World's first alcoholism vaccine to run preclinical trial in Chile

World’s first alcoholism vaccine to run preclinical trial in Chile

Tuesday, 22 January 2013 19:57

Written by Katie Manning  

Vaccine promises to cure alcoholism, but without mental health treatment, could society swap one addiction for another?

Splitting headaches and waves of nausea – a drinker’s worst enemy – may soon provide alcoholics with an unlikely rescue from a crippling addiction. A preclinical trial for the Universidad de Chile’s alcoholism vaccine, set to break ground in February, will use mice to determine dosing. Researchers will apply the findings to a human trial in November this year.

Dr. Juan Asenjo, director of the Institute for Cell Dynamics and Biotechnology at Universidad de Chile, thinks that although the vaccine is not a cure-all, it could provide an important first step.

“People who end up alcoholic have a social problem; a personality problem because they’re shy, whatever, and then they are depressed, so it’s not so simple,” Asenjo said. “But if we can solve the chemical, the basic part of the problem, I think it could help quite a bit.”

The preclinical trial precludes the phase one clinical trial in India, when doctors will inject people with the vaccine for the first time. If all goes well, the vaccination could be available as soon as two years from now, according to Asenjo.

The vaccine could affect hundreds of millions of alcoholics worldwide. In Chile, one in 15 men have an alcohol use disorder, according to the most recent 2011 study from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“If it works, it’s going to have a worldwide impact, but with many vaccines one has to test them carefully. I think the chances that this one will work are quite high,” said Asenjo.

Normally, the liver turns alcohol into the compound acetaldehyde, which can be thanked for the vicious hangovers that often follow heavy drinking. An alcohol-metabolizing enzyme then breaks the compound down.

The vaccine would work for six months to one year through RNA, which can control gene expression. The so-called anti-aldh2 antisense RNA acts as a messenger to tell the liver not to express genes that metabolize alcohol. In other words, the vaccine ups the ante on hangovers in order to discourage consumption.

Asenjo said his research team in Chile is heading up the only trial of alcohol vaccines in the world, but the concept isn’t new.

Nearly a century ago, a drug called Disul?ram hit the shelves. Disulfiram blocks the enzyme from breaking down alcohol, thus intensifying the body’s negative response to alcohol.

The drug doesn’t ease intense cravings and has a high toxicity level. Coping with harsher hangovers is apparently a tough pill to swallow as patients often don’t continue taking the medicine as directed.

The vaccine, once injected, can’t be reversed until completion.

Inspiration for the vaccine struck from the far East, said Asenjo. Some hangover-prone individuals have a gene mutation that, like Disulfiram, inhibits the breakdown of alcohol and subsequently slashes alcoholism rates among those with the gene.

“People who are Japanese, Chinese or Korean and have this mutation – Let’s say 15 to 20 percent of the population – they don’t touch alcohol, and that’s because they feel bad with the vomit and the nausea,” Asenjo said.

Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research’s (CONICYT) Fondef program, which gives money to develop science and technology, financed researchers at Universidad de Chile to look into this phenomenon. They found a way to alter a person’s gene expression to mimic this gene mutation, thus providing a long-term treatment.

The only lasting treatment currently available demands an iron will, according to the director of general services at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Chile. He said hasn’t picked up a drink in the past 36 of his 75 years.

The recovering alcoholic, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed that a vaccine alone can’t solve addiction.

“Personally, I hope it works, but it’s not so easy for the person who already has alcoholism,” said the director. “Once you have this problem. You don’t have a solution. You pick up a drink, think you can handle a few, but it’s not possible.”

He leafed through a long list of AA’s sister organizations from Neurotics Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous to Compulsive Shoppers Anonymous. A vaccine, he said, can’t cure all. It won’t fix the mental challenges that plague addicts. They might latch onto an even more lethal substance with alcohol out of the picture.

“I had a friend. He quit drinking. Then he became a terrible smoker. He was connected to an oxygen tank for two months to keep him alive,” said the director.

“A person needs to confront themselves,” he added.

By Katie Manning (manning@santiagotimes.cl)Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times

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As Florida Bath Salts death rise, drug enforcers, stymied

Bath salts are synthetic drugs that can be snorted with effects similar to ecstasy or cocaine. But bath salts are easier to obtain — online or at head shops and convenience stores — and cheaper.

AS FLORIDA BATH SALTS DEATH RISES, DRUG ENFORCERS, STYMIED
By Jessica Vander Velde, Times Staff Writer
Jessica Vander VeldeTampa Bay Times In Print: Sunday, October 14, 2012

Story Tools Print this story Purchase reprints Contact the editor Email Newsletters Jairious McGhee, 23, was a caterer with no criminal record when he died after using bath salts in Tampa in April 2011. Related Links Snapshots: The faces of bath salts deaths in Florida Designer drugs slip past prosecution

TAMPA — When Jairious McGhee ran through a busy Tampa intersection screaming rap lyrics, when an officer's Taser barely slowed him and he fought off medics, when his heart stopped five times and he eventually died, the drug in his body was legal in most states.

