Screening for alcohol misuse within people attending a psychiatric intellectual disability community service.

BACKGROUND: There is some evidence that people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) living in the community are exposed to the same risks of alcohol use as the rest of the population. The aims of this project were to investigate the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in patients with ID known to a psychiatric community specialist team, and to explore appropriate screening tools and any relationship between alcohol use disorders and mental health co-morbidities. METHOD: A random sample of 40 patients was recruited and interviewed using CAGE and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to assess alcohol use. Information on physical and mental health was also collected. RESULTS: One in five patients was positive on CAGE (20%) and AUDIT (22.5%). Significantly more of those had a history of mental illness compared with those who were negative. Thirty per cent of the total sample had been diagnosed with at least one health condition, which clinical notes failed to report. In addition two out of three of those positive on CAGE or AUDIT were smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that alcohol use disorders seem to be a hidden problem within the ID population, existing alongside multiple physical and mental health needs.

Strategies for the allocation of resources under sulfur limitation in the green alga Dunaliella salina.

The effect of sulfur limitation on the partitioning of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur was investigated in Dunaliella salina. D. salina was able to adapt to 6 microM sulfate; under these conditions, the cells showed reduced growth and photosynthetic rates. Whereas intracellular sulfate was depleted, phosphate, nitrate, and ammonium increased. Amino acids showed a general increase, and alanine became the most abundant amino acid. The activities of four key enzymes of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen metabolism were differentially regulated: Adenosine 5' triphosphate sulfurylase activity increased 4-fold, nitrate reductase and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) carboxylase activities decreased 4- and 11-fold, respectively, whereas carbonic anhydrase activity remained unchanged. Sulfur limitation elicited specific increase or decrease of the abundance of several proteins, such us Rubisco, PEP carboxylase, and a light harvesting complex protein. The accumulation of potentially toxic ammonium indicates an insufficient availability of carbon skeletons. Sulfur deficiency thus induces an imbalance between carbon and nitrogen. The dramatic reduction in PEP carboxylase activity suggests that carbon was diverted away from anaplerosis and possibly channeled into C3 metabolism. These results indicate that it is the coordination of key steps and components of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur metabolism that allows D. salina to adapt to prolonged sulfur limitation.