Nonalcoholic Subjects Research Articles

Bayesian Nonparametric Multivariate Mixture of Autoregressive Processes with Application to Brain Signals

One of neuroscience’s goals is to study the interactions between different brain regions during rest and while performing specific cognitive tasks. Multivariate Bayesian autoregressive decomposition (MBMARD) is proposed as an intuitive and novel Bayesian non-parametric model to represent high-dimensional signals as a low-dimensional mixture of univariate uncorrelated latent oscillations. Each latent oscillation captures a specific underlying oscillatory activity and, hence, is modeled as a unique second-order autoregressive process due to a compelling property, namely, that its spectral density’s shape is characterized by a unique frequency peak and bandwidth, parameterized by a location and a scale parameter. The posterior distributions of the latent oscillation parameters are computed using a Metropolis-within-Gibbs algorithm. One of the advantages of the MBMARD model is its higher robustness against misspecification, compared with standard models. The main scientific questions addressed by the MBMARD model relate to the effects of long-term alcohol abuse on memory. These effects were examined by analyzing the electroencephalogram records of alcoholic and non-alcoholic subjects performing a visual recognition experiment. The MBMARD model yielded novel and interesting findings, including the identification of subject-specific clusters of low- and high-frequency oscillations in different brain regions.

Comparison of time domain indices of heart rate variability between alcohol-dependent individuals and non-alcoholic subjects

Background: Alcohol dependence develops because of repeated alcohol intake. Alcohol damages the cardiac autonomic nerve fibers leading to autonomic imbalance, resulting in reduced heart rate variability (HRV). HRV refers to the complex beat-to-beat variation in the heart rate, produced by the interplay of sympathetic and parasympathetic neural activity at the Sino-atrial node. Our body works effectively in parasympathetic activity dominance. The time domain indices of HRV are specific markers of parasympathetic activity. A decrease in the time domain parameters indicates reduced parasympathetic activity in the heart, indicating cardiac autonomic dysfunction with vagal neuropathy. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of the study are as follows: (1) To assess the HRV in alcohol-dependent individuals using time domain indices. (2) To compare the HRV between alcoholic-dependent individuals and non-alcoholic subjects. Materials and Methods: A total of 110 individuals in the age group of 20–55 years were recruited for our study. Among them, 55 were alcohol-dependent individuals selected based on the diagnostic and statistical manual-IV, international classification of diseases-10 criteria, and 55 age and gender-matched volunteers were selected as healthy non-alcoholic controls. Short-term HRV was recorded in a supine posture, and the results were interpreted. Statistical analysis was done using the software SPSS version 21.0. Results: Our results showed a significant reduction in the time-domain parameters of HRV – SDNN, RMSSD, NN50, and pNN50 in the alcohol-dependent individuals compared to the controls, suggesting reduced parasympathetic activity in the heart indicating cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Conclusion: Alcohol affects the cardiac autonomic status leading to sudden death due to arrhythmias. HRV can be used as a non-invasive test to assess cardiac autonomic dysfunction and its biofeedback can help alcohol-dependent individuals to adopt healthy lifestyle measures.

POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT OF PEROXIDATIVE STRESS AND ANTIOXIDANT LEVELS IN ALCOHOLIC AND NON-ALCOHOLIC HEALTHY SUBJECTS

Objectives: Antioxidant levels vary from person-to-person depending on their degree and type of activity, food, exposure to psychological stress, and contaminated environment. In addition, those who are older, have specific medical conditions, take drugs, smoke, and consume alcohol, and are exposed to solar radiation may require more carotenoids and other antioxidants. This led us to compare the antioxidant levels within alcoholics and non-alcoholic healthy subjects. Methods: Malondialdehyde (MDA) and level of some antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione (GSH), antioxidant Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E were estimated in the circulations of alcoholics and non-alcoholic healthy subjects. Results: Significantly increased concentrations of plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, and significantly lowered levels of SOD, CAT, GSH, and GSH-Px were observed in alcoholics and may be due to their increased utilization to scavenge lipids peroxides. Increased levels of lipid peroxidation may be due to excessive oxidative stress. The comparison between alcoholics and non-alcoholics revealed 24% increased MDA in alcoholic subjects. Enzymatic (SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px), metabolic (GSH), and nutrient antioxidants (Vitamin A, E, C, and β-carotene) were lower in alcoholic as compared to non-alcoholic subjects. Conclusion: Regardless of commercial brand, alcohol raises oxidative stress. When drinking alcohol and smoking or environmental contamination are coupled, this stress is significantly greater.

