Alcohol withdrawal hallucinations in the general population, an epidemiological study

Hallucinations are sometimes encountered in the course of alcohol withdrawal; however, both the factors predisposing to alcohol withdrawal hallucinations (AWH) and the implications of AWH with respect to the mechanisms of hallucinations remain unclear. To clarify these issues, we used data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to investigate the demographic correlates, alcohol-use clinical patterns, and psychiatric comorbidities in two groups: drinkers with and without a history of AWH. We estimated the odds ratios for studied factors and used logistic regression analyses to compare the two groups. We found that over 2% of drinkers reported AWH (758 of a sample of 34,533 subjects). Alcohol tolerance and withdrawal seizures were highly associated with AWH, and exposure to alcohol during brain development was associated with a 10-fold increase in AWH compared to exposure during adulthood. African Americans, Native Americans, and unmarried subjects, as well as subjects with lower levels of education and lower levels of income were more likely to experience AWH. Furthermore, those with a history of AWH had higher odds ratios for most psychiatric illnesses than those without such history—yet of anxiety disorders, only panic was associated with AWH. These associations suggest that higher levels of education and of standard of living could protect against AWH; while social isolation, hypervigilance, exposure to alcohol during brain development, and long and severe exposure to alcohol could predispose to AWH

Keeping the inner voice inside the head, a pilot fMRI study

Introduction: The inner voice is experienced during thinking in words (inner speech) and silent reading and evokes brain activity that is highly similar to that associated with external voices. Yet while the inner voice is experienced in internal space (inside the head), external voices (one's own and those of others) are experienced in external space. In this paper, we investigate the neural basis of this differential spatial localization. Methods: We used fMRI to examine the difference in brain activity between reading silently and reading aloud. As the task involved reading aloud, data were first denoised by removing independent components related to head movement. They were subsequently processed using finite impulse response basis function to address the variations of the hemodynamic response. Final analyses were carried out using permutation-based statistics, which is appropriate for small samples. These analyses produce spatiotemporal maps of brain activity. Results: Reading silently relative to reading aloud was associated with activity of the "where" auditory pathway (Inferior parietal lobule and middle temporal gyrus), and delayed activity of the primary auditory cortex. Conclusions: These pilot data suggest that internal space localization of the inner voice depends on the same neural resources as that for external space localization of external voices-the "where" auditory pathway. We discuss the implications of these findings on the possible mechanisms of abnormal experiences of the inner voice as is the case in verbal hallucinations

Bee Venom Mitigates Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity by Regulating CD4 +

Cisplatin is used as a potent anticancer drug, but it often causes nephrotoxicity. Bee venom (BV) has been used for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases, and its renoprotective action was shown in NZB/W mice. However, little is known about whether BV has beneficial effects on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and how such effects might be mediated. In the present study, the BV-injected group showed a significant increase in the population of Tregs in spleen. Although there was no significant difference in the numbers of Tregs 3 days after cisplatin injection between the BV- and PBS-injected groups, more migration of Tregs into the kidney was observed 6 hours after cisplatin administration in BV group than in PBS group. In addition, BV-injected mice showed reduced levels of serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, renal tissue damage, proinflammatory cytokines, and macrophage infiltration into the kidney 3 days after cisplatin administration. These renoprotective effects were abolished by the depletion of Tregs. The anticancer effect of repeated administrations of cisplatin was not affected by BV injection. These results suggest that BV has protective effects on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in mice, at least in part, through the regulation of Tregs without a big influence on the antitumor effects of cisplatin

Functional Role of the Polymorphic 647 T/C Variant of ENT1 (SLC29A1) and Its Association with Alcohol Withdrawal Seizures

