Effects of alcohol on psychophysiological hyperreactivity to nonaversive and aversive stimuli in men at high risk for alcoholism.

Psychophysiological reactivity to nonaversive (1-KHz, 70-db tones) and aversive stimuli (shock) was examined in nonalcoholic men with multigenerational family histories (MFH) of alcoholism and family history negative (FH–) men, while sober and after consuming alcohol. In comparison with FH– Ss, sober MFH Ss had significantly larger skin conductance (SC) orienting responses (ORs), shorter OR latencies, slower habituation rates to the tones, and larger increases in heart rate and vasoconstriction to the shock. Alcohol dampened the magnitude of the SC-OR to the tones and the degree of cardiovascular reactivity to the shocks and increased the habituation rate to the tones in MFH Ss only. Alcohol consumption also increased the SC-OR recovery time in FH– Ss only. The MFH Ss' pattern of psychophysiological hyperreactivity is discussed in terms of a potential dysfunction in stimulus–response regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meta-analysis of P300 amplitude from males at risk for alcoholism.

The P3(00) event-related brain potential (ERP) is used to study the development of alcoholism by comparing males who have a positive family history of alcoholism with control Ss who have no such familial history. Meta-analysis indicated that overall, P3 amplitudes were obtained from males with family histories of alcoholism compared to controls. Moderator analysis indicated that paradigms using difficult visual tasks yielded the most reliable effects. Furthermore, no differences in outcomes were obtained among studies that recruited positive family history Ss exclusively from among individuals whose fathers had received treatment for alcoholism as compared with other studies. These findings are discussed in the context of using ERPs as an evaluative tool in the study of psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of health beliefs on weight loss in individuals at high risk for NIDDM

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether perceived risk and other health beliefs held by individuals at high risk for developing NIDDM predict weight loss and behavior change during a behavioral weight loss program to reduce the risk of NIDDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Health beliefs and objective risk factors for diabetes were examined in 154 overweight men and women with a family history of NIDDM. The effects of these factors on adherence, dietary intake, weight loss, and changes in glucose levels were examined in a subset of 79 of these subjects who participated in a 2-year behavioral weight control program. RESULTS: Those subjects who perceived themselves at highest risk of developing diabetes had a stronger family history of the disease and were more likely to be women than subjects considering themselves at more moderate risk. These participants also rated diabetes as a more serious disease, but were less likely to believe that weight loss would lower their risk. None of these health beliefs were related to attendance at meetings, dietary intake, weight loss, or fasting glucose, but higher perceived seriousness predicted larger reductions in BMI at 1 year. Of the objective risk factors for NIDDM, higher baseline BMI predicted larger weight losses throughout the program, and a stronger family history of diabetes was related to greater weight regain after an initial weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived risk of developing diabetes and other health beliefs did not predict performance in a behavioral weight loss program. These data suggest that efforts to modify health beliefs by educating high-risk individuals about their risk and benefits of weight loss may not be effective in improving long-term weight loss results.     

Differential sensitivity to alcohol reinforcement in groups of men at risk for distinct alcoholism subtypes

The present study examines the relationship of familial and personality risk factors for alcoholism to individual differences in sensitivity to the positively and negatively reinforcing properties of alcohol. Sixteen sons of male alcoholics with multigenerational family histories of alcoholism (MFH) and 11 men who self-report heightened sensitivity to anxiety (HAS) were compared with 13 age-matched family history negative, low anxiety sensitive men (FH-LAS) on sober and alcohol-intoxicated response patterns. We were interested in the effects of alcohol on specific psychophysiological indices of "stimulus reactivity," anxiety, and incentive reward. Alcohol significantly dampened heart rate reactivity to aversive stimulation for the MFH and HAS men equally, yet did not for the FH-LAS group. HAS men evidenced idiosyncrasies with respect to alcohol-induced changes in electrodermal reactivity to aversive stimulation (an index of anxiety/fear-dampening), and MFH men demonstrated elevated alcohol-intoxicated resting heart rates (an index of psychostimulation) relative to the FH-LAS men. The results are interpreted as reflecting a sensitivity to the "stimulus reactivity-dampening" effects of alcohol in both high-risk groups, yet population-specific sensitivities to the fear-dampening and psychostimulant properties of alcohol in the HAS and MFH groups, respectively.     