It was April 2011, and bath salts had made few headlines. Attorney General Pam Bondi had just issued a temporary ban on the drug in Florida, but within three months, the U.S. Department of Justice would be calling this fine white powder an "emerging domestic threat."

Now its use is spreading, as law enforcement struggles to deal with a new designer drug that changes shape every time officials try to crack down.

More than 20 people have died in Florida from bath salts, according to a Tampa Bay Times examination of the drug's impact in Florida.

Two of the victims — both 23-year-old men — died in Tampa. One thought he was using ecstasy at a rave. The other was a caterer with no criminal record.
Both had methylone in their system, a type of "bath salts," which is the street name for this stimulant meant to mimic ecstasy or cocaine.

Methylone is now illegal in the United States, added by federal authorities to a list of banned chemicals that grows each year. But many variations are still being openly sold because every time legislators outlaw one compound, chemists simply tweak the formula to produce an unregulated drug.

Meanwhile, Florida medical examiner reports show bath salts are killing people across race, age and gender divisions.

Some die horrible deaths, like the Tampa caterer, Jairious McGhee — the first known bath salts death in the Tampa Bay area. His temperature skyrocketed, causing his muscles to break down and release toxins.

Others simply do not wake up.

And more still are committing shocking acts after using bath salts. According to their own accounts:
A California man attacked an elderly woman with a shovel.

A Pennsylvania man kicked a trooper and bit a paramedic.

A Georgia man went wild at a golf course and threatened to eat people.
Perhaps a Miami man actually did.

Authorities initially suspected bath salts when Rudy Eugene chewed off most of a homeless man's face in May. Tests confirmed the presence of marijuana, but scientists say it is possible Eugene had another drug in his system. Most toxicology labs do not have the ability to test for the newest synthetic drugs.

This summer, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a national synthetic drug roundup — the first of its kind — called "Operation Log Jam." But unless laws are strengthened, legislators will have to ban a virtually limitless list of stimulants or face lengthy, expensive legal battles. At street level, police don't seem to have a strategy, focusing instead on traditional illegal drugs and prescription drug abuse.

Meanwhile, more people are being rushed to emergency rooms, and scientists can only guess bath salts' long-term effects.

"Who's to say that the ingestion of these drugs won't result in neurologic problems?" said University of Florida toxicology director Bruce Goldberger. "There are no studies at all."
• • •

Julia Pearson studied the drug screen results on her computer. A telltale peak in the mass spectrum told her that Jairious McGhee had a stimulant in his system when he died.
But what kind?

Pearson, the chief forensic toxicologist at the Hillsborough Medical Examiner's Office, thought the results looked similar to a case of bath salts discussed in the previous month's ToxTalk newsletter. But no one had published methods for confirming all the emerging types of this drug.

In early 2011, Pearson and the rest of the country did not know much about bath salts.

The previous year, Poison Control centers nationwide received only 304 calls about bath salts.
By the end of 2011, the number of calls would grow 20 times to more than 6,000.

Despite its name, this drug has nothing to do with relaxing crystals for the tub.

Instead, "bath salts" is the umbrella term for synthetic cathinones, a substance found naturally in a shrub called khat (pronounced "cot"). The plant has been abused and banned in the United States for decades and is native to east Africa and southern Arabia, where it is legal. Much of Yemen's agriculture is devoted to the plant.

Cathinones are similar to amphetamines, which include the popular drug methamphetamine (meth). And they are in the same drug class as ecstasy.

Their misuse is not new. One chemical variation — methcathinone — was used as an antidepressant in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and misused as a recreational drug in the 1970s and '80s.
So why the resurgence?

Some believe it is because bath salts have effects similar to ecstasy and cocaine, which are hard to get in their pure forms now. Bath salts are easy to obtain — available online or at head shops and convenience stores.

They are also cheap, selling for about $25 for a small packet. And they do not show up on common drug tests.

Despite some of the side effects, including increased heart rate and temperature, bath salts can sometimes feel exciting or empowering, users and scientists say. The drug promotes the release of the feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.

Jessica Gillespie remembers the euphoria.

One particular strain — which came in a packet with a picture of a smiling snowman — was like pure cocaine without the cravings or comedown, she recalled.

Gillespie, a 28-year-old hairdresser from Arizona, spent a month at a Florida drug rehabilitation center this summer after she was intervened upon by Kevin Dixon, Interventionist, President and Founder of KD Consulting.org because, she says, she was addicted to bath salts.

