Randomized Study of Assessment Effects on Alcohol Use by Persons With HIV in Rural Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: Unhealthy alcohol use is a crucial driver of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and interventions are needed. The goal of this study was to assess whether assessment itself (assessment reactivity) causes declines in alcohol use in a research study in persons with HIV in Uganda. METHOD: Study participants were adult patients of the Immune Suppression Syndrome (ISS) Clinic in Mbarara, Uganda, who were new to HIV care and reported any alcohol consumption in the prior year. Participants were randomized to (a) a study cohort, with structured interviews, breath alcohol analysis tests, and blood draws conducted quarterly, or (b) a minimally assessed arm that engaged in these procedures only once, at 6 months after baseline. The main outcome was unhealthy drinking at 6 months, defined as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption [AUDIT-C] positive (≥3 for women, ≥4 for men) or phosphatidylethanol (PEth; an alcohol biomarker) level ≥ 50 ng/ml. We also examined this outcome stratified by gender. RESULTS: We examined 175 and 139 persons in the quarterly assessed versus minimally assessed arms, respectively. Overall, 54.8% were male, the median age was 30 (interquartile range: 25-36), and 58.0% initiated anti-retroviral therapy at 6 months. Nearly equal proportions (53.7% and 51.1% in the study quarterly assessed vs. minimally assessed arm, respectively) engaged in unhealthy drinking in the 3 months before the 6-month study visit (p = .64), and we found no evidence of interaction by gender (p = .36). CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence of assessment reactivity in a study that included quarterly study visits. Assessment is not sufficient to act as an intervention itself in this population with high levels of unhealthy drinking. Interventions are needed to decrease alcohol consumption in this population.

A rapid LC-MS/MS method for quantitative profiling of fatty acids, sterols, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids in grapes.

The abundance of lipids in plants is influenced by genotype and phenotype. Despite being a very important class of plant metabolites, knowledge of grape lipids is still very limited to date, with the exception of those located in seeds. Few investigations of grape lipids have shown that their profile depends on grape maturity, the variety and their location in the berry. Recent advances in liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry have paved the way for faster analysis of lipids with minimal sample preparation. Here we describe a validation method for the extraction, identification and quantification of different classes of grape lipids: fatty acids, sterols, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids using liquid chromatographic electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). The method was validated for 33 lipids, with linearity range (R(2)=0.95-1.00), LOQ (0.003-14.88 ng mL(-1)) and intraday and interday repeatability being evaluated for each lipid. The lipid profiling method developed was successfully applied to the analysis of 18 grape samples (10 red grape and 8 white grape varieties) from 4 different genetic groups: Vitis vinifera, Vitis non-vinifera, Muscat and hybrid; 33 lipids were identified and quantified. This method, which can be easily expanded to include further compounds and other plant tissues, is the starting point for analysis of the lipid profile in different grape tissues, an essential goal for better understanding the role of lipids in grape physiology.

Assessment of ethanol intake. Current tests and new assays on the horizon.

The number of tests used for the detection of ethanol ingestion is increasing. The field is rapidly moving beyond ethanol alone as a marker of ethanol intake. The combined measurement of carbohydrate deficient transferrin, FAEEs, 5-HTOL/5-HIAA, acetaldehyde adducts, and phosphatidylethanol may one day be used to approximate the time and amount of ethanol ingestion. The ultimate configuration of a panel of tests for monitoring ethanol intake awaits the results of studies that identify the clinical usefulness of each marker.