Ensemble Learning for Alcoholism Classification Using EEG Signals

Excessive drinking is a major risk factor that leads to many health complications. The diagnosis of alcoholism is challenging, especially when the standard diagnostic tests rely on blood tests and questionnaires that are subjective to the patient and the examiner. The study’s major goal is to find new EEG classification methods to improve past findings and construct a robust EEG classification algorithm to generate accurate predictions with explainable results. The EEG records were examined from two different perspectives and combined with an ensemble of classification models. The first approach was temporal data, and the second was images derived from the original signals. Using fast Fourier transform (FFT) and independent component analysis (ICA), we convert 64-channel temporal data into images along with applying the Symbolic Aggregate approXimation (SAX) technique. Our model combines input data in tabular, temporal, and image formats with an ensemble of linear neural networks, long short-term memory (LSTM), and efficient-net classification models. We have evaluated our method using a publicly available dataset for EEG classification of alcoholic and non-alcoholic subjects. Overall, our algorithm’s highest cross-validation classification accuracy is 85.52% compared to the state-of-the-art EEG-NET’s accuracy of 81.19%.

Effect of Oral Administration of Syzygium cumini Seed Powder on the Hepatic Function-related Enzymes of the Alcoholic Transport Laborers

Background: Syzygium cumini (locally known as Kalo Jam) seed powder is being used as folk medicine in various diseases since unknown times in Bangladesh. However, data on the systematic studies in human subjects are rare. Objective: To determine the effect of Syzygium cumini seed powder on the hepatic function-related enzymes of the alcoholic transport laborers. Methods: Here, we investigated the effects of oral administration of Syzygium cumini seed powder on hepaticfunction markers that included activities of Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and renal-function markers such as creatinine and urea along with lipid profile, blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) upon chronic alcoholic human volunteers. Results: The levels of serum ALT, AST and GGT levels decreased, respectively, by 15.0, 8.5 and 23.0% after oral administration of the S. cumini powder in the alcoholic subjects. However, the levels of creatinine and urea were not altered significantly. In contrast, the effects of administration of S. cumini on the hepatic ALT, AST and GGT enzymes in the non-alcoholic control subjects were less prominent than those found in the alcoholic subjects. Blood pressure decreased only by 5-4 mmHg, while BMI was not altered in either the alcoholic or the non-alcoholic groups. Furthermore, there were significant reduction in the levels of TC (by 10%) and LDL-C (by >20%) and elevation of HDL-C (by 11%) in the S. cumini-prescribed alcoholic subjects. TC and LDL-C levels also decreased in the non-alcoholic subjects, but the rate was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our results suggest that S. cumini seed extract ameliorated GGT, ALT and the atherosclerotic lipid parameters TC and LDL-C without having a significant side effect on the kidney functions, as indicated by the unaltered levels of serum creatinine levels in the alcoholic human subjects without any effect on BP and BMI of the same subjects. Thus, alcohol drinkers can be advised to intake S. cumini seed powder to protect against the oxidative hepatic damage. Bangladesh Medical Res Counc Bull 2022; 48: 97-104

Prospective study to assess the comparison of hematological manifestations in alcoholics and non-alcoholics at tertiary care centre in north India

Background: Alcoholism is one of the most serious global public health problems. Chronic alcohol abuse results in physical illness, emotional changes and others problems in their lives and relationships. Alcohol problems can often be prevented by early identification and brief intervention. Our study was done to document the hematological changes in chronic alcohol users as early detection and treatment of hematological changes can prevent complications and reduce the morbidity and mortality. Materials & Methods: A prospective study done on 60 patients who sought treatment for alcohol use problems or its complications on an outdoor patient basis (hospital or clinic) for a period of one year (2021 to 2022) and 60 healthy non-alcoholic subjects, who visited the hospital/clinic for non-alcohol related problems and were advised for routine hematological and other relevant investigations. The hematological parameters were compared between alcohol users and non-alcoholic subjects. All data were entered and analyzed using SPSS. Chi-square tests were applied for comparing discrete variables and ANOVA was applied for comparing continuous variables and P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Incidence of alcohol consumption is less common below the age of 25 years and above the age of 71 years, which was statistically insignificant (P=1.00).

