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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

A descriptive study of alcohol-dependent women attending Alcoholics Anonymous, a regional council on alcoholism and an alcohol treatment unit.

A total of 86 women, attending three different agencies, were interviewed on their help-seeking behaviours for problem drinking. Each agency represented a different type of help available in the community. Self-help was represented by Alcoholics Anonymous; the non-statutory sector by a regional council on alcoholism's offices; and the statutory sector by an alcohol treatment unit's out-patient department. Differences between the groups in terms of demography and drinking history are explored in this paper. It was found that the regional council group resembled the female problem drinkers in other alcohol treatment agencies in terms of alcohol dependency, pattern of alcohol consumption and drinking styles, but differed in age and abstinence behaviour.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Muscle tension and experienced control: effects of alcohol intake vs biofeedback on alcoholics and non-alcoholics.

Tension reduction has often been implicated as a central cause of excessive alcohol consumption among alcoholics, based on the premise that drinking reduces tension and reinforces subsequent overconsumption. Also, cognitive and personality variables clearly mediate the effects of alcohol. Drinking may be a means of increasing the degree of control experienced over internal and external sources of tension. Integrated frontalis EMG levels for a group of 74 alcoholic patients were significantly greater than for 74 non-alcoholics. During a period of alcohol consumption, significant change scores were found between alcoholic (N = 18) and non-alcoholic (N = 18) groups for both EMG and experienced control (EC). Significant changes were found within both groups on EMG but only for the alcoholic group on EC. During a biofeedback period, there were significant differences between alcoholic (N = 12) and non-alcoholic (N = 12) groups on both baseline measures, EMG and EC. Increases in EC were significantly related to decreases in EMG in both groups.

Alcoholism↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Measuring alcohol abuse in the community: consumption, binge-drinking, and alcohol-related consequences ("alcoholism").

This study reported and compared community health indicators for the measurement of alcohol abuse. Using data from the 1989 Hamilton-Wentworth Health Survey, similar rates were found for four differing definitions of alcohol abuse: 1) drinking everyday (5.7%, 95% confidence limit (CL) = 3.8-7.7%), 2) drinking at least 14 drinks in the past seven days (12.1%, 95% CL = 9.2-15.1%), 3) frequent binging on 10 drinks or more (9.4%, 95% CL = 6.9-11.8%), and 4) "alcoholism" as defined by the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST) (7.4%, 95% CL = 5.1-9.7%). Binging on five drinks or more occurred frequently (37.0, 95% CL = 32.8-41.1%). All indicators of alcohol abuse from the survey were significantly higher for males as compared to females (p < 0.05), and demonstrated varying distributions by age. Estimates of drinking consumption based on the sale of alcoholic beverages in the community were also examined and found to estimate consumption levels nearly double that of the self-reported survey data. Relevance to public health planning and monitoring is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The definition of alcoholism. The Joint Committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine to Study the Definition and Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alcoholism.

To establish a more precise use of the term alcoholism, a 23-member multidisciplinary committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine conducted a 2-year study of the definition of alcoholism in the light of current concepts. The goals of the committee were to create by consensus a revised definition that is (1) scientifically valid, (2) clinically useful, and (3) understandable by the general public. Therefore, the committee agreed to define alcoholism as a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1992

Clinicopathologic study of alcohol-like liver disease in non-alcoholics; non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis.

Alcohol-like liver injury (ALLI) in non-alcoholics has not been elucidated in Japan. The present study attempted to characterize the clinicopathologic features of ALLI in routine liver biopsies. ALLI was found in 1% of 561 biopsy cases obtained from 1988 to May, 1991 at Kanazawa University Hospital. Laboratory data characteristically showed only a mild to moderate degree of dysfunction, and none of the cases exhibited jaundice. Hepatic histology showed a mild to moderate degree of perivenular, pericellular and/or portal stellate fibrosis with a varying degree of fatty change and inflammatory cell infiltration. Portal stellate fibrosis with a varying degree of cell infiltration was more severe than the centrilobular or pericellular fibrosis in all cases. Intralobular inflammatory cell infiltration was associated with spotty or single hepatocyte necrosis, but extensive hepatocyte necrosis was not observed. Neutrophil infiltration was absent or minimal, and lymphocytes predominated in all cases. Mallory bodies were rare and were found in a few hepatocytes of only one of the 7 cases. The above histologic findings in ALLI were very similar to those seen in liver disease in Japanese alcoholics, and were somewhat different from ALLI reported in Western countries. In cases in which hepatic fibrosis, characterized by pericellular, perivenular or portal stellate fibrosis dominated without apparent hepatic necrosis and inflammation, the term "non-alcoholic steatofibrosis" is more suitable to depict its liver histology, being very similar to the alcoholic fibrosis frequently seen in Japanese alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

