As spring break commences, college students across the nation will be in situations that could include excessive sun exposure, alcohol, and sexually transmitted diseases. There are many unique health threats for young women to be aware of as they head to the beach or venture out on vacation.
The sun and spring break are synonymous in many students' minds. Everyone wants to get a great tan, but the looming threat of skin cancer should be a deterrent for any spring-breaker to go for the lobster look.
According to Dr. Jennifer Wider, M.D., a medical advisor for the Society for Women's Health and author of its nationally distributed news service, you should "make sure to use sunscreen with at least a 15 SPF and reapply an ample amount -- at least a shot glass full -- every 2-3 hours throughout the day."
Wider answered 30 questions related to spring break and health during an online moderated discussion host by the Society this past Monday.
Raising a myth about alcohol use and abuse, one question asked if drinking salad oil before drinking alcohol would prevent intoxication by providing the stomach with a protective coating. Wider responded, "The idea behind that rumor is that fatty foods stick to the stomach lining longer and in theory would slow down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream."
Wider said a better strategy is to pace your drinking and avoid binge-drinking: "Chugging salad oil would probably be less than pleasant and binge-drinking isn't safe for you or your body!"
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are another issue that young women in particular must be concerned with, because they impact women more than men. The lining of the vagina is very susceptible to absorbing a sexually transmitted virus. "This makes the transmission of disease more efficient from man to woman than vice-versa," Wider said.
It is important that women who are sexually active practice safe sex and receive regular screenings, because STDs may go unnoticed for long periods of time. If left untreated, certain STDs can cause infertility, pregnancy complications, cervical cancer, or pelvic inflammatory disease.
The full transcript of the discussion, as well as a calendar of future online discussions with health experts, is available on the Society's Web site: live.womenshealthresearch.
Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR)
1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 701
Washington, DC 20036
United States
live.womenshealthresearch
суббота, 30 апреля 2011 г.
пятница, 29 апреля 2011 г.
California Issues Strict Rules For Health Professionals With Addiction Problems
Most Popular Articles For Alcohol
These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
01 Nov 2010
Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today...
Giving Up Smoking Linked To Greater Happiness And Elevated Mood
05 Dec 2010
Energy Drinks: Is It Time To Tighten Regulation?
02 Nov 2010
USA's Drunkest Cities Are Milwaukee, Fargo And San Francisco
31 Dec 2010
Lock Up The Liquor; Parents Giving Children Alcohol
19 Feb 2011
_uacct = "UA-849615-1";
urchinTracker();
These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
01 Nov 2010
Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today...
Giving Up Smoking Linked To Greater Happiness And Elevated Mood
05 Dec 2010
Energy Drinks: Is It Time To Tighten Regulation?
02 Nov 2010
USA's Drunkest Cities Are Milwaukee, Fargo And San Francisco
31 Dec 2010
Lock Up The Liquor; Parents Giving Children Alcohol
19 Feb 2011
_uacct = "UA-849615-1";
urchinTracker();
четверг, 28 апреля 2011 г.
The Unintentional Punishment: Time In Prison Should Not Lead To Infection With HIV Or Tuberculosis
At any given time, over two million people are imprisoned in penal
institutions in Europe. Prisons are extremely high-risk environments for
the transmission of infectious diseases because of a high number of risk
factors, such as overcrowding, poor nutrition, limited access to health
care, continued illicit drug use and unsafe injecting practices,
unprotected sex and tattooing. If prisons are not to become a breeding
ground for infectious diseases, health and medical care, and prevention
and treatment must be an integral part of the penal system. Prison health
policy should be integrated into national policy and prison health should
be closely linked to the public health service. This applies to all health
issues but is particularly important in the case of communicable diseases.
The unintentional punishment
A prison sentence is not always over on release from prison. Individuals
who are healthy on entry have a high risk of leaving prison infected with
HIV or tuberculosis (TB) or with an addiction to drugs. Added to the
stigma of a prison sentence, this hampers their reintegration into society
and makes a normal family and social life difficult. The post-release
period is very important, as ex-prisoners are at greater risk of dying
within the first weeks after release from prison, primarily as a result of
an overdose of illicit drugs. An effective throughcare plan must be
developed between prisons and public health systems.
"Rather than rehabilitating inmates, a prison sentence often makes matters
worse," says Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "It is
unacceptable that we allow prisons to encourage unhealthy practices,
meaning that people leave prison in poorer health than when they arrived.
This lowers their chances of reintegrating into society and spreads
infectious diseases beyond the prison walls. Work by countries to protect
the health of prisoners helps not only individuals but the whole of
society."
The health of prisoners affects the rest of society
Overcrowding, the high turnover in the prison population and the intensive
interaction between prison and society encourages the spread of
communicable diseases. Neglecting the health of prisoners impacts on the
wider public, putting them at risk of infection from diseases like TB and
HIV.
The Madrid Recommendation
An international conference on prison health protection is taking place in
Madrid from 29 to 31 October 2009. Health experts from over 50 countries
have agreed on a set of recommendations to tackle the issue of
communicable diseases in prisons. The aim of the Madrid Recommendation is
to ensure that, rather than making matters worse, prisons are a setting
where health and health behaviour are improved and the risk of reoffending
is reduced. These cost-effective measures include:
-- treatment programmes for infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS,
hepatitis C and TB;
-- treatment programmes for drug users;
-- harm reduction measures;
-- guidelines on hygiene requirements;
-- guaranteed throughcare for prisoners on entry to and after release from
prison, in close collaboration with stakeholders;
-- mental health support for prisoners suffering from communicable
diseases; and
-- training for all prison staff in the prevention, treatment and control
of communicable diseases.
Source
World Health Organization
institutions in Europe. Prisons are extremely high-risk environments for
the transmission of infectious diseases because of a high number of risk
factors, such as overcrowding, poor nutrition, limited access to health
care, continued illicit drug use and unsafe injecting practices,
unprotected sex and tattooing. If prisons are not to become a breeding
ground for infectious diseases, health and medical care, and prevention
and treatment must be an integral part of the penal system. Prison health
policy should be integrated into national policy and prison health should
be closely linked to the public health service. This applies to all health
issues but is particularly important in the case of communicable diseases.
The unintentional punishment
A prison sentence is not always over on release from prison. Individuals
who are healthy on entry have a high risk of leaving prison infected with
HIV or tuberculosis (TB) or with an addiction to drugs. Added to the
stigma of a prison sentence, this hampers their reintegration into society
and makes a normal family and social life difficult. The post-release
period is very important, as ex-prisoners are at greater risk of dying
within the first weeks after release from prison, primarily as a result of
an overdose of illicit drugs. An effective throughcare plan must be
developed between prisons and public health systems.
"Rather than rehabilitating inmates, a prison sentence often makes matters
worse," says Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "It is
unacceptable that we allow prisons to encourage unhealthy practices,
meaning that people leave prison in poorer health than when they arrived.
This lowers their chances of reintegrating into society and spreads
infectious diseases beyond the prison walls. Work by countries to protect
the health of prisoners helps not only individuals but the whole of
society."
The health of prisoners affects the rest of society
Overcrowding, the high turnover in the prison population and the intensive
interaction between prison and society encourages the spread of
communicable diseases. Neglecting the health of prisoners impacts on the
wider public, putting them at risk of infection from diseases like TB and
HIV.
The Madrid Recommendation
An international conference on prison health protection is taking place in
Madrid from 29 to 31 October 2009. Health experts from over 50 countries
have agreed on a set of recommendations to tackle the issue of
communicable diseases in prisons. The aim of the Madrid Recommendation is
to ensure that, rather than making matters worse, prisons are a setting
where health and health behaviour are improved and the risk of reoffending
is reduced. These cost-effective measures include:
-- treatment programmes for infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS,
hepatitis C and TB;
-- treatment programmes for drug users;
-- harm reduction measures;
-- guidelines on hygiene requirements;
-- guaranteed throughcare for prisoners on entry to and after release from
prison, in close collaboration with stakeholders;
-- mental health support for prisoners suffering from communicable
diseases; and
-- training for all prison staff in the prevention, treatment and control
of communicable diseases.
Source
World Health Organization
среда, 27 апреля 2011 г.
College students disciplined for alcohol use are heavier drinkers than their peers USA
College students disciplined for alcohol use are heavier drinkers than their peers, but brief, required counseling interventions help reduce their drinking and associated problems, say researchers.
Drunkenness, fighting, vandalism and other results of heavy drinking concern both college officials and police departments. College and university administrations are always looking for ways to reduce the damage caused by overdrinking.
A series of studies in the June issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests ways to do that.
Researcher Tracy O'Leary Tevyaw, Ph.D., and two colleagues from Brown University reported that students required by college disciplinary boards to attend alcohol intervention programs shared some characteristics with fellow students but differed in some other ways.
"Non-mandated students reported significantly higher grades in school and a lower percentage of heavy drinking days in the past month than mandated students," says Tevyaw. They also scored lower on tests for alcohol-related problems.
Both sets of students perceived similar levels of drinking around them. They both estimated that the average college student downed an average of seven drinks per drinking session, leading Tevyaw to suggest that all students might benefit from these interventions.
Other researchers compared two different approaches to move students away from problem drinking.
Brian Borsari, Ph. D., of Brown and Kate B. Carey, Ph.D., of Syracuse University found that alcohol education and brief motivational interventions both helped students.
The alcohol education approach presented factual knowledge about alcohol and its effects without tying it either to individual drinking or to personal goals to cut alcohol use. The brief motivational interventions took the same information but placed it in the context of the students' own experiences with alcohol: why they drink, how often, or what their blood alcohol levels are after heavy drinking.
This article continues in the Center for the Advancement of Health
By Aaron Levin, Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service
Drunkenness, fighting, vandalism and other results of heavy drinking concern both college officials and police departments. College and university administrations are always looking for ways to reduce the damage caused by overdrinking.
A series of studies in the June issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests ways to do that.
Researcher Tracy O'Leary Tevyaw, Ph.D., and two colleagues from Brown University reported that students required by college disciplinary boards to attend alcohol intervention programs shared some characteristics with fellow students but differed in some other ways.
"Non-mandated students reported significantly higher grades in school and a lower percentage of heavy drinking days in the past month than mandated students," says Tevyaw. They also scored lower on tests for alcohol-related problems.
Both sets of students perceived similar levels of drinking around them. They both estimated that the average college student downed an average of seven drinks per drinking session, leading Tevyaw to suggest that all students might benefit from these interventions.
Other researchers compared two different approaches to move students away from problem drinking.
Brian Borsari, Ph. D., of Brown and Kate B. Carey, Ph.D., of Syracuse University found that alcohol education and brief motivational interventions both helped students.
The alcohol education approach presented factual knowledge about alcohol and its effects without tying it either to individual drinking or to personal goals to cut alcohol use. The brief motivational interventions took the same information but placed it in the context of the students' own experiences with alcohol: why they drink, how often, or what their blood alcohol levels are after heavy drinking.
This article continues in the Center for the Advancement of Health
By Aaron Levin, Science Writer
Health Behavior News Service
вторник, 26 апреля 2011 г.
Declining Youth Exposure To Alcohol Ads In Magazines
Youth exposure to alcohol advertising in magazines declined by 48 percent between 2001 and 2008, according to a new study by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Although 325 alcohol brands advertised in magazines in 2008, just 16 brands accounted for half of the advertising placed in publications more likely to be seen per capita by youth than by adults. Leading the list were Patron Silver Tequila, Absolut Vodka, Kahlua Liqueurs, Ketel One Vodka and Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey.
The report, which is available at camy, shows that alcohol companies have largely met the industry's voluntary standard of not placing ads in magazines with 30 percent or more youth readership. That standard was adopted in 2003.
However, this standard has had little effect on the percentage of youth exposure coming from advertising placed in youth-oriented publications. As of 2008, 78 percent of youth exposure to this advertising occurred in magazines that youth ages 12 to 20 were more likely to read than adults age 21 and above. A previous CAMY report, analyzing magazine advertising from 2001 to 2005 and published in CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, found that 80 percent of youth exposure came from ads placed in youth-oriented publications.
"It continues to make no sense to advertise more heavily to those who cannot purchase alcohol than to those who can," said CAMY Director David H. Jernigan. "Yet a relatively small number of brands are still doing this, despite industry efforts to tighten the standard in order to reduce youth exposure."
Researchers at CAMY and Virtual Media Resources analyzed 29,026 alcohol-product advertisements in national magazines, using advertising-industry standard sources, including The Nielsen Company and GfK MRI, to count and measure exposure to alcohol advertisements in magazines. These ads were placed between 2001 and 2008 at a cost of $2.7 billion. Other key findings of the report include:
The number of ads placed by distilled spirits companies, the largest alcohol advertisers in magazines, fell by 34 percent from 2001 to 2008, while ads placed by brewers increased by 158 percent.
As distillers moved their advertising out of magazines, overall alcohol advertising exposure declined for all age groups. Adult (age 21 and above) exposure declined by 29 percent and young adult exposure (age 21 to 34) fell by 31 percent.
Youth exposure to distilled spirits ads in magazines fell by 62 percent, but exposure to beer ads in magazines rose by 57 percent during this period.
Alcohol advertising placed in publications with under-21 audiences greater than 30 percent fell to almost nothing by 2008.
However, the 30 percent standard affected placements in only nine of the 160 magazines in which alcohol companies placed their advertising between 2001 and 2008.
Alcohol is the leading drug problem among America's youth, and causes more than 4,600 deaths each year among people under 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Numerous long-term studies have found that the more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising, the more likely they are to drink or to drink more if they are already drinking.
In 2003, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine recommended that alcohol companies change their audience thresholds to 15 percent based on the presence of 12- to 20 year-olds in the viewing, reading or listening audience. In 2006, 20 state attorneys general requested the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to explore this option with alcohol companies.
"Beer advertisers appear to be filling the gap left by distillers in youth-oriented magazines," said Jernigan. "If the entire industry is serious about underage drinking, it should adopt stricter standards to protect against youth exposure to its advertising."
Source:
Tim Parsons
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Although 325 alcohol brands advertised in magazines in 2008, just 16 brands accounted for half of the advertising placed in publications more likely to be seen per capita by youth than by adults. Leading the list were Patron Silver Tequila, Absolut Vodka, Kahlua Liqueurs, Ketel One Vodka and Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey.
The report, which is available at camy, shows that alcohol companies have largely met the industry's voluntary standard of not placing ads in magazines with 30 percent or more youth readership. That standard was adopted in 2003.
However, this standard has had little effect on the percentage of youth exposure coming from advertising placed in youth-oriented publications. As of 2008, 78 percent of youth exposure to this advertising occurred in magazines that youth ages 12 to 20 were more likely to read than adults age 21 and above. A previous CAMY report, analyzing magazine advertising from 2001 to 2005 and published in CDC's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, found that 80 percent of youth exposure came from ads placed in youth-oriented publications.
"It continues to make no sense to advertise more heavily to those who cannot purchase alcohol than to those who can," said CAMY Director David H. Jernigan. "Yet a relatively small number of brands are still doing this, despite industry efforts to tighten the standard in order to reduce youth exposure."
Researchers at CAMY and Virtual Media Resources analyzed 29,026 alcohol-product advertisements in national magazines, using advertising-industry standard sources, including The Nielsen Company and GfK MRI, to count and measure exposure to alcohol advertisements in magazines. These ads were placed between 2001 and 2008 at a cost of $2.7 billion. Other key findings of the report include:
The number of ads placed by distilled spirits companies, the largest alcohol advertisers in magazines, fell by 34 percent from 2001 to 2008, while ads placed by brewers increased by 158 percent.
As distillers moved their advertising out of magazines, overall alcohol advertising exposure declined for all age groups. Adult (age 21 and above) exposure declined by 29 percent and young adult exposure (age 21 to 34) fell by 31 percent.
Youth exposure to distilled spirits ads in magazines fell by 62 percent, but exposure to beer ads in magazines rose by 57 percent during this period.
Alcohol advertising placed in publications with under-21 audiences greater than 30 percent fell to almost nothing by 2008.
However, the 30 percent standard affected placements in only nine of the 160 magazines in which alcohol companies placed their advertising between 2001 and 2008.
Alcohol is the leading drug problem among America's youth, and causes more than 4,600 deaths each year among people under 21, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Numerous long-term studies have found that the more young people are exposed to alcohol advertising, the more likely they are to drink or to drink more if they are already drinking.
In 2003, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine recommended that alcohol companies change their audience thresholds to 15 percent based on the presence of 12- to 20 year-olds in the viewing, reading or listening audience. In 2006, 20 state attorneys general requested the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to explore this option with alcohol companies.