Response inhibition deficit is involved in poor decision making under risk in nonamnesic individuals with alcoholism.

Individuals with alcoholism exhibit poor decision making as reflected by their continued alcohol use despite encountering problems and by low performance in laboratory tasks of decision making. Here, the authors investigated the relative contribution of several distinct processes of executive functions in performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; A. Bechara, A. R. Damasio, H. Damasio, & S. W. Anderson, 1994) in recently detoxified individuals with alcoholism. Compared to matched healthy participants, individuals with alcoholism showed below-normal scores in the last 20 trials of the IGT as well as on other tasks of executive functions, specifically those assessing the capacity to manipulate information stored in working memory, detect abstract rules, or inhibit prepotent responses. Prepotent response inhibition best predicted performance in the late trials of the IGT, that is, when participants have likely acquired knowledge about the reward/punishment contingencies of the task. These results underline the important role that response inhibition plays in decision making, especially in risky situations, when knowledge of the probability of a given outcome becomes available (i.e. decisions under risk). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention-related effects on somatosensory evoked potentials in college students at high risk for psychopathology.

Determined whether a deviation from normal amplitude in the evoked potential in response to attention directed to a stimulus would occur in 10 undergraduates with high scores on a measure of physical anhedonia (AN) and 9 undergraduates with a high score on a measure of perceptual aberration (PA). Ss were compared with 10 control undergraduates and 7 schizophrenics (mean age 25.6 yrs). Previous studies have shown low amplitudes for schizophrenics. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were recorded from 5 scalp locations while Ss counted stimuli to 1 of 4 randomly stimulated fingers; SEPs to counted stimuli contained the attention-related late positive wave (P400). P400 amplitudes of AN Ss were lower than those of normal controls, whereas P400 amplitudes of PA Ss and their matched controls did not differ. P400 amplitudes of AN Ss did not differ significantly from those of schizophrenics, although AN means were somewhat higher. P400 amplitude may provide information that is different from the associated behavioral response and a more sensitive indication of central mechanism dysfunction. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive function, cardiovascular reactivity, and behavior in boys at high risk for alcoholism.

Boys (average age?=?12.1 years) from families with an extensive history of paternal alcoholism differed from controls of similar age and IQ on measures of cognitive function, cardiovascular reactivity, and parent-rated conduct problems. High-risk boys performed most poorly on neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe function. According to tests of temporal organization and conditional associate learning, control over working memory was the frontal subfunction primarily affected. A mental arithmetic task also elicited greater heart rate increases and peripheral vasoconstriction among high-risk boys than among controls. After controlling for group status, significant correlations remained between frontal lobe test scores and disruptive behavior and between cardiovascular hyperreactivity and anxiety levels. The possible contribution of these findings to alcohol abuse was discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men at high risk for alcoholism: The effect of alcohol on cardiovascular response to unavoidable shock.

Three groups of 12 nonalcoholic men at differing degrees of genetic risk for alcoholism were tested with and without alcohol for their cardiovascular response to an aversive stimulus. A high-risk group consisted of sons of alcoholic fathers with extensive transgenerational family histories of alcoholism. A moderate-risk group included sons of alcoholic fathers whose previous generation was essentially negative for other alcoholic diagnoses. The low-risk group consisted of men with negative family histories for the disorder. Heart rate and digital blood volume amplitude were measured in each subject while resting and during a signaled shock procedure. Results show that the high-risk group was more cardiovascularly reactive to the stressor than the moderate-risk group when sober. Alcohol consumption led to a dramatic reduction in the degree of reactivity in the high-risk group, and it led to increased reactivity in the moderate-risk group. The trend for the low-risk group was similar to the moderate-risk group with no significant differences between the two. The methodology and results are discussed in terms of their relevance in the etiology of alcoholism in high-risk men and in terms of the need for generational controls in studying sons of alcoholics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol dependence and abuse in three groups at varying familial alcoholism risk.