The needs of surveillance of metabolic associated fatty liver disease in Taiwan

The needs of surveillance of metabolic associated fatty liver disease in Taiwan

Effect of angiotensin converting enzyme gene studies in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease subjects

Effect of angiotensin converting enzyme gene studies in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease subjects

A study of cardiovascular autonomic function tests in alcoholic patients with Type-2 diabetes mellitus attending North Bengal Medical College and Hospital

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM), a growing and alarming disease of today’s India, causes a great deal of micro- and macro-vascular complications. One of the most overlooked of all serious complications of diabetes is cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN). Alcohol adds more to the problem and causes alteration to the hemodynamics. Recently, it has also been shown that patients with alcoholic dependence frequently suffer from autonomic neuropathy. In the rising trend of alcoholism today in respect to stress and social status maintenance, people including diabetics are silently slipping toward this grave disease of CAN. In this context, we have tried to evaluate the cardiovascular autonomic functions and their correlations, if any, among the people of alcoholic and non-alcoholic Type-2 DM (T2DM). Aims and Objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the cardiovascular autonomic functions to find out the amalgamated effect of alcohol with T2DM. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Physiology in North Bengal Medical College and Hospital based on non-invasive techniques to determine the cardiovascular autonomic functions in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic type-2 diabetic mellitus individuals. Our study was focused mainly on the heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) variation for diagnosing CAN although other parameters have also been taken into consideration. The simple, reliable, and quantitative autonomic function tests such as the deep breathing test, postural tachycardia index, Valsalva maneuver, Cold Pressor Test, handgrip, and head tilt tests were done among a group of Type-2 diabetic alcoholic and non-alcoholic patients of more than 3 years duration, comprising 73 males and 27 females in the age group of 40–70 years. Taking permission from the Institutional Ethical Committee and after thorough examination of the patients, autonomic function tests were carried out and the collected data have been analyzed statistically. Results: It has been seen after tests that 98% of the subjects are suffering from cardiac autonomic neuropathy (variable HR and BP) indicating that diabetes alone can lead to autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction even to a smaller degree after few years of onset of the disease. The degree of affection showed an increasing trend in the alcoholic diabetic subjects than the nonalcoholic diabetic subjects in tests such as supine to standing, Valsalva maneuver, deep breathing test, and cold pressure test as P-values were significantly different in those tests (P 0.05 was detected. Conclusion: The ANS plays a pivotal role in cardiovascular homeostasis. HR variability is considered the earliest indicator and most frequent finding in symptomatic cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction. The uniqueness of this study is that it included the combined diabetic alcoholic group for which very few studies have been conducted.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Metabolic Syndrome among patients attending in a tertiary care center in Bangladesh

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging chronic liver disease and may lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is now the most common chronic liver disease in many developed as well as developing countries. This hospital based study was done to see the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome among patients attending in a tertiary care center in Bangladesh. Here, 334 nonalcoholic subjects of both sex and age were included. Metabolic syndrome was assessed by modified ATP III criteria and fatty liver diagnosis was based on ultrasound findings. 27.2% had the metabolic syndrome and was more common in female. Prevalence of NAFLD was 44% and was more common in female. Metabolic syndrome was found in 61.5% with NAFLD.TAJ 2015; 28(2): 44-51

Detection of immune complexes and evaluation of alcoholic individuals' serological profile in the diagnosis of strongyloidiasis

Strongyloidiasis is a human parasitosis that is considered a public health problem. Early diagnosis of this infection is extremely important in immunocompromised patients (i.e. subjects with alcoholism). This study aimed to evaluate anti-Strongyloides immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA), assess levels of circulating immune complexes (IC) and determine IgG avidity in serum samples from alcoholic and nonalcoholic individuals. A total of 140 blood samples were collected from male individuals (70 alcoholic and 70 nonalcoholic subjects). Serum was obtained and analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for IgG, IgA, IC detection and avidity determination. Anti-Strongyloides IgG was detected in 55.7% of alcoholic subjects and 32.8% nonalcoholics, while IC levels showed frequencies of 38.6% and 17.1% in these groups, respectively. Anti-Strongyloides IgA was lower among alcoholics (4.3%) than nonalcoholics (34.3%). Spearman's correlation coefficient reported a positive correlation between IgG, IC and IgA in alcoholic individuals and no correlation in nonalcoholics. The median avidity index was higher in alcoholics (83.8%) than nonalcoholic subjects (73.2%). In conclusion, this study shows that alcoholic subjects produced specific antibodies against S. stercoralis regardless of the possible immunosuppression caused by chronic alcoholism. Considering that alcoholics are more susceptible to the severe forms of strongyloidiasis, the implementation of immunological methods as a complementary approach to parasitological diagnostics (i.e. detection of IgG, IC and antibody avidity) appears to be an alternative method for early diagnosis in these individuals.