"Beer advertisers appear to be filling the gap left by distillers in youth-oriented magazines," said Jernigan. "If the entire industry is serious about underage drinking, it should adopt stricter standards to protect against youth exposure to its advertising."
Source:
Tim Parsons
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
понедельник, 25 апреля 2011 г.
Schwarzenegger's Call To Consider Marijuana Legalization To Boost Taxes Is "Irresponsible," Says Chairman Of DARE Board
Recent calls by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to study the legalization of marijuana as a way of boosting tax revenues are "irresponsible" and send a dangerous message, the chairman of the board of the drug abuse education program D.A.R.E., prominent Los Angeles attorney Louis "Skip" Miller, said today. "Marijuana is a dangerous drug with numerous demonstrable ill effects on health," Mr. Miller added.
"As we all know, these are difficult economic times, and California is facing severe budgetary problems," Mr. Miller said. "But it is completely irresponsible to suggest that the legalization of a dangerous drug could be a way to help us out of the budget mess we're in. Such comments send entirely the wrong message, especially to young people who face a difficult enough time resisting the pressure of peers and others to try drugs."
"Legalizing marijuana as a way of bringing in more tax revenue is just bad policy," Mr. Miller added. Schwarzenegger made national headlines recently when he said that while he doesn't personally support legalization, it's time to study the idea as a way of "creating extra revenue." California faces a budget shortfall of more than $20 billion.
"Let's be clear," said Mr. Miller, speaking on behalf of the board of directors of D.A.R.E., the world's largest drug abuse resistance program. "Marijuana is not benign. Scientific studies have decisively documented marijuana's harmful effects on the body's cardiovascular system, brain and respiratory functions. Despite what you might hear from the pro-legalization side, marijuana use can cause cancer and does impair judgment."
"Marijuana has a host of harmful effects, ranging from the immediate to the more long range," said Dr. Sheila Kar, clinical chief of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, a member of the D.A.R.E board of directors and the liaison with D.A.R.E.'s scientific advisory board. "It has been shown to cause an immediate rise in the heart beat by 20-30 beats per minute along with an increase in blood pressure, thus increasing the workload of the heart. Marijuana is an irritant to the lungs and contains proportionally more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. It is associated with increased incidence of cancer of the head and neck area and lungs. It works on the brain, causing short- and long-term memory loss and impairing judgment, and it affects the sensations of taste and smell. One of its more pernicious effects is that it reduces inhibitions and can lead a person under the influence of marijuana to try even more harmful substances."
"Legalization is not a path we want to pursue," Dr. Kar added. "This is sending a message that use of marijuana is okay. If marijuana is legalized, people and especially young people, will tend to look at it and think, 'Well, if it's legal, it can't be too harmful.'
"It is by no means the benign drug that some would have us think. The most complete, objective and reliable scientific evidence is entirely in the other direction. We would run the risk of having a rise in a sicker and nonproductive population, which would be further detrimental to the state's economy, if more people were to begin using marijuana."
More in-depth information about the harmful effects of marijuana use can be found on the website of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, at nida.nih/ResearchReports/Marijuana/default.html.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1983, D.A.R.E.'s programs are implemented in the classroom and now reach 75 percent of the nation's school districts and 43 countries around the world. Mr. Miller, a trial lawyer and founding partner of Miller Barondess LLP, Los Angeles, has served as the chairman of D.A.R.E.'s board of directors for four years.
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) recently instituted a new curriculum that goes beyond the "Just Say No" approach in which a police officer stands behind a podium and lectures youngsters sitting in straight rows of desks. Now D.A.R.E. officers are trained to be coaches who can help kids deal with and refuse peer-pressure to use drugs. Among other innovations, they show students high-tech brain images so they can see for themselves the effect of drugs on emotions, coordination and mental activity.
In an effort to stay ahead of the drug-abuse curve, D.A.R.E. has introduced, with the backing of pharma companies, a new program attacking the problem of youthful abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications, a problem which heretofore has attracted little notice but which studies have shown to be on the rise even as abuse of illegal drugs declines. Other new curricula take D.A.R.E. beyond drug education and tackle such issues as bullying, gang activity and internet safety.
In July of this year, another major component of the new D.A.R.E. will be officially rolled out. Developed by Penn State University and representing 20 years of research into why youth use drugs, "keepin' it REAL" - Refuse, Explain, Avoid and Leave - targets the critical junior high/middle school student audience, teaching them how to act decisively and confidently in difficult situations with their peers. Successfully evaluated and tested with more than 6,700 students at 35 Phoenix middle schools, it goes far beyond just say no by teaching students how to say no.
Source
DARE
"As we all know, these are difficult economic times, and California is facing severe budgetary problems," Mr. Miller said. "But it is completely irresponsible to suggest that the legalization of a dangerous drug could be a way to help us out of the budget mess we're in. Such comments send entirely the wrong message, especially to young people who face a difficult enough time resisting the pressure of peers and others to try drugs."
"Legalizing marijuana as a way of bringing in more tax revenue is just bad policy," Mr. Miller added. Schwarzenegger made national headlines recently when he said that while he doesn't personally support legalization, it's time to study the idea as a way of "creating extra revenue." California faces a budget shortfall of more than $20 billion.
"Let's be clear," said Mr. Miller, speaking on behalf of the board of directors of D.A.R.E., the world's largest drug abuse resistance program. "Marijuana is not benign. Scientific studies have decisively documented marijuana's harmful effects on the body's cardiovascular system, brain and respiratory functions. Despite what you might hear from the pro-legalization side, marijuana use can cause cancer and does impair judgment."
"Marijuana has a host of harmful effects, ranging from the immediate to the more long range," said Dr. Sheila Kar, clinical chief of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, a member of the D.A.R.E board of directors and the liaison with D.A.R.E.'s scientific advisory board. "It has been shown to cause an immediate rise in the heart beat by 20-30 beats per minute along with an increase in blood pressure, thus increasing the workload of the heart. Marijuana is an irritant to the lungs and contains proportionally more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. It is associated with increased incidence of cancer of the head and neck area and lungs. It works on the brain, causing short- and long-term memory loss and impairing judgment, and it affects the sensations of taste and smell. One of its more pernicious effects is that it reduces inhibitions and can lead a person under the influence of marijuana to try even more harmful substances."
"Legalization is not a path we want to pursue," Dr. Kar added. "This is sending a message that use of marijuana is okay. If marijuana is legalized, people and especially young people, will tend to look at it and think, 'Well, if it's legal, it can't be too harmful.'
"It is by no means the benign drug that some would have us think. The most complete, objective and reliable scientific evidence is entirely in the other direction. We would run the risk of having a rise in a sicker and nonproductive population, which would be further detrimental to the state's economy, if more people were to begin using marijuana."
More in-depth information about the harmful effects of marijuana use can be found on the website of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, at nida.nih/ResearchReports/Marijuana/default.html.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1983, D.A.R.E.'s programs are implemented in the classroom and now reach 75 percent of the nation's school districts and 43 countries around the world. Mr. Miller, a trial lawyer and founding partner of Miller Barondess LLP, Los Angeles, has served as the chairman of D.A.R.E.'s board of directors for four years.
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) recently instituted a new curriculum that goes beyond the "Just Say No" approach in which a police officer stands behind a podium and lectures youngsters sitting in straight rows of desks. Now D.A.R.E. officers are trained to be coaches who can help kids deal with and refuse peer-pressure to use drugs. Among other innovations, they show students high-tech brain images so they can see for themselves the effect of drugs on emotions, coordination and mental activity.
In an effort to stay ahead of the drug-abuse curve, D.A.R.E. has introduced, with the backing of pharma companies, a new program attacking the problem of youthful abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications, a problem which heretofore has attracted little notice but which studies have shown to be on the rise even as abuse of illegal drugs declines. Other new curricula take D.A.R.E. beyond drug education and tackle such issues as bullying, gang activity and internet safety.
In July of this year, another major component of the new D.A.R.E. will be officially rolled out. Developed by Penn State University and representing 20 years of research into why youth use drugs, "keepin' it REAL" - Refuse, Explain, Avoid and Leave - targets the critical junior high/middle school student audience, teaching them how to act decisively and confidently in difficult situations with their peers. Successfully evaluated and tested with more than 6,700 students at 35 Phoenix middle schools, it goes far beyond just say no by teaching students how to say no.
Source
DARE
воскресенье, 24 апреля 2011 г.
Gambling Treatment MUST Be Available On The NHS, Say Doctors
In its hard-hitting report, Gambling addiction and its treatment within the NHS, released recently, the BMA is calling for gambling to be a recognised addiction that requires treatment on the NHS.
This recommendation is part of a tough set of proposals aimed at helping healthcare professionals deal effectively with the growing problem of gambling addiction in the UK. The report is timely given the 2005 Gambling Act is due to come into force this September. The new UK legislation will increase gambling facilities and subsequently problem gambling may rise too - health professionals must be prepared for this.
The BMA is particularly worried about adolescent problem gamblers and the report is calling for a review on whether slot machine gambling should be prohibited to anyone under 18.
Fruit machine addiction can lead to behavioural problems such as truanting, stealing and aggressive behaviour. Studies have shown that gambling among young people often goes hand in hand with other addictive activities such as drug taking and alcohol abuse and has been linked to juvenile crime.
Dr Colin Hamilton, Chairman of the BMA's Public Health Committee in Northern Ireland, said on Monday:
"We know that gambling is a persistent problem in Northern Ireland and one that is increasing amongst young men. Evidence shows that this group of people are not only using gaming machines but moving to gambling online.
"Gamblers Anonymous in Northern Ireland does a excellent job in helping addicts but we do need to make treatment available on the NHS, similar to the drug and alcohol services currently provided."
The BMA Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said:
"Problem gambling is associated with a number of health problems and the BMA is concerned that there are insufficient treatment facilities available. Psychological problems can include anxiety, depression, guilt and suicidal thoughts. Relationships with family and friends can also be affected by gambling, sometimes leading to separation and divorce.
"There needs to be treatment for problem gambling available on the NHS similar to drug and alcohol services. The BMA is calling on the Gaming Industry to pay at least ??10m per annum via the Responsibility in Gambling Trust to fund research, prevention and intervention programmes."
Contributing author of the report, Professor Mark Griffiths of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, sees remote gambling as another cause for concern. This includes gambling via the internet, mobile phone and interactive television gambling. He said that: "Online gambling in the UK has doubled since 2001 and further research in this area should be seen as a priority."
Particular problems with remote gambling include:
the availability of 'virtual cash' - for most gamblers electronic [e-cash] will be easier to part with than 'real' cash
unlimited access and anonymity - there will be no 'closing time', a user will be able to gamble privately around the clock
increased odds of winning practice modes - research shows that it is significantly more common to win while playing on a 'demo' or 'free play' game, once gamblers start to play for real with real money, the odds of winning are considerably reduced.
the internet also provides online customer tracking, this is worrying as operators could end up knowing more about the gambler's playing behaviour than the gamblers themselves.
Key recommendations from the report include:
Treatment for problem gambling should be provided under the NHS.
Gambling operators and service providers should pay at least ??10m per annum to fund research, prevention and intervention programmes.
Gambling operators and service providers should supply information on gambling addiction, treatment and services to patrons.
All adolescent problem gambling should be taken as seriously as adult problem gambling.
Research should be conducted into the association between internet gambling and problem gambling.
Some specific gambling options such as slot machines should be specifically reviewed to ensure they are not accessible to adolescents.
The report can be accessed here.
For further information please go to:
British Medical Association
Source:
BMA News, the membership magazine of the British Medical Association
This recommendation is part of a tough set of proposals aimed at helping healthcare professionals deal effectively with the growing problem of gambling addiction in the UK. The report is timely given the 2005 Gambling Act is due to come into force this September. The new UK legislation will increase gambling facilities and subsequently problem gambling may rise too - health professionals must be prepared for this.
The BMA is particularly worried about adolescent problem gamblers and the report is calling for a review on whether slot machine gambling should be prohibited to anyone under 18.
Fruit machine addiction can lead to behavioural problems such as truanting, stealing and aggressive behaviour. Studies have shown that gambling among young people often goes hand in hand with other addictive activities such as drug taking and alcohol abuse and has been linked to juvenile crime.
Dr Colin Hamilton, Chairman of the BMA's Public Health Committee in Northern Ireland, said on Monday:
"We know that gambling is a persistent problem in Northern Ireland and one that is increasing amongst young men. Evidence shows that this group of people are not only using gaming machines but moving to gambling online.
"Gamblers Anonymous in Northern Ireland does a excellent job in helping addicts but we do need to make treatment available on the NHS, similar to the drug and alcohol services currently provided."
The BMA Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said:
"Problem gambling is associated with a number of health problems and the BMA is concerned that there are insufficient treatment facilities available. Psychological problems can include anxiety, depression, guilt and suicidal thoughts. Relationships with family and friends can also be affected by gambling, sometimes leading to separation and divorce.
"There needs to be treatment for problem gambling available on the NHS similar to drug and alcohol services. The BMA is calling on the Gaming Industry to pay at least ??10m per annum via the Responsibility in Gambling Trust to fund research, prevention and intervention programmes."
Contributing author of the report, Professor Mark Griffiths of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, sees remote gambling as another cause for concern. This includes gambling via the internet, mobile phone and interactive television gambling. He said that: "Online gambling in the UK has doubled since 2001 and further research in this area should be seen as a priority."
Particular problems with remote gambling include:
the availability of 'virtual cash' - for most gamblers electronic [e-cash] will be easier to part with than 'real' cash
unlimited access and anonymity - there will be no 'closing time', a user will be able to gamble privately around the clock
increased odds of winning practice modes - research shows that it is significantly more common to win while playing on a 'demo' or 'free play' game, once gamblers start to play for real with real money, the odds of winning are considerably reduced.
the internet also provides online customer tracking, this is worrying as operators could end up knowing more about the gambler's playing behaviour than the gamblers themselves.
Key recommendations from the report include:
Treatment for problem gambling should be provided under the NHS.
Gambling operators and service providers should pay at least ??10m per annum to fund research, prevention and intervention programmes.
Gambling operators and service providers should supply information on gambling addiction, treatment and services to patrons.
All adolescent problem gambling should be taken as seriously as adult problem gambling.
Research should be conducted into the association between internet gambling and problem gambling.
Some specific gambling options such as slot machines should be specifically reviewed to ensure they are not accessible to adolescents.
The report can be accessed here.
For further information please go to:
British Medical Association
Source:
BMA News, the membership magazine of the British Medical Association
Fingerprint Instead Of Blood Sample To Detect Drugs And Diseases
To this day, fingerprints are just the thing when a perpetrator needs to be arrested or a person needs to be identified. British scientists working with David A. Russell also want to make it possible to use fingerprints to reveal drug and doping transgressions and to diagnose diseases. As the team from the University of East Anglia in Norwich and King's College in London report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have now been able to use specific antibodies to differentiate between the fingerprints of smokers and nonsmokers.
A fingerprint is of no use to an investigator unless it can be matched to one in a database or can be directly compared with that of a suspect. Russell and his team expect that we will soon be able to gain information about the lifestyle of the person who made the fingerprints, which could shrink the pool of suspects. In this way, it should be possible to use fingerprints to detect drugs, medications, or food that have been consumed, and also to diagnose some diseases.
Researchers want to coax all of these secrets out of the tiny traces of perspiration that a fingerprint leaves on a surface. The research team demonstrated the ease with which this should be possible by differentiating between fingerprints made by smokers and nonsmokers. To avoid false results from chance contact with tobacco products, they designed their system to detect cotinine, a metabolite formed by the body after consumption of nicotine. The researchers wet the fingerprints with a solution containing gold nanoparticles to which cotinine-specific antibodies were attached.
These bind to the cotinine. Subsequently, a second antibody, which was tagged with a fluorescent dye and binds specifically to cotinine antibodies, was applied to the fingerprint. Because there are many cotinine antibodies attached to each nanosphere, there is a significant amplification effect.
Indeed, the ridge patterns of smokers' fingerprints fluoresce, while those of nonsmokers do not. The fingerprints are very highly resolved and can be lifted for comparison with known prints, just as in conventional procedures. When magnified, even the tiny sweat pores along the ridges of the fingertip become visible, which can also be used to make an unambiguous assignment.
In addition to forensic applications, this method would be ideal for detecting doping. Sample manipulations by the test subjects would hardly be possible since each sample is uniquely assignable to a specific athlete by virtue of the ridge pattern. Medical diagnostics could also benefit in the form of simple and quick mass screening with no danger of sample mix-ups. Another application could be drug screening without taking blood samples - from suspicious drivers, for example.
