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Browsing by Subject "Alcohol"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Adult Cognitive Functioning In Adolescent-Onset And Persistent Alcohol Use Disorders In Men
    (2013-05) Sparks, Jordan
    Alcohol use disorders ("AUDs") have a high prevalence rate, are heterogeneous, and are associated with deficits in executive abilities, learning, and memory. The literature on adolescent AUD and adult cognitive functioning is limited, and no prospective study has simultaneously examined how an AUD-onset during a neurologically-vulnerable period, persistence of use in adulthood, and an interaction of these processes may attenuate or exacerbate cognitive issues. This study used two AUD subtypes commonly employed to characterize the heterogeneity in AUD presentation - the adolescent-onset and persistent subtype - to address these questions, and also relied on measures of behavioral disinhibition and intellectual functioning ascertained during childhood to address the concern that the relationship between AUDs and later-cognitive functioning may be subject to confounding. It was hypothesized that premorbid childhood risk factors would relate to both AUD subtype and adult cognition, that both an adolescent-onset and a persistent course of AUD would relate to cognitive deficits in adulthood, and that accounting for premorbid risk factors would attenuate this relationship. A community sample of 650 men born in Minnesota was assessed at six visits occurring between age 11 and age 29 and divided into AUD groups of adolescent-onset persisters and desisters, adult-onset persisters and desisters, and controls. Both AUD-membership and age 29 cognitive performance were associated with risk factors that preceded AUD-onset; when accounting for premorbid risk, there was scant evidence that AUDs were associated with cognitive deficits. Future research of AUDs and cognition should account for premorbid risk factors.
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    Alcohol and Heart Attacks: What’s the story?
    (2009-05-04) Clarke, Michael E
    Multiple large studies have found that drinking roughly one or more drinks per night reduces the risk of myocardial infarction. That being said, alcohol use is associated with notable adverse effects, including but not limited to, psychosocial disability, addiction, excess dietary calories, motor vehicle accidents, loss of productive work hours, and increased tendency towards violence and risky sexual practices. Although safe and moderate alcohol consumption may minimize these risks, a physician recommendation to drink alcohol for a “healthy heart” is likely not warranted at this time.
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    Alcohol Consumption and Intimate Relationships in College Students
    (2016) Osterbauer, Meghan
    In the present study, we sought to examine the relationship between aspects of intimate relationships (status and length) and alcohol consumption in college students. We ran independent groups t-tests to analyze connections between status (committed and not committed) and drinking measures. Both the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (S-MAST) and Quantity X Frequency of drinking trended (though not significant) so that those who were not committed drank more than those who were. There was also a trend (measured with Kendal’s Tau to account for skewed data) for those who were in their relationship for longer to drink less than those who hadn’t been committed for as long. Because of the low number of participants (n=35), we are unable to draw any solid conclusions from our results.