Scientific studies have not confirmed that addiction is possible, but Gillespie says she felt compelled to use the drug even though it drove her to scratch at her feet until they bled.

It drove her apart from her husband and made her heart beat so rapidly, she would lie in bed and pray she would live through the night.

"I'll never do this again," she remembers pleading. "Please let me wake up in the morning."
• • •
A teenage boy convulsed on the ground at a St. Petersburg hospital, yelling garbled religious phrases — something about being a god.

Though he was only about 120 pounds, it took several people to restrain him at Bayfront Medical Center. Workers strapped him to a hospital bed and injected sedatives into his veins. Then they put him on a ventilator.

Dr. Hiten Upadhyay assumed the boy had ingested something. He had arrived at the hospital with another teen who had similar symptoms.

The young men's friend told the doctor: bath salts.

This was a year ago, and the doctor had never heard of bath salts. He typed the phrase into a search engine. Then he called Poison Control.

At Tampa General, Dr. Jacob Eastman believes he has seen about 10 cases of bath salts intoxication over the past year, but he cannot be sure. No quick test exists, so doctors and police are often left wondering.

Emergency room physicians have to rely on anecdotal information. Then, because there isn't a cure, doctors simply provide supportive care. If patients' temperatures are high, doctors give them chilled blankets and cool intravenous fluids. If they are agitated, they get sedatives.

Upadhyay says when the teenage boy he treated a year ago woke up the next day, he did not remember what happened.

Scientists do not know why some people survive and others, like Jairious McGhee, die. It could be the quantity or the type of cathinone used. Maybe it was the person's body type or metabolism. Other drug and alcohol use could play a role.

Sherri Kacinko is a toxicologist with NMS Labs — a Pennsylvania company that develops tests for new drugs — and though she studies bath salts, even she is not sure of all the drug's effects.
In presentations to scientists across the country, she often jokes that users should contact her for the sake of science:

"Please call me so I can get blood and urine samples," she says.
• • •
In December 2011, a 23-year-old St. Petersburg man was raving at an East Tampa after-hours club called Rat Soap, where dancers wave glow sticks to thumping electronic music.
At some point he used the same type of bath salts McGhee did — methylone. But records indicate Nelson Martinez thought he was using ecstasy.

Soon, clubgoers noticed Martinez "freaking out."

According to a court document filed by Tampa police, the club's manager sat Martinez down in a chair, wrapped him in plastic wrap to stop his flailing and forced a Valium in his mouth. With the help of another, the manager loaded Martinez in a van.

When Martinez's friends got a call about him, they headed to the club and found Martinez still in the van.
He was having a seizure and foaming at the mouth. His temperature was 107.
An hour later, he was dead.
• • •
A year ago, a high-ranking official with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration testified in front of Congress about a "new era of drug distribution."

"No longer are these substances sold in a covert manner to thwart law enforcement efforts," said Deputy Assistant Administrator Joseph Rannazzisi.

With this strategy, designer drugmakers are winning.

While Tampa Bay area law enforcement is targeting synthetic marijuana, bath salts are slipping by them.

A couple of issues are at play: Officers often do not know what they're seeing. Also, bath salts are not prescribed by doctors or dealt on the streets.

Finally, with prescription drug abuse at the epidemic level, synthetics are not always a priority — unless an agency makes it one.

Attorney General Bondi has said cracking down on synthetic drugs is of great concern, but the state's lawmakers have been bogged down by a "cat-and-mouse game."

Bondi calls the drugmakers "creative chemists" and said the manufacturers — largely based in labs in China, Pakistan and India — rebound quickly. Federal officials believe the drugs are made in large quantities, then shipped to Europe for distribution.

"It's a moneymaking business," she said.

In a recent study, Indiana toxicologists confirmed that drugmakers indeed are staying ahead of the law. Soon after the first major federal ban was announced Sept. 7, 2011, packages released into market had new chemicals.

Similar, but legal.
The Times recently purchased bath salts from an online company that promised its products were legal in Florida. The company required a direct deposit into a British bank, and the packets arrived in an envelope sent from Spain.

Each packet cost about $30.

The drug? According to a chemical analysis paid for by the Times, it was methiopropamine.
This compound is similar to the widespread — and outlawed — methamphetamine (or meth).
And it is legal in Florida.

Legal, unless authorities use a federal law called the Analog Act to assert that this compound is "substantially similar" to meth.

But the Analog Act, passed in 1986, is riddled with problems because it is vague. Prosecutors rarely use it.

In an online drug forum, "Synthetic Dave" provided his take on the country's war on bath salts:
Congress is retarded, like all of the chemists and vendors and even users say: "You keep banning them, Well keep making new ones" … I laugh when i see this because they are never going to win.
Authorities agree that, for now, they are not going to win.

