scholarly journals KLB is associated with alcohol drinking, and its gene product β-Klotho is necessary for FGF21 regulation of alcohol preference

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (50) ◽  
pp. 14372-14377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunter Schumann ◽  
Chunyu Liu ◽  
Paul O’Reilly ◽  
He Gao ◽  
Parkyong Song ◽  
...  

Excessive alcohol consumption is a major public health problem worldwide. Although drinking habits are known to be inherited, few genes have been identified that are robustly linked to alcohol drinking. We conducted a genome-wide association metaanalysis and replication study among >105,000 individuals of European ancestry and identified β-Klotho (KLB) as a locus associated with alcohol consumption (rs11940694; P = 9.2 × 10−12). β-Klotho is an obligate coreceptor for the hormone FGF21, which is secreted from the liver and implicated in macronutrient preference in humans. We show that brain-specific β-Klotho KO mice have an increased alcohol preference and that FGF21 inhibits alcohol drinking by acting on the brain. These data suggest that a liver–brain endocrine axis may play an important role in the regulation of alcohol drinking behavior and provide a unique pharmacologic target for reducing alcohol consumption.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mazzarella ◽  
Annamaria Spina ◽  
Marcello Dallio ◽  
Antonietta Gerarda Gravina ◽  
Mario Romeo ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Italy has been one of the first western countries seriously involved in the COVID-19 pandemic in the first months of 2020 and so that the national government was forced to impose a long lockdown period, stopping all the people aggregation outdoor and indoor activities. From a social point of view this period of domestic confinement resulted in deep changes of behaviours and lifestyles, promoting in many people the onset of psychological symptoms and signs (including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and irritability among others) already known as associated with drug and alcohol abuse OBJECTIVE this study aims to assess the variation of alcohol drinking habits in a sample of Italian citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown and to identify the psychosocial factors surrounding it, in order to assess the specific subset of the population that could need psychosocial support during these events METHODS An online anonymous questionnaire was created and submitted from 9th April 2020 to 28th April 2020 using social medias and e-mails. Questions were related to personal details such as age, work, instruction, and, moreover, to alcohol drinking habits during the lockdown, including Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT C) test questions RESULTS A total of 1234 surveys were filled out by subjects with an age range from 18 to 80 years old. An increase in both anxiety and fear has been detected in most of the participants (63% and 61% respectively) with a direct (r=0.652; p<0.001) relationship between them. Participants older than 50 years showed the strongest correlation between alcohol consumption, fear, and anxiety, (r=0.830, P <0.001 and r=0.741, P<0.001, respectively). Subjects living alone experienced a stronger association between anxiety, fear, and higher level of alcohol consumption (r: 0.529; P<0.001; r: 0.628, P<0.001 respectively). Moreover, 18% of participants increased alcohol consumption drinking during the lockdown. These subjects showed a lower frequency of alcohol consumption before the lockdown in comparison to the rest of the study population (2.5±0.96 vs 3±1.03, P<0.0001 respectively). Moreover, comparing the abovementioned groups, the percentage of subjects who experienced higher alcohol assumption before the 11th of March was higher in those that didn't change their drinking behaviour during the lockdown in comparison to that portion of them that experienced a worsening of alcohol abuse (r: 30.422, P<0.0001) CONCLUSIONS according to these data, during the Italian lockdown due to COVID 19 pandemic, different kind of people experienced an increase in alcohol drinking. Several psychosocial factors are involved in determining the increase in harmful alcohol consumption during this extraordinary stressful event and they must be addressed by the healthcare support in order to avoid awful lockdown impact on human life


Author(s):  
Carmen Tabernero ◽  
Bárbara Luque ◽  
Esther Cuadrado

In both developing and underdeveloped countries there has been a worrying increase in the number of young people drinking alcohol; this public health problem warrants more research. This multilevel study analyzed the influence of drinking refusal self-efficacy, peers’ motivation, and protective behavioral strategies as predictors of alcohol consumption in a sample of 261 young people arranged into 52 social groups (peers who regularly shared leisure activities). A series of questionnaires were administered individually to evaluate beliefs and behaviors related to alcohol consumption at both individual level (drinking refusal self-efficacy) and peer level (enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies). The results showed that the individual variable (drinking refusal self-efficacy) predicted alcohol consumption behaviors. The multilevel design allowed us to evaluate the direct and moderated effects of peers’ enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies on the relationship between self-efficacy and drinking behavior. These results show the importance of developing cognitive, behavioral, and educational intervention programs to increase young people and university students’ confidence and ability to use protective strategies, in order to reduce alcohol use.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Nizamutdinov ◽  
Yaroslav Popov ◽  
Dmitriy Romanov ◽  
Ekaterina Surkova ◽  
Valery Ilinsky ◽  
...  