Author: David A. Russell, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK),
www1.uea.ac/cm/home/schools/sci/cap/people/faculty/dar
Title: "Intelligent" Fingerprinting: Simultaneous Identification of Drug Metabolites and Individuals with Antibody-Functionalized Nanoparticles
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2007, 46, No. 22, 4100-4103, doi: 10.1002/anie.200700217
Contact: David A. Russell
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A fingerprint is of no use to an investigator unless it can be matched to one in a database or can be directly compared with that of a suspect. Russell and his team expect that we will soon be able to gain information about the lifestyle of the person who made the fingerprints, which could shrink the pool of suspects. In this way, it should be possible to use fingerprints to detect drugs, medications, or food that have been consumed, and also to diagnose some diseases.
Researchers want to coax all of these secrets out of the tiny traces of perspiration that a fingerprint leaves on a surface. The research team demonstrated the ease with which this should be possible by differentiating between fingerprints made by smokers and nonsmokers. To avoid false results from chance contact with tobacco products, they designed their system to detect cotinine, a metabolite formed by the body after consumption of nicotine. The researchers wet the fingerprints with a solution containing gold nanoparticles to which cotinine-specific antibodies were attached.
These bind to the cotinine. Subsequently, a second antibody, which was tagged with a fluorescent dye and binds specifically to cotinine antibodies, was applied to the fingerprint. Because there are many cotinine antibodies attached to each nanosphere, there is a significant amplification effect.
Indeed, the ridge patterns of smokers' fingerprints fluoresce, while those of nonsmokers do not. The fingerprints are very highly resolved and can be lifted for comparison with known prints, just as in conventional procedures. When magnified, even the tiny sweat pores along the ridges of the fingertip become visible, which can also be used to make an unambiguous assignment.
In addition to forensic applications, this method would be ideal for detecting doping. Sample manipulations by the test subjects would hardly be possible since each sample is uniquely assignable to a specific athlete by virtue of the ridge pattern. Medical diagnostics could also benefit in the form of simple and quick mass screening with no danger of sample mix-ups. Another application could be drug screening without taking blood samples - from suspicious drivers, for example.
Author: David A. Russell, University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK),
www1.uea.ac/cm/home/schools/sci/cap/people/faculty/dar
Title: "Intelligent" Fingerprinting: Simultaneous Identification of Drug Metabolites and Individuals with Antibody-Functionalized Nanoparticles
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2007, 46, No. 22, 4100-4103, doi: 10.1002/anie.200700217
Contact: David A. Russell
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Warning For Gastric Bypass Patients: Go Easy On The Alcohol
Patients who have had a gastric bypass operation take longer to process alcohol, potentially leading some of them to overindulge when drinking, according to the results of a new study in the February issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Previous studies have shown that gastric bypass patients often find it difficult adjusting to physical and psychological changes after the procedure. An increased risk of depression, alcoholism, and other substance abuse issues for this patient population led researchers to take a more in-depth look at how these patients metabolize alcohol after the procedure.
The results of this unique demonstration of alcohol metabolism changes in gastric bypass patients showed that patients who underwent a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) operation had considerably higher breath alcohol content (BAC) and took significantly more time to return to a sober state after drinking, compared with BAC levels tested prior to having their procedure.
"Severe obesity continues to be a public health crisis in the U.S., and bariatric surgery offers a very effective treatment," said senior author John M. Morton, MD, MPH, FACS, associate professor of surgery at Stanford (CA) University. "Despite its benefits, we want to raise the potential concern for RYGB patients who continue to drink after their operation because they may tend to overuse alcohol, which can, in turn, lead to weight regain, nutritional deficiencies, and/or alcohol dependence."
During the study, alcohol metabolism tests were performed on 19 morbidly obese patients before their RYGB operation and then measured again at three and six months post-operation. Patients also reported symptoms experienced when drinking and answered a questionnaire about their drinking habits.
The results showed peak BAC percentage of patients after drinking five ounces of red wine was significantly higher post-operation. BAC was 0.024 percent at pre-operation and 0.059 percent (p = 0.0003) at three months. Tested again at six months post-operation, the patients' BAC was 0.088 percent (p = 0.0008) which is more than the legal driving limit of .08 percent. Additionally, it took 49 minutes for patients to reach a zero BAC prior to their operation compared with 61 minutes at three months and 88 minutes at six months post-operation.
In other studies, researchers have found that a few gastric bypass patients undergo an addiction transfer where they trade one vice, such as overeating, for another, like over consumption of alcohol or drug use. Additionally, patients who display binge eating behavior prior to their operation have the highest likelihood of postoperative alcoholism.
"RYGB patients need to understand that their body will respond to alcohol differently after their operation and they need to exercise caution if they choose to drink alcohol," said Dr. Morton. "Our recommendation to all of our RYGB patients is never drink and drive and to limit consumption of alcohol to one standard drink (one 12-oz beer, 5-oz wine, or 2-oz liquor) for every two hours. The key to safeguarding bariatric surgery benefits is to provide appropriate patient education."
Source:
Sally Garneski
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Previous studies have shown that gastric bypass patients often find it difficult adjusting to physical and psychological changes after the procedure. An increased risk of depression, alcoholism, and other substance abuse issues for this patient population led researchers to take a more in-depth look at how these patients metabolize alcohol after the procedure.
The results of this unique demonstration of alcohol metabolism changes in gastric bypass patients showed that patients who underwent a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) operation had considerably higher breath alcohol content (BAC) and took significantly more time to return to a sober state after drinking, compared with BAC levels tested prior to having their procedure.
"Severe obesity continues to be a public health crisis in the U.S., and bariatric surgery offers a very effective treatment," said senior author John M. Morton, MD, MPH, FACS, associate professor of surgery at Stanford (CA) University. "Despite its benefits, we want to raise the potential concern for RYGB patients who continue to drink after their operation because they may tend to overuse alcohol, which can, in turn, lead to weight regain, nutritional deficiencies, and/or alcohol dependence."
During the study, alcohol metabolism tests were performed on 19 morbidly obese patients before their RYGB operation and then measured again at three and six months post-operation. Patients also reported symptoms experienced when drinking and answered a questionnaire about their drinking habits.
The results showed peak BAC percentage of patients after drinking five ounces of red wine was significantly higher post-operation. BAC was 0.024 percent at pre-operation and 0.059 percent (p = 0.0003) at three months. Tested again at six months post-operation, the patients' BAC was 0.088 percent (p = 0.0008) which is more than the legal driving limit of .08 percent. Additionally, it took 49 minutes for patients to reach a zero BAC prior to their operation compared with 61 minutes at three months and 88 minutes at six months post-operation.
In other studies, researchers have found that a few gastric bypass patients undergo an addiction transfer where they trade one vice, such as overeating, for another, like over consumption of alcohol or drug use. Additionally, patients who display binge eating behavior prior to their operation have the highest likelihood of postoperative alcoholism.
"RYGB patients need to understand that their body will respond to alcohol differently after their operation and they need to exercise caution if they choose to drink alcohol," said Dr. Morton. "Our recommendation to all of our RYGB patients is never drink and drive and to limit consumption of alcohol to one standard drink (one 12-oz beer, 5-oz wine, or 2-oz liquor) for every two hours. The key to safeguarding bariatric surgery benefits is to provide appropriate patient education."
Source:
Sally Garneski
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Prisoners Got Drunk On Swine Flu Gel
Prisoners at Her Majesty's Prison The Verne, Portland, Dorset, England had their swine flu gel withdrawn after officers discovered they were drinking it and getting drunk. Instead of rubbing the gel into their hands, prisoners had been wrapping their lips around the dispenser outlets and consuming it only hours after the dispensers were installed. The liquid soap-gel contains alcohol.
According to various reports from the UK press, a prisoner became aggressive after consuming the gel and eventually got into a fist-fight with a fellow inmate. However, the BBC reported on 25th September that reports of a fight are incorrect.
The prison governor ordered the immediate withdrawal of all the dispensers from the prison.
The dispensers were installed as a measure to combat the spread of swine flu. However, according to a source at the Verne Prison, it was not long before inmates "starting drinking the stuff".
Nearby Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, had recently removed the same gel after vagrants wandered in and began drinking it.
According to Peter McParlin, of the Prison Officers Association (POA), the local POA had warned senior prison management that giving prisoners access to products containing alcoholic gel might not be a wise move. McParlin said that concern had been raised with the Prison Governor beforehand.
Reports say that some prisoners mixed the gel with a drink before consuming it.
The Verne Prison has been in existence since 1949 on the site of a former military barracks. It is a Category C Training Prison for adult males. According to the prison's website "The population consists of life sentence prisoners and determinate sentenced prisoners, many serving four years or over."
The Health Protection Agency, UK, reports that the number of people becoming infected with H1N1 swine flu is continuing to increase, especially among school-aged children. Rates are below the normal winter seasonal baseline thresholds in England, Wales and Scotland, but are above newly defined provisional threshold levels in Northern Ireland. Over the last week the estimated number of new infections stands at 9,000; up from an estimated 5,000 during the previous week.
The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CMPH) has issued a positive opinion and recommends approval for GlaxoSmithKline's candidate pandemic (H1N1 swine flu) adjuvanted vaccine PandemrixTM. The indication for the vaccine is for protection against pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza. The regulators agree that PandemrixTM can be used in adults, pregnant women and children over six months old.
According to various reports from the UK press, a prisoner became aggressive after consuming the gel and eventually got into a fist-fight with a fellow inmate. However, the BBC reported on 25th September that reports of a fight are incorrect.
The prison governor ordered the immediate withdrawal of all the dispensers from the prison.
The dispensers were installed as a measure to combat the spread of swine flu. However, according to a source at the Verne Prison, it was not long before inmates "starting drinking the stuff".
Nearby Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, had recently removed the same gel after vagrants wandered in and began drinking it.
According to Peter McParlin, of the Prison Officers Association (POA), the local POA had warned senior prison management that giving prisoners access to products containing alcoholic gel might not be a wise move. McParlin said that concern had been raised with the Prison Governor beforehand.
Reports say that some prisoners mixed the gel with a drink before consuming it.
The Verne Prison has been in existence since 1949 on the site of a former military barracks. It is a Category C Training Prison for adult males. According to the prison's website "The population consists of life sentence prisoners and determinate sentenced prisoners, many serving four years or over."
The Health Protection Agency, UK, reports that the number of people becoming infected with H1N1 swine flu is continuing to increase, especially among school-aged children. Rates are below the normal winter seasonal baseline thresholds in England, Wales and Scotland, but are above newly defined provisional threshold levels in Northern Ireland. Over the last week the estimated number of new infections stands at 9,000; up from an estimated 5,000 during the previous week.
The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CMPH) has issued a positive opinion and recommends approval for GlaxoSmithKline's candidate pandemic (H1N1 swine flu) adjuvanted vaccine PandemrixTM. The indication for the vaccine is for protection against pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza. The regulators agree that PandemrixTM can be used in adults, pregnant women and children over six months old.
Warning Over Unlicensed Herbal Payouji Tea And Pai You Guo Slim Capsules
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is warning people of the dangers of taking unlicensed Payouji tea and Pai You Guo Slim Capsules due to concerns over possible side effects.
These herbal products are being promoted for weight loss and have been found to contain an undeclared pharmaceutical active ingredient, sibutramine.
Sibutramine has been withdrawn in the European Union on safety grounds and any product containing it is considered harmful to public health.
Uncontrolled use of sibutramine can result in serious side effects such as high blood pressure, seizures, heart attack or stroke. It may also interact with other prescription medication.
Anyone who is currently using Payouji tea or Pai You Guo Slim Capsules should stop taking it and consult their healthcare professional immediately with the details contained in these products.
MHRA Head of Herbal Policy, Richard Woodfield, said, "People need to be aware that Payouji tea and Pai You Guo Slim Capsules are unlicensed herbal medicines and therefore have not met assured standards".
Registered and licensed herbal medicines can be identified by the Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) on the label.
Any side effects to herbal products can be reported to the MHRA via the Yellow Card Scheme (external link).
Notes
1. Standards of safety and manufacture vary widely in the unlicensed herbal sector and the MHRA has issued a number of warnings about unlicensed herbal medicines and traditional Chinese medicines. Under the UK Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme, introduced in 2005, manufactured over the counter traditional herbal medicines are required to meet standards of safety, quality and patient information. For further information, please see the section on Using herbal medicines: Advice to consumers
Source:
MHRA
These herbal products are being promoted for weight loss and have been found to contain an undeclared pharmaceutical active ingredient, sibutramine.
Sibutramine has been withdrawn in the European Union on safety grounds and any product containing it is considered harmful to public health.
Uncontrolled use of sibutramine can result in serious side effects such as high blood pressure, seizures, heart attack or stroke. It may also interact with other prescription medication.
Anyone who is currently using Payouji tea or Pai You Guo Slim Capsules should stop taking it and consult their healthcare professional immediately with the details contained in these products.
MHRA Head of Herbal Policy, Richard Woodfield, said, "People need to be aware that Payouji tea and Pai You Guo Slim Capsules are unlicensed herbal medicines and therefore have not met assured standards".
Registered and licensed herbal medicines can be identified by the Traditional Herbal Registration (THR) on the label.
Any side effects to herbal products can be reported to the MHRA via the Yellow Card Scheme (external link).
Notes
1. Standards of safety and manufacture vary widely in the unlicensed herbal sector and the MHRA has issued a number of warnings about unlicensed herbal medicines and traditional Chinese medicines. Under the UK Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme, introduced in 2005, manufactured over the counter traditional herbal medicines are required to meet standards of safety, quality and patient information. For further information, please see the section on Using herbal medicines: Advice to consumers
Source:
MHRA
One In Ten Jobless Young People 'Driven To Drugs Or Alcohol', Survey Finds
Older teenagers and young adults who are out of work face poorer health and lower happiness, with one in 10 claiming that unemployment drove them to drugs or alcohol, according to new research.
A Princes Trust study, based on interviews with over 2,000 unemployed 16 to 25 year olds, also found out-of-work young people were more likely to feel ashamed, rejected and unloved. If the current economic downturn mirrors previous recessions these could become 'permanent psychological scars', the charity warned.
The survey also showed that one in four unemployed young people believed their joblessness had caused arguments with their parents or other family members and one in three felt down or depressed.
Leading economist Professor David Blanchflower said in the report:"Unemployment has a knock-on effect on a young person's self-esteem, their emotional stability and overall wellbeing. The longer the period a young person is unemployed for, the more likely they are to experience this psychological scarring.
"This means an unhappy and debilitated generation of young people who - as a result - becomes decreasingly likely to find work in the future."
Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, said: "The implications of youth unemployment stretch beyond the dole queue. The emotional effects on young people are profound, long-term and can become irreversible. We must act now to prevent a lost generation of young people before it is too late.
"Young people bore the brunt of the recession last year, with one in five 16-to-24 year olds out of work today. The result is a generation of undiscovered skills and talents. We must invest in these young people, re-building their self-esteem, to ensure that today's unemployed do not become tomorrow's unemployable."
Source
DrugScope
A Princes Trust study, based on interviews with over 2,000 unemployed 16 to 25 year olds, also found out-of-work young people were more likely to feel ashamed, rejected and unloved. If the current economic downturn mirrors previous recessions these could become 'permanent psychological scars', the charity warned.
The survey also showed that one in four unemployed young people believed their joblessness had caused arguments with their parents or other family members and one in three felt down or depressed.
Leading economist Professor David Blanchflower said in the report:"Unemployment has a knock-on effect on a young person's self-esteem, their emotional stability and overall wellbeing. The longer the period a young person is unemployed for, the more likely they are to experience this psychological scarring.
"This means an unhappy and debilitated generation of young people who - as a result - becomes decreasingly likely to find work in the future."
Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince's Trust, said: "The implications of youth unemployment stretch beyond the dole queue. The emotional effects on young people are profound, long-term and can become irreversible. We must act now to prevent a lost generation of young people before it is too late.
"Young people bore the brunt of the recession last year, with one in five 16-to-24 year olds out of work today. The result is a generation of undiscovered skills and talents. We must invest in these young people, re-building their self-esteem, to ensure that today's unemployed do not become tomorrow's unemployable."
Source
DrugScope
New Guidelines To Save Communities Money While Treating Drug Abuse Issued By NIH/NIDA
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently released a landmark report containing 13 specific principles and recommendations to rehabilitate drug offenders and ultimately provide substantial financial savings to communities. The publication, Principles of Drug Abuse Treatment for Criminal Justice Populations, is based in part on the work of University of Kentucky Researchers Michele Staton-Tindall, Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR) and Carl Leukefeld, Professor of Behavioral Science and Director of CDAR.