"Just trying to ban as many chemicals as possible is not going to solve this problem," said DEA spokesman Rusty Payne.

Authorities say they need another tool because, in the words of Hillsborough chief toxicologist Pearson, these chemists are "relentless."

"It's a never-ending revolving door."
Times news researchers John Martin and Natalie Watson contributed to this report, which used information from the Associated Press. Jessica Vander Velde can be reached at jvandervelde@tampabay.com

Common effects of bath salts
• accelerated heartbeat
• agitation
• anxiety
• hyperthermia
• hallucinations
• confusion
• nausea
• chest pain
• breathlessness
• insomnia
Source: Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs

Recognizing the alcoholic patient

Patients who struggle with alcohol can be difficult to spot. Better training, starting as early as medical school, can ensure these patients get needed treatment.

By Carolyne Krupa, amednews staff. Posted Oct. 15, 2012.

 

Some are easier to spot than others.

It may be as obvious as encountering an intoxicated patient in the emergency room. Or as subtle as noting a hypertensive patient who seems otherwise healthy but has mysteriously missed his or her last few appointments.

Alcoholism presents itself through a variety of signs, symptoms and severities, said Jeffrey Samet, MD, MPH, chief of general internal medicine at Boston Medical Center, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. He is president of the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

“They come in a whole spectrum of obviousness,” he said. “It’s not necessarily going to hit you over the head. It can be highly, highly challenging.”

Primary care physicians can feel ill-equipped to identify and care for such patients, but they play a crucial role in ensuring that individuals get treatment, said Raye Litten, PhD, associate director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s Division of Treatment and Recovery Research. Most people who have problems with alcohol use don’t seek care from a specialist.

Most doctors are not sufficiently trained to identify or diagnose substance abuse.

 

“Usually, the primary care physician may be the only medical professional that people with alcohol problems will see, and maybe not for the alcohol, but for whatever other problems it is causing,” Litten said.

For that reason, it’s important that primary care physicians be able to identify those patients and get involved to help ensure they are treated to control their drinking, he said.

“In many cases, if the doctor doesn’t get involved, the patient dies,” said Nicholas Pace, MD, clinical associate professor at New York University Langone Medical Center.

A June report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York found that most health professionals are not sufficiently trained to identify or diagnose substance abuse. They often are unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of addiction, and they don’t know the best treatment options for patients. As a result, many of those who do provide treatment for addiction are not medical professionals and lack the knowledge and skills to provide the full range of available evidence-based treatments, the report said.

About one in seven Americans 12 and older (40.3 million people) meets the clinical criteria for substance abuse addiction. Seven percent of Americans have an addiction involving alcohol, either to alcohol alone or to alcohol and one or more other substances, said Susan E. Foster, vice president and director of the Columbia center’s Division of Policy Research and Analysis and principal investigator on the report. The high prevalence of the disease makes it something that primary care physicians encounter on a regular basis, she said.

“You can’t practice primary care without seeing patients with current or past alcohol problems every day,” said Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and chief of general internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut.

Beyond full-blown alcoholism, many more people are involved in risky levels of drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines risky drinking as more than four drinks on any single day and no more than 14 drinks per week for men. For women, such drinking means no more than three drinks on any single day and no more than seven drinks per week. An estimated 18 million Americans have an alcohol use disorder and 40 million are high-risk drinkers, Litten said.

Obstacles to care

Primary care physicians face several challenges in identifying patients who have problems with alcohol. Many patients may not be comfortable talking with doctors about drinking, and doctors have a limited time to meet with each patient, Dr. Samet said.

“With primary care, if you’re seeing a patient in a usual clinic, there are so many issues on the table that this one may be lost in the shuffle,” he said.

18 million Americans have an alcohol-use disorder.

 

Depending on their training, physicians may not recognize that a patient is addicted to alcohol, Dr. O’Connor said. Historically, medical schools have not provided much training on treating people with alcohol problems, and that lack of training often continues into graduate medical education training, he said.

One issue is that medical schools have a lot of competing subjects to cover in four years. Even so, educating students about alcoholism should be a priority, Dr. O’Connor said.

“There are knowledge barriers in how to identify them, as well as what to do with them when you have them,” he said. “Given that alcohol use disorders are so common in medical populations, it’s ridiculous to think that it’s ignored as much as it is.”

In caring for these patients, there are other barriers, such as the availability of services, the patients’ willingness to undergo treatment and insurance coverage for addiction services, O’Connor said.
Then there is the question of the doctor’s attitude. Despite research proving that alcohol addiction is a disease with serious physiological consequences, some physicians still blame the patient, said Dennis H. Novack, MD, professor of medicine and associate dean of medical education at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding and bias, even among physicians,” Dr. Novack said. “Until physicians see alcoholism as a chronic disease for which there is no cure, you can’t help the patient.”
Instituting some type of standardized screening process can make a difference, Dr. Pace said. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test can help physicians identify patients with alcohol issues. It involves asking patients questions about how much they drink, what they drink and when they drink.

