Acute alcohol response phenotype in heavy social drinkers is robust and reproducible.

BACKGROUND: In 3 previously published works (Brumback et al., 2007, Drug Alcohol Depend 91:10-17; King et al., 2011a, Arch Gen Psychiatry 68:389-399; Roche and King, 2010, Psychopharmacology (Berl) 212:33-44), our group characterized acute alcohol responses in a large group of young, heavy binge drinkers (n = 104) across a variety of subjective, eye-tracking, and psychometric performance measures. METHODS: The primary goal of the current study was to directly replicate prior findings of alcohol response in heavy social drinkers (HD) in a second independent cohort (n = 104) using identical methodology. A secondary goal was to examine the effects of family history (FH) of alcohol use disorders (AUD) on acute alcohol response in both samples. Participants attended 2 randomized laboratory sessions in which they consumed 0.8 g/kg alcohol or a taste-masked placebo. At pre- and post-drink time points, participants completed subjective scales, psychomotor performance and eye-movement tasks, and provided salivary samples for cortisol determination. RESULTS: Results showed that the second cohort of heavy drinkers exhibited a nearly identical pattern of alcohol responses to the original cohort, including sensitivity to alcohol's stimulating and hedonically rewarding effects during the rising breath alcohol content (BrAC) limb, increases in sedation during the declining BrAC limb, a lack of cortisol response, and psychomotor and eye-tracking impairment that was most evident at peak BrAC. The magnitude and temporal pattern of these acute effects of alcohol in the second cohort were similar to the first cohort across all measures, with the exception of 3 eye-movement measures: pro- and antisaccade accuracy and antisaccade velocity. FH of AUD did not affect alcohol response in the first cohort, and this was replicated in the second cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, in 2 independent samples, we have demonstrated that HD display a consistent and reliable sensitivity to alcohol's subjective effects and impairment of eye-tracking and psychomotor performance, which is not affected by FH status. This acute alcohol response phenotype in heavy, frequent binge drinkers appears to be robust and reproducible.

Self-administered web-based timeline followback procedure for drinking and smoking behaviors in young adults.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of the current investigation was to test the psychometric properties of a self-administered web-based version of the Timeline Followback (TLFB), a retrospective calendar method of assessing daily behaviors. METHOD: The study used a within-subjects, counterbalanced design to compare estimates of daily drinking and smoking behaviors obtained by a self-administered web-based version of the TLFB with estimates obtained by a telephone interview version. The sample consisted of 120 social drinker-smoker young adults (65 men). RESULTS: Correlations between the two modalities for total number of drinks, total drinking days, and heavy drinking days in a 4-week period ranged from .83 to .93; those for total cigarettes, total smoking days, and heavy smoking days ranged from .90 to .95. The correlation between the two modalities for estimates of the number of co-use days was .90. Drinking and smoking estimates from the online TLFB also correlated significantly with scores from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results demonstrated strong support for the use of a self-administered web-based TLFB assessment tool to capture concurrent reports of social drinking and smoking behaviors in young adults. The web-based TLFB may be particularly well suited for assessment in clinical trials, longitudinal designs, and epidemiological studies.

Comparison of the Selvester QRS scoring system applied on standard versus high-resolution electrocardiographic recordings.

A comparison was performed between the points measured using the Selvester QRS scoring system in 60 electrocardiograms (ECGs) displayed in both a standard format as well as a 4-fold magnified (quad-plot) format. Fifty criteria (a maximum possibility of 31 points) were evaluated in each ECG. The data indicate that in 50% of the ECGs, an identical number of points were measured. However, there was a single point difference in 31%, 2 points in 15%, and more than 2 points in 4%. The differences were primarily because of points scored on the quad-plot but not on the standard ECG. Thus, a systematic underestimation of infarct size may occur when the Selvester QRS score is measured manually from a standard ECG.

Development of an automated Selvester Scoring System for estimating the size of myocardial infarction from the electrocardiogram.

Although the Selvester Scoring System for estimating the size of myocardial infarction from the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) has potential clinical value, it has found limited application because of the difficulties in making precise and reproducible measurements. The objective of this study was to develop software to automate the Selvester Scoring System, thus allowing wider application of the technique. The study was carried out using a training set consisting of ECG data recorded from 705 individuals with and without previous myocardial infarction. Algorithms for the 50 criteria in the Selvester Scoring System were iteratively improved by comparison of scores obtained by 2 experienced cardiologist investigators with those generated by the program. The final version was evaluated in a test set consisting of 60 ECGs by comparing scores derived by cardiologist investigator with those obtained by the program. The disagreements occurred only in 1.1% of the score comparisons and in 1.6% of the specific measurements. In all cases in which a disagreement occurred, it resulted from very small differences in measurements. These results indicate that the algorithm for automated application of the Selvester Scoring System is adequate for both clinical and research applications.