Three groups of young men varying in familial alcoholism risk were compared for lifetime and current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnoses. A withdrawal gate diagnostic model (WGM) requiring withdrawal for a dependence diagnosis was also evaluated. Extremely high lifetime DSM-IV diagnostic rates were found for all groups (≥78%), with the highest rate in the highest risk group. Similar group differences obtained for individual criteria or symptoms. Although lifetime diagnostic rates were similar for the WGM and DSM-IV, virtually all cases of dependence were preceded by abuse for the WGM, unlike DSM-IV. The findings underline the importance of distinguishing degrees of familial alcoholism risk. The WGM model temporal onset findings versus DSM-IV and the high lifetime diagnostic rates obtained suggest some limitations of the DSM-IV diagnoses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of diazepam on voluntary ethanol intake in a rat model of alcoholism

The neuropharmacological study of serotonin and behavior has followed two fundamentally different strategies. One approach has used behavior as a dependent variable for assaying drug effects. To characterize serotonergic drugs, most studies have used relatively simple behaviors, such as locomotor activity, startle, exploration, operant responses, and sleep. A second approach has focused on behavior, with drugs used as tools to elucidate the physiological role of serotonin. These studies have increasingly focused on behaviors of ethological importance, including aggression, sexual behavior, and other forms of social interaction. Here we review studies using this approach to focus on one particular kind of social interaction: affiliation.     

The effects of a stress-management training program in individuals at risk in the community at large

In this study we examine the effects of a stress-management training program on individuals without serious (mental) health complaints but with an increased chance of developing them as a consequence of stress. Potential subjects were randomly selected from the community at large and, then screened for participation in the training program if some of several (mental) health risk factors could be attributed to them: past life-events, neuroticism, inassertiveness, avoidant coping style and lack of social support. The control group, which did not take part in the training program, consisted of individuals with a similar risk profile as those in the training group. The training program consisted of several stress-management techniques: changing unhealthy life-style, relaxation training, problem-solving training and social skills-training. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that the training group, as compared to the control group, reported significantly less distress, less trait anxiety, less daily hassles, more assertiveness and more satisfaction with social support at follow-up. There were, however, no significant changes found in the coping skills of either group.     

Using the common-sense model to predict risk perception and disease-related worry in individuals at increased risk for venous thrombosis.

Objective: This study applied the Common-Sense Model (CSM) to predict risk perception and disease-related worry in 174 individuals with a genetic predisposition to venous thrombosis (thrombophilia). Design: Participants completed an adapted version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised (IPQ-R) and measures assessing risk perception and worry. Results: Regression analyses revealed that illness perceptions were predictors of risk perception and thrombosis worry. The hypothesis that illness perceptions mediate the relationship between a person's experience of venous thrombosis and perceived risk and thrombosis worry could not be confirmed. Conclusions: Further research should refine the IPQ-R for populations at risk of a disease and examine the value of the CSM in explaining the relationship between risk perception, worry, and health behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of physical exercise in alcoholism treatment and recovery.

A growing body of literature has demonstrated that physical exercise is associated with favorable mental health outcomes. Exercise has the potential to be an accessible and affordable adjunct treatment option for persons with alcohol use disorders (AUD); however, exercise-based interventions have rarely been applied to this population. The authors examine the potential role of physical exercise in the process of recovery from AUD. Possible physiological, psychological, and social mechanisms whereby exercise may exert influence on alcohol use outcomes are outlined. Studies examining the effects of physical exercise on alcohol and other addictive behaviors are reviewed, and the viability of structured, exercise-based adjunct interventions for AUD populations is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of coping skills training on adolescents at risk for substance use.