40 million Americans are high-risk drinkers.

 

“Alcoholism is the big masquerader,” Dr. Pace said. “If the patient has several issues and a physician can’t figure out what’s really wrong, they should really think about alcohol and alcoholism. You have to keep in mind that you see the whole spectrum of the disease. It comes in all sizes, shapes and colors and really mimics so many other problems.”

Patients struggling with alcohol use may display a variety of symptoms, including indigestion, hypertension and liver problems, Dr. O’Connor said. Physicians should routinely screen patients for alcohol use, he said.

In talking with patients, physicians should make it clear that their discussions are confidential, Dr. O’Connor said. They also should discuss what could happen if the patient pursues treatment. Alcohol counseling can be brief, similar to discussions on other health issues such as diabetes and hypertension.

“If you don’t address those issues, they will make other medical issues worse,” Dr. O’Connor said.
Excessive alcohol use raises blood pressure and can contribute to a litany of medical problems, Dr. O’Connor said. Hypertension can lead to cardiac arrhythmia; problems with the gastrointestinal system, liver and pancreas; and neurological problems such as dementia.

The NIAAA provides resources for physicians and the public. Its guide for doctors recommends asking patients how many times in the past year they have had more than five drinks at a time. Asking that single question can help physicians identify up to 82% of people who have alcohol problems, Litten said.

It’s important that physicians not be reproachful or judgmental of patients, but express concern for their health and welfare, said David Bronson, MD, a general internist and president of the American College of Physicians. If doctors immediately ask a patient about drinking, the patient may feel attacked. It’s important to frame the question as a series of other general health questions that the doctor would ask of all patients.

“You have to make them feel comfortable about it,” Dr. Bronson said. “It should be a routine for all of your patients.”

Educating young doctors about alcohol

Some medical schools are working to make sure students are exposed to the issues of alcohol addiction early in their training. For example, first-year students at Drexel University College of Medicine are required to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Two AA members also come to the school to talk with students about their experiences in small group sessions.

“We want our students to understand and see AA as a resource, but we also want our students to understand what people with this disease are going through,” Dr. Novack said. “They have gone through hell and back, and they have a lot that they can share that I think can help break some of the biases of our students.”

At the GME level, Dr. Pace has been leading a course for first-year internal medicine residents on alcoholism and substance abuse for about 10 years. The four-day course is offered once a month to residents at four New York hospitals.

As part of the course, AA members meet one on one with residents. They tell their stories, and residents present those to the class at the end of the course. Students also attend an AA meeting and work with trained actors to practice interviewing patients about their alcohol use. They also meet a physician who has struggled with substance abuse addiction, and they hear how it affected careers and personal lives, Dr. Pace said.

All internal medicine residents at Lenox Hill Hospital are required to take the course, said Robin Dibner, MD, director of the hospital’s internal medicine residency program and clinical associate professor at NYU School of Medicine.

“I just felt that there was nowhere in medical school that they were learning about this,” she said. “I think it should be a major part of curriculum for all residencies.”

Nicole Lapinel, MD, chief medical resident at Lenox Hill, said the program was eye-opening. Being able to talk one on one with an AA member and hear stories made a strong impression.

“You got to know this individual — when they first recognized that they had a problem and how they went about seeking treatment,” Dr. Lapinel said. “Sitting there listening to their very personal stories — as a physician you don’t normally get that perspective.”

The American Board of Addiction Medicine also is working to fill gaps in expertise about alcohol and substance abuse addictions. In 2011, the board launched its first residency programs in addiction medicine. There now are 10 programs around the country, Dr. Samet said.

Specialized training will help ensure that more patients who need help can get treatment, Dr. O’Connor said. “There is a huge dearth of specially trained physicians in this area.”

Weblink

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (www.niaaa.nih.gov/)
American Board of Addiction Medicine (www.abam.net/)
Alcoholics Anonymous (www.aa.org/)

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“Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide,” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Updated 2005 Edition (pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/guide.pdf)

Correction

This article originally incorrectly stated the title of Jeffrey Samet, MD, MPH. He is chief of general internal medicine at Boston Medical Center, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. In addition, the article gave an incorrect percentage of Americans who have an addiction involving alcohol. Seven percent have an addiction involving alcohol. American Medical News regrets the error.

Alcoholism Affects Men’s and Women’s Brains Differently

By Janice WoodAssociate News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 11, 2012

New research has demonstrated that the effects on white matter brain volume from long-term alcohol abuse are different for men and women.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System also suggest that when they stop drinking, women recover their white matter brain volume more quickly than men.

