Intoxicated eyewitnesses:the effect of a fully balanced placebo design on event memory and metacognitive control

Few studies have examined the impact of alcohol on metacognition for witnessed events. We used a 2x2 balanced placebo design, where mock-witnesses expected and drank alcohol, did not expect but drank alcohol, did not expect nor drank alcohol, or expected but did not drink alcohol. Participants watched a mock-crime in a bar-lab, followed by free recall and a cued-recall test with or without the option to reply ‘don’t know’ (DK). Intoxicated mock-witnesses’ free recall was less complete but not less accurate. During cued-recall, alcohol led to lower accuracy, and reverse placebo participants gave more erroneous and fewer correct responses. Permitting and clarifying DK responses was associated with fewer errors and more correct responses for sober individuals; and intoxicated witnesses were less likely to opt out of erroneous responding to unanswerable questions. Our findings highlight the practical and theoretical importance of examining pharmacological effects of alcohol and expectancies in real-life settings

Western Australian public opinions of a minimum pricing policy for alcohol: study protocol

Background: Excessive alcohol consumption has significant adverse economic, social, and health outcomes. Recent estimates suggest that the annual economic costs of alcohol in Australia are up to AUD $36 billion. Policies influencing price have been demonstrated to be very effective in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms. Interest in minimum pricing has gained traction in recent years. However, there has been little research investigating the level of support for the public interest case of minimum pricing in Australia. Objective: This article describes protocol for a study exploring Western Australian (WA) public knowledge, understanding, and reaction to a proposed minimum price policy per standard drink. Methods: The study will employ a qualitative methodological design. Participants will be recruited from a wide variety of backgrounds, including ethnic minorities, blue and white collar workers, unemployed, students, and elderly/retired populations to participate in focus groups. Focus group participants will be asked about their knowledge of, and initial reactions to, the proposed policy and encouraged to discuss how such a proposal may affect their own alcohol use and alcohol consumption at the population level. Participants will also be asked to discuss potential avenues for increasing acceptability of the policy. The focus groups will adopt a semi-structured, open-ended approach guided by a question schedule. The schedule will be based on feedback from pilot samples, previous research, and a steering group comprising experts in alcohol policy and pricing. Results: The study is expected to take approximately 14 months to complete. Conclusions: The findings will be of considerable interest and relevance to government officials, policy makers, researchers, advocacy groups, alcohol retail and licensed establishments and organizations, city and town planners, police, and other stakeholder organizations

Impulsivity in disorders of food and drug misuse.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests some overlap between the pathological use of food and drugs, yet how impulsivity compares across these different clinical disorders remains unclear. Substance use disorders are commonly characterized by elevated impulsivity, and impulsivity subtypes may show commonalities and differences in various conditions. We hypothesized that obese subjects with binge-eating disorder (BED) and abstinent alcohol-dependent cohorts would have relatively more impulsive profiles compared to obese subjects without BED. We also predicted decision impulsivity impairment in obesity with and without BED. METHOD: Thirty obese subjects with BED, 30 without BED and 30 abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects and age- and gender-matched controls were tested on delay discounting (preference for a smaller immediate reward over a larger delayed reward), reflection impulsivity (rapid decision making prior to evidence accumulation) and motor response inhibition (action cancellation of a prepotent response). RESULTS: All three groups had greater delay discounting relative to healthy volunteers. Both obese subjects without BED and alcohol-dependent subjects had impaired motor response inhibition. Only obese subjects without BED had impaired integration of available information to optimize outcomes over later trials with a cost condition. CONCLUSIONS: Delay discounting appears to be a common core impairment across disorders of food and drug intake. Unexpectedly, obese subjects without BED showed greater impulsivity than obese subjects with BED. We highlight the dissociability and heterogeneity of impulsivity subtypes and add to the understanding of neurocognitive profiles across disorders involving food and drugs. Our results have therapeutic implications suggesting that disorder-specific patterns of impulsivity could be targeted.V.V. is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow in Clinical Neurosciences (Wellcome Trust grant no. WT093705MA). Y.W. is supported by the Fyssen Fondation. N.A.H. is a Wellcome Trust Intermediate Fellow in Clinical Neurosciences. The BCNI is supported by both the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from CUP at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171400183

Can screening and brief intervention lead to population-level reductions in alcohol-related harm?

A distinction is made between the clinical and public health justifications for screening and brief intervention (SBI) against hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. Early claims for a public health benefit of SBI derived from research on general medical practitioners' (GPs') advice on smoking cessation, but these claims have not been realized, mainly because GPs have not incorporated SBI into their routine practice. A recent modeling exercise estimated that, if all GPs in England screened every patient at their next consultation, 96% of the general population would be screened over 10 years, with 70-79% of excessive drinkers receiving brief interventions (BI); assuming a 10% success rate, this would probably amount to a population-level effect of SBI. Thus, a public health benefit for SBI presupposes widespread screening; but recent government policy in England favors targeted versus universal screening, and in Scotland screening is based on new registrations and clinical presentation. A recent proposal for a national screening program was rejected by the UK National Health Service's National Screening Committee because 1) there was no good evidence that SBI led to reductions in mortality or morbidity, and 2) a safe, simple, precise, and validated screening test was not available. Even in countries like Sweden and Finland, where expensive national programs to disseminate SBI have been implemented, only a minority of the population has been asked about drinking during health-care visits, and a minority of excessive drinkers has been advised to cut down. Although there has been research on the relationship between treatment for alcohol problems and population-level effects, there has been no such research for SBI, nor have there been experimental investigations of its relationship with population-level measures of alcohol-related harm. These are strongly recommended. In this article, conditions that would allow a population-level effect of SBI to occur are reviewed, including their political acceptability. It is tentatively concluded that widespread dissemination of SBI, without the implementation of alcohol control measures, might have indirect influences on levels of consumption and harm but would be unlikely on its own to result in public health benefits. However, if and when alcohol control measures were introduced, SBI would still have an important role in the battle against alcohol-related harm

A time series analysis of presentations to Queensland health facilities for alcohol-related conditions, following the increase in ‘alcopops’ tax

Objective: In response to concerns about the health consequences of high-risk drinking by young people, the Australian Government increased the tax on pre-mixed alcoholic beverages ('alcopops') favoured by this demographic. We measured changes in admissions for alcohol-related harm to health throughout Queensland, before and after the tax increase in April 2008. Methods: We used data from the Queensland Trauma Register, Hospitals Admitted Patients Data Collection, and the Emergency Department Information System to calculate alcohol-related admission rates per 100,000 people, for 15 - 29 year-olds. We analysed data over 3 years (April 2006 - April 2009), using interrupted time-series analyses. This covered 2 years before, and 1 year after, the tax increase. We investigated both mental and behavioural consequences (via F10 codes), and intentional/unintentional injuries (S and T codes). Results: We fitted an auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, to test for any changes following the increased tax. There was no decrease in alcohol-related admissions in 15 - 29 year-olds. We found similar results for males and females, as well as definitions of alcohol-related harms that were narrow (F10 codes only) and broad (F10, S and T codes). Conclusions: The increased tax on 'alcopops' was not associated with any reduction in hospital admissions for alcohol-related harms in Queensland 15 - 29 year-olds

Newsprint coverage of smoking in cars carrying children : a case study of public and scientific opinion driving the policy debate

Acknowledgements Date of Acceptance:17/10/2014 Acknowledgements: This project was funded by Cancer Research UK (MC_U130085862) and the Scottish School of Public Health Research. Cancer Research UK and the Scottish School of Public Health Research was not involved in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Shona Hilton, Karen Wood, Josh Bain and Chris Patterson are funded by the UK Medical Research Council as part of the Understandings and Uses of Public Health Research programme (MC_UU_12017/6) at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow. We thank Alan Pollock who provided assistance with coding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Delivering alcohol identification and brief advice (IBA) in housing settings: a step too far or opening doors?

Within the UK, there is a drive to encourage the delivery of alcohol screening (or identification) and brief advice (IBA) in a range of contexts beyond primary care and hospitals where the evidence is strongest. However, the evidence base for effectiveness in non-health contexts is not currently established. This paper considers the case of housing provided by social landlords, drawing on two research studies which were conducted concurrently. One study examined the feasibility of delivering alcohol IBA in housing settings and the other the role of training in delivering IBA in non-health contexts including housing. This paper draws mainly on the qualitative data collected for both studies to examine the appropriateness and feasibility of delivering IBA in a range of social housing settings by the housing workforce. Findings suggest that while it is feasible to deliver IBA in housing settings, there are similar challenges and barriers to those already identified in relation to primary care. These include issues around role inadequacy, role legitimacy and the lack of support to work with people with alcohol problems. Results indicate that the potential may lie in focusing training efforts on specific roles to deliver IBA rather than it being expected of all staff

The role of violent thinking in violent behaviour; it’s more about thinking than drinking

This article aims to explore and report on violent thinking and alcohol misuse; how these factors may predict self-reported violence. The role of violent thinking in violent behavior is both well established in theoretical models, yet there are few measures that explain this role. One measure that has been identified is the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire (MVQ). This is the first study to explore the use of the MVQ with a general (nonoffender) adult sample, having already been shown to be valid with young people (under 18 years old), adult male offenders, and mentally disordered offenders. This study involved 808 adult participants—569 female and 239 male participants. As figures demonstrate that around half of all violent crime in the United Kingdom is alcohol related, we also explored the role of alcohol misuse. Regression was used to explore how these factors predicted violence. The results demonstrate the important role of violent thinking in violent behavior. The MVQ factor of “Machismo” was the primary factor in regression models for both male and female self-reported violence. The role of alcohol in the regression models differed slightly between the male and female participants, with alcohol misuse involved in male violence. The study supports theoretical models including the role of violent thinking and encourages those hoping to address violence, to consider “Machismo” as a treatment target. The study also provides further validation of the MVQ as a helpful tool for clinicians or researchers who may be interested in “measuring” violent thinking

Sibling bullying at 12 years and high-risk behavior in early adulthood : a prospective cohort study

Emerging evidence suggests that sibling aggression is associated with the development of high‐risk behavior. This study investigated the relationship between sibling bullying perpetration and victimization in early adolescence and high‐risk behavior in early adulthood. Sibling bullying was assessed at 12 years in 6,988 individuals from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a birth cohort based in the UK and high‐risk behavioral outcomes were assessed at 18–20 years. Frequent sibling bullying perpetration predicted antisocial behavior (OR = 1.74; 95%CI, 1.38–2.20), while frequent sibling bullying victimization increased the odds of nicotine dependence (OR = 2.87; 95%CI, 1.55–5.29), even after accounting for peer bullying and parent maltreatment. Categorical analysis revealed that particularly bullies and bully‐victims were at risk of developing high‐risk behavior. Finally, this study found that adolescents who were involved in bullying perpetration across multiple contexts (home and school) had the highest odds of reporting antisocial behavior (OR = 3.05; 95%CI, 2.09–4.44), criminal involvement (OR = 2.12; 95%CI, 1.23–3.66), and illicit drug use (OR = 2.11; 95%CI, 1.44–3.08). Findings from this study suggest that sibling bullying perpetration may be a marker of or a contributory factor along the developmental trajectory to antisocial behavior problems. Intervention studies are needed in order to test whether reducing sibling bullying can alleviate long‐term adverse social and behavioral outcomes