Findings from Staton-Tindall's 2003 Kentucky study were used to profile the substance use, mental health problems, health problems and treatment history of incarcerated women. These findings point out the unique issues of women in criminal justice settings. The article is one of only two peer-reviewed articles cited in the entire NIH report.
Staton-Tindall and Leukefeld's research is part of the NIDA/NIH-funded Central States Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Research Systems (CJ-DATS) Center in Lexington. It is one of nine such centers in the U.S. The CJ-DATS Center studies drug abuse interventions in the criminal justice system. The goal of the research is to develop, implement, and test interventions to reduce recidivism, drug abuse and crime.
It is estimated that 70 percent of people incarcerated in state prisons and local jails, in Kentucky and elsewhere, have at some point been regular drug users ??" compared to approximately 9 percent of the general population. Despite these figures, only about 20 percent of incarcerated offenders receive any rehabilitation treatment. Lawmakers and taxpayers have long been loathe to approve extensive drug abuse treatment programs, fearing financial costs. Drug abuse costs communities every day, in the form of prison expenses, court costs, property damage, violent crimes, emergency room and other medical care, child abuse and neglect, lost child support, foster care and welfare costs, reduced workplace productivity, unemployment and the need to provide services to those victimized by drug abusers. Nora Volkow, NIDA Director, recently reported that the estimated cost to society of drug abuse in 2002 was $181 billion. Of that figure, $107 billion in costs were associated with drug-related crime. However, according to research conducted at UK, every dollar spent on addiction treatment results in a four to seven dollar reduction in community spending on drug-related crimes.
"The Kentucky Department of Corrections has made significant progress toward addressing the issue of substance abuse among offenders by not only increasing the number of treatment programs in correctional facilities in the last four years, but also implementing a new treatment evaluation program in conjunction with UK-CDAR, indicating that the Department is invested in both quantity and quality of treatment programming," said Staton-Tindall. Reductions in overall crime rate also are apparent with implementation of jail and prison-based rehabilitation programs.
The NIDA/NIH guide utilizing the research of Staton-Tindall and Leukefeld is part of the standard set of government recommendations for treating drug abusers in the criminal justice system and to better understand how to develop programs that provide both effective treatment for offenders and cost-effective solutions for communities fighting drug abuse.
Contact: Allison Elliott
University of Kentucky
Findings from Staton-Tindall's 2003 Kentucky study were used to profile the substance use, mental health problems, health problems and treatment history of incarcerated women. These findings point out the unique issues of women in criminal justice settings. The article is one of only two peer-reviewed articles cited in the entire NIH report.
Staton-Tindall and Leukefeld's research is part of the NIDA/NIH-funded Central States Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Research Systems (CJ-DATS) Center in Lexington. It is one of nine such centers in the U.S. The CJ-DATS Center studies drug abuse interventions in the criminal justice system. The goal of the research is to develop, implement, and test interventions to reduce recidivism, drug abuse and crime.
It is estimated that 70 percent of people incarcerated in state prisons and local jails, in Kentucky and elsewhere, have at some point been regular drug users ??" compared to approximately 9 percent of the general population. Despite these figures, only about 20 percent of incarcerated offenders receive any rehabilitation treatment. Lawmakers and taxpayers have long been loathe to approve extensive drug abuse treatment programs, fearing financial costs. Drug abuse costs communities every day, in the form of prison expenses, court costs, property damage, violent crimes, emergency room and other medical care, child abuse and neglect, lost child support, foster care and welfare costs, reduced workplace productivity, unemployment and the need to provide services to those victimized by drug abusers. Nora Volkow, NIDA Director, recently reported that the estimated cost to society of drug abuse in 2002 was $181 billion. Of that figure, $107 billion in costs were associated with drug-related crime. However, according to research conducted at UK, every dollar spent on addiction treatment results in a four to seven dollar reduction in community spending on drug-related crimes.
"The Kentucky Department of Corrections has made significant progress toward addressing the issue of substance abuse among offenders by not only increasing the number of treatment programs in correctional facilities in the last four years, but also implementing a new treatment evaluation program in conjunction with UK-CDAR, indicating that the Department is invested in both quantity and quality of treatment programming," said Staton-Tindall. Reductions in overall crime rate also are apparent with implementation of jail and prison-based rehabilitation programs.
The NIDA/NIH guide utilizing the research of Staton-Tindall and Leukefeld is part of the standard set of government recommendations for treating drug abusers in the criminal justice system and to better understand how to develop programs that provide both effective treatment for offenders and cost-effective solutions for communities fighting drug abuse.
Contact: Allison Elliott
University of Kentucky
Alcohol Consumption Might Increase Risk Of Breast, Other Cancers Among Women, Study Says
Consuming even moderate amounts of alcohol could increase a woman's chance of developing breast cancer or other cancers by 13%, according to a British study scheduled to be published March 4 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the Los Angeles Times reports. Although the risk is not statistically large and previous research indicated that consuming moderate amounts of alcohol could provide cardiovascular benefits to both men and women, the new study finds that the increased cancer risks associated with consuming even one drink a day could outweigh the benefits for women.
For the study, Naomi Allen of the University of Oxford and colleagues analyzed data from 1,280,296 women between ages 45 and 75 who attended breast cancer screening clinics between 1996 and 2001. According to the Times, this sample size represented one-quarter of British women in that age group. The researchers tracked the women for an average of more than seven years and collected cancer data from a national registry. They found that 68,775 women received cancer diagnoses during the study period (Maugh, Los Angeles Times, 2/25). About one-quarter of the women in the study group reported no alcohol use, and nearly all of the remaining women reported consuming fewer than three drinks daily. The women on average reported consuming one drink per day. For the study, the researchers compared cancer rates among women who drank two or fewer drinks per week with women who consumed more (AP/Google, 2/24).
According to the study's findings, consuming one alcoholic beverage per day was associated with 11 additional breast cancer cases per 1,000 women each year. A daily drink also was associated with one additional case of oral and pharynx cancers, one case of rectal cancer, and 0.7 additional cases of esophageal, laryngeal and liver cancers. These findings indicate that a single daily drink could add 15 additional cancer cases to the base rate of 118 cancers per 1,000 women. In addition, two daily drinks could add 30 additional cancer cases and three daily drinks could add 45 cases (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). Based on the study's findings, the researchers estimated that low to moderate alcohol consumption accounts for about 5% of all cancer cases diagnosed among women in the U.S. each year. In addition, about 11% of breast cancer cases, or about 20,000 extra cases per year, might result from alcohol consumption, the researchers said. According to the researchers, all types of alcohol had the same effect on cancer risk.
According to Allen, the "take home message" of the study is that "[i]f you are regularly drinking even one drink per day, that's increasing your risk for cancer." She added, "There doesn't seem to be a threshold at which alcohol consumption is safe." In an editorial accompanying the study, Michael Lauer and Paul Sorlie of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute write that cancer is the "major cause of death by far" among middle-aged women. Therefore, they write that "the only reasonable recommendation we can make is there is no clear evidence that alcohol has medical benefits" (Stein, Washington Post, 2/25).
Although several researchers noted that the study's findings were consistent with previous research, others questioned some aspects of the study. For example, the study relied on self-reported degrees of alcohol consumption and it had no data on overall death rates (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). In addition, the study does not distinguish between women who consumed only one or two drinks each day and women who consumed seven drinks at one time. Some researchers expressed concern that the study would cause unnecessary alarm among women about the risks of drinking alcohol. Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health said, "We can't use this to scare people away from alcohol" (Washington Post, 2/25).
According to the Times, Allen currently is conducting a study to assess the potential cardiovascular benefits of alcohol consumption among the same group of women. "Only then will we be in a position to comment on the overall benefit" of alcohol consumption, she said (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). In addition, the federal government is rewriting its dietary guidelines regarding alcohol consumption and plans to consider Allen's study during this process, the Post reports. Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, said "No one study is ever sufficient to make a recommendation. But it will be added to the body of literature that will be reviewed" (Washington Post, 2/25). Philip Brooks, an alcohol and cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health, said "You have to balance all those things out. This kind of information is important for people to know and to consult with their physicians about the various risk factors they have" (AP/Google, 2/24).
ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" on Tuesday reported on the study (Gibson, "World News with Charles Gibson," ABC, 2/24).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
For the study, Naomi Allen of the University of Oxford and colleagues analyzed data from 1,280,296 women between ages 45 and 75 who attended breast cancer screening clinics between 1996 and 2001. According to the Times, this sample size represented one-quarter of British women in that age group. The researchers tracked the women for an average of more than seven years and collected cancer data from a national registry. They found that 68,775 women received cancer diagnoses during the study period (Maugh, Los Angeles Times, 2/25). About one-quarter of the women in the study group reported no alcohol use, and nearly all of the remaining women reported consuming fewer than three drinks daily. The women on average reported consuming one drink per day. For the study, the researchers compared cancer rates among women who drank two or fewer drinks per week with women who consumed more (AP/Google, 2/24).
According to the study's findings, consuming one alcoholic beverage per day was associated with 11 additional breast cancer cases per 1,000 women each year. A daily drink also was associated with one additional case of oral and pharynx cancers, one case of rectal cancer, and 0.7 additional cases of esophageal, laryngeal and liver cancers. These findings indicate that a single daily drink could add 15 additional cancer cases to the base rate of 118 cancers per 1,000 women. In addition, two daily drinks could add 30 additional cancer cases and three daily drinks could add 45 cases (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). Based on the study's findings, the researchers estimated that low to moderate alcohol consumption accounts for about 5% of all cancer cases diagnosed among women in the U.S. each year. In addition, about 11% of breast cancer cases, or about 20,000 extra cases per year, might result from alcohol consumption, the researchers said. According to the researchers, all types of alcohol had the same effect on cancer risk.
According to Allen, the "take home message" of the study is that "[i]f you are regularly drinking even one drink per day, that's increasing your risk for cancer." She added, "There doesn't seem to be a threshold at which alcohol consumption is safe." In an editorial accompanying the study, Michael Lauer and Paul Sorlie of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute write that cancer is the "major cause of death by far" among middle-aged women. Therefore, they write that "the only reasonable recommendation we can make is there is no clear evidence that alcohol has medical benefits" (Stein, Washington Post, 2/25).
Although several researchers noted that the study's findings were consistent with previous research, others questioned some aspects of the study. For example, the study relied on self-reported degrees of alcohol consumption and it had no data on overall death rates (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). In addition, the study does not distinguish between women who consumed only one or two drinks each day and women who consumed seven drinks at one time. Some researchers expressed concern that the study would cause unnecessary alarm among women about the risks of drinking alcohol. Eric Rimm of the Harvard School of Public Health said, "We can't use this to scare people away from alcohol" (Washington Post, 2/25).
According to the Times, Allen currently is conducting a study to assess the potential cardiovascular benefits of alcohol consumption among the same group of women. "Only then will we be in a position to comment on the overall benefit" of alcohol consumption, she said (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). In addition, the federal government is rewriting its dietary guidelines regarding alcohol consumption and plans to consider Allen's study during this process, the Post reports. Linda Van Horn, professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, said "No one study is ever sufficient to make a recommendation. But it will be added to the body of literature that will be reviewed" (Washington Post, 2/25). Philip Brooks, an alcohol and cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health, said "You have to balance all those things out. This kind of information is important for people to know and to consult with their physicians about the various risk factors they have" (AP/Google, 2/24).
ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" on Tuesday reported on the study (Gibson, "World News with Charles Gibson," ABC, 2/24).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
Sex, Drugs And Dating Make Teens Feel Older
A Canadian study has confirmed what parents have long suspected: dating, sexual activity and substance use seem to make teens feel older than they really are. And, as adolescents get older, the gap between their chronological age and their self-perceived age widens.
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, with assistance from the University of Victoria, surveyed a random sample of nearly 700 adolescents from a medium-sized North American city and asked them questions about dating, sexual experience, smoking, alcohol and drug use. The participants, males and females between 12 to 19 years of age, were also asked how old they felt compared to their same-sex peers. Survey results indicated that, as is typical for teens, the sample felt older than their chronological age.
Kelly Arbeau, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Alberta and co-author of the study, explained that she and her fellow researchers set out to find what's behind the discrepancy between how old teens feel and how old they really are.
"We found that specific behaviors do have an effect on adolescents' self-perceived age," said Arbeau. "For example, having an older dating partner seems to give a teen a higher subjective experience of age."
Sexual activity, especially starting at an earlier age, was found to have an important relationship to teens' subjective experience of age (SEA). "Sexual experience is unequivocally the realm of adult behavior," Arbeau explained. "So, when teens are having sex and their peers aren't, it can make them feel more adult, more mature than their non-experienced counterparts."
Smoking (in boys), higher alcohol use and higher drug use were also related to an older SEA. These results suggest an increasing discrepancy between SEA and chronological age across the teen years as young people experience the normative changes associated with adolescence. People in their 20s feel about the age they are or slightly older, but after age 30 and into old age, the average person has an SEA that is younger than his or her chronological age. Adolescence is the only point in the lifespan during which individuals consistently feel older than they are chronologically.
As for the popular wisdom that girls mature earlier than boys, the results of the study seem to support that, with girls more likely to feel older than are boys. This may shed some light on why companies are more likely to target teen girls than teen boys with products once considered only for adults.
The study appears in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Adolescence.
Contact: Isabela Varela
University of Alberta
Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, with assistance from the University of Victoria, surveyed a random sample of nearly 700 adolescents from a medium-sized North American city and asked them questions about dating, sexual experience, smoking, alcohol and drug use. The participants, males and females between 12 to 19 years of age, were also asked how old they felt compared to their same-sex peers. Survey results indicated that, as is typical for teens, the sample felt older than their chronological age.
Kelly Arbeau, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of Alberta and co-author of the study, explained that she and her fellow researchers set out to find what's behind the discrepancy between how old teens feel and how old they really are.
"We found that specific behaviors do have an effect on adolescents' self-perceived age," said Arbeau. "For example, having an older dating partner seems to give a teen a higher subjective experience of age."
Sexual activity, especially starting at an earlier age, was found to have an important relationship to teens' subjective experience of age (SEA). "Sexual experience is unequivocally the realm of adult behavior," Arbeau explained. "So, when teens are having sex and their peers aren't, it can make them feel more adult, more mature than their non-experienced counterparts."
Smoking (in boys), higher alcohol use and higher drug use were also related to an older SEA. These results suggest an increasing discrepancy between SEA and chronological age across the teen years as young people experience the normative changes associated with adolescence. People in their 20s feel about the age they are or slightly older, but after age 30 and into old age, the average person has an SEA that is younger than his or her chronological age. Adolescence is the only point in the lifespan during which individuals consistently feel older than they are chronologically.
As for the popular wisdom that girls mature earlier than boys, the results of the study seem to support that, with girls more likely to feel older than are boys. This may shed some light on why companies are more likely to target teen girls than teen boys with products once considered only for adults.
The study appears in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Adolescence.
Contact: Isabela Varela
University of Alberta
Ecstasy Use May Lead To Sleep Apnea
Repeated use of the drug popularly known as "ecstasy" significantly raises the risk of developing sleep apnea in otherwise healthy young adults with no other known risk factors for the sleep disturbance, a new study by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests. The finding is the latest highlighting the potential dangers of the amphetamine-style chemical, currently used illegally by millions of people in the United States.
The Johns Hopkins scientists note that sleep apnea itself can lead to an assortment of health problems, including a decline in cognitive function, an increased risk of diabetes, and an increased risk of death from heart disease.
"We know that abusing drugs can have numerous harmful effects. Our findings show yet another reason not to use ecstasy," according to lead researcher Una D. McCann, M.D.
Users claim the drug enhances intimacy, diminishes anxiety, and facilitates some forms of psychotherapy.
The team led by McCann, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, previously linked ecstasy, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), to a variety of neurological problems, including subtle cognitive deficits, impulsive behavior, and altered brain wave patterns during sleep. These problems are thought to arise from the drug's targeted toxic effects on neurons that produce the hormone serotonin. Studies in animals and people have shown that MDMA use shortens the filament-like ends of these nerve cells, preventing them from making normal connections with other neurons.
Because these cells regulate multiple aspects of sleep, McCann's team recruited 71 sleep study volunteers, all MDMA users, by advertising for "club drug users" in newspapers and fliers. All had typically used other recreational drugs as well. They also recruited 62 participants who had similar patterns of illegal drug use but had never taken MDMA. The MDMA users had taken the drug at least 25 times in the past, a number previously shown to have lasting effects on serotonin neurons. All of the volunteers were otherwise physically and mentally healthy and had abstained from drug use for at least two weeks prior to the study.
