A Pilot Study of Neurocognitive Function and Brain Structures in Adolescents With Alcohol Use Disorders: Does Maltreatment History Matter?

Neurocognitive and brain structural differences are associated with adolescent onset alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Maltreatment histories may contribute to current results. To examine these issues, healthy adolescents ( n = 31), adolescents without maltreatment and AUD (AUD − MAL, n = 28), and adolescents with AUDs with maltreatment (AUD + MAL, n = 17) underwent comprehensive neurocognitive assessments and MRI structural scans. Controls performed significantly better than the two AUD groups in math and language. The AUD + MAL group performed significantly lower in sustained attention compared to the AUD − MAL and control groups and lower in reading compared to controls. The AUD + MAL group had larger left pars triangularis, a region of the inferior frontal gyrus, compared to the AUD-MAL and control groups, and smaller anterior corpus callosum volumes versus the AUD − MAL group. There were no group differences in other prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and parahippocampal volumes. The AUD + MAL group showed an inverse correlation between hippocampal volumes and age. AUD variables were associated with lower performance in fine-motor and executive function. Cannabis use variables were associated with lower performance in fine-motor, language, visual-spatial, memory, and executive function. Parahippocampal volumes positively correlated with abstinence. The preliminary results suggest adolescent AUD studies should consider examinations of maltreatment history, comorbid substance use disorders, and recovery during abstinence in their analyses.

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Altered neural dynamics in occipital cortices serving visual-spatial processing in heavy alcohol users

Journal of Psychopharmacology ◽

10.1177/0269881119863120 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 245-253

Author(s):

Brandon J Lew ◽

Alex I Wiesman ◽

Michael T Rezich ◽

Tony W Wilson

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Alcohol Use Disorders ◽

Spatial Processing ◽

Neural Dynamics ◽

Heavy Alcohol ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Identification Test ◽

Heavy Alcohol Use ◽

Visual Spatial Processing

Background: Visual-spatial processing deficits have been previously linked to heavy alcohol use, but the underlying neurological mechanisms are poorly understood. Neuroimaging studies have shown alcohol-related aberrations in occipital cortices that appear to be associated with these neuropsychological deficits in visual-spatial processing, however the neural dynamics underlying this altered processing remains unknown. Methods: Twenty-three adults with high scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (male: ⩾5, female: ⩾4) were compared to 30 demographically-matched controls with low Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption scores (⩽2). All participants completed a visual-spatial processing task while undergoing high-density magnetoencephalography. Time-frequency windows of interest were determined using a data-driven method, and spectrally-specific neural activity was imaged using a beamforming approach. Permutation testing of peak voxel time series was then used to statistically compare across groups. Results: Participants with heavy alcohol use responded slower on the task and their performance was more variable. The magnetoencephalography data indicated strong theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (10–16 Hz), and gamma (62–72 Hz) responses in posterior brain regions across both groups. Following voxel time-series extraction, significant group differences were found in the left and right visual association cortices from about 375–550 ms post-stimulus, such that adults with heavy alcohol use had blunted alpha responses compared to controls. Conclusion: Individuals with heavy alcohol use exhibited aberrant occipital alpha activity during visual-spatial processing. These data are the first to show spectrally-specific differences during visual-spatial processing related to heavy alcohol use, and highlight alcohol’s effect on systems-level neural activity.

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Parenting Styles and Alcohol Use in Brazilian Males

Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto) ◽

10.1590/1982-4327e3033 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 ◽

Author(s):

Elke do Pillar Pinheiro ◽

Paula Inez Cunha Gomide

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Parenting Styles ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Binary Logistic Regression ◽

Adult Males ◽

Control Groups ◽

Binary Logistic Regression Model ◽

Significant Difference ◽

History Of ◽

And Control

Abstract Parenting styles have been identified as some of the most important factors of risk for and protection against alcohol use among adolescents. This study aimed at comparing maternal and paternal parenting styles in groups of adult alcoholic and non-alcoholic men. Participants were 260 adult males, half of whom had been diagnosed with alcoholism whilst the others did not have a history of such disorder. The comparison between the alcoholic and control groups showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) in relation to both paternal and maternal parenting practices. The binary logistic regression model containing paternal PSI, age, education and maternal PSI (χ2 = 5.224; p = 0.022; R2Nagelkerke = 0.801) showed that paternal PSI was the main predictor of alcoholism.

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Bilingual advantages in executive functioning: Evidence from a low-income sample

First Language ◽

10.1177/01427237211024220 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014272372110242

Author(s):

Kandice S. Grote ◽

Rose M. Scott ◽

Jeffrey Gilger

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Low Income ◽

Attentional Control ◽

Superior Performance ◽

Low Ses ◽

Lower Socioeconomic Status ◽

Control Groups ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

English Bilingual ◽

Lower Socioeconomic

Recent research suggests that bilinguals might exhibit advantages in several areas of executive function, including working memory, inhibitory control, and attentional control. However, few studies have examined potential bilingual advantages within lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations. Here we addressed this gap in the literature by investigating whether low-SES Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers exhibited advantages in executive function relative to two monolingual control groups (English, Spanish). Across three experiments, bilingual children exhibited superior performance on two different measures of visual–spatial memory, as well as measures of inhibitory and attentional control. These results suggest that bilinguals exhibit broad advantages in executive function during the preschool years, and these advantages are evident within a disadvantaged, low-SES population.

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Looking Forward in Records of Youth Abused as Infants: Risks for Homicidal, Violent, and Delinquent Offenses

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.104.1.47-75 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 104 (1) ◽

pp. 47-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Robert John Zagar ◽

William M. Grove ◽

Kenneth G. Busch ◽

John Russell Hughes ◽

Jack Arbit

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Executive Function ◽

Alcohol Abuse ◽

Home School ◽

Control Group ◽

Control Groups ◽

Youth Court ◽

Substance Exposure ◽

And Control ◽

Parental Alcohol

To study risks for abuse and later homicidal behavior, 192 abused infants ( M age = 3.12 yr., SD = 1.48; 82 girls, 110 boys) and 192 controls were matched on demographics and examined; data discriminating abused and later homicidal cases were analyzed with Shao's bootstrapped logistic regression. Predictors of Abused status were injury, burn, poisoning, fetal substance exposure ( OR = 2.47), later parental or youth court contacts ( OR = 1.86e+12), and parental alcohol abuse (OR = .54; AUC = .99; 95% CI= .96−.99). Youth tracked through records 12 years (to M age = 12.17 yr., SD =1.89) were classified into Abused Later Homicidal (11%, n = 21), Abused Later Violent (14%, n = 27), Abused Later Delinquent (31%, n = 60), Abused Later Nondeliquent ( n = 44), and Control groups ( n = 192). Data were analyzed similarly. When the Abused Later Homicidal was contrasted with the Control group, predictors of homicide were three or more home/school moves ( OR = .78), illnesses ( OR = .90), and later court contacts ( OR= 1.75e+07; AUC=.99; 95% CI=.90−.98). When the Abused Later Homicidal was compared with the Abused Later Nondelinquent group, predictors of homicide were poorer executive function ( OR = 2.29) and later court contacts ( OR = 7.78e+06; AUC=.94; 95% CI= .90−.98).

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Alcohol use problems in migraine and tension-type headache

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria ◽

10.1590/0004-282x20130186 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

pp. 24-27 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Renan B. Domingues ◽

Simone A. Domingues ◽

Cássio B. Lacerda ◽

Tarnara V.C. Machado ◽

Halina Duarte ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Impact Test ◽

Alcohol Use Disorders ◽

Inverse Correlation ◽

Tension Type Headache ◽

Identification Test ◽

Audit Score ◽

Type Headache ◽

Headache Impact ◽

Headache Patients

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess alcohol use problems in patients with migraine and tension-type headache. Method: We evaluated 81 patients with migraine and 62 patients with tension-type headache. The identification of alcohol consumption problems was carried out with Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Alcohol use problem was defined as an AUDIT score of 8 or above. The headache impact was calculated with headache impact test (HIT-6). Results: The proportions of alcohol use problem among patients with migraine and tension-type headache were 5.2% and 16.1%, respectively (P=0.044). The headache impact was significantly higher with migraine than with tension-type headache (P<0.0001). There was an inverse correlation between headache impact and AUDIT (P=0.043). Conclusions: Our results suggest that migraine patients are less prone to alcohol use problems than tension-type headache patients. One of the possible reasons is that migraine is associated with greater impact than tension-type headache.