[Fatty-acid pattern of human fat and liver tissues in alcoholics and non-alcoholics: fatty-acid pattern as a measure of alcoholism (author's transl)].

Samples from the right lobe of the liver and from fat tissue of the abdominal wall were removed shortly after death from 116 persons. Fatty-acid pattern of both tissues (lauric, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic acids) was measured and compared with the degree of fatty infiltration of the liver. The data were also correlated with chronic excess alcohol consumption in the pre-terminal phase. It was found that with increasing fatty inflitration there was a rise in the relative proportion of palmitoleic acid in liver and subcutaneous fat tissues, with a fall in the relative proportion of stearic acid in the latter. Comparison of results in alcoholics (19 subjects) and non-alcoholics (91) showed the expected higher fatty infiltration of the liver in the former (x equal 13.4% and 5.6%, respectively). Both in liver and subcutaneous fat tissues the relative proportion of palmitoleic acid was significantly higher in alcoholics. But while in these the proportion of palmitoleic acid in the liver was higher than in subcutaneous tissue, the relationship was the converse among the non-alcoholics.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1977

Female alcoholics. I. Ways of admission of the alcoholic patient. A study special reference to the alcoholic female.

The aim of this study has been to describe the different ways in which 100 alcoholics of each sex sought treatment, with special reference to the females. In addition, some psychiatric and social characteristics of the two groups of patients are presented. A significantly higher number of the females were admitted as a result of an acute complication: unconsciousness, suicide attempt, confusion, neurological disorders, etc., while the males generally sought treatment under less dramatic circumstances. As the patients selected were early cases, most had not been treated before, but in those with previous in-patient psychiatric treatment a diagnosis without an alcohol connection was significantly more common among the women. Drug abuse was considerably more frequent among the female as compared with the male alcoholics, and the specific lonely drinking pattern was also more common among the women. A striking difference between the sexes appeared with respect to partner: more than one-half of the married women had alcoholic husbands. The corresponding figure for the married men amounted to about 10%.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Alcohol elimination and the regulation of alcohol consumption in AA and ANA rats.

Previous studies have usually found that animals with either higher alcohol elimination rates or ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase, EC1.I.I.I) activities have higher voluntary intakes of alcohol than ones with lower elimination rates. This relationship has now been studied in the AA and ANA rat lines genetically developed, respectively, for high and low alcohol consumption. Female AA and ANA rats had their alcohol elimination rate measured before being given a free choice between 10% (v/v) alcohol and water for 3 weeks. The elimination rate was then measured again and liver ADH activity was determined. The alcohol elimination rate was significantly higher in AA than ANA rats before drinking and was increased by alcohol drinking in AA but not ANA rats. ADH activity was similar in both lines and unrelated to either alcohol drinking or elimination rates, suggesting that the enzyme activity is not a rate-limiting factor in the alcohol metabolism of these two lines. The present results support the conclusion that alcohol elimination and alcohol consumption are partially determined by genetics. Furthermore, although alcohol elimination itself probably does not have direct control over drinking, some factor related to the alcohol elimination rate appears to be among the mechanisms influencing the level of alcohol drinking.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1992

Pharmacogenetics of alcohol metabolism and alcoholism.

