Biomedical subjects

M B van den Bree

Publications and source records attributed to M B van den Bree.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

A twin study on sensation seeking, risk taking behavior and marijuana use.

The contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the covariation between risk-taking and marijuana use was assessed in adolescent twins. Genetic factors were found to significantly influence some traits (i.e. risk-taking attitude), while familial environmental factors were important for others (i.e. sexual promiscuity). For marijuana use, genetic and environmental factors were equally important; however, the association between risk taking and marijuana use may not be comparable for different behaviors. Results suggest that different etiological factors may underlie various risk taking traits which is relevant to both prevention efforts and attempts to identify genes involved in risk taking and shared genetic influences with substance use.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Family history influence on drug abuse severity and treatment outcome.

Influence of parental alcohol/substance abuse on methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) outcome was examined in 164 DSM-III-R opioid dependent adults with no other current DSM Axis I disorder. Family history positive patients had more DSM-III-R opioid dependence symptoms and were more likely to be classified as severely dependent. However, when placed on identical daily doses of methadone (50 mg), they had lower rates of illicit opioid use but higher rates of cocaine use than family history negative patients. Both effects remained significant after adjusting for gender and race. These results suggest that common genetic factors may underlie both susceptibility to heroin dependence and response to therapeutic methadone treatment.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Environmental transmission of DSM-IV substance use disdorders in adoptive and step families.

BACKGROUND: One factor contributing to the 3- to 5-fold increase in risk for substance use disorders (SUDs) among children of alcoholics may be the rearing environment. These influences may include availability of substances, modeling of SUDs, inadequate parenting, or other factors. The contribution of parental environmental influences on offspring with SUDs may be estimated independently of genetic influences through assessment of adoptees raised by nonbiological parents. METHODS: Relative risk of SUDs was assessed in adult adoptees (N = 442) of alcoholic and nonalcoholic adoptive parents as well as in stepchildren (N = 1859) with alcoholic or nonalcoholic stepfathers who participated in the community-based National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES). RESULTS: Rearing by an alcoholic adoptive mother was associated with increased DSM-IV alcohol abuse. Rearing by an alcoholic adoptive father was predictive of adoptees' illicit drug use, as well as DSM-IV drug dependence. Rearing by an alcoholic stepfather was predictive of stepchild DSM-IV alcohol abuse, illicit drug use, and drug dependence, whereas an alcoholic stepmother was associated with increased illicit drug use in the stepchild. Alcoholism in adoptive parents or step parents did not increase risk for offspring DSM-IV alcohol dependence. In both adoptive and biological families, there was a subadditive interaction of mother by father alcoholism such that the rate of substance abuse when both parents were alcoholic was less than that expected based on the additive effects of each alcoholic parent. CONCLUSIONS: Rearing by an alcoholic parent had a greater influence on alcohol abuse by offspring than on alcohol dependence. The increased risk of proband illicit drug use and drug dependence associated with paternal alcoholism suggested nonspecificity of environmental transmission. Both maternal and paternal cultural transmission effects influenced offspring SUDs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Genetic and environmental influences on eating patterns of twins aged >/=50 y.

BACKGROUND: Clinicians and researchers could benefit from a greater understanding of the role of genetic and environmental factors in human eating behavior. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to estimate the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on habitual eating patterns in middle-aged and elderly men and women. DESIGN: Male and female twins (n = 4640) aged >/=50 y completed a mailed version of the National Cancer Institute food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was performed to identify eating patterns among respondents. Estimates of genetic, common environmental (shared by family members), and specific environmental (unique to an individual) influences were obtained for food use, serving size, and consumption frequency by comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twin-pair groups with structural equation analysis. RESULTS: Two independent eating patterns were identified: the first consisted of items high in fat, salt, and sugar, and the second reflected healthful eating habits. Although the influence of environmental factors was larger, between 15% and 38% of the total variation in pattern 1 and between 33% and 40% in pattern 2 were explained by genetic influences. Models accounting for sex differences in genetic and environmental estimates fit the data significantly better for food use and serving size of foods in eating pattern 1 and for food use in eating pattern 2. CONCLUSION: Although 60-85% of the variability in eating patterns was associated with environmental factors, genetic influences were also apparent and there was some evidence of sex specificity. These findings may be important in crafting dietary interventions and predicting adherence to these interventions.

