摘要:

A panel of blood tests, purportedly markers for alcohol abuse, were examined in 543 relatively healthy alcoholics entering ambulatory rehabilitation treatment Individual tests were too low in sensitivity: γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase was abnormally high in only 49%, then mean corpuscular volume (45%), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) (25%), serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) (28%), and blood alcohol (21%). HDLC was of low sensitivity, generally unaffected by liver disease, and related to quantitation of recent alcohol consumed.Combining seven markers, 82% of males and 71% females had at least one abnormally high value. Histories of heavy recent drinking, positive blood alcohol levels on admission, and manifest liver disease on physical examination or by hyperbilirubinemia were associated with high sensitivities of individual and pooled markers.The biochemical markers studied can be useful to suggest alcohol abuse, especially in some populations of drinkers. In other populations of alcoholics, especially with intermittent alcohol or recent abstinence, their sensitivities were so low as to discourage extensive reliance on their use. The diagnosis of alcoholism continues to depend on clinical history of alcohol‐related problems, including social, familial, legal, medical, psychological, and econ

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05506.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were used to study the postnatal development of the peripheral and brainstem auditory pathways in rat pups prenatally exposed to ethanol. Pups were offspring of dams receiving either a liquid diet containing ethanol (ethanol pups) or a control diet (control pups). Two to four pups from control and ethanol litters were systematically selected for BAEP analysis and examined periodically from the ages of 2 to 10 weeks. BAEPs to 0.1 msec clicks (60 dB HL, B/sec) were recorded with subcutaneous scalp electrodes in nonsedated animals. Latencies of the various BAEP waves decreased with age in both groups, reflecting maturation of the subcortical auditory pathway. Ethanol pups, however, showed retarded BAEP maturation as indicated by significantly longer BAEP wave latencies and smaller wave amplitudes than those of the control pups. While group differences were greatest early in development, the ethanol group still had significantly longer BAEP wave latencies at maturity. These results indicate that prenatal ethanol exposure retards development of the peripheral and brainstem auditory pathways and that prolonged auditory transmission times, despite a “catch‐up” trend, persist in maturity. BAEP data, birth weights, and postnatal weight gains of ethanol pups were not consistent with the effects of pre‐ and postnatal malnutrition as reported by

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05507.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Cellular effects of ethanol were investigated in the rat neostriatum with local perfusion and extracellular, single unfl recording techniques. Neuronal activity was modulated specifically as a function of ethanol concentration over a wide test range. At extremely low doses (10‐9and 10‐8M), the neuronal responses to drug perfusion were exclusively excitatory. However, at the highest doses examined (10‐5and 10‐4M), the results were reversed. In the midrange, a number of apparently ineffective tests were obtained, along with bimodal (excitation followed by depression) responses. The unequivocal responsiveness to ethanol at very low concentrations raises the possibility of a physiological role for the endogenous su

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05508.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Admission blood alcohol levels (BAL) were obtained in 111 adult passenger/driver pairs injured in vehicular crashes. Drinking patterns were studied, including the influence of the sex of the occupants on alcohol consumption. Alcohol was not a factor in 44 of the crashes. In 48 of 62 crashes (77%), the driver was either the sole drinker or had a higher BAL than the passenger. In five crashes, the passenger was the only drinker. Female drivers were drinking 40% of the time, compared to 60% of male drivers. Overall, 77.4% of the drinking drivers had a BAL of 100 mg/100 ml. When vehicular occupants were of the same sex, as opposed to both sexes, the drivers drank more frequently (62.9% vs. 43.9%). In 13 of 14 cases of a drinking male driver transporting a female passenger, the female passenger had not been drinking or had done so to a lesser degree. The data indicate that educational efforts should be directed at discouraging passengers from riding with drinking drivers.