279 high-risk secondary school students completed one of the following treatment conditions: (1) coping skills school intervention, (2) coping skills school plus parent intervention, or (3) comparison control. Ss in the coping skills conditions improved on a measure of coping skills acquisition, whereas those in the control group did not. All Ss improved on a variety of personality and school behavior variables. There were some modest increases in self-report of substance use; however, these were smaller than would be expected in a high-risk population over the study period. The findings suggest that preventive intervention with high-risk youth has some positive effect on risk factors, although the differential efficacy of coping skills training with high-risk youth was not supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethanol-induced change in cardiac and endogenous opiate function and risk for alcoholism

Susceptibility to alcoholism varies with age, gender, and familial background. Youthful nonalcoholic males with multigenerational family histories of male alcoholism seem at particular risk. Previous investigations suggest that such males are characterized by abnormal psychophysiological response, while sober and alcohol-intoxicated; additional recent studies indicate that the endogenous opiate systems are involved in mediating ethanol reinforcement and modulating intake. We first compared cardiac response to alcohol administration among young (mean = 22.8 years), nonalcoholic men and women with multigenerational, unigenerational, and negative family histories of alcohol dependence and abuse. Then, we compared the ethanol-induced cardiac response of the males in these three groups to that of currently alcohol-dependent older males and age-matched nonalcoholic male controls. Finally, we examined ethanol-induced change in plasma beta-endorphin and cortisol levels among a subset of the nonalcoholic males, divided into those with high and low levels of postethanol administration heart-rate increase. Nonalcoholic males with multigenerational family histories of male alcoholism were characterized by significantly higher [t(301) = 5.70, p < 0.0001, Cohen's d = 0.73] levels of ethanol-induced heart-rate increase than nonalcoholics from all other comparison groups. The magnitude of their increase matched that of current male alcohol-dependents. Nonalcoholic males with high levels of ethanol-induced heart-rate increase also produced significantly more plasma beta-endorphin after consuming alcohol. Peak production of beta-endorphin was highly correlated (r = 0.861, p < 0.001) with magnitude of heart-rate increase. A subset of those at risk for alcoholism may be characterized by sensitivity to ethanol-induced reward, marked by heightened ethanol-induced, heart-rate increase, mediated by ethanol stimulation of endogenous opiate production. This subset might contain those who, once alcoholic, would differentially benefit from treatment with opiate antagonists.     

Effects of school-based aerobic exercise on blood pressure in adolescent girls at risk for hypertension

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate 1. the extent of weight gain by high school wrestlers between an evening weigh-in and the first round of wrestling the next morning and 2. the relationship between weight gain and wrestling success. METHODS: Body weights of competitors (N = 260) in a high school wrestling tournament were recorded at official weigh-in and again, about 12 h later, immediately before the first round of wrestling. Data for the heavyweight class was excluded. Weight gain (WG in kg), relative weight gain (RWG in %), and weight discrepancy between opponents (WD in kg) were calculated from data obtained at the weighings. The mean WG for all wrestlers was 1.3 kg +/- 1.1 with a range of -2.0 kg to +4.4 kg. This corresponds to RWG of 2.2 +/- 1.7% body weight. RESULTS: WG in the lower weight classes was statistically larger than that seen in the highest weight classes (P < 0.05). The smallest RWG was seen in the 189-lb. class (1.1 +/- 1.9%), and the largest RWG was seen in the 112-lb. class (3.0 +/- 2.1%). Average WD between competitors was 1.7 +/- 1.5 kg (range 0-7.5 kg.). Average WD was largest in the two heaviest classes. Average WG was 1.5 +/- 1.1 kg for winners and 1.2 +/- 1.0 kg for losers. RWG was 2.4 +/- 1.8% for winners and 1.9 +/- 1.6% for losers. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in WG and RWG between winners and losers was significant (P < 0.05). In 74 of the 130 bouts (57%), the heavier wrestler was successful (NS).     

Effects of ethanol on Pavlovian autoshaping in rats

Approach responses, consummatory behaviors, and directed motor responses maintained by food reward resemble autoshaping CRs and are increased by lower doses of ethanol. This study evaluated the effects of presession i.p. injections of ethanol doses (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.70. or 1.00 g/kg) on the acquisition of lever-press autoshaping CR performance in groups of male Long-Evans hooded rats. Paired groups received 15 daily sessions of Pavlovian autoshaping procedures, wherein the insertion of a retractable lever for 5 s (CS) was followed by the response-independent presentation of food (US). Ethanol facilitated lever-press autoshaping CR acquisition, as revealed by dose-related increases in the number of trials on which CRs were performed. The form of the dose-effect curve was inverted U-shaped with maximal responding induced during sessions 1-5 by the 0.70 g/kg ethanol dose. A similar dose-effect curve was observed during sessions 11-15, revealing that the effects of ethanol on autoshaping CR performance were relatively stable. A pseudoconditioning control group injected presession with 0.50 g/kg ethanol received training wherein the food US was presented randomly with respect to the lever CS. Few lever-presses were performed by the Random 0.50 group, indicating that ethanol's effects on autoshaping CR acquisition and maintenance observed in the Paired 0.50 group were not due to its psychomotor activating effects. A non-injection control group performed more autoshaping CRs than did the control group injected presession with saline, indicating that daily presession i.p. injections per se suppress autoshaping CR performance. Results reveal that low doses of ethanol enhance Pavlovian conditioning of directed motor and consummatory-like responding maintained by food reward. Implications for autoshaping accounts of impulsivity and drug abuse are considered.     