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    Characterizing specific henetic and environmental influences on alcohol use
    (2012-09) Irons, Daniel Edward
    Although both genetic and environmental influences, as well as the interplay between them, are clearly important to the development of alcohol use and related psychopathology, the effects of many of the particular genetic variants and environmental risk factors responsible have not yet been confirmed. We conducted three studies with the goal of moving beyond abstract estimates of genetic and environmental variance to the assessment of whether specified risk factors were causally implicated in the development of alcohol-related behaviors and problems. First, in a longitudinally assessed sample of 356 adopted adolescents and young adults of East Asian descent, we examined the progression over time of the relationship between a functional polymorphism in the alcohol metabolism gene aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) and multiple measures of drinking behavior. We found that the protective effect of the less-functional ALDH2 variant increased between mid-adolescence and early adulthood, and that non-biological parental alcohol use, but not sibling alcohol use, nor deviant peer affiliation, moderated the effect of the gene. In a second study, using a community-based sample of 7224 individuals assessed in early and middle adulthood, we employed multiple methods to conduct a comprehensive examination of the effects of markers in GABA system genes on measures of alcohol use and related symptomatology. We tested not only the potential effects of individual markers, but also their effects in aggregate, and at the whole-gene and system-wide levels. None of these methods produced results indicative of an effect of GABA system variants on measures of alcohol use or misuse. We conducted a third study with a sample of 1512 twins, longitudinally assessed from early adolescence into adulthood, to determine whether adult alcohol use and misuse, as well as other adult outcomes, could be attributed to the causal effect of alcohol exposures in early adolescence. We used two separate techniques to adjust for potentially confounding factors. First, we used a propensity score design to adjust for the potentially confounding effects of a number of measured background covariates. Second, we used the cotwin control design to adjust for confounding due to unmeasured factors (including genetic influences) shared between twins in pairs discordant for early alcohol exposure. The results of both methods applied in this third study were generally consistent with there being a causal effect of early alcohol exposures on the later development of adult alcohol problems and other related adult outcomes, but contrasting the two methods indicated that exposure effect estimates from the propensity score application were likely to be biased by unmeasured confounding variables. In summary, we have first substantially elaborated upon the effects of a genetic variant known to influence alcohol-related behaviors (in the ALDH2 gene); next, despite thorough investigation, we have found no evidence for the effects of a second set of purported genetic influences (GABA system genes); and finally, we provided evidence that early alcohol exposure likely exerts a genuinely causal influence on later alcohol-related problems and other adult outcomes.
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    Comparing classification vs. continuum models of the structure of substance dependence and abuse.
    (2009-12) Vrieze, Scott Ian
    Substance use disorders are classified as categorical disorders by prominent nosologies [1]. A bevy of structural equation models have suggested dimensional solutions to drug dependence and abuse criteria. However, it is well known that factor models can fit categorical structures, and class models can fit dimensional structures. Recent research has thus compared relative fits of both latent class and trait models, and in some cases mixtures of latent traits. Results have been inconsistent, in large part due to the level of analysis. We attend to both problems by fitting models in a large sample with high base rates of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and stimulant disorders, allowing us to fit complex models both at fine and coarse levels of analysis (e.g., only alcohol items versus all items from a variety of drug classes). In general, dependence and abuse items from different drug classes can be modeled with drug-specific factors, one per drug. When more complex models are fit only to alcohol items, the best fitting model is a mixture of latent traits that maps closely onto DSM-IV-TR [1] nosology.
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    The Effects of Alcohol and Cannabis Use on Inhibitory Control Brain Networks In Emerging Adulthood: Causal Inferences From A Cotwin Control Study
    (2020-06) Harper, Jeremy
    The overarching theme of this dissertation was to separate the causal influences of familial risk toward substance misuse (e.g., genetic liability) from the potential effects of alcohol and cannabis exposure on multi-method indicators of the (pre)frontal inhibitory control brain network in a sample of 24-year-old twins. Deficits in inhibitory control and measures of its underlying brain circuitry have been implicated as core phenotypes of substance misuse. Research often assumes an exposure effect of alcohol or cannabis misuse on the still-developing emerging adult (ages 18-25) brain, but these individual differences may reflect the familial (e.g., genetic) risk toward both substance use and brain deviations. This remains largely unknown as the vast majority of prior work used research designs that could not disentangle exposure from risk. To address this and other limitations in the literature at large, this dissertation was designed to study how alcohol and cannabis use during emerging adulthood affect the structure and function of the inhibitory control network. We used a large (N = 673) genetically informative population-based twin sample, careful phenotyping of alcohol and cannabis use, multi-method brain assessment (EEG; structural MRI; resting-state fMRI connectivity), and a quasi-experimental research design (cotwin control analysis) to draw causal inferences regarding the effect of alcohol/cannabis use on the brain in a field where true experimentation is often unfeasible. Across the three studies in this dissertation, we found evidence that alcohol and/or cannabis use were associated with deviations in EEG theta-band rhythms, cortical thickness, and resting-state functional connectivity measures of the (pre)frontal inhibitory control network. The cotwin control analyses offered evidence that some of the anomalies can be attributed to consequences of alcohol and cannabis exposure, while others primarily reflect the liability to misuse alcohol or cannabis. Interestingly, deviations in the frontal medial cortex, a key hub of the control-related circuit, were implicated across all three studies, suggesting that it may play a crucial role in substance-related disinhibition. The work collectively suggests that substance-related variations in the inhibitory control brain network reflect a mixture of premorbid brain-based characteristics of familial risk and the deleterious effects of alcohol/cannabis exposure. Findings have implications for informing and shaping policy, public messaging, and prevention efforts to curb the alarmingly high rates of alcohol and cannabis use in emerging adults.