Liability to alcohol dependence is heritable, but little is known about its complex polygenic architecture. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of self-reported alcohol consumption in 1798 of Russian individuals. No SNP reached genome-wide significance for any alcohol drinking patterns: never drinking, everyday drinking, once per week drinking and once per month drinking. Polymorphisms in previously reported genes of KLB and AUTS2 were significant associated with everyday drinking and once per week drinking patterns, respectively. We also found associations of genes involved in nervous system function and mental disorders with some alcohol drinking patterns. This study identifies novel gene associations that should be the focus of future studies investigating the neurobiology of alcohol consumption.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-20
Author(s):  
Ram Bahadur Nepali ◽  
Damaru Prasad Paneru

Tubercular infection is still a pervasive public health problem in Nepal despite the massive efforts of National Health Service stakeholders. High bacterial infectivity, transmissibility, increasing drug resistance and non compliance to the therapy have been adding up challenges to prevention and control of tuberculosis. This study was conducted to observe the treatment compliance pattern among new pulmonary sputum smear positive cases of tuberculosis. A cross sectional study was carried out in the year 2009. The 114 new smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients registered in the six selected DOTS centres of the Banke Disrtict were randomly selected. Participants were selected from each DOTS centre by probability proportionate sampling methods. Data were analyzed by SPSS (11.0 Version) and P< 0.05 was considered as significant. Overall compliance to DOTS was 86.80 percent; of these, 57.00 percent showed excellent and regular compliance followed by nearly 30 percent good compliance. And 13.20 percent participants were non complaint to DOTS therapy. Positive Family behaviors were positively associated with compliance while alcohol consumption was found to be negatively associated with compliance however; age, sex and income were found to be non significant factors for compliance. Feeling of getting cure even before the course of DOTS therapy (feeling better after 2-3 months regular treatment) and drinking habits were found to be the major causes of non compliance. Supportive family behaviors and avoidance of alcohol consumption may promote the compliance. Excellent treatment compliance in the face of many odds is highly encouraging and the pattern can be useful in treatment despite little non compliances; furthermore compliance can be enhanced by acting on these causes of non compliances. Key words: Pulmonary, Tuberculosis, DOTS, Banke, Nepal


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galya D. Chamova ◽  
Georgi M. Sarov

Summary Parental alcohol drinking is associated with an increased risk of alcohol consumption in adolescents and social drinking is often the first step to regular alcohol consumption. The purpose of the study was to investigate the association between social drinking in adolescence and parental alcohol consumption. We conducted a survey, using a self-completed questionnaire about alcohol drinking habits. Of 903 students (aged 15-19), 279 (30.9%) were found to be abstainers (NDA) and 455 (50.39%) were social drinkers (SDA). These two groups were statistically compared for drinking patterns of their parents. It was found that SDA are fourfold less likely than NDA to have two alcohol abstaining parents (OR=0.26, 95%CI =0.19-0.37) and fourfold more likely to have two alcohol drinking parents (OR=3.89, 95%CI =2.77-5.45). There were no significant differences between SDA and NDA regarding probability to have one abstaining and one socially drinking parent, and SDA were less likely to have one abstaining and one regularly drinking parent (OR=0.54, 0.37-0.8). The social learning theory explains well adolescent drinking patterns when there is no contradiction in parental modeling. It seems, however, that the presence of contradicting patterns of parental alcohol drinking needs another explanation. Since contradicting parental modeling prevents adolescents from social drinking, it could be considered in health prevention intervention.


Author(s):  
Yusaku Kajihara

Background: Movement restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have inflicted stress and affected drinking behavior. However, limited information is available on the changes in alcohol use among the Japanese population.Method: This retrospective study included 371 subjects aged 20–74 years who underwent medical checkups at Fuyoukai Murakami Hospital before (April 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020). All data were extracted from medical records. Changes in alcohol consumption and severity were also investigated. A logistic regression model was used to identify the risk factors associated with increased drinking, and seven variables were sequentially introduced into the model—age (≤ 49 years), male sex, prior instructions for alcohol restriction, medication for lifestyle-related diseases (e.g., hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and hyperuricemia), depression or insomnia, essential workers, and smoking.Results: The median age was 46 years, and 81.7% subjects were men. In total, 25.1% subjects increased their alcohol intake, and 24.5% subjects reduced their alcohol intake. The rates of excessive alcohol consumption (≥ 60 g ethanol per day) were 15.9% and 16.7% in the pre-COVID-19 period and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified only age ≤ 49 years as a risk factor for increased drinking (adjusted odds ratio, 2.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.22–3.99; p = 0.009).Conclusion: Approximately one-fourth of the subjects reported increased drinking, although the overall severity remained stable. The importance of alcohol reduction, particularly among young people, should be emphasized.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdana Adriana Nasui ◽  
Monica Popa ◽  
Codruta Alina Popescu