The pharmacogenetic differences among individuals in their capacity to metabolize ingested alcohol are possibly responsible for the large inter-individual and inter-ethnic variations observed in the outcome of alcohol use and misuse. Based on results of adoption, twin, and family studies it is now widely accepted that the vulnerability to alcoholism is determined by genetic factors as well as by environment. There is a constant search for biological markers and specific genes which could identify individuals genetically predisposed to alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Numerous 'candidate genes' for alcoholism have been suggested including the alcohol metabolizing enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Both ADH and ALDH exhibit genetic heterogeneity. An atypical form of ADH (ADH2), which contains a variant beta 2 subunit instead of the usual beta 1 subunit, differs substantially from the usual form in its kinetic properties and is found more frequently among the Japanese, Chinese and other Mongoloid populations than in Caucasoids and Negroids. A widely prevalent genetic polymorphism has been observed for ALDH; about 50% of Japanese and Chinese livers possess an inactive ALDH (ALDH2 isozyme) whereas none of the Caucasian or Negroid populations show this isozyme abnormality. These metabolic polymorphisms seem to contribute to differences in the in vivo elimination rate of ethanol and acetaldehyde, and may explain differences in alcohol-related behaviour and its disease outcome. Taken together, Orientals who possess an atypical ALDH2 gene are more sensitive to acute responses to alcohol, tend to be discouraged from drinking alcohol, and consequently are at lower risk of developing alcohol-related disorders. However, more work is needed to support these findings. Recent advances in molecular genetics have made it possible to analyze directly the human genome. This may help in a better understanding of the complex genetic and environmental factors in alcohol abuse by providing prospects for identification of gene loci which may be responsible for predisposition to, and protection from, alcoholism.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1975

[Children of alcoholics. Survey of 66 children of alcoholics in a child psychiatry service].

In a department of infantile psychiatry half of children have at least 1 alcoholic parent (66 over 136). We have compared 2 groups of children: one group of 66 children of alcoholics (65 alcoholic fathers 28 alcoholic mothers), and one group of children without alcoholic parent. In both group psychiatric illness is common: for children of alcoholics mental troubles needing psychiatric cares are found for 44 mothers and 20 fathers. Among children of non-alcoholic parents mental troubles are found for 19 mothers and 10 fathers. Alcoholic parents are more often divorced (21%) and only 40% are living together. Only 46.9% of children of alcoholics are bred by non-parental persons (28.5% for children of non-alcoholics). Some data (with statistical analysis) are given on children development and psychiatric symptoms. Half of 2 groups of children show mental deficiency. Among children of alcoholics character disorders and idiopathic epilepsy are more frequent. Among children of non-alcoholics cerebral damage and symptomatic epilepsy and possibly infantile psychosis are more frequent. This emphasizes evidence for many pathogenic factors and very bad milieu conditions. These offsprings of alcoholics are children at very high risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Cerebellar and frontal cortical benzodiazepine receptors in human alcoholics and chronically alcohol-drinking rats.

Postmortem cerebellar and frontal cortical membrane homogenates from human alcoholics, control subjects without neurological or psychiatric illnesses, and rats that chronically drank alcohol were studied to determine the binding characteristics of an imidazobenzodiazepine, [3H]Ro 15-4513. This ligand binds to classical gamma-aminobutyric acidA (GABAA)/benzodiazepine receptors, as well as to a "diazepam-insensitive" site associated with the GABAA receptor complex in the cerebellar granule cell layer. There were no differences in the density of the binding sites between alcoholics and their controls, between alcohol-drinking AA rats that had a choice between 10% alcohol or water for about 10 weeks and their controls, or between Wistar rats that had been given 20% alcohol as their only fluid for 4 months and their controls, which were pair-fed isocalorically with sucrose. The affinity for the cerebellar binding of [3H]Ro 15-4513 was higher in the alcoholics than the controls. No differences were observed in the frontocortical binding. No affinity differences were observed in the rat models. There were no differences between the groups in the characteristics of [3H]Ro 15-4513 binding to human cerebellum in the presence of micromolar diazepam, thus revealing the diazepam-insensitive binding. When this component was subtracted from the total cerebellar binding, to reveal the diazepam sensitive binding, both the KD and Bmax were lower in the alcoholic than the control group. The binding of [3H]muscimol, a GABAA agonist, tended to be higher in the frontal cortices of alcoholics; a similar trend for greater effects was observed in the alcoholics for the GABA inhibition of [3H]Ro 15-4513 binding. These results suggest that no drastic changes occur through chronic alcohol abuse in the numbers of cerebellar and frontocortical benzodiazepine receptors in humans and rodent models; however, the data indicate that the alcoholics have either acquired or innate differences in classical benzodiazepine recognition sites of the cerebellum and in the coupling of these sites to GABAA sites in the frontal cortex, without any differences in cerebellar granule cell-specific diazepam-insensitive [3H]Ro 15-4513 binding sites.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Citalopram decreases desirability, liking, and consumption of alcohol in alcohol-dependent drinkers.