FGF21, a liver hormone that inhibits alcohol intake in mice, increases in human circulation after acute alcohol ingestion and sustained binge drinking at Oktoberfest

ObjectiveExcessive alcohol consumption is a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. However, knowledge of the biological factors that influence ad libitum alcohol intake may be incomplete. Two large studies recently linked variants in the KLB locus with levels of alcohol intake in humans. KLB encodes β-klotho, co-receptor for the liver-derived hormone fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). In mice, FGF21 reduces alcohol intake, and human Fgf21 variants are enriched among heavy drinkers. Thus, the liver may limit alcohol consumption by secreting FGF21. However, whether full-length, active plasma FGF21 (FGF21 (1–181)) levels in humans increase acutely or sub-chronically in response to alcohol ingestion is uncertain. MethodsWe recruited 10 healthy, fasted male subjects to receive an oral water or alcohol bolus with concurrent blood sampling for FGF21 (1–181) measurement in plasma. In addition, we measured circulating FGF21 (1–181) levels, liver stiffness, triglyceride, and other metabolic parameters in three healthy Danish men before and after consuming an average of 22.6 beers/person/day (4.4 g/kg/day of ethanol) for three days during Oktoberfest 2017 in Munich, Germany. We further correlated fasting FGF21 (1–181) levels in 49 healthy, non-alcoholic subjects of mixed sex with self-reports of alcohol-related behaviors, emotional responses, and problems. Finally, we characterized the effect of recombinant human FGF21 injection on ad libitum alcohol intake in mice. ResultsWe show that alcohol ingestion (25.3 g or ∼2.5 standard drinks) acutely increases plasma levels of FGF21 (1–181) 3.4-fold in fasting humans. We also find that binge drinking for three days at Oktoberfest is associated with a 2.1-fold increase in baseline FGF21 (1–181) levels, in contrast to minor deteriorations in metabolic and hepatic biomarkers. However, basal FGF21 (1–181) levels were not correlated with differences in alcohol-related behaviors, emotional responses, or problems in our non-alcoholic subjects. Finally, we show that once-daily injection of recombinant human FGF21 reduces ad libitum alcohol intake by 21% in mice. ConclusionsFGF21 (1–181) is markedly increased in circulation by both acute and sub-chronic alcohol intake in humans, and reduces alcohol intake in mice. These observations are consistent with a role for FGF21 as an endocrine inhibitor of alcohol appetite in humans.

Decreased glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity along with oxidative stress affects visual contrast sensitivity in alcoholics.

To evaluate oxidative stress and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) status of alcoholics and discern their association, if any, with visual contrast sensitivity function. Forty male alcoholic subjects and 36 male non-alcoholic subjects with the same age and nutritional status were enrolled in this study. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) level and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) activity of erythrocytes were determined by spectrophotometric assay. Contrast sensitivity (CS) function of study subjects was measured using the Rabin Contrast Sensitivity Test (Precision Vision®, La Salle, Illinois, United States). Serum MDA levels were significantly higher (p<0.0001) and erythrocyte G6PD activity was significantly lower (p=0.0026) in alcoholic subjects compared to the controls. CS scores of both eyes were also found to be decreased significantly in alcoholic subjects (both at p<0.0001) compared to control subjects. On the other hand, CS scores of the alcoholic subjects were inversely correlated with the serum MDA level (r=-0.746, p<0.0001) and directly correlated with erythrocyte G6PD activity (r=0.78, p<0.0001). A strong inverse correlation (r=-0.84, p<0.0001) was also observed between serum MDA level and erythrocyte G6PD activity of alcoholic subjects. Reduced G6PD activity and increased serum MDA level might be the key cause of the early visual abnormalities, such as reduced CS function of the alcoholic subjects.

Quantifying the dynamics of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals to distinguish alcoholic and non-alcoholic subjects using an MSE based K-d tree algorithm.