Abstract Background Alcohol/binge drinking among university students has become a major public health problem. Many of young students will be exposed to substantial changes in living arrangements, socialization groups and social activities during the transitional period. Aim The aim of this study was to analyse the alcohol consumption in Romanian university students, and to describe the behaviours occurring after drinking. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 468 undergraduate students, from a university for medicine and law. Of these students, 35.5% were males and 64.5% were females. The mean age of students was 21.9 ± 3.22 years. Validated anonymous paper questionnaires were completed voluntary by the students. Questionnaires contained demographic items, six questions for determining the level of alcohol consumed in terms of quantity and frequency, and 19 statements or problems resulting from drinking. Results The findings of the study showed that males drunk more units of alcohol /week than females (p < 0.001). The prevalence of abstainers was 10.8% in males and 17.6% in women. Heavy drinkers (drinking 5 or more drinks more than once a week) were more common among male (19.3%) than among female students (16.2%). Most frequently, drinking behaviours are related to academic performance, and the possible link between poor academic performance and alcohol consumption appears tenuous and merits further investigation. Conclusion Effective intervention strategies should be implemented to prevent students’ alcohol consumption and adverse health and social consequences resulting from this behaviour.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoichi Sutoh ◽  
Tsuyoshi Hachiya ◽  
Yuji Suzuki ◽  
Shohei Komaki ◽  
Hideki Ohmomo ◽  
...  

Abstract Liver tests (LT), especially to measure AST, ALT and GGT levels, are widely used to evaluate the risk of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). In this study, we investigated the potential genetic factors that modulate the association between LTs and alcohol consumption. We conducted a genome-wide interaction meta-analysis in 7856 Japanese subjects from Tohoku Medical Megabank Community-Based Cohort (TMM CommCohort) study recruited in 2013, and identified 2 loci (12q24 and 2p16) with genome-wide significance (P > 5 × 10–8). The significant variants in the 12q24 included rs671, a variant associated with alcohol intolerance and located at a coding exon of ALDH2. We found that the amount of alcohol consumption was associated with increased level AST/ALT ratio among the subjects with the rs671 GA genotype. The elevated AST/ALT ratio among subjects with moderate-to-high levels of drinking behavior and the rs671 GA genotype was due to decreased levels of ALT, which was not accompanied with significant differences in AST levels. Although the interaction effect was significant in both men and women, the effect was much larger in men. Our results suggest that the impact of alcohol consumption on LT varies according to the ALDH2 genotype, providing an insight for the accurate screening of ALD in drinkers with the rs671 GA genotype.


2016 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 042-044
Author(s):  
Joswin Rakesh D'SA ◽  
Seemitha Shetty ◽  
Shahina V. ◽  
Shashank Sahu ◽  
Shifali Prabhakar ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction: Alcohol consumption is a major public health problem in most parts of the world responsible for 3.2per cent of deaths (1.8 million). Prevalence of alcohol use in India is reported to be 21.4%. The concern, is that there has been a rapid change in patterns and trends of alcohol use in India, chief among them is people are beginning to drink at ever-younger ages. Alcohol consumption of the students under the age of 18 years is markedly high which needs to be addressed. Aims and Objectives: To assess the awareness of risk factors in alcohol consumption among adolescents and young adults. Materials and Method: Materials used are -Questionnaire pertaining to the awareness of alcohol consumption. Methodology: Assessment of awareness and knowledge of alcohol consumption was done by means of answering a pretested validated questionnaire with anonymity. Results: According to the study done, 67.18% of students knew who consumed alcohol under the age of 18. It was found, 28.03% of the subjects perceived that alcohol consumption started because of the urge to try something new. Conclusion: A high majority of the students are aware of the underage drinking and risk factors associated with it.


1998 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1584-1590 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. McKinzie ◽  
K. L. Nowak ◽  
J. M. Murphy ◽  
T.-K. Li ◽  
L. Lumeng ◽  
...  

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