Biomedical subjects

J B Fertig

Publications and source records attributed to J B Fertig.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin: an aid to early recognition of alcohol relapse.

Although the primary use of biochemical markers of heavy drinking is to assist in screening for alcohol problems, laboratory tests may also aid in early identification of relapse. This report reviews research findings on a new marker, carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT), in alcoholics receiving treatment or in follow-up. It also offers recommendations on how CDT may be employed by clinicians monitoring drinking status.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed2000

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and macrocytic volume as biomarkers of alcohol problems in women.

BACKGROUND: Early identification of alcohol problems in women is important. Differences in patterns of drinking and in biological function between genders, however, may present unique difficulties in biochemical screening. METHODS: Published alcohol-screening studies with female samples and use as biomarkers of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), and macrocytic volume were reviewed. RESULTS: A wide range of sensitivities and specificities of GGT and CDT have been reported, although, in general, the two markers seem approximately equal in accuracy. As in the case of males, use of them in combination substantially enhances sensitivity and little reduces specificity. Use of macrocytic volume improves the sensitivity of both GGT and CDT as alcohol-screening markers. CONCLUSIONS: GGT and CDT have moderate sensitivity in screening for alcohol problems in women. Use of them in concert offers further advantage.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1998

Screening for alcohol problems in the military: recommended tests.

This article suggests two new techniques for identifying alcohol problems in a military setting. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test is a well validated self-report procedure and requires approximately 2 minutes for administration. Measurement of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin provides a useful biochemical index of recent heavy alcohol consumption. Employment of these tests could improve selection of individuals seeking entry to the military, aid recognition of current personnel in need of treatment, and assist in evaluating progress of patients in treatment.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1997

Proposed recommendations for research on biochemical markers for problematic drinking.

Biochemical markers can serve as valuable tools in screening for problematic drinking, determining whether a health problem is likely alcohol related, and monitoring alcoholics for relapse during and after treatment. Furthermore, biochemical markers can assist in forensic investigations; in identification of public health, safety, and transportation workers who may drink excessively and who, as a result, may put others at risk; in evaluation of efficacy of treatments for alcohol abuse; and in recognition of early phase alcohol-related tissue damage. Within all of these contexts, a biochemical marker or set of markers may corroborate verbal reports or may provide valuable independent information on alcohol use when an individual is unable or unwilling to offer valid data about alcohol consumption.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1997

A review of research on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

Research on the core version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is reviewed. Sensitivities and specificities of the AUDIT or criteria of current hazardous use and, to a slightly lesser extent, lifetime alcohol dependence are high. In general, AUDIT scores are at least moderately related to other self-report alcohol screening tests. Several studies also show them as correlated with biochemical measures of drinking. Results of the AUDIT have also been associated with more distal indicators of problematic drinking. Indices of internal consistency, including Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations, are generally in the 0.80's. Future directions for research on the AUDIT are suggested.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1996

Health behavior correlates of hazardous drinking by Army personnel.

The current investigation determined that military personnel who drink heavily differ from those who drink moderately in the practice of nine behaviors often associated with unhealthy lifestyle. In particular, excessive drinkers were found to smoke more, drive dangerously more frequently, and consume saturated fats more often. The project further found that the relationship of excessive drinking to these activities is mediated by age, marital status, and race, although not by gender or rank. Implications of the findings for prevention and treatment are suggested.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and carbohydrate deficient transferrin: alternative measures of excessive alcohol consumption.

Both gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin have been extensively researched as biological markers of heavy alcohol consumption. The current study briefly describes each test, identifies subject variables that influence their relative sensitivities and specificities, and examines issues surrounding use of the two markers in combination. In addition, this study suggests five design features that should characterize projects evaluating the validity of biochemical markers.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1995

NIDA-NIAAA workshop: efficacy of therapies in drug and alcohol addiction. Strategies for treatment of alcohol problems.

Well-controlled clinical trials have been performed to determine efficacy of alternative alcoholism treatment strategies. Six effective treatment approaches are discussed, and a research project example demonstrates the benefits of each. The treatments considered are: brief intervention, behavioral contracting, naltrexone, social skills training, the community reinforcement approach, and patient-treatment matching.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1994

Personality-based subtypes of chemically dependent patients.

Jackson's Personality Research Form E (PRF) was administered to a large, heterogeneous group of adult inpatients with diagnoses of alcohol and/or drug dependence. Cluster analysis of PRF factor scores yielded five distinct patient subtypes: hostile-dependent, cooperative-nonreflective, socially uninvolved, impulsive-unsociable, and hostile-overcontrolled. The subtypes differed on two MMPI canonical variables and on self-reported high risk factors for substance usage. Implications of the findings for more appropriate matching of patients to chemical dependency interventions are offered.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Psychometric analyses of the Alcohol Dependence Scale among United States and Russian clinical samples.

This project explores the cross-national construct validity of the Alcohol Dependence Syndrome. The investigation also examines basic psychometric properties of the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), an instrument commonly employed to measure dependence. Subjects consisted of inpatients and outpatients in American and Russian alcoholism treatment programs. Despite some variations, an orthogonal four factor structure of the ADS appears similar across the two cultural samples, thus lending support to the alcohol dependence construct. Analyses of psychometric properties of the Scale generally support its value in future cross-cultural research on alcohol dependence.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Structure and correlates of alcohol dependence in clinical samples in the United States and Russia.

Using items from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, dimensionality of the alcohol dependence syndrome was assessed in clinical samples in the United States and Russia. In both groups, a single-factor model provided a high degree of goodness of fit thus demonstrating cross-cultural coherence of the construct. The item dealing with narrowing of the drinking repertoire is most disparate in each sample. Severity of alcohol consequences was moderately related to alcohol dependence in both samples. Demographic variables, however, correlated less with severity of consequences. After the effects of severity of dependence and demographics were removed, quantity/frequency of recent alcohol consumption did not contribute to severity of consequences. Country, however, remained a significant, but small, predictor of severity of alcohol consequences.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

CAGE as a predictor of hazardous alcohol consumption in U.S. Army personnel.