Previous research has linked alcoholism with white matter reduction, according to the researchers, who explain that white matter forms the connections between neurons, allowing communication between different areas of the brain.

In this latest study, a research team, led by Susan Mosher Ruiz, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research scientist in the Laboratory for Neuropsychology at BUSM and research scientist at the VA Boston Healthcare System, and Marlene Oscar Berman, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, neurology and anatomy and neurobiology at BUSM and research career scientist at the VA Boston Healthcare System, employed structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the effects of drinking history and gender on white matter volume.

They examined brain images from 42 abstinent alcoholic men and women who drank heavily for more than five years and 42 nonalcoholic men and women. The researchers found that a greater number of years of alcohol abuse was associated with smaller white matter volumes in the alcoholic men and women. In the men, the decrease was observed in the corpus callosum, while in women this effect was observed in cortical white matter regions.

“We believe that many of the cognitive and emotional deficits observed in people with chronic alcoholism, including memory problems and flat affect, are related to disconnections that result from a loss of white matter,” said Mosher Ruiz.

The researchers also found that the number of daily drinks had a strong impact on alcoholic women, with the volume loss 1.5 to 2 percent for each additional drink. Additionally, there was an 8 to 10 percent increase in the size of the brain ventricles, which are areas filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that play a protective role in the brain. When white matter dies, CSF produced in the ventricles fills the ventricular space.

The researchers also found that in men, white matter brain volume in the corpus callosum recovered at a rate of 1 percent per year for each year of abstinence. For people who abstained less than a year, the researchers found evidence of increased white matter volume and decreased ventricular volume in women, but not in men. However, for people in recovery for more than a year, those signs of recovery disappeared in women and became apparent in men.

“These findings preliminarily suggest that restoration and recovery of the brain’s white matter among alcoholics occurs later in abstinence for men than for women,” said Mosher Ruiz. “We hope that additional research in this area can help lead to improved treatment methods that include educating both alcoholic men and women about the harmful effects of excessive drinking and the potential for recovery with sustained abstinence.”

The research was published online in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Source: Boston University Medical Center



APA ReferenceWood, J. (2012). Alcoholism Affects Men’s and Women’s Brains Differently. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 22, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/08/11/alcoholism-affects-mens-and-womens-brains-differently/42963.html

 

Consumption of Alcohol/Energy Drinks Linked with Casual Risky Sex

CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL/ENERGY DRINKS LINKED WITH CASUAL RISKY SEX

ScienceDaily (July 25, 2012) — A new study from the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has found a link between the consumption of caffeinated energy drinks mixed with alcohol and casual -- often risky -- sex among college-age adults.

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According to the study's findings, college students who consumed alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmEDs) were more likely to report having a casual partner and/or being intoxicated during their most recent sexual encounter.

The results seem to indicate that AmEDs may play a role in the "hook-up culture" that exists on many college campuses, says study author Kathleen E. Miller, senior research scientist at UB's RIA.
The problem is that casual or intoxicated sex can increase the risk of unwanted outcomes, like unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual assault and depression, says Miller. And previous research has linked energy drink consumption with other dangerous behaviors: drunken driving, binge drinking and fighting, for example.

"Mixing energy drinks with alcohol can lead to unintentional overdrinking, because the caffeine makes it harder to assess your own level of intoxication," says Miller.

"AmEDs have stronger priming effects than alcohol alone," she adds. "In other words, they increase the craving for another drink, so that you end up drinking more overall."

The good news: Miller's study found that consumption of AmEDs was not a significant predictor of unprotected sex. Drinkers were no less likely than nondrinkers to have used a condom during their most recent sexual encounter.

Regardless of their AmED use, participants in the study were more likely to use a condom during sex with a casual partner than during sex with a steady partner, consistent with previous research. A steady or committed partner is a less risky prospect than a casual partner whose sexual history is unknown, Miller notes, so using a condom may not feel as necessary.

To be published in the print edition of Journal of Caffeine Research and available online to subscribers of the journal, the study is part of a larger three-year research project by Miller, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The research included 648 participants (47.5 percent female) enrolled in introductory-level courses at a large public university. They ranged in age from 18 to 40 but mostly clustered at the lower end of the age spectrum. More than 60 percent were younger than 21.

According to the study's findings, nearly one in three sexually active students (29.3 percent) reported using AmEDs during the month prior to the survey.

At their most recent sexual encounter, 45.1 percent of the participants reported having a casual partner, 24.8 percent reported being intoxicated and 43.6 percent reported that they did not use a condom.

According to Miller, drinking Red Bull/vodkas or Jagerbombs doesn't necessarily lead people to get drunk and become intimate with strangers, but it does increase the odds of doing so. But she points out that these drinks are becoming increasingly popular with college-age adults and should be considered a possible risk factor for potentially health-compromising sexual behaviors.

