Differences In Alcohol Intake Research Articles

Porphyria cutanea tarda and hepatocellular carcinoma: Correlations

In order to assess the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), 83 patients (77 males, 6 females, mean age 57.4 years) were studied. Thirteen patients (15.7%) had HCC, all of whom were male and cirrhotics with a mean age of 58.5 years. HCC patients showed a statistically significant (P < 0.0005) longer evolution time (23 years since onset of the cutaneous disease) than patients without HCC (9.4 years), while the age of onset was similar in both groups. Differences in alcohol intake and hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers were non-significant, although high prevalence (54%) of past HBV infection was found in both groups. In HCC development, attributable risks of 100% were found for cirrhosis (P < 0.001), male sex (P = NS) and for age over 51 (P < 0.025). Therefore, PCT harbours a high incidence of HCC; evolution time, cirrhosis and age over 51 appear to be the most important contributing factors.

Analysis of disturbance of muscle contractility based on estimation of the degree of potentiation of its evoked mechanical response

Albino noninbred rats were divided into groups, according to the duration of alcoholic anesthesia (4.5 g/kg i.p.), of predisposed (195.6 min) and non-predisposed (69.1 min) to voluntary intake of alcohol. Another group included animals screened for 21 days according to the level of intake of 15% ethanol under the conditions of free choice between alcohol and water (6.15 and 2.62 g/kg pure ethanol per day, respectively). The animals were subjected to electro-coagulation of the dorsal or magnus raphe nucleus or were injected with 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine--DNT (75 micrograms/microliters) into the ventricles of the brain. It was established that in rats non-predisposed to alcohol intake, the destruction of the raphe nuclei, of the dorsal in particular, or injection of DOT to animals with a weak alcoholic motivation produces a dramatic increase in alcohol intake. In alcohol intake predisposed rats and in animals with a high level of alcohol use, analogous exposures do not bring about any significant differences in alcohol intake. The data obtained indicate that the reduced serotonin content in the brain is associated with an increase in the level of alcoholic motivation.

Porphyria Cutanea Tarda and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Frequency of Occurrence and Related Factors

In order to assess the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT), 83 patients (77 males, 6 females, mean age 57.4 years) were studied. Thirteen patients (15.7%) had HCC, all of whom were male and cirrhotics with a mean age of 58.5 years. HCC patients showed a statistically significant (P less than 0.0005) longer evolution time (23 years since onset of the cutaneous disease) than patients without HCC (9.4 years), while the age of onset was similar in both groups. Differences in alcohol intake and hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers were non-significant, although high prevalence (54%) of past HBV infection was found in both groups. In HCC development, attributable risks of 100% were found for cirrhosis (P less than 0.001), male sex (P = NS) and for age over 51 (P less than 0.025). Therefore, PCT harbours a high incidence of HCC; evolution time, cirrhosis and age over 51 appear to be the most important contributing factors.

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol in blacks and whites: Potential ramifications for coronary heart disease

Black male and female juveniles and adult black males have higher levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol than do whites, differences that potentially “protect” them against augmented coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality, given an excess of certain coronary heart disease risk factors among blacks, particularly hypertension. The loss of the “protective” HDL cholesterol difference in adult black females appears most likely to be due to their pandamic obesity. Inasmuch as blacks smoke more, are more likely to have diabetes, and are more often treated with antihypertensives, these factors would tend to reduce black-white difforences in HDL cholesterol. Black-white differences in alcohol intake and habitual and leisure-time physical activity would not be likely, in the aggregate, to affect black-white difforences in HDL cholesterol. It thus seems likely that, whereas environment has a substantial effect on HDL cholesterol for blacks and whites, there may be a “genetic” vector accounting for higher levels of HDL cholesterol in blacks.

Open-field emotional reactivity and alcohol intake in rats

The relationship between open-field emotional reactivity and alcohol intake was investigated. Randomly selected, high and low open-field defecation (OFD) groups from each of the MNR, MR and RCA genetic lines of rats were used. No functional relation between OFD as a measure of emotional reactivity and alcohol intake was found. Differences in alcohol intake among genetic lines were confirmed. It is concluded that emotional reactivity is a mediating process related independently to both OFD and alcohol intake.

Acute treatment with trimethyltin alters alcohol self-selection.

Male rats of the Long-Evans strain were divided into two equal groups of nine each and given either 7.0 mg/kg trimethyltin (TMT) or 0.9% saline by intragastric gavage. The pattern of self-selection of alcohol in concentrations of 3%--30% was examined in both groups at 21 and 150 days following the gavage. The TMT-treated rat consistently drank less alcohol than did the controls at every concentration of alcohol. This difference in alcohol intake was equally significant when the rats were tested in a food-contingent, schedule-induced polydipsia situation. Further, although the TMT-lesioned animal consumed fewer calories per day in the form of alcohol, their overall daily caloric intakes were slightly higher than those of the controls. These results are interpreted as a consequence of damage to structures of the forebrain and as part of a syndrome of behavioral and neurological pathology.

HDL lipids in close relatives of coronary heart disease patients: Environmental and genetic influences

Female first-degree relatives of CHD patients differed, after the age of forty, from the normal control population by their low HDL cholesterol. Between the ages of 20 and 40 years a slight but significant increase in HDL triglycerides was observed. Except for hormonal contraception which induces significant lowering of HDL cholesterol in the first degree relatives, the observed differences in HDL lipids did not seem related to environmental factors but rather to be genetically determined. In contrast, the low HDL cholesterol observed in the wives of the CHD patients appeared to be related to differences in alcohol intake.

Alcohol selection by strains of rats selectively bred for behavior.

Maudsley, Roman and Tryon rats showed strain differences in alcohol intake and alcohol preference ratio, and sex differences in alcohol intake.