Aged↗

PubMed1998

Genetic and environmental influences on drug use and abuse/dependence in male and female twins.

Twins were recruited through alcohol and drug treatment programs. With structural equation modeling, genetic and environmental estimates were obtained for use and DSM-III abuse/dependence of sedatives, opioids, cocaine, stimulants, and cannabis as well as any illicit drug. Analyses were conducted separately for males and females. Models included thresholds based on population prevalence of use or abuse/dependence and ever having been in treatment. Genetic influences were found for most measures. They were generally stronger for males than females and for clinical diagnoses of abuse/dependence compared to use. Common environmental influences played a greater role in use than abuse/dependence.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Genetic influences in antisocial personality and drug use disorders.

While an association between antisocial personality disorder (APD) and substance use disorder (SUD) has been frequently observed, the causes of the comorbidity remain unclear. Adoption and twin studies have found evidence of both genetic and environmental influences in APD and SUD. Therefore, comorbidity between APD and SUD may be the result of shared genetic influences, shared environmental influences, or a combination of the two. However, only a limited number of adoption and twin studies have addressed this issue and the results have not been conclusive. In future studies, a distinction should be made between alcohol and drug abuse and between juvenile and adult APD symptoms. Twin samples of adequate size would allow use of structural equation analytical methods for estimation of the relative magnitude of genetic and environmental influences shared between the two conditions, as well as influences contributing to each specifically. Results would be highly relevant for the clinical setting as well as for efforts to identify the genes involved in either trait.

Adoption↗

PubMed1998

Genetic analysis of diagnostic systems of alcoholism in males.

BACKGROUND: Research into genes involved in alcoholism could benefit from use of diagnostic systems most sensitive to detecting genetic influences. In this study, heritable influences were estimated in a single twin sample with commonly used criteria for alcoholism. METHODS: Male twin probands ascertained through alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs and their same-sex cotwins (54 monozygotic and 65 dizygotic pairs) were diagnosed independently by DSM-III (alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse and/or dependence), Feighner (probable and definite alcoholism), and Cloninger (type 1 and type 2 alcoholism) systems. Using univariate structural equation modeling, heritability was estimated for each diagnostic system. RESULTS: The highest heritability estimates were obtained for Feighner probable alcoholism (h2 = .63), Cloninger type 2 alcoholism (h2 = .54), and DSM-III alcohol dependence (h2 = .52). CONCLUSIONS: Certain diagnostic systems appear to have greater sensitivity for detecting genetic influence and may therefore be more appropriate for use in molecular genetic studies attempting to find genes for alcoholism.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Extension of a typology of alcohol dependence based on relative genetic and environmental loading.

Mild, severe, and dyssocial subtypes of alcohol dependence, previously identified among Caucasian men from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area study, were also identified among Caucasian men and women with DSM-IV alcohol dependence from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (n = 2,703; 1,746 respectively). These subtypes were not identified among African American and Hispanic American men or women with DSM-IV alcohol dependence. Among Caucasians with alcohol dependence, the subtypes were characterized by differential loading on three dimensions: genetic, general environmental, and dyssocial environmental symptom scales developed in a prior twin study. The mild subtype (60% of men and 66% of women) was distinguished by low mean scores on all three scales; the dyssocial subtype (24% of men and 20% of women) by low mean genetic and general environmental scores but high mean dyssocial environmental scores; and the severe subtype (16% of men and 14% of women) by high scores on the genetic and general environmental scales. These subtypes also showed the expected distinctions in clinical characteristics. The severe subtype showed greater comorbid drug dependence and major depression, more treatment seeking, and a higher prevalence of parental alcoholism. The severe subtype also showed significantly greater genetic influence adjusted for overall severity of alcohol dependence (genetic ratio). Only the severe subtype showed a pattern of scale scores and clinical characteristics suggestive of substantial genetic influence. The present study indicates a robustness of the typology originally developed among DSM-III alcohol-dependent Caucasian men by empirical extension of the subtypes to a different sample of Caucasian men and, separately, Caucasian women. The use of this typology may aid in distinguishing between Caucasian alcohol-dependent individuals on the basis of relative genetic influence, enabling genetic, behavioral, and epidemiological investigations to reduce genetic or environmental "noise" and better focus on specific aspects of alcohol dependence.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Genetic regulation of hemodynamic variables during dynamic exercise. The MCV twin study.