The Self-Rating of the Effects of alcohol (SRE) form as a retrospective measure of the risk for alcoholism

AIMS: A low level of response (LR) to alcohol is a characteristic of sons of alcoholics and predicts an elevated future alcoholism risk. A 12-question Self-Rating of the Effects (SRE) of alcohol form has been shown to correlate cross-sectionally with a designation of a low LR determined by alcohol challenges. DESIGN: This study evaluates the potential usefulness of the SRE as a retrospective measure of both the response to alcohol and of subsequent alcoholism in two samples. SETTING: All subjects were studied in the United States, most in California. PARTICIPANTS: First, 94 sons of alcoholics and controls completed the SRE 15 years after an alcohol challenge, and SRE values were compared to their prior LR results and their alcoholic outcomes. Secondly, the relationship between SRE results and alcoholic status was determined in 551 men and women alcoholics, their relatives, and controls. MEASUREMENTS: Subjects were evaluated with face-to-face interviews. FINDINGS: Despite the interval of 15 years, the correlation between the SRE and the subjective high feelings on the alcohol challenge was between -0.3 and -0.4. For those 94 subjects the full SRE correlated with a diagnosis of alcohol dependence at 0.5, a figure that remained at 0.3 even when only the estimates related to the earliest drinking experiences were considered. For the 551 men and women, the correlation between the SRE and alcohol dependence diagnoses was 0.6, including 0.3 for the estimates of the first five times of drinking. All major findings in both samples remained robust when the recent drinking history or the number of items endorsed was considered, or when the most severe alcohol problem, passing out, was deleted from the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: When alcohol challenges are not possible, these retrospective reports indicate that the SRE is a potentially useful surrogate for determining a subgroup of people who might carry a low level of response to alcohol and a subsequent elevated risk for alcoholism.     

Validity of screening for individuals at risk for type I diabetes by combined analysis of antibodies to recombinant proteins

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether screening for the presence of multiple antibody markers for IDDM is effective at identifying individuals with high risk for disease development. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Antibodies to GAD and the tyrosine phosphatase-like protein 1A-2 were determined in sequential serum samples from 44 first-degree relatives of IDDM patients, identified as possessing islet cell antibody (ICA) and/or insulin autoantibody (IAA), who were followed prospectively for IDDM development, ICA, IAA, and antibodies to GAD and 1A-2 were also determined in 93 cases of new-onset nonfamilial IDDM. RESULTS: The presence of two or more antibodies in addition to ICA or IAA conferred high risk (61%) for development of IDDM within 5 years of entry into the study and identified 89% of those who have developed IDDM on current follow-up. None of the relatives positive for ICA or IAA alone, in the absence of other antibody markers, have developed IDDM. Antibodies to islet antigens could both appear and disappear in follow-up samples obtained after entry into the study. The majority (60%) of young (< 16 years), sporadic cases of IDDM had multiple antibodies to islet antigens, but this proportion was lower in older patients (37%). CONCLUSIONS: A screening strategy based on the analysis of antibodies to multiple islet antigens can predict IDDM at high sensitivity and specificity in families, and such a strategy may also be applicable to identify young individuals in the general population with high disease risk. Since appearance of antibodies to different antigens occurs sequentially rather than simultaneously, accurate assessment of diabetes risk based on the presence of multiple antibodies will require follow-up over a number of years after the first evidence of islet autoimmunity.