To evaluate the participants' breathing patterns during sleep, each volunteer spent a few nights at a sleep research center. From "lights out" at 11:00 p.m. to "lights on" at 7:00 a.m., study volunteers slept while hooked up to a variety of devices to measure breathing, including airflow monitors at their noses and mouths and bands around their chests and abdomens to measure expansion.
The researchers diagnosed sleep apnea by counting the rate of incidences of shallow or suppressed breathing, with mild apnea requiring five to 14 of these incidences, moderate apnea requiring 15 to 29, and severe apnea requiring 30 or more.
Results published in the Dec. 2, 2009, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, showed that rates of mild apnea were similar between the two groups, with 15 MDMA users and 13 other volunteers affected. However, while 8 MDMA users had the moderate form of apnea and 1 had the severe form, none of the other volunteers had either of these more serious forms. Results showed that the more participants had used MDMA in the past, the more severe their apnea was likely to be.
Known risk factors for sleep apnea include older age, obesity, and other medical conditions. However, McCann says, of the 24 ecstasy users who had sleep apnea, 22 were age 31 or younger, and none had any known serious medical problems.
"Our subjects were otherwise healthy young adults, so this is a very surprising finding," she says.
Though the researchers suspect that the cause for the MDMA users' sleep apnea centers on affected serotonin neurons, the exact mechanism remains a mystery. McCann explains that these neurons appear to help sense blood oxygen levels, control airway opening and generate breathing rhythms. Any of these pathways could be separately influenced by ecstasy use, she says. The researchers are currently working to tease apart which pathway is at play in MDMA users.
Other researchers who participated in this study include Francis P. Sgambati, B.S.E., Alan R. Schwartz, M.D., and George A. Ricaurte, M.D., Ph.D.
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
The Johns Hopkins scientists note that sleep apnea itself can lead to an assortment of health problems, including a decline in cognitive function, an increased risk of diabetes, and an increased risk of death from heart disease.
"We know that abusing drugs can have numerous harmful effects. Our findings show yet another reason not to use ecstasy," according to lead researcher Una D. McCann, M.D.
Users claim the drug enhances intimacy, diminishes anxiety, and facilitates some forms of psychotherapy.
The team led by McCann, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, previously linked ecstasy, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), to a variety of neurological problems, including subtle cognitive deficits, impulsive behavior, and altered brain wave patterns during sleep. These problems are thought to arise from the drug's targeted toxic effects on neurons that produce the hormone serotonin. Studies in animals and people have shown that MDMA use shortens the filament-like ends of these nerve cells, preventing them from making normal connections with other neurons.
Because these cells regulate multiple aspects of sleep, McCann's team recruited 71 sleep study volunteers, all MDMA users, by advertising for "club drug users" in newspapers and fliers. All had typically used other recreational drugs as well. They also recruited 62 participants who had similar patterns of illegal drug use but had never taken MDMA. The MDMA users had taken the drug at least 25 times in the past, a number previously shown to have lasting effects on serotonin neurons. All of the volunteers were otherwise physically and mentally healthy and had abstained from drug use for at least two weeks prior to the study.
To evaluate the participants' breathing patterns during sleep, each volunteer spent a few nights at a sleep research center. From "lights out" at 11:00 p.m. to "lights on" at 7:00 a.m., study volunteers slept while hooked up to a variety of devices to measure breathing, including airflow monitors at their noses and mouths and bands around their chests and abdomens to measure expansion.
The researchers diagnosed sleep apnea by counting the rate of incidences of shallow or suppressed breathing, with mild apnea requiring five to 14 of these incidences, moderate apnea requiring 15 to 29, and severe apnea requiring 30 or more.
Results published in the Dec. 2, 2009, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, showed that rates of mild apnea were similar between the two groups, with 15 MDMA users and 13 other volunteers affected. However, while 8 MDMA users had the moderate form of apnea and 1 had the severe form, none of the other volunteers had either of these more serious forms. Results showed that the more participants had used MDMA in the past, the more severe their apnea was likely to be.
Known risk factors for sleep apnea include older age, obesity, and other medical conditions. However, McCann says, of the 24 ecstasy users who had sleep apnea, 22 were age 31 or younger, and none had any known serious medical problems.
"Our subjects were otherwise healthy young adults, so this is a very surprising finding," she says.
Though the researchers suspect that the cause for the MDMA users' sleep apnea centers on affected serotonin neurons, the exact mechanism remains a mystery. McCann explains that these neurons appear to help sense blood oxygen levels, control airway opening and generate breathing rhythms. Any of these pathways could be separately influenced by ecstasy use, she says. The researchers are currently working to tease apart which pathway is at play in MDMA users.
Other researchers who participated in this study include Francis P. Sgambati, B.S.E., Alan R. Schwartz, M.D., and George A. Ricaurte, M.D., Ph.D.
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine
Top Doctor Backs BMA's Call To Ban Alcohol Advertising
The BMA's call to ban alcohol advertising because of its damaging effects on young people is "a logical recommendation to attempt to reverse the all embracing pro-alcohol culture that has grown up in a period of deregulation and liberalisation over the last quarter of a century," according to Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance.
In an editorial published on bmj, he suggests that a bigger more public conversation is needed about our attitudes to alcohol as a society.
"The problem is not just about drunk, misbehaving adolescents. We can no longer ignore the many millions of people in the UK who are quietly over-consuming cheap, readily available, and heavily promoted alcohol, storing up major problems for the future," he concludes.
Editorial: Alcohol and social marketing
Source
British Medical Journal
In an editorial published on bmj, he suggests that a bigger more public conversation is needed about our attitudes to alcohol as a society.
"The problem is not just about drunk, misbehaving adolescents. We can no longer ignore the many millions of people in the UK who are quietly over-consuming cheap, readily available, and heavily promoted alcohol, storing up major problems for the future," he concludes.
Editorial: Alcohol and social marketing
Source
British Medical Journal
Alcohol Publishes Year-End Special Issue On Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Elsevier Inc., the world's leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, announced that Alcohol has published a special year-end double issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). It fills an urgent need to bring the widest possible readership current perspectives on using new research methods to improve identification and diagnosis of offspring at risk for FASD and its associated brain damage and behavioral dysfunction.
Journal Editor-in-Chief Charles R. Goodlett said, "It has been nearly four decades since Kenneth Lyons Jones and David Smith published their landmark papers reporting their observation of a constellation of identifiable birth defects in infants of women who drank alcohol heavily during pregnancy. One might expect that, over several decades, some consensus about the basic elements of this neurodevelopmental disorder would have emerged, including the diagnostic features, the core cognitive and behavioral problems, and likely mechanisms of and potential interventions for abnormal brain development. In reality, there are more questions than answers ..."
The Special Issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) features 15 articles covering emerging research on topics such as: new ways to identify pregnancies at risk for FASD using existing maternal self-report tools; the development of biomarker methods to help improve early identification and diagnosis of at-risk exposure to alcohol; the use of animal models to develop new diagnostic and intervention strategies; and a new framework to improve outcomes for children affected by prenatal alcohol-induced brain damage.
Also included will be three articles from the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD), a consortium of international researchers currently in the process of collecting the largest set of integrated clinical data on FASD ever compiled.
The online edition of Alcohol may be viewed via ScienceDirect and via Alcohol's web site. The latter site includes two, free, selected articles namely "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: new perspectives on diagnosis and intervention" and "Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression."
Sources: Elsevier, AlphaGalileo Foundation.
Journal Editor-in-Chief Charles R. Goodlett said, "It has been nearly four decades since Kenneth Lyons Jones and David Smith published their landmark papers reporting their observation of a constellation of identifiable birth defects in infants of women who drank alcohol heavily during pregnancy. One might expect that, over several decades, some consensus about the basic elements of this neurodevelopmental disorder would have emerged, including the diagnostic features, the core cognitive and behavioral problems, and likely mechanisms of and potential interventions for abnormal brain development. In reality, there are more questions than answers ..."
The Special Issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) features 15 articles covering emerging research on topics such as: new ways to identify pregnancies at risk for FASD using existing maternal self-report tools; the development of biomarker methods to help improve early identification and diagnosis of at-risk exposure to alcohol; the use of animal models to develop new diagnostic and intervention strategies; and a new framework to improve outcomes for children affected by prenatal alcohol-induced brain damage.
Also included will be three articles from the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD), a consortium of international researchers currently in the process of collecting the largest set of integrated clinical data on FASD ever compiled.
The online edition of Alcohol may be viewed via ScienceDirect and via Alcohol's web site. The latter site includes two, free, selected articles namely "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: new perspectives on diagnosis and intervention" and "Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression."
Sources: Elsevier, AlphaGalileo Foundation.
Fewer Teens Using Illicit Drugs, New Survey Shows
Overall illicit drug use among teens is down for the third year in a row, according to the largest and most comprehensive study of drug use in the United States released today.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA)
2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) showed a significant
decline in illicit drug use among 12-17 year olds since 2002, particularly
marijuana use.
Since 2002, current illicit drug use among 12-17 year olds is down from
11.6 percent to 9.9 percent (2005). That marks a cumulative drop of 15
percent, or 367,000 fewer youth (12 to 17) using any illicit drug in the
past month in 2005 compared to 2002. In that same time period, current
marijuana use also decreased from 8.2 percent (2002) to 6.8 percent (2005),
a drop of 17 percent overall.
"It is encouraging to see this generation of teens making smart
decisions and living above the influence of drug use," said John P.
Walters, Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "The
powerful anti-drug messages created by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign with the Partnership for a Drug Free America, are sending American
teens and parents the right message. We hope parents continue to talk to
their children about the dangers of drug use, monitor their activities, and
build on this welcome progress."
The NSDUH survey also shows changes in several other drug use
categories, including:
-- The perceived availability of marijuana among youth decreased (from
55% to 51%), as did perceived availability of crack, heroin and LSD.
-- The average age of first use of marijuana increased from under age 17
in 2002 to 17.4 years in 2005.
-- Use of psychotherapeutics among 12-17 year olds has gone down from 4.0
percent in 2002 to 3.3 percent in 2005, with the great majority (60%)
of users of all ages saying they obtained a prescription drug for non-
medical use from a friend or relative for free.
-- A decline in the number of new users of methamphetamine.
-- Drinking among teens is also on the decline, with 16.5 percent (down
from 17.6% in 2004) of youth ages 12-17 reporting current alcohol use
and 9.9 percent (down from 11.1% in 2004) reporting binge drinking.
ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has been educating
teens and parents about the risks of illicit drug use since its inception
in 1998. Parents continue to play a pivotal role in keeping their children
away from drugs. According to the survey results, current marijuana use was
much less prevalent among youths who perceived strong parental disapproval
for trying marijuana once or twice compared to those who did not (4.6% vs.
27.0%). An overwhelming majority of youths (91.1%) report that their
parents would strongly disapprove of illegal drug use.
"The Media Campaign has been instrumental in educating parents and
teens about the negative consequences of drug use," said Steve Pasierb,
President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug Free America. "Today's survey
underscores the real progress that has been made while reinforcing the
essential role all parents must play in educating their teens and helping
them live a healthy, drug-free life."
The perception of risk among youth of smoking marijuana once a month or
once or twice a week has also increased since 2002. More youth perceive a
risk associated with smoking marijuana once a month in 2005 (34.0%) than
they did in 2002 (32.4%). Youth perceptions of risk associated with smoking
marijuana once or twice a week has also increased (55.0% in 2005 from 51.5%
in 2002).
"We're seeing a new generation of teens that is wiser about the harms
of marijuana use," said noted teen expert Peter Zollo, President of Teenage
Research Unlimited (TRU). "Today's teens recognize that they don't need
drugs to fit in and the survey results bear that out."
The findings of the 2005 NSDUH survey are consistent with another
large- scale longitudinal study, Monitoring the Future from the University
of Michigan, which also shows an overall decline in teen drug use since
2002.
Since its inception in 1998, the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign has conducted outreach to millions of teens and parents and
hundreds of communities to prevent and reduce teen drug use. Counting on an
unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit
community service organizations, volunteerism and youth-to-youth
communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse
backgrounds with effective anti-drug messages.
Office of National Drug Control Policy
MediaCampaign
SAMHSA
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA)
2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) showed a significant
decline in illicit drug use among 12-17 year olds since 2002, particularly
marijuana use.
Since 2002, current illicit drug use among 12-17 year olds is down from
11.6 percent to 9.9 percent (2005). That marks a cumulative drop of 15
percent, or 367,000 fewer youth (12 to 17) using any illicit drug in the
past month in 2005 compared to 2002. In that same time period, current
marijuana use also decreased from 8.2 percent (2002) to 6.8 percent (2005),
a drop of 17 percent overall.
"It is encouraging to see this generation of teens making smart
decisions and living above the influence of drug use," said John P.
Walters, Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "The
powerful anti-drug messages created by the National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign with the Partnership for a Drug Free America, are sending American
teens and parents the right message. We hope parents continue to talk to
their children about the dangers of drug use, monitor their activities, and
build on this welcome progress."
The NSDUH survey also shows changes in several other drug use
categories, including:
-- The perceived availability of marijuana among youth decreased (from
55% to 51%), as did perceived availability of crack, heroin and LSD.
-- The average age of first use of marijuana increased from under age 17
in 2002 to 17.4 years in 2005.
-- Use of psychotherapeutics among 12-17 year olds has gone down from 4.0
percent in 2002 to 3.3 percent in 2005, with the great majority (60%)
of users of all ages saying they obtained a prescription drug for non-
medical use from a friend or relative for free.
-- A decline in the number of new users of methamphetamine.
-- Drinking among teens is also on the decline, with 16.5 percent (down
from 17.6% in 2004) of youth ages 12-17 reporting current alcohol use
and 9.9 percent (down from 11.1% in 2004) reporting binge drinking.
ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has been educating
teens and parents about the risks of illicit drug use since its inception
in 1998. Parents continue to play a pivotal role in keeping their children
away from drugs. According to the survey results, current marijuana use was
much less prevalent among youths who perceived strong parental disapproval
for trying marijuana once or twice compared to those who did not (4.6% vs.
27.0%). An overwhelming majority of youths (91.1%) report that their
parents would strongly disapprove of illegal drug use.
"The Media Campaign has been instrumental in educating parents and
teens about the negative consequences of drug use," said Steve Pasierb,
President and CEO of the Partnership for Drug Free America. "Today's survey
underscores the real progress that has been made while reinforcing the
essential role all parents must play in educating their teens and helping
them live a healthy, drug-free life."
The perception of risk among youth of smoking marijuana once a month or
once or twice a week has also increased since 2002. More youth perceive a
risk associated with smoking marijuana once a month in 2005 (34.0%) than
they did in 2002 (32.4%). Youth perceptions of risk associated with smoking
marijuana once or twice a week has also increased (55.0% in 2005 from 51.5%
in 2002).
"We're seeing a new generation of teens that is wiser about the harms
of marijuana use," said noted teen expert Peter Zollo, President of Teenage
Research Unlimited (TRU). "Today's teens recognize that they don't need
drugs to fit in and the survey results bear that out."
The findings of the 2005 NSDUH survey are consistent with another
large- scale longitudinal study, Monitoring the Future from the University
of Michigan, which also shows an overall decline in teen drug use since
2002.
Since its inception in 1998, the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media
Campaign has conducted outreach to millions of teens and parents and
hundreds of communities to prevent and reduce teen drug use. Counting on an
unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit
community service organizations, volunteerism and youth-to-youth
communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse
backgrounds with effective anti-drug messages.
Office of National Drug Control Policy
MediaCampaign
SAMHSA
Multiphase cognition rehabilitation effective for people with dual diagnosis
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a multicomponent cognitive rehabilitation program, previously shown to be
effective for patients with chronic alcoholism and shown here to be effective for patients with a dual diagnosis of
alcoholism and another neuropsychiatric disorder.
Forty veterans diagnosed with alcoholism and another neuropsychiatric disorder were administered a battery of
neuropsychological tests and then randomly assigned to either a cognitive rehabilitation or attention placebo group. Patients
in the cognitive rehabilitation group demonstrated greater improvement than the attention placebo group on attention,
conceptual flexibility, and information processing speed.
This study shows that cognitive rehabilitation can improve attention and short-term memory for people with a dual diagnosis.
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Tipsheet
The current issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) includes four articles on measurement,
treatment, and causes of low back pain and five articles on prosthetic research, including the affect of practitioner
knowledge and technique on prosthetic fit; rapid, low cost prosthetic production; and increase of skin temperature after a
prosthetic limb is donned.