BACKGROUND: Both resting and exercise levels of blood pressure in individuals have been used as predictors of adult hypertension. One possible mechanism underlying the relation between childhood resting and exercise blood pressure and future blood pressure is a set of genes expressed in childhood that persists to regulate adult blood pressure. METHODS AND RESULTS: To investigate the genetic relation of blood pressure and heart rate during both rest and exercise, we asked: (1) Are the genes that regulate resting hemodynamic variables the same genes that regulate these variables during exercise? (2) How much of the variance in exercise hemodynamic variables is genetic and how much is environmental? (3) Do the genetic and environmental influences on hemodynamic responses change with increasing levels of exercise? To determine how genetic and environmental effects expressed at rest influenced responses during dynamic exercise, a genetic analysis was conducted by fitting a series of models to the covariance matrices with the use of the LISREL VII program. CONCLUSIONS: We found that all the genetic effects expressed at the later stages of exercise can be explained by genetic effects expressed at rest and at the first stage of exercise. The environmental effects appear to be workload specific and include errors of measurement.

Blood Pressure↗

PubMed1996

Indicators of genetic and environmental influences in drug abusing individuals.

To assess relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences in individual cases of drug abuse/dependence, separate scales were constructed from DIS (version III) drug symptom items. Using data from 38 MZ and 35 DZ male twin pairs, items with significant MZ/DZ differences in probandwise concordance were assigned to a genetic scale whereas items without significant MZ/DZ differences were assigned to an environmental scale. As expected, significant differences were found between MZ and DZ twins in intraclass correlations for the genetic but not environmental scale. Genetic scores on drug and alcohol scales were correlated (r = 0.40), whereas environmental scales were not. When scores on the genetic scales were compared, the correlation between drug and alcohol scores within individuals was similar to that across MZ twins, both of which were higher than the correlation across DZ twins. These results suggest (1) relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences in individual cases of drug dependence can be assessed, and (2) common genetic mechanisms may be involved in alcohol and drug dependence.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Indicators of genetic and environmental influence in alcohol-dependent individuals.

Although much is known about genetic and environmental influences in alcohol dependence at the population level, little is known about the relative contribution of such influences on individuals. As an initial step toward individual assessment, concordance for the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, version III alcohol symptoms was determined in a sample (n = 113) of male monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. Items were assigned to a genetic or environmental scale on the basis of significant MZ/DZ differences in proband-wise concordance rates. Weights were assigned to items based on factor analyses. For the genetic scale, significant differences were found between MZ and DZ intraclass correlations. No significant differences were found between MZ and DZ correlations on the environmental scale. When scores on the environmental scale were controlled, genetic scale scores were correlated with earlier age of onset of alcohol problems and a shorter interval between first intoxication and onset of alcohol problems. When scores on the genetic scale were controlled, environmental scale scores were correlated with later age of onset of alcohol problems and a longer interval between first intoxication and onset of alcohol problems. These results suggest it is possible to assess relative influence of genetic and environmental factors in individual cases of alcohol dependence.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1996

Subtypes of alcohol-dependent men: a typology based on relative genetic and environmental loading.

