Biomedical subjects

Eveline A de Bruin

Publications and source records attributed to Eveline A de Bruin.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Consumption of a mid-morning snack improves memory but not attention in school children.

Muthayya, S., T. Thomas, K. Srinivasan, K. Rao, A. V. Kurpad, J.-W. Van Klinken, G. Owen and E.A. de Bruin: Consumption of a mid-morning snack improves memory but not attention in school children. Physiol Behav 00(0) 000-000, 2006.--This study aimed to determine whether consumption of a mid-morning snack with appropriate energy compensation through a smaller breakfast or lunch, resulted in improved cognitive performance of 7-9 year old children with a low and high socioeconomic status (LSES and HSES, n=35 and 34 respectively). The children were each randomly assigned to three iso-caloric dietary interventions: control (standard breakfast, no snack and standard lunch), intervention A (small breakfast, snack, and standard lunch) and intervention B (standard breakfast, snack, and small lunch), using a cross-over design. The children were tested on three different days, each one week apart. Computerised tests of cognitive performance, consisting of memory, sustained attention and psychomotor speed, were performed during four sessions, i.e., prior to breakfast, after breakfast, after a mid-morning snack and after lunch. Having a mid-morning snack resulted in a smaller decline in immediate and delayed memory in LSES but not in HSES children. Having a snack did not influence sustained attention and psychomotor speed in either LSES or HSES children. This study shows that a more evenly distributed energy intake throughout the morning by consuming a mid-morning snack improves memory performance in school-age LSES children even when the total amount of energy consumed during the morning is not altered.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2005

Moderate-to-heavy alcohol intake is associated with differences in synchronization of brain activity during rest and mental rehearsal.

In alcohol-dependent individuals, synchronization of brain activity is different from that in non-alcohol-dependent individuals as reflected by EEG differences at alpha and beta frequencies (8-30 Hz). These EEG differences may not only be related to long-term alcohol intake but also to genetic factors that are associated with alcohol dependence. Thus, it is not known what the pure effect of long-term alcohol intake on synchronization of brain activity is. Therefore, we investigated whether EEG synchronization differs between light (0.5-6 drinks per week), moderate (7-20 drinks per week), and heavy (21-53 drinks per week) drinkers. All participants (49 males and 47 females) were free of a personal and family history of alcohol dependence. Eyes-closed EEG was recorded at rest and during mental rehearsal of pictures. EEG synchronization was determined by computing Synchronization Likelihood for six frequency bands (0.5-4 Hz, 4-8 Hz, 8-12 Hz, 12-20 Hz, 20-30 Hz, 30-45 Hz). Both male and female heavy drinkers displayed a loss of lateralization in alpha (8-12 Hz) and slow-beta (12-20 Hz) synchronization. In addition, moderately and heavily drinking males had lower fast-beta (20-30 Hz) synchronization than lightly drinking males. It is concluded that both male and female drinkers who drink 21 alcoholic drinks per week or more have impaired synchronization of brain activity during rest and mental rehearsal at alpha and beta frequencies as compared to individuals who drink less. As individuals with a personal or family history of alcohol dependence were excluded, the confounding effects of genetic factors related to alcohol dependence on synchronization of brain activity were minimized.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Chronic effects of social drinking in a card-sorting task: an event related potential study.

OBJECTIVE: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) is one of the most widely used neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe function, which is thought to be affected by regular alcohol use. The present study used a computer-adapted version of the WCST to assess the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on the brain. METHODS: Participants (N=59) sorted cards according to an initially unknown sorting rule, which referred to shape, number, or color. The correctness of the chosen sorting rule was indicated by a feedback stimulus. This correct sorting rule had to be followed for a number of stimuli, and when it changed participants had to find out which rule had to be followed next. A distinction was made between early (correct sorting rule is unknown) and late trials (correct sorting rule is known and applied). To measure brain activity related during the task event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to the target and feedback stimulus in light (N=14), moderate (N=16) and heavy (N=19) social drinkers and excessive alcohol users (N=10). RESULTS: No differences in number of series completed or the reaction time in each trial, were found between the four groups. In contrast, a mid-frontal N1 component in reaction to the feedback stimuli did reveal differences between the four groups. In the light and moderate drinkers, on early feedback trials the N1 was larger relative to late feedback trials, but this effect was absent in the heavy social drinkers and excessive drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: The reduced N1 effect with increasing alcohol intake could reflect abnormal allocation of attention or impaired conflict monitoring, possibly based on activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. SIGNIFICANCE: Heavy social drinking and excessive drinking leads to changes in the mid-frontal N1 during feedback trials of the WCST.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Focal brain matter differences associated with lifetime alcohol intake and visual attention in male but not in female non-alcohol-dependent drinkers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether current or lifetime alcohol intake is related to focal gray and white matter in healthy non-alcohol-dependent drinkers, and, if so, whether these densities are related to functional brain activity associated with visual attention. Voxel-based morphometric analyses of gray- and white-matter densities, and event-related potentials in response to a visual-attention task were determined in 47 male drinkers (current alcohol intake 20 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 240 kg) and 44 female drinkers (current alcohol intake 15 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 170 kg). All participants had a negative personal and family history of alcohol dependence to reduce possible confounding by genetic factors related to alcohol dependence. In males, mean lifetime alcohol intake was negatively associated with gray-matter density and positively associated with white-matter density in the right frontal gyrus (BA 6) and the right parietal region (BA 40). Right frontal (but not right parietal) gray and white matter in males correlated with the P3 amplitude of the event-related potentials elicited in a visual-attention task. In females, mean lifetime alcohol intake was not associated with gray- or white-matter density. Current alcohol intake was unrelated to gray or white matter in both males and females. In conclusion, lifetime alcohol intake is associated with focal gray-matter decreases and white-matter increases in the right frontal and right parietal brain regions in non-alcohol-dependent males, but not in females. These alcohol-related differences in focal brain matter in males are associated with differences in brain function related to visual attention. As the confounding effects of genetic factors were reduced, the present results may selectively relate to the effects of alcohol intake on focal brain matter.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2005

