to male adults. Significant gender difference was also detected in shared environmental factors for SI and SP. However, no significant gender difference was detected for e2 for either phenotype. These findings suggest that genetic and environmental factors may contribute differently to the determination of smoking initiation and persistence in male and female smokers.
A controlled trial of an expert system and self‐help manual intervention based on the stages of change versus standard self‐help materials in smoking cessation
Authors: Aveyard Paul , Griffin Carl , Lawrence Terry , Cheng K. K. 
Published: March 2003

ABSTRACTAim  To examine the population impact and effectiveness of the Pro‐Change smoking cessation course based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) compared to standard self‐help smoking cessation literature.Design  Randomized controlled trial.Setting  Sixty‐five West Midlands general practices.Participants  Randomly sampled patients recorded as smokers by their general practitioners received an invitation letter and 2471 current smokers agreed.Interventions  Responders were randomized to one of four interventions. The control group received standard self‐help literature. In the Manual intervention group, participants received the Pro‐Change system, a self‐help workbook and three questionnaires at 3‐monthly intervals, which generated individually tailored feedback. In the Phone intervention group, participants received the Manual intervention plus three telephone calls. In the Nurse intervention group, participants received the Manual intervention plus three visits to the practice nurse.Measurements  Biochemically confirmed point prevalence of being quit and 6‐month sustained abstinence, 12 months after study commencement.Findings  A total of 9.1% of registered current smokers participated, of whom 83.0% were not ready to quit. Less than half of participants returned questionnaires to generate second and third individualized feedback. Telephone calls reached 75% of those scheduled, but few participants visited the nurse. There were small differences between the three Pro‐Change arms. The odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) for all Pro‐Change arms combined versus the control arm were 1.50 (0.85–2.67) and 1.53 (0.76–3.10), for point prevalence and 6‐month abstinence, respectively. This constitutes 2.1% of the TTM group versus 1.4% of the control group achieving confirmed 6‐month sustained abstinence.Conclusions  There was no statistically significant benefit of the intervention apparent in this trial and the high relapse of quitters means that any population impact is small.