Sensitivities, specificities, and odds ratios for hazardous drinking for various cut scores on the CAGE are computed for a large sample active duty Army personnel. Contrasts on these properties are made between the standard CAGE and a "modified CAGE" consisting of standard CAGE items and two other items dealing with problematic drinking. The role of demographic variables--gender, ethnicity, marital status, rank category, and age in mediating relationships of both versions of the screening test to hazardous drinking--is also explored. At a cutoff score of one endorsed item, odds ratios were highest for female personnel and commissioned officers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Neuroendocrine, physiologic, and behavioral responses following intravenous nicotine in nonsmoking healthy volunteers and in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

In separate studies, nonsmoking nicotine-naive subjects (11 young and middle-aged normal volunteers and 11 nonsmoking patients with Alzheimer's disease) received up to three doses of intravenous nicotine bitartrate (0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 micrograms/kg/min) and placebo for 60 min. Measurement of plasma ACTH, cortisol, and prolactin showed that nicotine produced in both groups a dose-dependent increase in cortisol, with ACTH in both groups and prolactin in the Alzheimer's group significantly elevated only by the 0.5 micrograms dose. Physiologic measures showed dose-dependent increases that were consistent with previous reports of nicotinic cholinergic stimulation. Behavioral effects included increases in anxiety and decreases in mood, especially following the 0.5 micrograms dose. Physical side effects were modest. The results indicate that nicotinic cholinergic stimulation can activate pituitary hormonal secretion in the human and suggest that nicotinic cholinergic stimulation may constitute an important part of cholinesterase inhibitor-induced endocrine stimulation and behavioral activation.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

PubMed1987

The effects of acute exercise on subsequent cigarette smoking.

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of acute aerobic exercise on smoking behavior. On alternate days, 10 healthy young smokers were subjected to half an hour of sustained high exercise (about 56% of maximum work capacity) or of low exercise (about 28% of maximum, simulating normal daytime activity). During the high-exercise condition, there were pronounced increases in physiological markers of physical activity such as mean work, heart rate, and lactic acid as well as elevations in circulating hormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, and immunoreactive beta-endorphin and cortisol) known to be affected by vigorous exercise. Despite a trend toward decreased desire for cigarettes after the high exercise condition, there were no differences in plasma nicotine levels following the smoking of a usual-brand cigarette 35 min later. The sustained effects of the two exercise conditions were also similar: plasma cotinine levels 24 hr later (reflecting nicotine intake over the entire exercise day) revealed no significant differences between high and low exercise.

Adult↗

PubMed1986

Pituitary hormone response to cigarette smoking.

Nausea was induced by having subjects smoke two high nicotine cigarettes in quick succession. Plasma levels of prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin, growth hormone, arginine vasopressin, and neurophysin I increased without changes in thyroid stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, or follicle stimulating hormone. Nausea and pituitary hormone release correlated with high nicotine intake (smoking 2.87 mg nicotine cigarettes) but did not occur during lower nicotine intake (smoking 0.48 mg nicotine cigarettes). Individual differences in nausea and related hormonal responses may provide an objective method for predicting receptivity to smoking.

Adult↗

PubMed1986

Nicotine-produced antinociception in minimally deprived smokers and ex-smokers.

The antinociceptive effects of two different modes of nicotine administration were investigated using a within-subject design. Ten minimally-deprived, habitual smokers and fifteen ex-smokers were studied in separate experiments. Nicotine was delivered in research cigarettes and tobacco snuff. Pain was induced using the cold pressor test. Subjects in both experiments exhibited pain reduction after nicotine administration without changes in nicotine withdrawal. The results suggest that nicotine can produce physiological and psychological changes that are relevant to the reinforcement of smoking but are independent of the state of nicotine withdrawal.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

The effects of cigarette smoking on pain and anxiety.

The antinociceptive and anxiolytic consequences of smoking a nicotine-containing cigarette or a zero-nicotine cigarette were investigated in minimally deprived habitual smokers, using a within-subject design. Five subjects were studied in each of two experiments. In one, pain was induced using the cold pressor test; in the other, anxiety, using unsolvable anagrams. All subjects exhibited pain- and anxiety-reduction after smoking a nicotine-containing cigarette. The results support the hypothesis that nicotine from smoking can produce psychological changes that are independent of the state of nicotine withdrawal.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Neuroendocrine reactivity to nicotine in smokers.

The present study explored neuropeptide responses to nicotine from smoking. Habitual smokers smoked research cigarettes of known strength under controlled laboratory conditions while blood samples were withdrawn unobtrusively for subsequent biochemical analysis. To provide a metric that reflected total nicotine intake and total neurohormonal output, data were integrated over time. Subjects were relatively unresponsive in the low-nicotine (0.48 mg) condition. In the high-nicotine (2.87 mg) condition, there were significant positive correlations between integrated plasma nicotine and plasma arginine vasopressin (r = +0.985), its carrier protein neurophysin I (r = +0.944), and beta-endorphin-beta-lipotropin (r = +0.977), but not adrenocorticotropic hormone. Data from an experiment that used an extraction step to remove beta-lipotropin corroborated the functional relationship between plasma nicotine and beta-endorphin implied by the original findings. Taking into account recent research on the role of neuropeptides in the modulation of affective states and cognitive function as well as of other CNS activity, the present findings were interpreted as strengthening the hypothesis that nicotine-stimulated neuropeptide release provides positive reinforcement for smoking.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