Contact: Judith LaVoie
judithvard
410-962-1800 x 229
VA Research Communications Service
vard
effective for patients with chronic alcoholism and shown here to be effective for patients with a dual diagnosis of
alcoholism and another neuropsychiatric disorder.
Forty veterans diagnosed with alcoholism and another neuropsychiatric disorder were administered a battery of
neuropsychological tests and then randomly assigned to either a cognitive rehabilitation or attention placebo group. Patients
in the cognitive rehabilitation group demonstrated greater improvement than the attention placebo group on attention,
conceptual flexibility, and information processing speed.
This study shows that cognitive rehabilitation can improve attention and short-term memory for people with a dual diagnosis.
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Tipsheet
The current issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) includes four articles on measurement,
treatment, and causes of low back pain and five articles on prosthetic research, including the affect of practitioner
knowledge and technique on prosthetic fit; rapid, low cost prosthetic production; and increase of skin temperature after a
prosthetic limb is donned.
Contact: Judith LaVoie
judithvard
410-962-1800 x 229
VA Research Communications Service
vard
Alcoholism-Associated Molecular Adaptations In Brain Neurocognitive Circuits
After many years of heavy drinking, alcohol produces pathological alterations in the brain. In many alcoholics these changes culminate in massive social deterioration and disorders of memory and learning. Severe cognitive impairments occur in approximately 10% of heavy drinkers. Alcoholic dementia is the second leading course of adult dementia in the Western countries, accounting for 10% of the cases, and still represents an unresolved problem. So far no effective pharmacotherapy for memory problems in alcoholics is available.
Nowadays this problem can be approached by innovative research using molecular and epigenetic analyses, which yield new insight into brain pathophysiology. Molecular dysregulations in endogenous opioids - a neurotransmitter system in the brain that is central to reward function and pain control - are supposed to play a critical role in the development of alcoholism and associated cognitive impairment.
Professor Georgy Bakalkin, involved in a research team focusing on biochemical mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, will highlight the latest findings on this clinical challenge and presents a novel mechanism and understanding of cognitive deficit in human alcoholics. Thereby an emerging concept that proposes a new target for pharmacotherapy will be discussed, which might lead to innovative therapeutic interventions to improve or prevent alcohol-induced cognitive impairment in patients with alcohol dependence, and may be generalized to other learning and memory disorders.
SPEAKER: Professor Georgy Bakalkin, Division of Biological Research on Drug Dependence, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Press conference on 2 September 2008 in Barcelona, Spain.
Source: Sonja Mak
European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Nowadays this problem can be approached by innovative research using molecular and epigenetic analyses, which yield new insight into brain pathophysiology. Molecular dysregulations in endogenous opioids - a neurotransmitter system in the brain that is central to reward function and pain control - are supposed to play a critical role in the development of alcoholism and associated cognitive impairment.
Professor Georgy Bakalkin, involved in a research team focusing on biochemical mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, will highlight the latest findings on this clinical challenge and presents a novel mechanism and understanding of cognitive deficit in human alcoholics. Thereby an emerging concept that proposes a new target for pharmacotherapy will be discussed, which might lead to innovative therapeutic interventions to improve or prevent alcohol-induced cognitive impairment in patients with alcohol dependence, and may be generalized to other learning and memory disorders.
SPEAKER: Professor Georgy Bakalkin, Division of Biological Research on Drug Dependence, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Press conference on 2 September 2008 in Barcelona, Spain.
Source: Sonja Mak
European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Doctors, Lawyers, And Judges Dissect The Science Of Crime
On Friday, December 1, mental health experts from the Medical University of South Carolina will join legal professionals from throughout the state to discuss the science behind criminal activity with hopes of collaborating on treatment and intervention.
The most recent FBI statistics have South Carolina leading the nation in violent crime. While research linking these crimes to mental illness and/or drug abuse is shrouded in controversy, legal and medical experts believe recognizing conditions such as depression and addiction and understanding their effects on judgment and reasoning abilities could have significant impact on the reduction of crime rates. Combining perspectives generates the potential for attorneys to intervene with their clients potentially preventing repeat offenses as well as aiding judges in sentencing. For clinicians, the collaboration could lead to enhanced research opportunities and increased patient load for treatment clinics.
The panel, made up of law enforcement officers, mental health experts, and legal professionals including South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, will discuss the dynamics of addiction treatment, strategies for intervention, signs and symptoms of depression, ethics, and the methamphetamine epidemic. The discussion will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry Auditorium.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the south. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC is home to over 3,000 students and residents, as well as nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the University and its affiliates have collective budgets in excess of $1.3 billion per year. MUSC operates a 600 bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry.
For more information about academic or clinical programs visit our website musc or muschealth.
The most recent FBI statistics have South Carolina leading the nation in violent crime. While research linking these crimes to mental illness and/or drug abuse is shrouded in controversy, legal and medical experts believe recognizing conditions such as depression and addiction and understanding their effects on judgment and reasoning abilities could have significant impact on the reduction of crime rates. Combining perspectives generates the potential for attorneys to intervene with their clients potentially preventing repeat offenses as well as aiding judges in sentencing. For clinicians, the collaboration could lead to enhanced research opportunities and increased patient load for treatment clinics.
The panel, made up of law enforcement officers, mental health experts, and legal professionals including South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, will discuss the dynamics of addiction treatment, strategies for intervention, signs and symptoms of depression, ethics, and the methamphetamine epidemic. The discussion will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the MUSC Institute of Psychiatry Auditorium.
About MUSC
Founded in 1824 in Charleston, The Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the south. Today, MUSC continues the tradition of excellence in education, research, and patient care. MUSC is home to over 3,000 students and residents, as well as nearly 10,000 employees, including 1,300 faculty members. As the largest non-federal employer in Charleston, the University and its affiliates have collective budgets in excess of $1.3 billion per year. MUSC operates a 600 bed medical center, which includes a nationally recognized Children's Hospital and a leading Institute of Psychiatry.
For more information about academic or clinical programs visit our website musc or muschealth.
Mental Health Parity Legislation Should Be Reversed Or Modified Because Questions About Mental Illness, Addiction Remain, Opinion Piece Says
The parity amendment attached to the bailout of Wall Street firms that ensures coverage of treatment for mental illness and addiction should be reversed or modified because it is "likely to open up a Pandora's box for the American health care system," Jeffrey Schaler, a psychologist and professor at American University and executive editor of Current Psychology, and Richard Vatz, professor at Towson University and associate psychology editor of USA Today Magazine, write in a Baltimore Sun opinion piece. The authors write that the measure is "objectionable in so many ways" because the definition of mental illness, the question of whether psychiatric disorders are medical disorders and the nature of addiction still are under "contentious" debate. According to Vatz and Schaler, the parity amendment leaves behind "many valid objections to the whole concept of parity -- objections that have never been satisfactorily answered."
Schaler and Vatz note that the American Psychiatric Association has indicated that more than 50% of U.S. citizens are or will be mentally ill. According to the authors, such an assessment is "virtually unlimited since there is no way to accurately confirm or disconfirm" it. In addition, although supporters of the parity legislation hailed it as signaling the end of the "stigma" associated with mental illness, "they fail to consider that stigmatization is a marvelous negative reinforcer for undesired behavior, some of which is called 'mental illness.'" In addition, Schaler and Vatz state that substance use disorders are "arguably a function of behavioral choices" and because "people can clearly stop or control their addictions through an exercise of free will," they "in no way constitute diseases to which insurance should apply."
In addition, Schaler and Vatz note that mental illness is usually associated with severe conditions, such as schizophrenia, of which less than 1.5% of people labeled as mentally ill are diagnosed. According to the authors, a "more prototypical mental illness" is adjustment disorder, "a name given by psychiatrists to people who have problems in living," which is "hardly worthy of health insurance and an inducement against confronting one's problems and choices."
Schaler and Vatz conclude, "Passing a measure that is objectionable in so many ways is bad enough. Even worse is the fact that such a contentious, scientifically questionable and potentially expensive piece of legislation was passed through the back door" (Schaler/Vatz, Baltimore Sun, 10/23).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.? All rights reserved.
Schaler and Vatz note that the American Psychiatric Association has indicated that more than 50% of U.S. citizens are or will be mentally ill. According to the authors, such an assessment is "virtually unlimited since there is no way to accurately confirm or disconfirm" it. In addition, although supporters of the parity legislation hailed it as signaling the end of the "stigma" associated with mental illness, "they fail to consider that stigmatization is a marvelous negative reinforcer for undesired behavior, some of which is called 'mental illness.'" In addition, Schaler and Vatz state that substance use disorders are "arguably a function of behavioral choices" and because "people can clearly stop or control their addictions through an exercise of free will," they "in no way constitute diseases to which insurance should apply."
In addition, Schaler and Vatz note that mental illness is usually associated with severe conditions, such as schizophrenia, of which less than 1.5% of people labeled as mentally ill are diagnosed. According to the authors, a "more prototypical mental illness" is adjustment disorder, "a name given by psychiatrists to people who have problems in living," which is "hardly worthy of health insurance and an inducement against confronting one's problems and choices."
Schaler and Vatz conclude, "Passing a measure that is objectionable in so many ways is bad enough. Even worse is the fact that such a contentious, scientifically questionable and potentially expensive piece of legislation was passed through the back door" (Schaler/Vatz, Baltimore Sun, 10/23).
Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.? All rights reserved.
University Of Edinburgh And Castle Craig Hospital Launch Pilot Study For Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy In The Treatment Of Alcoholic Liver Disease
A pilot study to treat alcoholic liver disease with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is being launched by Castle Craig Hospital and the Department of Hepatology at The University of Edinburgh, after obtaining Ethical Committee approval.
The Phase I study aims to show whether bone marrow stem cells are mobilised into the bloodstream following HBOT, in patients who recently drank alcohol to excess[1], with or without chronic liver disease. The trial will also examine whether there is an improvement in liver function following HBOT.
Participants will have two blood samples drawn a week apart prior to starting HBOT. They will have a total of 20 sessions of two hours of hyperbaric oxygen at 1.75 to 2 ATM with blood drawn after 10 and 20 sessions and again one week later.
HBOT has been shown to cause mobilisation of bone marrow stem cells into the blood stream in healthy volunteers and patients who have received radio therapy for cancer.[2] Additional data have shown that patients with alcoholic hepatitis who survive tend to have larger stem cell counts within the blood, than those who go on to die. There are several reports of patients with chronic liver disease experiencing an improvement in liver functioning after infusion of their own bone marrow stem cells.[3] Unfortunately, current methods of obtaining bone marrow stem cells for infusion are imperfect and can be painful and unpleasant with the risk of complications.
Currently the only "curative" treatment for cirrhosis of the liver is transplantation but due to donor shortages and the implications of taking life long anti-rejection drugs, this is not available to the majority of patients. There is also considerable controversy regarding providing "alcoholic" patients with liver transplants.
Professor Peter Hayes, Chief Investigator of the trial and Professor of Hepatology at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary remarked: "Most ways of increasing stem cells are very complicated. The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. We have to do the study first before getting carried away."
Peter McCann, Chairman of Castle Craig Hospital said: "We are committed to helping patients, not only with their addictive disease, but also with their inevitable medical complications, and we hope that hyperbaric oxygenation will assist in this respect."
Safety:
The type III Hyperbaric Chamber, operated at Castle Craig Hospital, was deregulated by an Act of Parliament in 2008 since perceived risks due to fire, oxygen toxicity and infection control proved to be groundless in these units.[4] The participating staff at Castle Craig Hospital are fully trained in managing the hyperbaric chamber and all precautions are taken.
About Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
HBOT involves breathing pure oxygen to higher than atmospheric pressures in an enclosed chamber. Frequently used for divers with the "bends", it has many other indications both official and experimental or "off label".
Castle Craig's purpose-built 18 seat chamber is operated by trained staff and is equipped with television to provide patients with educational therapeutic lectures while in the chamber. When fully operational this chamber is cost effective and the course of treatment need cost no more than ??300 for ten sessions, with the potential to save hundreds of times this amount using conventional health care.
Other trials:
FDA approved trials are also taking place in the USA researching the effects of HBOT in AIDS/HIV, trauma/post traumatic stress disorder, autism, cerebral palsy and stroke cases.[5]
About Castle Craig Hospital
Located in the near Edinburgh, Castle Craig Hospital is the UK's largest single site addiction provider. Established in 1988, Castle Craig Hospital has helped over 7,000 patients on the road to recovery from their addictions. The Minnesota Model/12 Step Approach is employed which embraces cognitive behavioural therapy. A skilled, multidisciplinary team provides medical and psychiatric care, intensive psychotherapy, detoxification and relapse prevention. Family therapy, extended care and aftercare are also provided.
Castle Craig is a major contractor to the National Health Service and is recognised by the major medical insurers in the U.K, the U.S and Europe. While Castle Craig is a national resource for the people of Scotland, many insurance companies from other countries also fund the treatment. castlecraig.co
References:
[1] Above 50 units a week, within 3 weeks of the start of the trial.
[2] Stephen R. Thom, Veena M. Bhopole, Omalda C. Velazquez, Lee J. Goldstein, Lynne H. Thom, Donald G. Buerk. Stem mobilisation by hyperbaric oxygen. AMJ Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 240: HI 378 - HI 386 2006.
[3] Professor Stuart J Forbes. Stem cell therapy for chronic liver disease-choosing the right tools for the job. Gut, Feb 2008;57:153-155. Sourced online at: natap/2008/HCV/011408_01.htm
[4] Private and voluntary healthcare: Care Standards Act 2000. Regulations and national minimum standards consultation document. March/June 2008. Product no. 280611. Gateway no 8565. Sourced online here.
[5] Sourced online here.
Castle Craig
The Phase I study aims to show whether bone marrow stem cells are mobilised into the bloodstream following HBOT, in patients who recently drank alcohol to excess[1], with or without chronic liver disease. The trial will also examine whether there is an improvement in liver function following HBOT.
Participants will have two blood samples drawn a week apart prior to starting HBOT. They will have a total of 20 sessions of two hours of hyperbaric oxygen at 1.75 to 2 ATM with blood drawn after 10 and 20 sessions and again one week later.
HBOT has been shown to cause mobilisation of bone marrow stem cells into the blood stream in healthy volunteers and patients who have received radio therapy for cancer.[2] Additional data have shown that patients with alcoholic hepatitis who survive tend to have larger stem cell counts within the blood, than those who go on to die. There are several reports of patients with chronic liver disease experiencing an improvement in liver functioning after infusion of their own bone marrow stem cells.[3] Unfortunately, current methods of obtaining bone marrow stem cells for infusion are imperfect and can be painful and unpleasant with the risk of complications.
Currently the only "curative" treatment for cirrhosis of the liver is transplantation but due to donor shortages and the implications of taking life long anti-rejection drugs, this is not available to the majority of patients. There is also considerable controversy regarding providing "alcoholic" patients with liver transplants.
Professor Peter Hayes, Chief Investigator of the trial and Professor of Hepatology at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary remarked: "Most ways of increasing stem cells are very complicated. The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. We have to do the study first before getting carried away."
Peter McCann, Chairman of Castle Craig Hospital said: "We are committed to helping patients, not only with their addictive disease, but also with their inevitable medical complications, and we hope that hyperbaric oxygenation will assist in this respect."
Safety:
The type III Hyperbaric Chamber, operated at Castle Craig Hospital, was deregulated by an Act of Parliament in 2008 since perceived risks due to fire, oxygen toxicity and infection control proved to be groundless in these units.[4] The participating staff at Castle Craig Hospital are fully trained in managing the hyperbaric chamber and all precautions are taken.
About Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
HBOT involves breathing pure oxygen to higher than atmospheric pressures in an enclosed chamber. Frequently used for divers with the "bends", it has many other indications both official and experimental or "off label".
Castle Craig's purpose-built 18 seat chamber is operated by trained staff and is equipped with television to provide patients with educational therapeutic lectures while in the chamber. When fully operational this chamber is cost effective and the course of treatment need cost no more than ??300 for ten sessions, with the potential to save hundreds of times this amount using conventional health care.
Other trials:
FDA approved trials are also taking place in the USA researching the effects of HBOT in AIDS/HIV, trauma/post traumatic stress disorder, autism, cerebral palsy and stroke cases.[5]
About Castle Craig Hospital
Located in the near Edinburgh, Castle Craig Hospital is the UK's largest single site addiction provider. Established in 1988, Castle Craig Hospital has helped over 7,000 patients on the road to recovery from their addictions. The Minnesota Model/12 Step Approach is employed which embraces cognitive behavioural therapy. A skilled, multidisciplinary team provides medical and psychiatric care, intensive psychotherapy, detoxification and relapse prevention. Family therapy, extended care and aftercare are also provided.