Associations between alcohol intake and brain volumes in male and female moderate drinkers.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol-dependent individuals have brain volume loss. Possibly, moderate drinkers who are not alcohol dependent have similar but less prominent brain damage. The authors investigated whether current or lifetime alcohol intake is related to volumes of total brain, cerebellum, ventricles, peripheral cerebrospinal fluid, and cerebral gray and white matter in moderate drinkers. METHODS: The relation between current or lifetime alcohol intake and brain volumes of 47 male moderate drinkers (current alcohol intake 20 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 240 kg) and 44 female moderate drinkers (current alcohol intake 15 drinks per week, lifetime alcohol intake 170 kg), all without a personal or family history of alcohol dependence, was determined using high-resolution magnetic resonance images, corrected for intracranial volume, age, and sex. RESULTS: In males, mean lifetime alcohol intake was positively associated with cerebral white matter volume, particularly in the frontal region. In females, mean lifetime alcohol intake was not associated with brain volumes. Current alcohol intake was unrelated to brain volumes in either males or females. CONCLUSIONS: Neither current nor lifetime alcohol intake is associated with decreases in brain volumes in male or female moderate drinkers. Because all participants had a negative personal and family history of alcohol dependence, the current results relatively purely concern the effects of moderate alcohol intake on brain volumes.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Health risks of chronic moderate and heavy alcohol consumption: how much is too much?

This article presents the proceedings of a symposium held at the meeting of the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA) in Mannheim, Germany, in October 2004. Most of what we know about the deleterious effects of alcohol in vivo has been gleaned from studies in sober alcoholics recruited from substance abuse treatment programs. Little is known about effects of chronic drinking in the moderate or heavy range encountered in a much larger fraction of modern society. Extrapolation of information on the adverse effects of chronic drinking on organ function from clinical samples to social drinkers in the general population has to be met with great skepticism, as it may lead to wrong conclusions about the chronic effects of alcohol in social drinkers. Several recent studies suggest that moderate alcohol consumption has certain beneficial health effects, whereas heavy social alcohol consumption has recently been associated with organ abnormalities and cognitive deficits. These social drinking effects have attracted great public interest; reports of benefits of moderate drinking have also inspired inappropriate publications by the media, including misleading advertisements by the alcohol producing and distributing industry. Although adverse effects of moderate to heavy drinking on heart, liver, and cancer development have attracted attention by clinicians and researchers for some time, its compromising effects on brain and cognition have only recently been studied. This symposium brought together researchers from different disciplines, who reviewed and presented new data on consequences of social drinking in the areas of clinical neuropsychology and behavior (Drs. Nixon and Meyerhoff), neurophysiology (Dr. Nixon, Ms. De Bruin), neuroimaging (Ms. de Bruin, Dr. Meyerhoff), hepatic disease (Dr. Bode), and cancer (Dr. Seitz). The symposium aimed to clarify both the potential health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption and risks of moderate and heavy drinking on proper organ function and to provide insights and new data to practicing physicians and public health authorities for education on problem drinking.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed2005

Effects of chronic alcohol consumption in a visual attention task and an auditory oddball task: an event-related potential study.

BACKGROUND: In alcohol-dependent individuals changes in brain functioning, as measured with Event Related Potentials (ERP) have been reported. METHODS: In the present study a visual attention and an auditory oddball task were used to investigate possible differences between light, moderate, and heavy social drinkers and excessive drinkers. It was hypothesized that with increasing alcohol intake an increasing number of ERP components elicited in the visual attention task and the auditory oddball task would show diminished amplitudes. RESULTS: No differences were found between light, moderate, and heavy social drinkers. A trend for a smaller P3 amplitude in the visual attention task was found when comparing the alcohol-dependent participants with the light social drinkers. It is argued that this difference might be an effect of alcohol dependence and/or a reflection of possible unknown or undetected family history of alcohol-related disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: In the current study, even at rather large amounts of regular alcohol intake, no evidence was found for any toxic effect of social alcohol use neither in a visual attention task nor in an auditory oddball task.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2004

Abnormal EEG synchronisation in heavily drinking students.

OBJECTIVE: In alcoholics, grey and white brain matter is damaged. In addition, functional brain connectivity as measured by EEG coherence is abnormal. We investigated whether heavily drinking students, although drinking for a shorter period than alcoholics, already show differences in functional connectivity compared to light-drinking controls. METHODS: EEG was recorded in 11 light and 11 heavy male student drinkers during eyes closed, and eyes closed plus mental rehearsal of pictures. Functional connectivity was assessed with the Synchronisation Likelihood method. RESULTS: Heavily drinking students had more synchronisation in the theta (4-8 Hz) and gamma (30-45 Hz) band than lightly drinking students during eyes closed, both with and without a mental-rehearsal task. CONCLUSIONS: Heavy student drinkers have increases in EEG synchronisation that are indicative of changes in hippocampal-neocortical connectivity. SIGNIFICANCE: Heavy student drinkers show differences in functional connectivity as compared to their lightly drinking counterparts, even though they have a relatively short drinking history.

Adult↗