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Cognitive impairments in sporadic cerebral small vessel disease (SVD): a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohorts with stroke, dementia and non-clinical presentations of SVD

10.1101/2020.02.10.20020628 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Olivia KL Hamilton ◽

Ellen V Backhouse ◽

Esther Janssen ◽

Angela CC Jochems ◽

Caragh Maher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Executive Function ◽

Cognitive Impairments ◽

Clinical Manifestations ◽

Cognitive Test ◽

Visuospatial Ability ◽

Control Groups ◽

Cognitive Domains ◽

Clinical Presentations ◽

And Control

AbstractBackgroundCognitive impairment is a key clinical feature of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), but the full range of SVD-related cognitive impairments is unclear, and little is known about how they might vary across clinical and non-clinical manifestations of SVD.MethodsIn systematic searches of OVID MEDLINE, Embase, and PsychINFO from 1st January 1985 to 6th October 2019, we identified studies reporting cognitive test results for study participants with SVD and control participants without SVD. Using standardised group-level cognitive test data, we performed random effects meta-analyses in seven cognitive domains to test whether cognitive test scores differed between SVD and control groups. We conducted meta-regression analyses to test whether differences in age, education, or vascular risk factors between SVD and control groups, or whether different clinical manifestations of SVD (e.g. stroke, cognitive impairment, or non-clinical presentations) accounted for cognitive effect sizes.FindingsOf 8562 studies identified, we included 69 studies from six continents, published in four languages. These studies included 3229 participants with SVD and 3679 controls. Meta-analyses demonstrated that on average, control groups outperformed SVD cohorts on cognitive tests in all cognitive domains examined: executive function (estimate: -0.928; 95%CI: -1.08, -0.78); processing speed (-0.885; -1.17, -0.60); delayed memory (-0.898; -1.10, -0.69); language (-0.808; -1.01, -0.60); visuospatial ability (-0.720; -0.96, -0.48); reasoning (-0.634; -0.93, -0.34); and attention (-0.622; -0.94, -0.31; all p≤0.001). Meta-regression analyses suggested that differences in years of education between SVD and control groups may account for a proportion of the differences in performance on tests of executive function, visuospatial ability and language, and that cohorts with cognitive impairments performed more poorly on tests of executive function, delayed memory and visuospatial ability than cohorts with stroke or non-clinical presentations of SVD.InterpretationParticipants with SVD demonstrated poorer cognitive performance relative to control groups in all cognitive domains we examined. This effect was present for all presentations of SVD, reinforcing the need to test a range of cognitive domains in both clinical and research settings. Lower levels of education in SVD versus control participants may contribute to these effects, highlighting the need to account for educational level in the assessment of SVD-related cognitive impairment.FundingNone.

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More Screening Urged for Alcohol Use Disorders

Internal Medicine News ◽

10.1016/s1097-8690(11)70445-0 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 44 (9) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

NASEEM S. MILLER

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Alcohol Use Disorders

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Conjugated Linoleic Acid Causes a Marked Increase in Liver α-Tocopherol and Liver α-Tocopherol Transfer Protein in C57BL/6 J Mice

International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research ◽

10.1024/0300-9831/a000007 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 80 (1) ◽

pp. 65-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Pei-Min Chao ◽

Wan-Hsuan Chen ◽

Chun-Huei Liao ◽

Huey-Mei Shaw

Keyword(s):

Antioxidant Enzymes ◽

Linoleic Acid ◽

Conjugated Linoleic Acid ◽

Thiobarbituric Acid ◽

Control Group ◽

Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances ◽

Control Groups ◽

Protein Levels ◽

Transfer Protein ◽

And Control

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a collective term for the positional and geometric isomers of a conjugated diene of linoleic acid (C18:2, n-6). The aims of the present study were to evaluate whether levels of hepatic α-tocopherol, α-tocopherol transfer protein (α-TTP), and antioxidant enzymes in mice were affected by a CLA-supplemented diet. C57BL/6 J mice were divided into the CLA and control groups, which were fed, respectively, a 5 % fat diet with or without 1 g/100 g of CLA (1:1 mixture of cis-9, trans-11 and trans-10, cis-12) for four weeks. α-Tocopherol levels in plasma and liver were significantly higher in the CLA group than in the control group. Liver α-TTP levels were also significantly increased in the CLA group, the α-TTP/β-actin ratio being 2.5-fold higher than that in control mice (p<0.01). Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances were significantly decreased in the CLA group (p<0.01). There were no significant differences between the two groups in levels of three antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase). The accumulation of liver α-tocopherol seen with the CLA diet can be attributed to the antioxidant potential of CLA and the ability of α-TTP induction. The lack of changes in antioxidant enzyme protein levels and the reduced lipid peroxidation in the liver of CLA mice are due to α-tocopherol accumulation.

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