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    Getting the Right Message about Alcohol
    (2010-11-02) AStani, Seyed
    Many researches show that if you use low levels of alcohol it may decrease the chance of death from heart diseases. These researches studied only certain ages with certain conditions and risk factors. The same studies also showed that alcohol may cause many cancers and other diseases that can kill you. These studies looked at short-term effects of alcohol on the heart. Long-term effects of alcohol on the heart of humans have not been studied.
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    Kinetics, mechanisms, and site requirements
    (2016-08) DeWilde, Joseph
    We report the kinetics, mechanisms, and site densities of parallel ethanol dehydration and dehydrogenation over gamma-alumina (γ-Al2O3), a high surface area and thermally-stable metal oxide used both as a catalyst support and as a Lewis acid catalyst in industrial practice. We further extend our investigations to diethyl ether conversion over γ-Al2O3 to describe the reaction network for ethanol dehydration and dehydrogenation at conversions exceeding 10%. Steady state measurements demonstrate that unimolecular and bimolecular ethanol dehydration rates are inhibited by water-ethanol co-adsorbed complexes at 488 K. Reactive surface intermediates, rather than co-adsorbed complexes, inhibit the rates of ethanol dehydration and dehydrogenation at industrially-relevant temperatures (>623 K). Co-processing pyridine with ethanol/water feed mixtures results in a reversible inhibition of both unimolecular and bimolecular ethanol conversion pathways; the synthesis rates of ethylene and acetaldehyde are inhibited to a greater extent than diethyl ether synthesis rates, establishing that unimolecular reactions occur on a pool of catalytic sites separate from the pool for bimolecular dehydration reactions. An observed 1:1 ratio of acetaldehyde and ethane in the eluent verifies that ethanol dehydrogenation proceeds via a hydrogen transfer mechanism. We employ asymmetric ethers as probes to establish ether conversion on γ-Al2O3 occurs through a disproportionation pathway to form an olefin and an alcohol, rather than through a hydration pathway. Diethyl ether disproportionation rates were verified to (i) possess an intrinsic rate constant that is within a factor of two of that of unimolecular ethanol dehydration and (ii) be inhibited by pyridine to the same extent as ethylene synthesis rates from ethanol dehydration. These observations are consistent with a proposed mechanism in which ether disproportionation and unimolecular alcohol dehydration occur through a common alkoxide reaction intermediate and on a common pool of catalytic sites. Our combined investigations of alcohol and ether conversion establish the existence of two distinct pools of catalytic centers, verify all unimolecular pathways of alcohol dehydration, dehydrogenation, and ether disproportionation occur on a common set of active sites, and provide a rigorous kinetic description of these pathways.