In this paper, we have employed K-d tree algorithmic based multiscale entropy analysis (MSE) to distinguish alcoholic subjects from non-alcoholic ones. Traditional MSE techniques have been used in many applications to quantify the dynamics of physiological time series at multiple temporal scales. However, this algorithm requires O(N2), i.e. exponential time and space complexity which is inefficient for long-term correlations and online application purposes. In the current study, we have employed a recently developed K-d tree approach to compute the entropy at multiple temporal scales. The probability function in the entropy term was converted into an orthogonal range. This study aims to quantify the dynamics of the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals to distinguish the alcoholic subjects from control subjects, by inspecting various coarse grained sequences formed at different time scales, using traditional MSE and comparing the results with fast MSE (fMSE). The performance was also measured in terms of specificity, sensitivity, total accuracy and receiver operating characteristics (ROC). Our findings show that fMSE, with a K-d tree algorithmic approach, improves the reliability of the entropy estimation in comparison with the traditional MSE. Moreover, this new technique is more promising to characterize the physiological changes having an affect at multiple time scales.

Decreased Synchronization in Alcoholics Using EEG

Background: Synchronization can measure the interaction between different brain regions, but how alcoholics and non-alcoholic subjects differ in synchronization is still not fully clear.Methods: The synchronization analyses in present study on EEG synchronization are almost all based on the scalp EEG data. However, due to the volume conductor effect, there may be pseudo relevance between the scalp electrodes, which further affects the measurement of synchronization. Based on eLORETA and the self-defined regions of interest (ROIs), the synchronization between ROIs was measured. Our study used synchronization likelihood to measure the synchronization difference between 28 alcoholics and 28 controls (nonalcoholics) during certain cognitive tasks based on the scalp EEG and the cortical ROI.Results: The results indicated that the synchronization for the alcoholic group is lower in multiple bands than in the control group when performing the same cognitive task. Moreover, the synchronization for the control group can reflect the complexity levels of the cognitive tasks, whereas the alcoholics only display erratic changes.Conclusions: These two results indicate that in alcoholics, brain synchronization is reduced, and the connection between different brain regions is inhibited, meaning brain cognitive function is impaired. In addition, the synchronization method based on the cortical ROI is more effective and more valuable than the scalp EEG. Our research provides strong evidence that long-term alcoholism causes functional damage to the brain from an entirely new perspective.

Impact of Alcohol Dependency on Oral Health - A Cross-sectional Comparative Study.

Alcoholism is a chronic and progressive psychiatric illness characterised by a loss of control over alcohol consumption. Consumption of alcohol inevitably affects the oral cavity, oral mucosa and teeth. Literature indicates that alcohol dependents may have increased risk of dental caries, probing pocket depth and mucosal lesions. To assess the impact of alcohol dependency on oral health status among alcoholics in comparison with non alcoholics. A total 76 alcoholic patients visiting Psychiatric Department were compared with matched non alcoholics. Subjects were categorised as alcohol dependents based on American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria. Non alcoholic subjects were selected by controlling for potentially confounding variables such as for cigarette, smoking and age. Data was collected by interview and clinical examination. Oral health status of subjects was assessed using a modified WHO proforma and salivary pH and plaque pH were assessed. Chi-square test was used for assessing socio demographic details and Mann-whitney U test was used for prevalence of dental caries and periodontal diseases, Unpaired t-test was used for plaque and salivary pH. There was no statistically significant difference noted among alcoholic and nonalcoholic control group with respect to socio demographic details. Prevalence of dental caries was higher in alcohol dependent subjects with a mean DMFT of 5.92 compared to nonalcoholic subjects (4.51). Prevalence of periodontitis was higher (89.61%) in alcohol dependent subjects compared to controls (78.67%). Prevalence of mucosal lesions among alcohol dependent subjects was 31.5% which was higher than the controls (25%). Subjects who were categorised as alcoholics showed a lower plaque and salivary pH compared to non alcoholics. Subjects categorised as alcohol dependent subjects had slightly lower mean plaque and salivary pH and a higher prevalence of dental caries, periodontitis and mucosal lesions compared with non alcoholic subjects.

Assessing treatment efficacy in the presence of diagnostic errors.