Castle Craig is a major contractor to the National Health Service and is recognised by the major medical insurers in the U.K, the U.S and Europe. While Castle Craig is a national resource for the people of Scotland, many insurance companies from other countries also fund the treatment. castlecraig.co
References:
[1] Above 50 units a week, within 3 weeks of the start of the trial.
[2] Stephen R. Thom, Veena M. Bhopole, Omalda C. Velazquez, Lee J. Goldstein, Lynne H. Thom, Donald G. Buerk. Stem mobilisation by hyperbaric oxygen. AMJ Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 240: HI 378 - HI 386 2006.
[3] Professor Stuart J Forbes. Stem cell therapy for chronic liver disease-choosing the right tools for the job. Gut, Feb 2008;57:153-155. Sourced online at: natap/2008/HCV/011408_01.htm
[4] Private and voluntary healthcare: Care Standards Act 2000. Regulations and national minimum standards consultation document. March/June 2008. Product no. 280611. Gateway no 8565. Sourced online here.
[5] Sourced online here.
Castle Craig
Extending genetic associations with risk for alcohol dependence to a Russian population
Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Previous research had identified an association between genetic variations in the GABA a2 receptor subtype (GABRA2) and risk for alcohol dependence in a U.S. population. New research extends those findings to a Russian population.
Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Last year, two large genetic studies in the U.S. identified an association between genetic variations in the GABA a2 receptor subtype (GABRA2) and risk for alcohol dependence. Now, a study in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has extended those findings to a Russian population.
"There are braking neurotransmitters and accelerating neurotransmitters," said Jaakko Lappalainen, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale and first author of the study. "GABA is one of the braking neurotransmitters, it brakes the neurons so that they don't get out of control." Activating or enhancing the function of GABA receptors usually decreases activity in brain neurons and can decrease activity of the entire brain and body, as occurs in general anesthesia. Some of alcohol's effects appear to be mediated through GABRA2, however, this only explains part of the development of alcohol dependence.
"Alcoholism is a complex disease, and an individual's vulnerability is affected both by the set of genes they inherit, and the environments they are exposed to, including their behaviors," said Howard J. Edenberg, Chancellor's Professor and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and of medical and molecular genetics, at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "No one gene 'makes' one an alcoholic. But it is important to discover the variations in individual genes that affect one's risk for the disease. This will improve our ability to prevent and treat the disease."
For this study, researchers recruited 113 Russian alcohol-dependent men from a St. Petersburg treatment center, as well as 100 local military personnel as controls. Blood samples were drawn from all participants and genotyped for seven GABRA2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
"SNPs are variations in the genetic code," said Lappalainen. "A person's DNA is made of base pairs; about every 100 base pairs, there is a variant that is different between individuals. We believe that a lot of the variation in the way we look, behave and respond to medications is encoded in variant sites in genes."
Lappalainen and his colleagues found significant associations between two SNPs and alcohol dependence. Furthermore, comparison of these findings to those of the U.S. population suggests that the structure and frequencies of GABRA2 haplotypes (a group of variations that are inherited together) are very similar in U.S. and Russian populations.
"These findings help demonstrate," said Lappalainen, "that regardless what different environmental factors in Russia may be in play, compared to the U.S., GABRA2 still seems to be influencing risk in that population."
Edenberg concurs. "This paper lends further support to the finding, initially reported by the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), that variations in the GABRA2 gene affect risk for alcoholism," he said. "The COGA finding was also supported by a case-control study. Although the data from the current study are not as strong as the earlier reports, the consistency of support for the finding is important. It is notable that the three studies," he added, "with different study designs, all point to the same region of the same gene, making the accumulated evidence even stronger. It is exciting that this finding has been replicated and extended to a different population."
Nonetheless, both Lappalainen and Edenberg pointed out that possessing the GABRA2 gene, which is very common, does not mean an individual will become an alcoholic.
"It is important to emphasize that this is not 'the gene for alcoholism'" said Edenberg. "There is no such thing. It is one of several in which variations contribute to the risk. COGA has already identified additional genes, including GABRG3 and CHRM2, and has evidence for additional genes. It is also critical to make clear that having any one gene variant, or even a collection of genes that increase risk, does not condemn someone to being an alcoholic; the genes affect the risk, but so do the choices made by the individual. This is similar to diabetes, in which genes affect risk but so does behavior such as eating and exercise."
Lappalainen said he is planning future studies on associations between the GABA system and addiction, particularly the mechanisms of how genes may actually increase the risk of developing alcoholism.
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Association Between Alcoholism and GABRA2 in a Russian Population," were: Evgeny Krupitsky, Mikhail Remizov, Sofia Pchelina, Anastaisa Taraskina and Edwin Zvartau of the St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University in Russia; Lucia K. Somberg, John H. Krystal and Joel Gelernter of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System; and Jonathan Covault and HenryR. Kranzler of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale.
Contact: Jaakko Lappalainen, M.D., Ph.D.
jaakko.lappalainenyale
203-932-5711 x3591
Yale University
yale
Howard J. Edenberg, Ph.D.
edenbergiupui
317-274-2353
Indiana University School of Medicine
htp://iupui
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
alcoholism-cer
Gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Last year, two large genetic studies in the U.S. identified an association between genetic variations in the GABA a2 receptor subtype (GABRA2) and risk for alcohol dependence. Now, a study in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has extended those findings to a Russian population.
"There are braking neurotransmitters and accelerating neurotransmitters," said Jaakko Lappalainen, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale and first author of the study. "GABA is one of the braking neurotransmitters, it brakes the neurons so that they don't get out of control." Activating or enhancing the function of GABA receptors usually decreases activity in brain neurons and can decrease activity of the entire brain and body, as occurs in general anesthesia. Some of alcohol's effects appear to be mediated through GABRA2, however, this only explains part of the development of alcohol dependence.
"Alcoholism is a complex disease, and an individual's vulnerability is affected both by the set of genes they inherit, and the environments they are exposed to, including their behaviors," said Howard J. Edenberg, Chancellor's Professor and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and of medical and molecular genetics, at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "No one gene 'makes' one an alcoholic. But it is important to discover the variations in individual genes that affect one's risk for the disease. This will improve our ability to prevent and treat the disease."
For this study, researchers recruited 113 Russian alcohol-dependent men from a St. Petersburg treatment center, as well as 100 local military personnel as controls. Blood samples were drawn from all participants and genotyped for seven GABRA2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
"SNPs are variations in the genetic code," said Lappalainen. "A person's DNA is made of base pairs; about every 100 base pairs, there is a variant that is different between individuals. We believe that a lot of the variation in the way we look, behave and respond to medications is encoded in variant sites in genes."
Lappalainen and his colleagues found significant associations between two SNPs and alcohol dependence. Furthermore, comparison of these findings to those of the U.S. population suggests that the structure and frequencies of GABRA2 haplotypes (a group of variations that are inherited together) are very similar in U.S. and Russian populations.
"These findings help demonstrate," said Lappalainen, "that regardless what different environmental factors in Russia may be in play, compared to the U.S., GABRA2 still seems to be influencing risk in that population."
Edenberg concurs. "This paper lends further support to the finding, initially reported by the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA), that variations in the GABRA2 gene affect risk for alcoholism," he said. "The COGA finding was also supported by a case-control study. Although the data from the current study are not as strong as the earlier reports, the consistency of support for the finding is important. It is notable that the three studies," he added, "with different study designs, all point to the same region of the same gene, making the accumulated evidence even stronger. It is exciting that this finding has been replicated and extended to a different population."
Nonetheless, both Lappalainen and Edenberg pointed out that possessing the GABRA2 gene, which is very common, does not mean an individual will become an alcoholic.
"It is important to emphasize that this is not 'the gene for alcoholism'" said Edenberg. "There is no such thing. It is one of several in which variations contribute to the risk. COGA has already identified additional genes, including GABRG3 and CHRM2, and has evidence for additional genes. It is also critical to make clear that having any one gene variant, or even a collection of genes that increase risk, does not condemn someone to being an alcoholic; the genes affect the risk, but so do the choices made by the individual. This is similar to diabetes, in which genes affect risk but so does behavior such as eating and exercise."
Lappalainen said he is planning future studies on associations between the GABA system and addiction, particularly the mechanisms of how genes may actually increase the risk of developing alcoholism.
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Association Between Alcoholism and GABRA2 in a Russian Population," were: Evgeny Krupitsky, Mikhail Remizov, Sofia Pchelina, Anastaisa Taraskina and Edwin Zvartau of the St. Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University in Russia; Lucia K. Somberg, John H. Krystal and Joel Gelernter of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System; and Jonathan Covault and HenryR. Kranzler of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale.
Contact: Jaakko Lappalainen, M.D., Ph.D.
jaakko.lappalainenyale
203-932-5711 x3591
Yale University
yale
Howard J. Edenberg, Ph.D.
edenbergiupui
317-274-2353
Indiana University School of Medicine
htp://iupui
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
alcoholism-cer
US Scientists Working On Cocaine Vaccine
Most Popular Articles For Alcohol
These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
01 Nov 2010
Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today...
Giving Up Smoking Linked To Greater Happiness And Elevated Mood
05 Dec 2010
Energy Drinks: Is It Time To Tighten Regulation?
02 Nov 2010
USA's Drunkest Cities Are Milwaukee, Fargo And San Francisco
31 Dec 2010
Lock Up The Liquor; Parents Giving Children Alcohol
19 Feb 2011
_uacct = "UA-849615-1";
urchinTracker();
These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Alcohol Is Most Harmful Drug, Followed By Heroin And Crack
01 Nov 2010
Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today...
Giving Up Smoking Linked To Greater Happiness And Elevated Mood
05 Dec 2010
Energy Drinks: Is It Time To Tighten Regulation?
02 Nov 2010
USA's Drunkest Cities Are Milwaukee, Fargo And San Francisco
31 Dec 2010
Lock Up The Liquor; Parents Giving Children Alcohol
19 Feb 2011
_uacct = "UA-849615-1";
urchinTracker();
Fall Semester - A Time For Parents To Discuss The Risks Of College Drinking
As college students arrive on
campus this fall, it's a time of new experiences, new friendships, and
making memories that will last a lifetime. Unfortunately for many, it is
also a time of excessive drinking and dealing with its aftermath-vandalism,
violence, sexual aggression, and even death.
According to research summarized in a College Task Force report to the
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the
consequences of excessive drinking by college students are more
significant, more destructive, and more costly than many parents realize.
And these consequences affect students whether or not they drink.
Statistics from this report, which were updated recently, indicate that
drinking by college students aged 18 to 24 contributes to an estimated
1,700 student deaths, 599,000 injuries, and 97,000 cases of sexual assault
or date rape each year.
Early Weeks Are Critical
As the fall semester begins, parents can use this important time to
help prepare their college-age sons and daughters by talking with them
about the consequences of excessive drinking.
Some first-year students who live on campus may be at particular risk
for alcohol misuse. During their high school years, those who go on to
college tend to drink less than their non-college-bound classmates.
However, during subsequent years, the heavy drinking rates of college
students surpass those of their non-college peers.
This rapid increase in heavy drinking over a relatively short period of
time can contribute to serious difficulties with the transition to college.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the first 6 weeks of the first
semester are critical to a first-year student's academic success. Because
many students initiate heavy drinking during these early days of college,
the potential exists for excessive alcohol consumption to interfere with
successful adaptation to campus life. The transition to college is often
difficult and about one-third of first-year students fail to enroll for
their second year.
Parents Can Help
During these crucial early weeks, parents can do a variety of things to
stay involved. They can inquire about campus alcohol policies, call their
sons and daughters frequently, and ask about roommates and living
arrangements.
They should also discuss the penalties for underage drinking as well as
how alcohol use can lead to date rape, violence, and academic failure.
Resources Are Available
For parents who want to talk to their college-age sons and daughters
about the consequences of college drinking, a variety of helpful resources
are available from NIAAA.
A special guide for parents offers research-based information plus
helpful advice on choosing the right college, staying involved during the
freshman year, and getting assistance if faced with an alcohol-related
crisis.
The Task Force's award-winning website,
collegedrinkingprevention, features this guide along with links to
alcohol policies at colleges across the country, an interactive diagram of
the human body and how alcohol affects it, an interactive alcohol cost
calculator, and the full text of all Task Force materials.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
collegedrinkingprevention
campus this fall, it's a time of new experiences, new friendships, and
making memories that will last a lifetime. Unfortunately for many, it is
also a time of excessive drinking and dealing with its aftermath-vandalism,
violence, sexual aggression, and even death.
According to research summarized in a College Task Force report to the
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the
consequences of excessive drinking by college students are more
significant, more destructive, and more costly than many parents realize.
And these consequences affect students whether or not they drink.
Statistics from this report, which were updated recently, indicate that
drinking by college students aged 18 to 24 contributes to an estimated
1,700 student deaths, 599,000 injuries, and 97,000 cases of sexual assault
or date rape each year.
Early Weeks Are Critical
As the fall semester begins, parents can use this important time to
help prepare their college-age sons and daughters by talking with them
about the consequences of excessive drinking.
Some first-year students who live on campus may be at particular risk
for alcohol misuse. During their high school years, those who go on to
college tend to drink less than their non-college-bound classmates.
However, during subsequent years, the heavy drinking rates of college
students surpass those of their non-college peers.
This rapid increase in heavy drinking over a relatively short period of
time can contribute to serious difficulties with the transition to college.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the first 6 weeks of the first
semester are critical to a first-year student's academic success. Because
many students initiate heavy drinking during these early days of college,
the potential exists for excessive alcohol consumption to interfere with
successful adaptation to campus life. The transition to college is often
difficult and about one-third of first-year students fail to enroll for
their second year.
Parents Can Help
During these crucial early weeks, parents can do a variety of things to
stay involved. They can inquire about campus alcohol policies, call their
sons and daughters frequently, and ask about roommates and living
arrangements.
They should also discuss the penalties for underage drinking as well as
how alcohol use can lead to date rape, violence, and academic failure.
Resources Are Available
For parents who want to talk to their college-age sons and daughters
about the consequences of college drinking, a variety of helpful resources
are available from NIAAA.
A special guide for parents offers research-based information plus
helpful advice on choosing the right college, staying involved during the
freshman year, and getting assistance if faced with an alcohol-related
crisis.
The Task Force's award-winning website,
collegedrinkingprevention, features this guide along with links to
alcohol policies at colleges across the country, an interactive diagram of
the human body and how alcohol affects it, an interactive alcohol cost
calculator, and the full text of all Task Force materials.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
collegedrinkingprevention
Date rape drug test patent awarded to the University of California, Santa Barbara
A patent for a highly sensitive test to detect the presence of the "date rape" drug, GHB, has recently been granted to the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Several companies have expressed interest in developing and marketing the test, which can be designed as a kit with small strips of paper that change from white to intense purple color in a few seconds if GHB is present.
The UCSB test is the most rapid one available that is also sensitive, according to the researchers. At this time there are other tests on the market with such poor sensitivity that only dangerously high levels of GHB can be detected.
Speedy and sensitive detection is extremely important in emergency room settings where comatose patients must be rapidly diagnosed. And law enforcement officials can use the test to detain individuals in possession of GHB. The test can also be used to quickly check a drink for the presence of GHB.
The UCSB team has developed a test that is so sensitive that GHB can be detected in just one quarter of a drop of urine, blood or alcoholic beverage.
The research to develop the test began a few years ago when Harold Penn, a local Santa Barbara entrepreneur, was disturbed by news reports of a local date rape case involving a student at the Brooks Institute of Photography who had been drugged with GHB and then raped. He asked his friend David Harris of UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry if a test could be developed to detect GHB. Then Penn wrote the first of two checks to help support the research.
The chair of the department at the time was Stanley Parsons, and he asked Dawn Bravo, a Ph.D. student who works in his lab, if she wanted to help him on the research and she agreed. Another collaborator is Karl Sporer, an emergency room physician at San Francisco General Hospital and UC San Francisco, who has direct experience with patients who have been drugged with GHB.
Bravo said she finds it "extremely motivating" to be working with an emergency room physician who needs the test. She also feels motivated to help with the prevention of crimes against women. And, she said that it was so rewarding for a member of the community to invest money in the research that she felt great responsibility to see it through.
"I would love to develop more medically oriented research to benefit humanity," said Bravo. "I want the science to go somewhere. It makes me feel complete at this initial stage of my career to take a project like this from start to finish."