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05509.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Mice selectively bred for marked response to hypnotic doses of ethanol (long‐sleep, LS) respond to subhypnotic doses of ethanol (ETOH) with less stimulation of locomotor activity than their short‐sleep (SS) counterparts. This assessment was made by comparing ETOH‐lnduced alterations in locomotor activity to an untreated baseline within individual subjects, and to a saline‐treated control group. A correlational study, using the same method in F, generation hybrids of the LS and SS Hnes, produced a negative correlation (‐.36) between locomotor stimulant effects of a subhypnotic dose of ETOH and length of loss of the righting reflex following a hypnotic dose. This relationship also appeared in a factor analysis of baseline locomotor activity, ETOH‐stimulated activity, and depressant response variables. The genetic selection for LS and SS mice appears to have differentiated tod that influence more than one type of behavioral response to ETOH, an example of p

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05510.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effects of chronic ethanol ingestion on the interconversion of the active to the inactive form of glycogen phosphorylase by phosphorylase phosphatase was studied. Male and female rats also were compared. Chronic ethanol feeding decreased phosphorylase a and total phosphorylase activity in male rats. In females, no change was observed in phosphorylase a, whereas total phosphorylase activity was increased 73%. This was found to correlate with the relative activities of phosphorylase phosphatase. The data show differences between the two sexes with regard to the AMP inhibition of phosphorylase phosphatase and the caffeine stimulation of the phosphatase. Ethanol markedly enhanced the AMP inhibition of the phosphatase in males but had no effect in females. Further studies in females showed that ethanol completely obliterated the well documented stimulation of the phosphatase by caffeine; however, it did not alter the caffeine effect in males. These data suggest possible alterations in the tertiary structure of phosphorylase a.

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05511.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The authors compared the drinking habits of stroke patients and controls who were matched for the variables of age, sex, race, and day of the week admitted to the hospital. Rates of alcoholism were similar in the two groups. However, stroke patients were more likely to be current drinkers than controls, and were more likely to have been drinking within 24 hr of admission to the hospital, most of them rather heavily. Among the stroke patients, alcoholism was associated with hypertension, with being a current drinker, and with drinking at index, i.e., within 24 hr of the first symptoms of stroke. Of those stroke patients who were drinking at index, there were significant associations with being Mack, alcoholic, and hypertensive. The implications of these findings are discussed.

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05512.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The hepatic uptake of 59Fe from diferrtc rat and rabbit asialotrans‐ferrins and from human transferrin lacking two sialyl residues was investigated in rats in experiments lasting for 1 hr. The 59Fe attached to either of these preparations disappeared from the plasma more rapidly than the 59Fe introduced with the unmodified respective parent proteins. Most of the 59Fe activity that had disappeared from the circulation could be recovered with the liver. Studies with double‐labeled (125I, 58Fe) preparations showed that the enhanced 58Fe clearance was not associated with increased catabolism of the modified transferrins.Prolonged, heavy alcohol consumption, as shown by others, results in the appearance of sialic acid‐deficient transferrin (two residues missing) in human serum. We suggest that the increased capacity of transferrin deficient in sialic acid to selectively deposit iron in the nepatocyte may be of significance for the development of the hepatic siderosis observed in alcoh

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05513.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An improved method is described for the collection of breath for the subsequent assay of acetaldehyde and other volatile components. Breath is collected in a Pyrex gas‐collecting tube sealed at both ends with Teflon taps. Prior to collection or assay of the samples, this tube is heated to 72oC; breath is sampled for assay by piercing a rubber septum on a sideport with the needle of a similarly heated gas‐tight syringe, and injected into a gas chromatograph (GC). The advantages of this system are: (1) Avoidance of the artefacts encountered in the assay of acetaldehyde in the blood; (2) suitability for sample collection at a site remote from the GC laboratory; (3) avoidance of sample loss by leakage, contamination, or partitioning into water condensed from breath; and (4) compatibility with a “nondedicated” GC lacking any special gas‐collecting circuitry. A typical study of a normal human volunteer is described, demonstrating the rise and fall of the concentration of acetaldehyde and ethanol in the breath following the ingestion of an oral dose o

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05514.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Erectile impotence is a common complaint in alcoholics, but its mechanism is unknown. We have studied nocturnal penile erection in 13 alcoholics who complained of impotence. Seven had normal erections and their impotence was therefore psychogenic. Six were found to have diminished or absent nocturnal erections. Plasma concentrations of follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were elevated in this latter group, with the exception of one patient who had only raised FSH. They also had more evidence of neurological damage than the other seven alcoholics, and two had evidence of damage to the parasympathetic nervous system. Investigation of erection during steep in alcoholic patients with impotence may be useful in differentiating clinically between patients with psychogenic causes and patients with organic causes of impotenc

ISSN:0145-6008    

DOI:10.1111/j.1530-0277.1984.tb05515.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY