Patterns of Alcohol Consumption in Spanish University Alumni: Nine Years of Follow-Up

The aim of this study was to empirically identify different profiles of Spanish university alumni, based on their alcohol use over 9 years, and to further characterize them. A cohort study was carried out between 2005 and 2015 among university students (Compostela Cohort-Spain; n2015 = 415). Alcohol consumption was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). A two-stage cluster analysis, based on their AUDIT total scores was carried out separately for males and females. The further characterization of every profile was based on demographic data, age at onset of alcohol use, positive alcohol-related expectancies, tobacco and cannabis use, as well as their answers to some European Addiction Severity Index items. Five different clusters were identified: Low users (29.2%), Moderated users (37.2%), At-risk users (14.2%), Decreasing users (13.2%) and Large users (6.2%) for females, and Low users (34.4%), At-risk users (25.6%), High-risk users (15.6%), Decreasing users (14.4%) and Large users (10.0%) for males. Being a cannabis user or a smoker was positively associated to those more hazardous clusters in both genders. Regarding females, significant differences in the age of onset and high positive expectancies were found. However, there were few significant differences among the groups in relation to their employment status and social relations. The results reveal the existence of different typologies of alcohol users among university alumni, with differences among males and females. Modifying positive expectancies, limiting access to alcohol at a young age, and reducing uses of other substances uses are key to promote healthier alcohol use profiles and to prevent hazardous usesThis work was supported by a grant from the Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (Spain) (2005/PN014) and from Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Spain) (PI15/00165). Eduardo López-Caneda was supported by the SFRH/BPD/109750/2015 Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology as well as by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)S

Anomalías en el funcionamiento cerebral ligadas al mantenimiento de un patrón de consumo intensivo de alcohol (binge drinking) en jóvenes: un estudio mediante potenciales evocados

El binge drinking (BD), un patrón de consumo de alcohol caracterizado por la ingesta de grandes cantidades de alcohol en un corto espacio de tiempo y que se alterna con períodos de abstinencia entre los episodios de consumo, presenta una alta prevalencia entre los jóvenes y adolescentes. Recientes estudios en animales y humanos han puesto de manifiesto las importantes consecuencias que el BD puede tener sobre la estructura y el funcionamiento cerebral, especialmente durante periodos neuromadurativos como son la adolescencia y la juventud. Sin embargo, no existían, hasta la fecha, estudios de tipo longitudinal que explorasen sus consecuencias a medio/largo plazo. En la presente tesis se estudió, mediante potenciales evocados, la actividad eléctrica cerebral asociada a los procesos de atención, memoria de trabajo y control inhibitorio en jóvenes de 20-21 años con al menos dos años de mantenimiento del patrón BD. Los resultados mostraron que la persistencia en este patrón de consumo se asociaba a un incremento en las anomalías en el funcionamiento cerebral vinculadas a los procesos de atención y memoria de trabajo observadas en una primera evaluación dos años antes, así como a la aparición de alteraciones en la actividad neural relacionada con los procesos de control inhibitorio no detectadas en la primera fase del estudio. Asimismo, el abandono del patrón BD implicaba un freno en las anomalías neurofuncionales relacionadas con la inhibición de respuesta. Estas anomalías en el funcionamiento cerebral podrían indicar un incremento en los recursos neurales implicados en los procesos de atención, memoria de trabajo y control inhibitorio por parte de los jóvenes BDs que les permitiría mantener un rendimiento conductual equivalente al de aquéllos sin consumo intensivo de alcohol. Este incremento podría responder a una menor eficiencia neural consecuencia de un enlentecimiento en el neurodesarrollo o a una actividad neural compensatoria

Drogas de abuso e adicción a psicofármacos

Titulación: Grao en Psicoloxía -- Materia: Farmacoloxía do ComportamentoA materia de Farmacoloxía do Comportamento é unha materia optativa de segundo ciclo da especialidade de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía da Licenciatura en Psicoloxía, pero pode moi ben ser seguida por calquera alumna/o de calquera especialidade que o desexe. A súa condición de optativa circunscribiranos a traballar entre persoas interesadas a priori en coñecer os seus contidos e dotarse das competencias básicas para o manexo de psicofármacos que requiren as tarefas propias da Psicoloxía. Aínda que non se establecen prerrequisitos normativos para cursala (excepto os xerais do plano de estudos) parece conveniente ter superadas as materias da área de psicobioloxía dos tres primeiros cursos. Se non fose así, ó menos sería necesario telas estudado para comprender o alcance dos conceptos básicos de neurociencias que empregaremos. O programa doutras materias necesariamente complementarias da nosa, como a psicopatoloxía, algunhas materias de psicoterapia ou técnicas terapéuticas, irá avanzando ao par que nos vaiamos vendo temas en psicofarmacoloxía. Tentaremos coordinar os nosos pasos e, en todo caso, os aspectos de terapia farmacolóxica nas principais entidades psicopatolóxicas aparecerán cara ao final do noso programa. A materia de farmacoloxía do comportamento é cuadrimestral. Ao longo do segundo cuadrimestre do curso teremos docencia presencial teórica e práctica en grupos reducidos, disporemos dun curso virtual, no contorno web-ct, que está pensado para ser utilizado como complemento da docencia presencial. A última das leccións incluídas dentro desta materia e que será obxecto desta unidade didáctica é Drogas de abuso e adicción a psicofármacos, tema fundamental no coñecemento dos mecanismos neurobiolóxicos que dan lugar ós comportamentos aditivos así como na comprensión das causas e consecuencias das drogodependencias. A duración estimada desta unidade didáctica é de seis horas teóricas (catro de clases maxistrais e dúas de debate cun experto en drogodependencias) e dúas horas de prácticas a desenvolver no laboratorio nunha única sesión.Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Servizo de Normalización Lingüístic

Effects of the COVID-19 mitigation measures on alcohol consumption and binge drinking in college students: a longitudinal survey

The data presented in this study are openly available in FigShare at: 10.6084/m9.figshare.14755278 (accessed on 22 August 2021).To “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 contagion, several countries ordered lockdowns amid the pandemic along with indications on social distancing. These social isolation measures could potentially bring alterations to healthy behavior, including to alcohol consumption. However, there is hardly any scientific evidence of the impact of such measures on alcohol consumption and binge drinking (BD) among young adults, and how they relate to alcohol craving, stress, anxiety, and depression levels. We addressed these questions by conducting a longitudinal study with 146 Portuguese college students—regular binge drinkers (regular BDs), infrequent binge drinkers (infrequent BDs) and non-binge drinkers (non-BDs)—in three moments: before the pandemic (Pre-Lockdown), during lockdown (Lockdown) and 6 months after (Post-Lockdown). Results revealed that regular BDs decreased alcohol use during Lockdown, a change in behavior that was even greater during Post-Lockdown, when regular BDs displayed similar levels of consumption to infrequent/non-BDs. Additionally, alcohol craving and living with friends were predictive of alcohol use during Lockdown, whereas stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms did not contribute to explain changes in drinking behavior. Collectively, the results suggest that BD in young Portuguese college students can be stopped when the contexts in which alcohol intake usually takes place are suppressed, which may have important implications for future prevention and intervention strategies.This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget [Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020]. This study was also supported by the project PTDC/PSI-ESP/28672/2017, funded by FCT and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). Eduardo López-Caneda and Alberto Crego were supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, within the scope of the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEECIND/02979/2018), and the Transitory Disposition of the Decree No. 57/2016, of 29 August, amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July, respectively. Natália Antunes was supported by a fellowship from the FCT (SFRH/BD/146194/2019) and Rui Rodrigues by a fellowship from the Psychology Research Centre, School of Psychology, University of Minho (UMINHO/BID/2021/19)

Portuguese validation of the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Short Form-Revised

Alcohol craving has been described as a strong subjective desire to drink, being considered highly valuable in the clinical practice, as it is recognized as a strong predictor of alcohol relapse in alcohol-dependent individuals. However, to date, there is not a multifactorial questionnaire available for assessing short-term acute craving experience in Portugal. The aim of the present study was to validate a swift and efficient tool for the assessment of acute alcohol craving in a sample of Portuguese citizens. For that purpose, the Alcohol Craving Questionnaire-Short Form-Revised (ACQ-SF-R) was translated into European Portuguese and administered to a sample of 591 college participants with ages between 18 and 30 years. Results suggested that a three-factor model (i.e., Emotionality, Purposefulness, and Compulsivity) proved to be most suitable for the Portuguese sample. Overall, the ACQ-SF-R exhibited good psychometric properties, having a good internal consistency both for the general craving index (Cronbach's alpha = 0.85) and each subscale (Cronbach's alpha = 0.66-0.83), as well as an appropriate convergent validity with the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (r = 0.65, p<0.001), suggesting a good construct validity. In addition, the ACQ-SF-R also showed a good concurrent validity with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (r = 0.57, p<0.001), indicating that risky alcohol use patterns are associated with increased craving scores in the ACQ-SF-R. Collectively, these findings suggest that the Portuguese version of the ACQ-SF-R can accurately measure alcohol craving at a multifactorial level, being a valid and reliable tool to use in Portuguese samples in research settings.This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi/UM) School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (UIDB/01662/2020). The study was also supported by the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028672, funded by FCT and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). Eduardo Lopez-Caneda and Alberto Crego were supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, within the scope of the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEECIND/02979/2018), and within the scope of the Transitory Disposition of the Decrete No. 57/2016, of 29th of August, amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July, respectively. Natalia Almeida-Antunes was supported by a fellowship from the FCT (SFRH/BD/146194/2019). https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/pt/funding/erdf/https://www.fct.pt/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Editorial: Binge Drinking in the Adolescent and Young Brain

This study was supported by the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028672, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). EL-C was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the FCT (SFRH/BPD/109750/2015), as well as by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)S

Response to “Is there room for attentional impairments in binge drinking? A commentary on Carbia et al. (2018).”

Carina Carbia has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754535. Eduardo López-Caneda was supported by the SFRH/BPD/109750/2015 Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology as well as by the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653)S

Forgetting alcohol: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial investigating memory inhibition training in young binge drinkers

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.914213/full#supplementary-materialBackground: Binge Drinking (BD) has been associated with altered inhibitory control and augmented alcohol-cue reactivity. Memory inhibition (MI), the ability to voluntarily suppress unwanted thoughts/memories, may lead to forgetting of memories in several psychiatric conditions. However, despite its potential clinical implications, no study to date has explored the MI abilities in populations with substance misuse, such as binge drinkers (BDs). Method: This study—registered in the NIH Clinical Trials Database (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05237414)—aims firstly to examine the behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of MI among college BDs. For this purpose, 45 BDs and 45 age-matched non/low-drinkers (50% female) will be assessed by EEG while performing the Think/No-Think Alcohol task, a paradigm that evaluates alcohol-related MI. Additionally, this work aims to evaluate an alcohol-specific MI intervention protocol using cognitive training (CT) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) while its effects on behavioral and EEG outcomes are assessed. BDs will be randomly assigned to one MI training group: combined [CT and verum tDCS applied over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)], cognitive (CT and sham tDCS), or control (sham CT and sham tDCS). Training will occur in three consecutive days, in three sessions. MI will be re-assessed in BDs through a post-training EEG assessment. Alcohol use and craving will be measured at the first EEG assessment, and both 10-days and 3-months post-training. In addition, behavioral and EEG data will be collected during the performance of an alcohol cue reactivity (ACR) task, which evaluates attentional bias toward alcoholic stimuli, before, and after the MI training sessions. Discussion: This study protocol will provide the first behavioral and neurofunctional MI assessment in BDs. Along with poor MI abilities, BDs are expected to show alterations in event-related potentials and functional connectivity patterns associated with MI. Results should also demonstrate the effectiveness of the protocol, with BDs exhibiting an improved capacity to suppress alcohol-related memories after both combined and cognitive training, along with a reduction in alcohol use and craving in the short/medium-term. Collectively, these findings might have major implications for the understanding and treatment of alcohol misuse. Clinical Trial Registration: [www.ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT05237414].This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Center (PSI/01662), School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (Ref.: UIDB/PSI/01662/2020). This study was also supported by the project PTDC/PSI-ESP/28672/2017, funded by FCT and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). EL-C and AC were supported by the FCT and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, within the scope of the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (CEECIND/02979/2018), and the Transitory Disposition of the Decree No. 57/2016, of 29 August, amended by Law No. 57/2017 of 19 July, respectively. NA-A was supported by the FCT, MCTES, and European Union through the European Social Fund (FSE) (SFRH/BD/146194/2019) and RR by a fellowship from the Psychology Research Centre, School of Psychology, University of Minho (UMINHO/BID/2021/19)