The substance GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) is very dangerous. And there is a narrow range of response to the drug, depending on the dose, from mild euphoria to death. This dose response drastically increases when mixed with alcohol. GHB is usually distributed as a solution of unknown concentration.
An individual can easily ingest a dangerous amount of GHB, especially when mixed with alcohol. A small dose can render a person unconscious within five to ten minutes, explained Bravo.
"It's a 'schedule one' drug like heroin, designated 'most severe drug' by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency," she said. "The drugged person may be comatose and doctors may have no idea what is wrong. The person can then wake up feeling refreshed because the drug works on the nervous system to cause deep relaxation, a trance-like state called absence seizure, and amnesia. Women may be completely unaware that they've been raped."
To develop the test, Bravo first performed an extensive literature search for an appropriate bacterial enzyme that could carry out a reaction that would cause an intense color to form when GHB is present. She chose to clone the gamma-hydroxybutytrate dehydrogenase (GHB-DH) gene from the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha.
The GHB-DH gene was inserted into Escherichia coli in a form that makes easily isolated enzyme. The commercial enzyme diaphorase and other common reagents then are added to purified GHB-DH. In the presence of GHB, the mixture reacts with colorless prodye to form a strong dye.
According to the U.S. Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse, "in the United States, GHB is produced in clandestine laboratories with no guarantee of quality or purity, making its effects less predictable and more difficult to diagnose. GHB can be manufactured with inexpensive ingredients and using recipes on the Internet."
Dawn Bravo can be reached at (805) 893-4506 or by e-mail at bravochem.ucsb
Note: Stan Parsons can be reached at (805) 893-2252 or by e-mail at parsonschem.ucsb
Contact: Gail Gallessich
gail.gia.ucsb
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara
Several companies have expressed interest in developing and marketing the test, which can be designed as a kit with small strips of paper that change from white to intense purple color in a few seconds if GHB is present.
The UCSB test is the most rapid one available that is also sensitive, according to the researchers. At this time there are other tests on the market with such poor sensitivity that only dangerously high levels of GHB can be detected.
Speedy and sensitive detection is extremely important in emergency room settings where comatose patients must be rapidly diagnosed. And law enforcement officials can use the test to detain individuals in possession of GHB. The test can also be used to quickly check a drink for the presence of GHB.
The UCSB team has developed a test that is so sensitive that GHB can be detected in just one quarter of a drop of urine, blood or alcoholic beverage.
The research to develop the test began a few years ago when Harold Penn, a local Santa Barbara entrepreneur, was disturbed by news reports of a local date rape case involving a student at the Brooks Institute of Photography who had been drugged with GHB and then raped. He asked his friend David Harris of UCSB's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry if a test could be developed to detect GHB. Then Penn wrote the first of two checks to help support the research.
The chair of the department at the time was Stanley Parsons, and he asked Dawn Bravo, a Ph.D. student who works in his lab, if she wanted to help him on the research and she agreed. Another collaborator is Karl Sporer, an emergency room physician at San Francisco General Hospital and UC San Francisco, who has direct experience with patients who have been drugged with GHB.
Bravo said she finds it "extremely motivating" to be working with an emergency room physician who needs the test. She also feels motivated to help with the prevention of crimes against women. And, she said that it was so rewarding for a member of the community to invest money in the research that she felt great responsibility to see it through.
"I would love to develop more medically oriented research to benefit humanity," said Bravo. "I want the science to go somewhere. It makes me feel complete at this initial stage of my career to take a project like this from start to finish."
The substance GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) is very dangerous. And there is a narrow range of response to the drug, depending on the dose, from mild euphoria to death. This dose response drastically increases when mixed with alcohol. GHB is usually distributed as a solution of unknown concentration.
An individual can easily ingest a dangerous amount of GHB, especially when mixed with alcohol. A small dose can render a person unconscious within five to ten minutes, explained Bravo.
"It's a 'schedule one' drug like heroin, designated 'most severe drug' by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency," she said. "The drugged person may be comatose and doctors may have no idea what is wrong. The person can then wake up feeling refreshed because the drug works on the nervous system to cause deep relaxation, a trance-like state called absence seizure, and amnesia. Women may be completely unaware that they've been raped."
To develop the test, Bravo first performed an extensive literature search for an appropriate bacterial enzyme that could carry out a reaction that would cause an intense color to form when GHB is present. She chose to clone the gamma-hydroxybutytrate dehydrogenase (GHB-DH) gene from the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha.
The GHB-DH gene was inserted into Escherichia coli in a form that makes easily isolated enzyme. The commercial enzyme diaphorase and other common reagents then are added to purified GHB-DH. In the presence of GHB, the mixture reacts with colorless prodye to form a strong dye.
According to the U.S. Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse, "in the United States, GHB is produced in clandestine laboratories with no guarantee of quality or purity, making its effects less predictable and more difficult to diagnose. GHB can be manufactured with inexpensive ingredients and using recipes on the Internet."
Dawn Bravo can be reached at (805) 893-4506 or by e-mail at bravochem.ucsb
Note: Stan Parsons can be reached at (805) 893-2252 or by e-mail at parsonschem.ucsb
Contact: Gail Gallessich
gail.gia.ucsb
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara
Adolescents Benefit From Attending Alcoholics Anonymous And Narcotics Anonymous
While Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has existed for more than 70 years, and is the most commonly sought source of help for alcohol-related problems in the United States, there is little "hard scientific evidence" showing that AA and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) can improve substance-use outcomes. This study examined how helpful AA and NA may be for adolescents, finding long-term benefits even though many youth discontinue attendance after time.
Results will be published in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at OnlineEarly.
"It is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of mutual-help organizations like AA through randomized controlled experiments because the AA 'intervention,' being a community organization based on anonymity, cannot be directly under the control of the researcher in the usual way," explained John F. Kelly, associate director of the MGH-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Yet their popularity and cost-effectiveness cannot be denied, added Kelly, also the study's corresponding author.
"AA and NA are explicitly focused on abstinence and addiction recovery, they are widely available across most communities, they provide entry to a social network of recovery-specific support and sober events that can be accessed 'on demand' - particularly at times of high-relapse risk such as evenings and weekends, the services are free, and AA/NA can be attended as intensively, and for as long, as individuals desire," he said.
However, he added, despite growing evidence that adults benefit from AA and NA, little is known about how these abstinence-focused organizations help youth, and what is known lacks scientific rigor.
"This knowledge gap is particularly noteworthy given that adolescents and young adults face more barriers to AA and NA than older adults and yet appear to be referred there just as frequently by treatment providers," said Kelly. "Youth tend to have less severe addiction problems, on average, and consequently do not feel a strong need to stop using alcohol and/or drugs. 'Why should they bother to go to abstinence-oriented organizations like AA and NA, and would they benefit even if they did go?'" These are the questions Kelly and his colleagues wanted to address.
The researchers recruited 160 adolescent inpatients (96 males, 64 females), with an average age of 16 years, who were enrolled at two treatment centers in California having a focus on abstinence and based on a 12-step model. The study participants' length of stay ranged from four to six weeks, after which they were re-assessed on a number of clinical variables at six months, and one, two, four, six, and eight years.
"We found that most of the youth attended at least some AA/NA meetings post-treatment," said Kelly. "Those patients with severe addiction problems and those who believed they could not use alcohol/drugs in moderation attended the most. The NA and AA focus on abstinence/recovery probably resonates better with these more severely dependent individuals who also typically need ongoing support."
Even though many of the youth discontinued AA/NA after time, they nonetheless appeared to benefit from attendance.
"We found that patients who attended more AA and/or NA meetings in the first six months post-treatment had better longer term outcomes, but this early participation effect did not last forever - it weakened over time," said Kelly. "The best outcomes achieved into young adulthood were for those patients who continued to go to AA and/or NA. In terms of a real-world recovery metric, we found that for each AA/NA meeting that a youth attended they gained a subsequent two days of abstinence, independent of all other factors that were also associated with a better outcome."
A little can go a long way, he added. "During the first six months post-treatment," said Kelly, "even small amounts of AA/NA participation - such as once per week - was associated with improved outcome, and three meetings per week was associated with complete abstinence. This suggests youth may not need to attend as frequently as every day, sometimes recommended clinically, to achieve very good outcomes."
Kelly believes that part of the reason for the success of AA/NA among adolescents who attend meetings is related to their developmental needs.
"Given the need for social affiliation and peer-group acceptance outside of the family at this stage of life, peers can exert strong influence on the behavior of young people," he noted. "When you couple this fact with the reality that most adolescents and young adults are experimenting with, or heavily using, alcohol and other drugs, it may be hard to find suitable peer contexts that can facilitate recovery. In fact, we know that most youth relapses are connected with social contexts where alcohol/drugs are present; unlike adults, youth rarely relapse alone. So, organizations such as AA/NA may provide support, and encourage and provide alternatively rewarding sober social activities."
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Social Recovery Model: An 8-Year Investigation of Adolescent 12-step Group Involvement following Inpatient Treatment," were: Sandra A. Brown and Mark Myers of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and University of California, San Diego; Ana Abrantes of Butler Hospital and Brown University, Medical School; and Christopher W. Kahler of Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Source: John F. Kelly, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Results will be published in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at OnlineEarly.
"It is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of mutual-help organizations like AA through randomized controlled experiments because the AA 'intervention,' being a community organization based on anonymity, cannot be directly under the control of the researcher in the usual way," explained John F. Kelly, associate director of the MGH-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and assistant professor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Yet their popularity and cost-effectiveness cannot be denied, added Kelly, also the study's corresponding author.
"AA and NA are explicitly focused on abstinence and addiction recovery, they are widely available across most communities, they provide entry to a social network of recovery-specific support and sober events that can be accessed 'on demand' - particularly at times of high-relapse risk such as evenings and weekends, the services are free, and AA/NA can be attended as intensively, and for as long, as individuals desire," he said.
However, he added, despite growing evidence that adults benefit from AA and NA, little is known about how these abstinence-focused organizations help youth, and what is known lacks scientific rigor.
"This knowledge gap is particularly noteworthy given that adolescents and young adults face more barriers to AA and NA than older adults and yet appear to be referred there just as frequently by treatment providers," said Kelly. "Youth tend to have less severe addiction problems, on average, and consequently do not feel a strong need to stop using alcohol and/or drugs. 'Why should they bother to go to abstinence-oriented organizations like AA and NA, and would they benefit even if they did go?'" These are the questions Kelly and his colleagues wanted to address.
The researchers recruited 160 adolescent inpatients (96 males, 64 females), with an average age of 16 years, who were enrolled at two treatment centers in California having a focus on abstinence and based on a 12-step model. The study participants' length of stay ranged from four to six weeks, after which they were re-assessed on a number of clinical variables at six months, and one, two, four, six, and eight years.
"We found that most of the youth attended at least some AA/NA meetings post-treatment," said Kelly. "Those patients with severe addiction problems and those who believed they could not use alcohol/drugs in moderation attended the most. The NA and AA focus on abstinence/recovery probably resonates better with these more severely dependent individuals who also typically need ongoing support."
Even though many of the youth discontinued AA/NA after time, they nonetheless appeared to benefit from attendance.
"We found that patients who attended more AA and/or NA meetings in the first six months post-treatment had better longer term outcomes, but this early participation effect did not last forever - it weakened over time," said Kelly. "The best outcomes achieved into young adulthood were for those patients who continued to go to AA and/or NA. In terms of a real-world recovery metric, we found that for each AA/NA meeting that a youth attended they gained a subsequent two days of abstinence, independent of all other factors that were also associated with a better outcome."
A little can go a long way, he added. "During the first six months post-treatment," said Kelly, "even small amounts of AA/NA participation - such as once per week - was associated with improved outcome, and three meetings per week was associated with complete abstinence. This suggests youth may not need to attend as frequently as every day, sometimes recommended clinically, to achieve very good outcomes."
Kelly believes that part of the reason for the success of AA/NA among adolescents who attend meetings is related to their developmental needs.
"Given the need for social affiliation and peer-group acceptance outside of the family at this stage of life, peers can exert strong influence on the behavior of young people," he noted. "When you couple this fact with the reality that most adolescents and young adults are experimenting with, or heavily using, alcohol and other drugs, it may be hard to find suitable peer contexts that can facilitate recovery. In fact, we know that most youth relapses are connected with social contexts where alcohol/drugs are present; unlike adults, youth rarely relapse alone. So, organizations such as AA/NA may provide support, and encourage and provide alternatively rewarding sober social activities."
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "Social Recovery Model: An 8-Year Investigation of Adolescent 12-step Group Involvement following Inpatient Treatment," were: Sandra A. Brown and Mark Myers of Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, and University of California, San Diego; Ana Abrantes of Butler Hospital and Brown University, Medical School; and Christopher W. Kahler of Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Source: John F. Kelly, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Astrocytes Implicated In Machinery Of Cannabinoid Signaling
The brain cells called astrocytes, and not just neurons, are sensitive to the substances called cannabinoids - the active chemicals in marijuana.
The researchers said their findings could aid in development of treatments for cannabinoid drug abuse. Also, because so-called "endocannabinoids" produced by brain cells are involved in the neural machinery of pain perception and learning and memory, the findings could help in understanding those processes, said the researchers. Marta Navarrete and Alfonso Araque published their findings in the March 27, 2008, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
Astrocytes do not transmit nerve impulses, as do neurons. Rather, they provide neurons with support and nutrition and modulate signaling among neurons.
In their experiments with mouse brain slices, Navarrete and Araque sought to establish the role that cannabinoid receptors on astrocytes - which previous studies had indicated to exist - played in astrocyte function. Receptors are proteins that rest in the membranes of cells and that are triggered by specific chemicals, like a key fitting a lock. That triggering activates a cellular response.
The researchers' electrophysiological and imaging studies showed that astrocytes do express endocannabinoid receptors that, when activated, produce a cellular response. They also found that neurons associated with the astrocytes release endocannabinoids that trigger an astrocyte response. Finally, they also showed that this response in astrocytes can, in turn, activate neurons to release the neurotransmitter glutamate, which mediates signaling among neurons.
Navarrete and Araque concluded that "These results indicate that neurons and astrocytes communicate via endocannabinoid signaling and suggest the existence of intercellular communication pathways mediated by endocannabinoid-glutamate signaling where astrocytes serve as a bridge for interneuronal communication."
The researchers also concluded that their findings identify astrocytes "as cellular elements possibly involved in the physiology of cannabinoid addiction as well as potential targets for the treatment of cannabinoid-related drug abuse. Furthermore, considering the importance of the endocannabinoid-mediated intercellular signaling in numerous processes of the nervous system, such as pain perception or learning and memory, present findings indicate that astrocytes may be actively involved in relevant phenomena of brain physiology.
The researchers include Marta Navarrete and Alfonso Araque, of the Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, Spain.
Source: Cathleen Genova
Cell Press
The researchers said their findings could aid in development of treatments for cannabinoid drug abuse. Also, because so-called "endocannabinoids" produced by brain cells are involved in the neural machinery of pain perception and learning and memory, the findings could help in understanding those processes, said the researchers. Marta Navarrete and Alfonso Araque published their findings in the March 27, 2008, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
Astrocytes do not transmit nerve impulses, as do neurons. Rather, they provide neurons with support and nutrition and modulate signaling among neurons.
In their experiments with mouse brain slices, Navarrete and Araque sought to establish the role that cannabinoid receptors on astrocytes - which previous studies had indicated to exist - played in astrocyte function. Receptors are proteins that rest in the membranes of cells and that are triggered by specific chemicals, like a key fitting a lock. That triggering activates a cellular response.
The researchers' electrophysiological and imaging studies showed that astrocytes do express endocannabinoid receptors that, when activated, produce a cellular response. They also found that neurons associated with the astrocytes release endocannabinoids that trigger an astrocyte response. Finally, they also showed that this response in astrocytes can, in turn, activate neurons to release the neurotransmitter glutamate, which mediates signaling among neurons.
Navarrete and Araque concluded that "These results indicate that neurons and astrocytes communicate via endocannabinoid signaling and suggest the existence of intercellular communication pathways mediated by endocannabinoid-glutamate signaling where astrocytes serve as a bridge for interneuronal communication."
The researchers also concluded that their findings identify astrocytes "as cellular elements possibly involved in the physiology of cannabinoid addiction as well as potential targets for the treatment of cannabinoid-related drug abuse. Furthermore, considering the importance of the endocannabinoid-mediated intercellular signaling in numerous processes of the nervous system, such as pain perception or learning and memory, present findings indicate that astrocytes may be actively involved in relevant phenomena of brain physiology.
The researchers include Marta Navarrete and Alfonso Araque, of the Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Madrid, Spain.
Source: Cathleen Genova
Cell Press
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