Search

Abstract: Objective: To clarify dopamine''s role in alcohol self-administration in a heterogeneous sample of drinkers using acute phenylalanine/tyrosine depletion (APTD). Methods: Sixteen men with variable drinking histories were characterized on their ethanol-induced cardiac response, a marker previously proposed to index dopamine system reactivity and vulnerability to alcohol abuse. During separate sessions participants were administered (i) a nutritionally balanced (BAL) amino acid (AA) mixture, (ii) a mixture lacking the dopamine precursors, phenylalanine and tyrosine, and (iii) APTD followed by the dopamine precursor, l-DOPA. Five hours after AA administration, participants could earn units of alcohol using a progressive ratio breakpoint task. Results: Alcohol self-administration was reduced in the APTD and APTD+ l-DOPA conditions relative to the BAL condition. In both cases the changes were predicted by ethanol-induced cardiac change. Conclusions: The motivation to drink is likely regulated by more than one neurobiological mechanism. Individual differences in cardiac responsivity to ethanol might provide a peripheral marker of responsiveness to pharmacological manipulations of dopamine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: An exaggerated heart rate (HR) increase following alcohol intoxication has been suggested to reflect sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward. The goal of this study is to verify whether pairing alcohol ingestion with conditioned reward and nonreward cues can influence HR responses to alcohol in previously identified individuals with a low and a high HR response. Methods: Fifty-six male social drinkers participated in a 2-day study. On day 1, participants consumed 0.75 g/kg of body weight of pure ethanol. A median split of the alcohol-induced HR responses identified groups of low and high HR responders. On day 2, both groups participated while sober in a computer task where distinct auditory and visual cues were paired either with monetary reward or no monetary reward. Subsequently, participants were randomly assigned to an alcohol challenge, which occurred while they were exposed to either the conditioned cues of reward or to the nonreward cues. Results: The physiological response to alcohol intoxication on day 2 was compared with alcohol-induced HR responses on day 1 (neutral alcohol challenge) for both low and high HR responders. Paired t-tests showed that high HR responders had significantly decreased alcohol-induced HR responses on day 2 in the nonreward condition when compared with day 1. No other relationships between cardiac responses to alcohol and cue conditions were obtained. Conclusions: The rewarding nature of alcohol can be altered by the context in which it is consumed in a subset of individuals who are sensitive to alcohol's stimulating properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study examined the elevated heart rate (HR) response to alcohol intoxication, thought to reflect an increased sensitivity to alcohol-induced reward, as a potential factor in the increased likelihood of alcohol-induced aggression. Methods: Three groups, intoxicated high ( n=37) and low ( n=37) HR responders and sober controls ( n=73), participated in a laboratory measure of physical aggression, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm. Results: Results revealed that intoxicated high HR responders were more aggressive than the intoxicated low HR responders and sober controls. Conclusions: These findings are interpreted within a hypothetical model relating increased alcohol-induced aggression to a dysregulation in the motivational system responding to rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the connections between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), childhood conduct disorder, and the development later in life of alcoholism or other drug abuse. Definitions of disorders; Longitudinal studies of the association of ADHD and alcoholism; Rule-breaking behavior and susceptibility to alcoholism; Conclusions.

Investigates the relationships between provocation, acute alcohol intoxication, impaired frontal lobe function and aggressive behavior. Performance on two neuropsychological tests associated with frontal lobe function; Aggression task.

The existence of a relationship between cardiovascular reactivity to signalled shock and alcohol consumption can be inferred from studies of males at increased familial risk for alcoholism. The present study examined two groups of nonalcoholic men—those with multigenerational histories (MGH) of alcoholism and family-history negative (FH-) controls—to determine whether reactivity was related to voluntary ethanol consumption in the context of a beverage taste test. High reactors, a significant majority of whom were MGH males, drank significantly more vodka and orange juice, rum and coke, and orange juice when asked to rate the flavor of three alcoholic and two nonalcoholic drinks. High reactors also consumed more alcohol on a weekly basis according to their self-report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous polysubstance use (SPU) is a common phenomenon, yet little is known about how various substances are used with one another. In the present study 149 drug-using university students completed structured interviews about their use of various substances. For each substance ever used, participants provided details about the type, order and amount of all substances co-administered during its most recent administration. Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis were frequently co-administered with each other and with all other substances. Chi-squared tests revealed that when alcohol was used in combination with any of cannabis, psilocybin, MDMA, cocaine, amphetamine, methylphenidate (ps < 0.01) or LSD (p < 0.05) its initial use preceded the administration of the other substance. Paired samples t-tests revealed that when alcohol was used with cocaine (p < 0.01) or methylphenidate (p < 0.05) it was ingested in greater quantities than when used in their absence. Patterns of cannabis use were not systematically related to other substances administered. Finally, using one-sample t-tests, tobacco use was demonstrated to be increased relative to ‘sober’ smoking rates when used with alcohol, cannabis, psilocybin, MDMA, cocaine, amphetamine (ps < 0.001), LSD (p < 0.01) or methylphenidate (p < 0.05). Results suggest that many substances are routinely used in a SPU context and that the pattern in which a substance is used may be related to other substances co-administered. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence of an association between alcoholism and antisocial personality (ASP). The present study tested two hypotheses: First, that nonalcoholic men with a muitigenerational familial history (MGH) of alcoholism would play more cards on a card task that has been shown previously to differentiate antisocial populations from normals and, second, that MGH subjects would display more evidence of ASP on two personality questionnaires: The Self-Report Psychopathy scale and the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory. A total of 28 subjects (14 MGH and 14 family history negative for alcoholism [FH-]) were employed in this study. MGH subjects played significantly more cards during the card task than did FH- subjects. However, the two groups did not differ on the ASP questionnaires. The possibility that a subtle frontal-lobe deficit, rather than ASP per se, underlies the poorer performance of the MGH males is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Binge drinking, characterized by a pattern of excessive alcohol intake on a single occasion, is a growing epidemic among college students. Mixing alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks is also increasing in popularity. Caffeine suppresses the user's ability to accurately assess her level of intoxication and, consequently, the user tends to drink more without realizing the effects. Few studies to date, however, have focused on the association between mixing alcohol with energy drinks and binge drinking. Methods: Our study surveyed 221 Canadian college students on their mixing and binge drinking behaviours. We expected to find no significant gender differences in the proportions of both mixers and binge drinkers or in the frequencies of mixing and binge drinking. Results: Binge drinkers were more likely to mix than non-binge drinkers, and mixers were more likely to binge drink than non-mixers. Additionally, t-test results showed that mixers were more motivated to drink for the sake of getting drunk than non-mixers were. Surprisingly, these two groups did not significantly differ in the degree to which they felt risk-related behavioral states when they consumed, even though mixers reported significantly more drinking-related life interference. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that preventative programs aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol binge drinking need to consider mixing energy drinks and alcohol intake as a risk factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Alcohol may have psychomotor stimulant properties during the rising limb of the blood alcohol curve at commonly self-administered doses. Increased heart rate (HR) immediately after alcohol consumption may serve as an indicator or marker of such properties, which appear to be potentially opiate-mediated and dopamine-dependent. Naltrexone, an opiate antagonist, has been used successfully in the treatment of alcoholism and may produce its therapeutic effects through its effects on alcohol metabolism or by blocking alcohol's rewarding effects. We hypothesized that, if naltrexone blocks the psychomotor stimulant properties of ethanol, then it would decrease or eliminate the HR increase associated with acute alcohol intoxication and that this would be independent of any effect on alcohol metabolism. Methods: Twenty male subjects were administered placebo and alcohol (1.0 mL 95% USP ethanol/kg body weight) in a laboratory setting on one day and naltrexone (50 mg) and alcohol on another (counterbalanced). We assessed all subjects for a change in HR and for a subjective and behavioural response from 35 to 170 minutes after drug or alcohol administration. Results: The placebo and alcohol mix produced a significant mean HR increase from baseline (F1,95 = 46.01, p < 0.0001, Cohen's d = 0.62), while naltrexone and alcohol did not (nonsignificant). The significant effects of naltrexone on blood alcohol level did not account for the effect of naltrexone on alcohol-induced HR change but did account for alterations in subjective and behavioural response to alcohol. Conclusions: Naltrexone appears to substantially reduce the HR increase that is characteristic of alcohol intoxication. This finding appears to lend moderate support to the notions that, first, naltrexone has differential effects on alcohol reactions and, second, that it specifically blocks the acute psychomotor stimulant properties of alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Methylphenidate (MPH) is a prescription stimulant drug with known abuse potential; however, little is known about its patterns of misuse or the characteristics of its abusers.Methods: A sample of 50 university students reporting MPH misuse and 50 control subjects matched for age, sex, and ethnicity completed structured face-to-face interviews about their MPH and other drug use. For each substance ever used, they provided information regarding routes of administration and other substances ever coadministered, as well as details about the most recent administration. MPH users provided additional information about their reasons for use and, in 36 cases, about how they obtained the drug.Results: Relative to control subjects, those who misused MPH were more likely to have used various other prescription and nonprescription stimulant drugs over their lifetime, and most MPH users reported mixing the drug with other psychoactive substances. Of the MPH sample, 70% reported recreational use of the drug, while 30% reported that MPH was used exclusively for study purposes. Relative to those using it exclusively for study, recreational users were more likely to report using MPH intranasally, as well as coadministering MPH with other substances. Most of those who reported their source of MPH obtained it from an acquaintance with a prescription.Conclusions: Those who misuse MPH are more likely than their peers to misuse various other substances, and MPH misuse frequently occurs in the context of simultaneous polydrug use. Because the primary supply of inappropriately used MPH appears to be prescribed users, efforts should be directed toward preventing its diversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorders are frequently co-morbid conditions (Stewart, 1996). Alcohol use may serve a "negatively-reinforcing" function among traumatized individuals with PTSD (Stewart, 1996; Stewart, Conrod, Pihl, & Dongier, 1999a; Stewart, Pihl, Conrod, & Dongier, 1998). As such, the heavy drinking behavior of those with PTSD should be relatively situation specific (i.e., more frequent in "negative" discriminative contexts than in other types of contexts). To test this "situational-specificity" hypothesis, a lifetime measure of trauma exposure (Everstine & Everstine, 1993), the PTSD Symptom Self-Report Scale (Foa, Riggs, Dancu, & Rothbaum, 1993), and the 42-item Inventory of Drinking Situations (Annis, Graham, & Davis, 1987) were administered to a community-recruited sample of 294 adult women substance abusers. PTSD symptoms were significantly positively correlated with frequency of heavy drinking in negative situations, but unrelated to frequency of heavy drinking in positive and temptation situations. At the level of specific drinking situations, PTSD symptoms were significantly positively correlated with frequency of heavy drinking in the negative situations of Unpleasant Emotions, Physical Discomfort, and Conflict with Others. PTSD symptoms were unrelated to frequency of heavy drinking in the positive situations of Pleasant Times with Others and Social Pressure to Drink, or in the temptation situations of Testing Personal Control and Urges and Temptations. Additionally, PTSD symptoms were significantly negatively correlated with frequency of heavy drinking in positive situations involving Pleasant Emotions. Anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety-related sensations; Peterson & Reiss, 1992), but not Neuroticism (tendency to experience negative affect; Costa & McCrae, 1992), mediated the observed associations between PTSD symptoms and situation-specific heavy drinking in ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which relates to the association between paternal alcoholism, paternal absence and the development of problem behaviors among boys ranging between the ages of six to twelve years of age. Assessment of behavioral problems by teachers; What consistent with personality theories of alcoholism, results showed; Information on these boys.