New Survey: Insecurity, Xenophobia Extremely High in Iraq

29 September 2006
APSA Press Release

CARDIFF, Wales, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- University of Cardiff researchers studied drinking habits in children aged 11 to 16 in England and found a link between alcohol and violence.

The researchers found not only a link between drink and aggression but also that children who drank were more likely to be hit, even if they weren't violent themselves.

More than 4,000 children were surveyed at 13 schools in four areas of England. The study found that 25 percent of 11-year-olds were drinking monthly and 3.6 percent daily, with 12.8 percent admitting to getting drunk three to five times a year.

By the age of 16, 40 percent were drinking weekly and 6.2 percent were drinking every day. The research also showed 22.6 percent of 16-year-olds getting drunk more than 21 times a year, according to the study published in the Journal of Adolescence.

"This new study seems to be the first to show a direct link between alcohol misuse and vulnerability to injury, independent of any link between drinking and fighting. There now needs to be much more effort put into reducing alcohol misuse in order to reduce injury," the study said.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Nicotine may improve the symptoms of depression in people who do not smoke, Duke University Medical Center scientists have discovered.

The finding does not mean that people with depression should smoke or even start using a nicotine patch, the researchers caution. They say that smoking remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disability in the United States, and that the addictive hazards of tobacco far outweigh the potential benefits of nicotine in depression.

But the finding suggests that it may be possible to manipulate nicotine's effects to safely reap its potential medical benefits, according to the researchers. As an example of the drug's potential, they said, pharmaceutical companies already are developing compounds for treating other brain disorders by mimicking the beneficial properties of nicotine while avoiding its addictive nature.

"The hope is that our research on nicotine will spur the development of new treatments for depression, which is a huge public health problem," said lead study investigator Joseph McClernon, Ph.D., an assistant research professor of medical psychiatry and researcher at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research.

"Our study also provides evidence that smokers may indeed smoke, in part, to improve their mood -- a notion that has been quite controversial in the field," he said.

The team's findings are scheduled to appear the week of Sept. 11, 2006, in the online edition of the journal Psychopharmacology and will be published in print in November.

The research was supported by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

Scientists have established that people prone to depression are twice as likely to be smokers, and are less likely to succeed in quitting smoking after taking up the habit, according to McClernon. The Duke study explored the theories behind the higher smoking rates among people experiencing depression.

"Smokers may be more prone to depression than nonsmokers," said Edward Levin, Ph.D., a professor of biological psychiatry and researcher at the Duke center, who was senior investigator in the current study. "Or, people with depression may be self-medicating by smoking, albeit in a deadly way."

In the study, the researchers recruited 11 people who did not smoke but who were experiencing symptoms of depression. Participants were randomly assigned to wear either a nicotine patch or a placebo patch that did not contain any nicotine. The researchers used a standardized method, a 20-item questionnaire called the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, to measure depression symptoms among the study participants.

"Despite the small number of participants, this is the largest study of its kind," McClernon said.

The team found that participants who wore the nicotine patch for at least eight days experienced a significant decline in their depression-assessment rating scores. McClernon said this finding indicates that the drug led to an improvement in depression symptoms.

As a possible explanation for how nicotine exerts its beneficial effect, McClernon said: "The same areas of the brain that are stimulated by nicotine appear to be involved in the regulation of mood."

Nicotine stimulates the release of specific neurotransmitters, including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which carry messages between nerves cells. Depression has been linked to chemical imbalances of these neurotransmitters, McClernon said.

Looking ahead to possible therapeutic uses of nicotine for treating depression, the researchers say the nicotine molecule can be manipulated to remove its addictive effect while maintaining its ability to increase levels of the various brain chemicals that can alter mood. Currently, pharmaceutical companies are developing nicotinelike drugs that target chemical imbalances in the brain that are thought to cause anxiety, schizophrenia, attention deficient hyperactivity disorder, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

The study also suggests that people prone to depression may need extra help in order to quit smoking, such as nicotine replacement therapy, the scientists said.

Despite the positive effects of nicotine discovered in their study, the researchers emphasize that it is not currently appropriate for treatment of any medical disorder outside of nicotine dependence.

"I certainly recommend that people don't smoke," Levin said. "If you do smoke, quit."

DukeMedNews

A survey of 4,193 men living in New York City conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that nearly 10 percent of male participants who identified themselves as straight reported having sex with at least one man during the previous year.

The study, "Discordance between Sexual Behavior and Self-Reported Sexual Identity: A Population-Based Survey of New York City Men," is published in the Sept. 19, 2006, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

Compared to men who identified themselves as gay, these men were more likely to belong to a minority racial or ethnic group, be foreign-born, have a lower educational level, and live outside Manhattan. Seventy percent reported being married. This group also was less likely to have been tested for HIV infection during the previous year and less likely to have used a condom during the last sexual encounter than men who identified themselves as gay.

"Doctors need to ask patients about specific sexual practices instead of relying on self-reported sexual orientation to assess risk for unsafe sexual practices and risk for sexually transmitted diseases," said Preeti Pathela, DrPH, lead author of the study. "Public health prevention messages should target risky sexual activities, such as unprotected receptive anal sex, and should not be framed to appeal solely to gay-identified men."

This study is one of the largest U.S. population-based surveys to report on the contrast between a man's self-identified sexual identity and his actual sexual behaviors.

EurekAlert!
19 September 2006