This paper investigates estimating and testing treatment effects in randomized control trials where imperfect diagnostic device is used to assign subjects to treatment and control group(s). The paper focuses on pre-post design and proposes two new methods for estimating and testing treatment effects. Furthermore, methods for computing sample sizes for such design accounting for misclassification of the subjects are devised. The methods are compared with each other and with a traditional method that ignores the imperfection of the diagnostic device. In particular, the likelihood-based approach shows a significant advantage in terms of power, coverage probability and, consequently, in reduction of the required sample size. The application of the results are illustrated with data from an aging trial for dementia and data from electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of alcoholic and non-alcoholic subjects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ecophysiological consequences of alcoholism on human gut microbiota: implications for ethanol-related pathogenesis of colon cancer.

Chronic consumption of excess ethanol increases the risk of colorectal cancer. The pathogenesis of ethanol-related colorectal cancer (ER-CRC) is thought to be partly mediated by gut microbes. Specifically, bacteria in the colon and rectum convert ethanol to acetaldehyde (AcH), which is carcinogenic. However, the effects of chronic ethanol consumption on the human gut microbiome are poorly understood, and the role of gut microbes in the proposed AcH-mediated pathogenesis of ER-CRC remains to be elaborated. Here we analyse and compare the gut microbiota structures of non-alcoholics and alcoholics. The gut microbiotas of alcoholics were diminished in dominant obligate anaerobes (e.g., Bacteroides and Ruminococcus) and enriched in Streptococcus and other minor species. This alteration might be exacerbated by habitual smoking. These observations could at least partly be explained by the susceptibility of obligate anaerobes to reactive oxygen species, which are increased by chronic exposure of the gut mucosa to ethanol. The AcH productivity from ethanol was much lower in the faeces of alcoholic patients than in faeces of non-alcoholic subjects. The faecal phenotype of the alcoholics could be rationalised based on their gut microbiota structures and the ability of gut bacteria to accumulate AcH from ethanol.

Impacts of common variants in ALDH2 on coronary artery disease patients

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) as a susceptibility locus for coronary artery disease (CAD) previously. However, the impacts of common variants in this gene on CAD and its outcomes have not been extensively studied. This study explored the association between the Tagging SNPs in ALDH2 and CAD as well as its main outcomes. Six common variants in ALDH2 were selected as tagging SNPs and two cohorts containing 7296 individuals were genotyped to investigate the impacts of ALDH2 on CAD and its main outcomes. The results show that the variant rs671 in ALDH2 is associated with an increased risk of CAD in southern Chinese (OR=1.26, 95%CI: 1.07–1.48, p=0.004), while not in northern Chinese (OR=1.00, 95%CI: 0.86–1.50, p=0.94). Meanwhile, we find that rs671 genotypes may not influence the outcomes of CAD (HR=1.11, 95%CI: 0.892–1.38, p=0.346). Additionally, we also tested the effect of rs671 genotype on CAD severity, while no significant association was found between them. In the subgroup analysis, the results revealed that rs671 were significantly associated with CAD (OR=1.24, 95%CI: 1.11–1.38, p<0.001) in non-alcoholic subjects. Overall, our findings indicate that the associations between rs671 in ALDH2 and CAD are regional disparity, and rs671 genotypes may not influence the main outcomes of CAD.

Rozpoznawanie uzależnienia od alkoholu przez lekarzy podstawowej opieki zdrowotnej: polskie wyniki europejskiego projektu badawczego Alcoholism in Primary Care

IntroductionAlcohol dependence is one of the most rarely recognised and treated psychiatric disorders in the Polish population. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol dependence (AD) as well as the characteristics of alcohol dependent patients presenting themselves to general practitioners (GPs) on an average day. MethodsA total of 2396 patients were assessed by their GPs within an AD diagnosis. In the next step, 1197 patients from the primary group were assessed by independent interviewers using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview questionnaire (CIDI) based on the DSM-IV criteria of alcohol dependence. ResultsGeneral practitioners recognised AD during the last 12 months in 4.9% of their patients, whereas CIDI assessment revealed prevalence of AD at 6.3%. The overlap between these two groups was only 12.5%. Patients identified by GPs turned out to be significantly older, more frequently males and with comorbid liver disease than those diagnosed with CIDI. The compiled population of AD patients was characterised by more frequent sleep problems, liver diseases and nicotine dependence in comparison to non-alcoholic subjects. DiscussionThe prevalence of alcohol dependence among GP patients is significantly higher than in the general population. ConclusionGeneral practitioners should be more sensitive to alcohol use problems in females and younger patients who are yet to develop any somatic consequences of drinking. Smoking patients and those suffering from sleep problems should be also considered at risk for alcohol dependence.