Adenosine is involved in several neurological and behavioral disorders including alcoholism. In cultured cell and animal studies, type 1 equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT1, slc29a1), which regulates adenosine levels, is known to regulate ethanol sensitivity and preference. Interestingly, in humans, the ENT1 (SLC29A1) gene contains a non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (647 T/C; rs45573936) that might be involved in the functional change of ENT1. Our functional analysis showed that prolonged ethanol exposure increased adenosine uptake activity of mutant cells (ENT1-216Thr) compared to wild-type (ENT1-216Ile) transfected cells, which might result in reduced extracellular adenosine levels. We found that mice lacking ENT1 displayed increased propensity to ethanol withdrawal seizures compared to wild-type littermates. We further investigated a possible association of the 647C variant with alcoholism and the history of alcohol withdrawal seizures in subjects of European ancestry recruited from two independent sites. Analyses of the combined data set showed an association of the 647C variant and alcohol dependence with withdrawal seizures at the nominally significant level. Together with the functional data, our findings suggest a potential contribution of a genetic variant of ENT1 to the development of alcoholism with increased risk of alcohol withdrawal-induced seizures in humans

Prevalence rates and adjusted odds ratios of lifetime SUDs in adopted and nonadopted individuals.

<p>Abbreviations: SUD, substance use disorder; OR, odds ratio; AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.</p>a<p>Adjusted for gender, age, race, education, and marital status.</p>b<p>Other drug includes sedatives, tranquilizers, inhalants, solvents, and others.</p

Logistic regression of adoption-specific risk factors associated with any lifetime SUD in all individuals (n = 42881).

<p>Abbreviations: SUD, substance use disorder; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.</p

Demographic characteristics of adopted and nonadopted individuals.

<p>Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.</p

Measuring Cultural Identity: Validation of a Modified Cortes, Rogler and Malgady Bicultural Scale in Three Ethnic Groups in New York

Cultural identity is central to health. Acculturation may be formulated with a bicultural model, assessing in parallel the degree of identification with both the original and the host culture. The Cortes, Rogler and Malgady Bicultural Scale (CRM-BS) is composed of two subscales: “original” culture and “mainstream-United States” (US) culture. It was modified into three ethnic versions: Latino, Korean and Chinese. Validation of the CRM-BS was conducted using health professionals and psychiatric patients from the above three ethnic groups and a control sample of mainstream-US (main-US) health professionals in New York City (n = 394). Mean time of completion was 3.7 min and 73% judged it to be easy to use. Strong test–retest reliability correlation coefficients were found (original culture, 0.78; mainstream-US, 0.82). The internal consistency was documented by high Cronbach’s alpha values (original culture, 0.88; mainstream-US, 0.80). Factorial analysis revealed two factors, the first one involving all the items of the original culture and the second all of the mainstream-US items. Concerning its discriminant validity, non-main-US subjects scored significantly higher than main-US subjects on the original culture subscale, and vice versa. Construct validity was assessed comparing intergenerational mean scores on both subscales; as generations become older, mean scores for the original culture decreased, while those for the “host” culture increased. Results for each specific ethnic version are also presented. Cutoff scores were calculated to categorize the involvement with the original culture or the host culture, both of them, or neither

Development and Validation of the Chinese Version of the Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI-Ch)

This study documents the validation study of the Multicultural Quality of Life Index, Chinese version (MQLI-Ch). This self-rated instrument is composed of ten items that correspond to multiple dimensions of the concept of quality of life. Each item is rated on a scale from 1 to 10, according to the subject’s culture-informed understanding of the concept. The MQLI-Ch was tested on 144 Chinese subjects (124 psychiatric patients and 20 professionals). It was found to be quite efficient (about 3 min to be completed) and easy to use. A Cronbach’s α of 0.94 demonstrated its internal consistency. The factor analysis of the ten items yielded one single factor, which accounted for 65.19% of the variance. The test–retest reliability correlation coefficient was 0.80. Its discriminant validity was documented by a highly significant difference (P < 0.001) between the mean scores of the two samples with presumed differences in quality of life. Thus, the MQLI-Ch showed high feasibility, internal structure, reliability and discriminant validity