Using scales that distinguish between relative genetic and environmental loading, cluster analysis was used to identify three subtypes of alcohol dependence in Caucasian men from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area study (n = 911). Although all subjects met DSM-III criteria for alcohol dependence, only the severe subtype showed evidence of substantial genetic influence. When compared on a range of clinical characteristics, the mild subtype (53% of the sample) was typically least adversely affected and the severe subtype (17%) most affected, with the dyssocial subtype (30%) falling between. Severe subtype subjects had significantly greater comorbid drug dependence and were at least four times more likely than mild subjects to have sought treatment for alcohol problems. Ratio of genetic scale score to total symptom count (genetic ratio) was highest for the severe subtype (mean = 0.37), and negatively correlated with age of first alcohol problem (rs = -0.16) and years between first intoxication and first problem (rs = 0.19). No significant correlations were found between these clinical features and genetic ratio for the mild or dyssocial subtypes. Use of these scales and subtypes may improve our ability to detect specific gene effects in genetic linkage studies and to identify environmental influences in behavioral and epidemiological studies.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Auditory accessory effects on visual processing.

A series of experiments on intersensory facilitation demonstrates that non-informative sound of low to moderate intensity (30/80 dB) facilitates the reaction to a visual stimulus. By manipulating the preprocessing and perceptual stages of the visual signals, it appears that auditory intensity reduces choice reaction time independently from the positive influence of the intensity and duration of the visual imperative signal, but interacts with the effect of stimulus degradation. Degraded stimuli take more profit of the sound than intact stimuli. Besides a short-term activation effect, originated by accessories of the auditory modality, on the motor adjustment stage (cf. Sanders 1983), the results suggest that the accessory influences the stage of feature extraction.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Influence of quality of life and stress coping behaviour on headaches in adolescent male students: an explorative study.

Quality of life (QL) and stress coping behaviour were evaluated in 194 adolescent male students, and related to their headache complaints. Negative correlations were found between headache duration and intensity versus satisfaction with autonomy, and between headache intensity versus satisfaction with the home situation. Both headache duration and intensity were found to correlate positively with depressive stress coping behaviour. Further, positive correlations were found between palliative and avoidant stress coping strategies versus headache intensity. Our findings suggest that active rather than passive stress coping strategies are effective in reducing headache intensity. In addition, this study indicates the relevance of focussing future research into headaches in adolescents on the home situation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Relaxation training in school classes does not reduce headache complaints.

The effect of teacher-presented Progressive Relaxation Training (PRT) on headaches, fear of failure and school problems was studied in school students. During ten physical education lessons, students received either PRT (n = 110) or placebo training (n = 92). The effect of the training was investigated in students who indicated the presence of headaches in a pre-training diary. No significant differences were found between both training groups regarding headache frequency, duration and intensity and the psychological variables. On the basis of these and previous findings, it is recommended to present PRT to fairly small groups of self-selected subjects instead of complete classes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Resemblances of parents and twins in sports participation and heart rate.

A model to analyze resemblances of twins and parents using LISREL is outlined and applied to sports participation and heart-rate data. Sports participation and heart rate were measured in 44 monozygotic and 46 dizygotic adolescent twin pairs and in their parents. Genetic factors influence variation in both sports behavior and heart rate, while there is no evidence for transmission from parental environment to offspring environment. For sports participation the data support a model in which there is a high positive correlation between environments of spouses and between environments of female twins. This correlation is absent for male twins and negative for opposite sex twins. For heart rate, a positive correlation between environmental influences was observed for all twins; there is no evidence for assortative mating. The proposed model can also handle data sets where parents and twins have been measured on more than one variable. This is illustrated by an application to the observed association of sports participation and heart rate.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Development of a short instrument for the measurement of self-aggression. Preliminary results in female migraine patients.

The development of a short, 15-item inventory for the measurement of self-aggression (SAL) is described. The reliability and validity of the SAL were evaluated in 31 female migraine patients and 31 matched control subjects. The findings indicate that the SAL is a promising instrument for future research into migraine patients, which might also be extended to other study groups.

Aggression↗