In previous studies serotonin uptake inhibitors such as citalopram decreased alcohol consumption in alcoholics. The mechanism of the effect is not fully understood. This study tested the hypothesis that it is mediated by changes in desire to drink and alcohol effects. After a 1-week baseline period, subjects (13 men and three women; aged 26 to 69 years; healthy, nondepressed, alcohol-dependent drinkers [mean, 6.6 drinks per day]) were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive 40 mg/day citalopram and placebo for 1 week each, separated by a 1-week washout period. Daily standard alcoholic drinks (13.6 gm ethanol), nonalcoholic drinks, and tobacco use were recorded; evening urine samples were taken; and interest, desire, craving, and liking for alcohol were rated. Medical status, depression, and anxiety were assessed weekly, but no other treatment or advice was given. Daily alcoholic drinks significantly decreased during citalopram treatment (mean +/- SEM = 4.6 +/- 0.6) compared with placebo (5.7 +/- 0.8; p = 0.01), and the average decrease was 17.5%. Percentage of days abstinent increased during citalopram administration (27.7% +/- 5.7%) compared with placebo (15.5% +/- 3.7%; p less than 0.01). Citalopram decreased interest, desire, craving, and liking for alcohol (all p less than 0.05). There was clear internal validation of these measures in that variations in each correlated with alcohol consumption (all r greater than 0.5, p less than 0.05). Nonalcoholic drinks, self-reports of cigarettes smoked (daily smokers), and body weight did not change significantly. In experimental bar sessions, after the citalopram and placebo periods, subjects were required to consume as many of 18 minidrinks as possible (equivalent to six standard drinks) at 5-minute intervals. Subjects rated their desire for alcohol, intoxication, and mood. Citalopram had no significant effects on the desirability of alcohol or subjective feelings of intoxication. The findings indicate that serotonin uptake inhibitors may act by decreasing the urge to drink and the reinforcing effects of alcohol. Also, a naturalistic outpatient trial is a sensitive, simple, and economic procedure for detecting these drug effects.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The neuroendocrine aspects of chronic alcoholism: the effect of alcohol intake and its withdrawal].

Neuroendocrine dysfunctions, in part similar to those found in depression, are present in chronic alcoholism. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effects of chronic alcohol intake on cortisol secretion in basal conditions, after dexamethasone (DXT) suppression or corticotropin (ACTH) stimulation in 10 alcoholic men, during active drinking and after two weeks of alcohol withdrawal. The 24-hour, day- and night-time urinary cortisol and melatonin levels, and the effects of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) on thyrotropin (TSH) and prolactin (PRL) secretions were studied in the same subjects. The data were correlated to the scores obtained by the Hamilton Rating Scale for depression and compared to those found in healthy subjects. Increased cortisol levels and the lack of DXT suppression of cortisol secretion are considered to be alcohol-dependent inasmuch as they disappear in most patients after alcohol withdrawal. The cortisol response to ACTH 1-24 infusion measured before and after alcohol withdrawal was similar in the patients we studied; moreover no significant difference was found between patients and controls. The increment of urine free cortisol levels in active alcoholics was not statistically significant. Urine cortisol levels became similar to those of the control subjects after alcohol withdrawal. The increased diurnal values of urine melatonin and the inversion of the physiological ratio between nocturnal and diurnal levels observed during alcohol intake became normal upon alcohol withdrawal. The TSH and PRL responses after the administration of 50 or 200 micrograms TRH were higher in alcoholics than in controls, while a blunted response is known to occur in depression.

Adult↗