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    Minutes: Senate Committee on Social Concerns: January 22,2001
    (2001-01-22) University of Minnesota: Senate Committee on Social Concerns
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    Minutes: Senate Committee on Student Affairs: Febuary 17, 1999
    (1999-02-17) University of Minnesota: Senate Committee on Student Affairs
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    Neurocognition in college-aged daily marijuana users
    (2013-12) Petrosko Becker, Mary
    Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States. Use, particularly when it occurs early, has been associated with cognitive impairments in executive functioning, learning, and memory. This study comprehensively measured cognitive ability as well as comorbid psychopathology and substance use history to determine the neurocognitive profile associated with young adult marijuana use. College- aged marijuana users who initiated use prior to age 17 (n=35) were compared to demographically-matched controls (n=35). Marijuana users were high functioning, demonstrating comparable IQs relative to controls and relatively better processing speed. Marijuana users demonstrated relative cognitive impairments in verbal memory, spatial working memory, spatial planning, and motivated decision-making. Comorbid use of alcohol, which was heavier in marijuana users, was unexpectedly found to be associated with better performance in many of these areas. This study provides additional evidence of neurocognitive impairment in the context of early onset marijuana use. Complications in determining cause-effect associations are discussed.
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    Probe reactions of alcohols and alkanes for understanding catalytic properties of microporous materials and alumina oxide solid acid catalysts.
    (2012-08) Chiang, Hsu
    Steady-state chemical reactions of alkanol dehydration and alkane hydroisomerization were employed as probe reactions to evaluate the effects of structure and composition of zeolites and gamma alumina (γ-Al2O3) on measured catalytic rates and selectivity to establish the mechanistic cycles and catalytic site requirements for the corresponding reactions. The measured kinetic effects of ethanol and ethylene pressure on diethyl ether (DEE) formation over three zeolite materials (H-MFI, H-FER and H-MOR) show that ethanol dimers are formed during reaction and that these dimeric species are subsequently dehydrated to form DEE. In zeolites, ethylene formation was only observed on zeolites possessing 8-MR channels (H-MOR). The 8-MR channels protect ethanol monomeric species and prevent the formation of ethanol dimeric species due to size restrictions. The results of ethanol dehydration reactions studied in this research imply that the design and selection of microporous catalysts for performing shape-selective reactions of oxygenates requires us to consider the size and stability of the corresponding surface intermediates as well as the location of Brønsted acid sites. Hydroisomerization reactions on bifunctional metal-acid catalysts (Pt/Al2O3 and acid zeolites) can convert n-hexane into 2-methylpentane (2MP) and 3-methylpentane (3MP). The measured rate of n-hexane isomerization was linearly proportional to the molar ratio of H2 to n-C6H14 over three zeolites (FER, MOR, BEA), consistent with a bifunctional mechanism involving the facile dehydrogenation of n-hexane into n-hexene on the metal catalyst and a kinetically-relevant step involving isomerization of n-hexene to 2MP and 3MP on zeolitic acidic sites. Sodium-exchanged MOR was used to study the rate of n-hexane isomerization in 12MR channel (MOR(12MR) ) and 8MR pockets (MOR(8MR)) in MOR. The measured rate of isomerization over zeolites increase in the order of FER < MOR(12MR) < MOR(8MR) < BEA, showing that pore size cannot be used to accurately predict the occurrence or exclusion of a particular reaction within zeolitic solids. The mechanisms and site requirements for unimolecular and bimolecular dehydration reactions of ethanol on γ-Al2O3 were investigated using steady state and isotopic kinetic studies and in situ titration. The rates of ethylene and DEE formation from ethanol dehydration on γ-Al2O3 at 488K were not inhibited by exposure to CO2 (0-47kPa) while pyridine exposure (3kPa) nearly shut down the rates of formation, showing that acid sites rather than basic sites are required for ethylene and DEE formation. The proposed mechanisms for ethylene and DEE formation proceed through desorption of surface-bound ethoxide species and the activation of surface ethanol dimeric species, respectively. The proposed mechanisms are consistent with the measured pressure dependence in ethanol and water, and the measured kinetic isotope effects using isotopic labeling reactants. The rate and equilibrium constants in the kinetic models derived from these mechanisms were estimated using Athena Visual Studio software to assess the stability of surface species formed during ethanol dehydration reactions.