The findings may provide a basis for educational campaigns or consumer safety legislation, such as warning labels that advise against mixing energy drinks with alcohol, Miller says.

How Alcohol Can Damage Your Liver


Drinking too much alcohol can have serious consequences for your health, especially your liver, which is involved with detoxification of the body after excessive alcohol intake.The controversy linked to alcohol intake has been raging for many years: on the one hand, alcohol when used in moderation, can help people to relax and has recently been found to lower the risk of mortality; on the other hand soaring statistics of alcoholism and all its attendant ills, particularly in a country such as South Africa, paint a scary picture of "demon drink".


Positive findings

A report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2011 by Akbaraly and his coworkers at the University College, and the Imperial College in London, as well as the University of Montpellier and other research organisations in France, showed that “Consumption of nuts and soy and moderate alcohol intake appeared to be the most important independent contributors to decreased mortality [death] risks”. The authors pointed out that moderate alcohol consumption is also part of the Mediterranean Diet, which is becoming increasingly popular worldwide to combat most diseases that plague populations with a Western dietary intake.

The most important factor that we need to keep in mind is the word "moderate" which was linked to alcohol intake in this study. A "moderate" alcohol intake is presently regarded as 1-2 drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for women, and Not Every Day.

The dire consequences of excessive alcohol intake as practised by so many people throughout the world and also in South Africa, are listed below.

Dire consequences

Excessive alcohol intake has many dire social and medical consequences, including trauma, abuse, loss of income and a wide spectrum of disease conditions. For today, we will concentrate on those conditions which affect the liver. The liver is the one organ in the body that is most intimately involved with the detoxification of the body after excessive alcohol intake, and it is, therefore, the organ that often suffers the most damage.

Alcoholic liver disease

This is probably the most common manifestation of liver disease in many countries where alcohol is consumed in excessive quantities. A toxic byproduct of excessive alcohol intake, is acetaldehyde which causes damage to the structure and function of the mitochondria in human body cells, particularly in the liver ( Mahan et al, 2011).

Susceptibility

Some individuals and populations are more susceptible to alcoholic liver disease than others. The following factors have been identified as potential markers of susceptibility to alcoholic liver disease:

• Genetic variations or polymorphisms of the enzymes that metabolise alcohol in the body
• Gender - women are more vulnerable to alcoholic liver disease than men
• Simultaneous exposure to drugs that can harm the liver
• Infections with viruses that attack the liver
• Poor dietary status, which is often associated with high alcohol intakes (see below).

(Mahan et al, 2011)

Three stages

According to Mahan and her coauthors (2011), alcoholic liver disease progresses in three stages, namely hepatic steatosis or fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis.

Each one of these stages is characterised by many and varied metabolic disturbances, such as:

Fat deposition in the cells of the liver in Stage 1 - this dire consequence of excess alcohol intake can be reversed provided the patient stops drinking.

The following symptoms characterised Alcoholic Hepatitis:

• Enlargement of the liver
• Increased liver enzyme levels
• Increase in a compound called bilirubin in the blood
• Anaemia
• Abdominal pain, loss of appetite, vomiting, weakness, diarrhoea, weight loss and/or fever

(Mahan et al, 2011)

Despite the severity of these symptoms, total abstinence and nutritional support can resolve Stage 2 symptoms and permit the patient to lead a normal life again, but without ever drinking alcohol again.

Once Stage 3 of alcoholic liver disease is reached, the prognosis becomes serious. Additional symptoms to those of Stage 2, such as bleeding from the digestive tract, encephalopathy (a reversible change in mental status when toxins are not filtered and removed properly by the liver), portal hypertension (increased blood pressure in veins that drain blood from the liver, because the blood flow through the liver is blocked), and ascites (accumulation of fluid, proteins and electrolytes such as sodium and potassium in the peritoneal cavity), are often present.

The prognosis of alcoholic liver disease after a patient has reached Stage 3 is to a great degree dependent on how much damage the liver has suffered, the type of nutritional and medical support the patient receives and total abstinence from all alcohol (Mahan et al, 2011).

Excessive alcohol Intake and malnutrition

In the above discussion, it was repeatedly mentioned that patients with alcoholic liver disease need nutritional support, which when coupled to total abstinence from alcohol may return even very sick patients to good health. The reason why nutritional support makes such a difference, is that most alcoholic suffer from extensive malnutrition. In most cases they are totally unaware of their malnourished state. According to Mahan and her coauthors (2011), the following nutritional deficiencies are associated with excessive alcohol intake:

• Too little or too much energy - alcohol often replaces food in the diets of even moderate drinkers which can either lead to weight loss or weight gain. In heavy drinker who are addicted to alcohol, alcohol replaces nutrient-rich food which leads to deficiencies.
• Poor protein absorption - because alcohol interferes with normal digestion and absorption, the liver is unable to absorb amino acids properly and can thus not produce all the proteins it, and the body require.
• Fat metabolism is impaired and patients tend to deposit triglycerides in liver cells thus exacerbating the fatty liver condition.
• Most alcoholic also develop insulin resistance and do not metabolise carbohydrates efficiently.
• Probably the most serious and dramatic nutritional insults suffered by alcoholics, are vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Thiamine or vitamin B1 deficiency is the most common vitamin deficiency in alcoholics and can cause so-called Wernicke encephalopathy. Severe vitamin A deficiency can also occur leading to night blindness. In addition, deficiencies of folic acid, vitamins B6, C, D, E and K are common. In regard to minerals, alcoholics may suffer from low calcium, magnesium, phosphate and zinc intakes.

(Mahan et al, 2011)

It is evident from the above that moderate intake of alcohol can probably lower the risk of mortality, but that the moment this moderate intake increases to excessive levels, alcohol literally becomes "poisonous" and can do our bodies, especially the liver, great harm.

If you have been diagnosed with any symptoms related to alcoholic liver disease, stop drinking alcohol immediately, follow the instructions of your physician and consult a registered dietician urgently. The dietician will help you redress your nutritional deficiencies and provide you with an individual diet prescription that is tailored to your specific condition, the severity of your symptoms and the amount of damage your liver has suffered.

Alcoholic liver disease is one of the many negative consequences of excessive alcohol intake, so if you suspect that your moderate drinking is getting out of control, get help fast before you do irreparable damage to your liver.

- (Dr IV van Heerden, DietDoc, June 2012)

(Photo of woman drinking too much alcohol from Shutterstock)

References:

(Akbaraly et al, 2011. Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 94(1):247-53; Mahan LK et al (2011). Krause’s Food & the Nutrition Care Process. Ed. 13. Elsevier, USA; Unilever.)

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Heroin and Other Opiates Use Rising in Colorado, Figure Show

HEROIN AND OTHER OPIATES USE RISING IN COLORADO, FIGURES SHOW

Federal and local data suggest an uptick in heroin use in Colorado, a troubling development for local drug enforcement agencies and treatment programs.

One new federal drug use survey, the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Annual Report, shows that street use of opiate drugs, including heroin and opiate-based prescription medicines such as oxycodone, has doubled between 2000 and 2011.

The report, released May 17 by the National Office of Drug Control Policy, tracks the blood test results of adult male arrestees in Denver and nine other U.S. cities. In Denver; Indianapolis; Sacramento, Calif.; and Minneapolis, the number of adult male arrestees testing positive for opiates, including heroin and prescription painkillers, rose from 3 percent to 4 percent in 2000 to 8 percent to 10 percent in 2011.

Most of the heroin in Denver comes from Mexican drug cartels selling black and brown heroin, said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.
Heroin use still lags behind methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, accounting for 3 percent of drug arrests in Colorado.

"It's out there," Gorman said. "It is increasing in our area. Heroin hasn't reached the level of other drugs yet, but pharmaceutical opiate abuse is skyrocketing. Those drugs are more expensive than heroin, and that moves people to go from opiates to heroin. It's the same kind of high, but cheaper."
New heroin users increasingly are under age 35, white non-Hispanics, and more likely to smoke heroin than inject it, said Bruce Mendelson, senior data consultant at the Denver Office of Drug Strategy.

Alcohol and marijuana still lead the list of the most-abused drugs in Denver, Mendelson said, followed by heroin. In 2010, heroin overdoses ranked third (behind marijuana and cocaine) in Denver metro emergency department visits related to illicit drug abuse.

During the first half of 2011, of Denver residents admitted for addiction treatment, nearly 18 percent were admitted for heroin and prescription opiate addiction treatment, surpassing methamphetamines, according to statistics from the Colorado Health Foundation and Denver Office of Drug Strategy. Heroin and opiate drugs have become the third-leading cause of deaths that are alcohol- or drug-related.

Data from drug-abuse-treatment programs also show an uptick in heroin use and a sharp rise in opiate pharmaceuticals, said Marc Condojani, associate director of community intervention programs at the state division of behavioral health.

"We had 1,676 heroin admissions in 2003, and then the numbers dipped for a few years, but then they went up again," Condojani said.

"In 2010, we had 1,755 treatment admissions for heroin. In the other-opiates category, we had 541 people admitted for treatment in 2003, and in 2010, there were 1,715. That's over a threefold increase. The alarming part, to me, is that people who are dependent on those prescription medications eventually look for alternatives. And that's usually heroin."
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com


Read more: Heroin and other opiate use rising in Colorado, figures show - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20823072/heroin-and-other-opiate-use-rising-colorado-figures#ixzz1xPQlY2b9
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