Relations between dietary restraint and patterns of alcohol use in young adult women.

The present study examined relations between dietary restraint and self-reported patterns of alcohol use, including separate assessment of quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. One hundred seventy-six female university undergraduates completed the Restraint Scale (RS) and measures of their usual quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption over the past year. Quantity and frequency self-reports were scored separately and were also used to calculate 3 additional drinking variables: a composite weekly alcohol consumption score (drinks per week), a binge drinking categorical variable (where participants were classified as either binge drinkers or non-binge drinkers), and a yearly excessive drinking score (number of times in the past year that each participant consumed at least 4 alcoholic beverages per drinking occasion). RS scores were significantly positively correlated with scores on 4 of the 5 drinking behavior measures (i.e., quantity, drinks per week, binge drinking, and yearly excessive drinking, but not frequency). Thus, chronic dieting appears to be related to a relatively heavy drinking pattern that can be characterized as potentially risky, due to its established associations with adverse health and social consequences.

Family climates: family factors specific to disturbed eating and bulimia nervosa.

More than a decade of research has characterized the families of individuals with bulimia and bulimia anorexia (Anorexia Nervosa, Binge/Purging Type) as less expressive, less cohesive, and experiencing more conflicts than normal control families. This two-part study investigated variables believed more directly related to disturbed eating and bulimia as contributing to a "family climate for eating disorders." In Study 1. a nonclinical sample of 324 women who had just left home for college and a sample of 121 mothers evaluated their families. Principal-components analyses revealed the same factor structure for both students and mothers, with Family Body Satisfaction, Family Social Appearance Orientation, and Family Achievement Emphasis loading together, representing the hypothesized family climate for eating disorders: the remaining variables loaded with the more traditional family process variables (conflict, cohesion, expressiveness), representing a more general family dysfunction. As predicted, the family climate for eating disorders factor score was a more powerful predictor of disturbed eating. Study 2 extended these findings into a clin ical population, examining whether the family climate for eating disorders variables would distinguish individuals with bulimia from both depressed and healthy controls. Groups of eating-disordered patients (n = 40) and depressed (n = 17) and healthy (n = 27) controls completed family measures. The eating-disordered group scored significantly higher on family climate variables than control groups. Family process variables distinguished clinical groups (depressed and eating disordered) from healthy controls, but not from one another. Controlling for depression removed group differences on family process variables, but family climate variables continued to distinguish the eating-disordered group from both control groups. Indications for further research are discussed.

Studies on reactogenicity and immunogenicity of attenuated bivalent cold recombinant influenza type A (CRA) and inactivated trivalent influenza virus (TI) vaccines in infants and young children.

Fifty-two infants seronegative to or without prior infection with influenza type A viruses were enrolled in a study to evaluate reactogenicity and immunogenicity of three bivalent cold recombinant type A (CRA) and two trivalent inactivated influenza (TI) vaccines. Controls consisted of infants receiving normal saline by nose drops (Pli.n.) or intramuscularly (Pli.m.). CRA and TI vaccines were monitored for local and systemic reactions after vaccination. Serum specimens obtained prior to and 6 weeks postvaccination were analysed for neutralizing antibody to influenza H1N1 and H3N2 viruses. CRA vaccines and Pli.n. recipients had similar numbers of acute respiratory infections and comparable rates of illnesses during the trial. Significantly fewer CRA vaccinees without an intercurrent viral infection had fever (0/16 versus 4/10, p = 0.04) and cough (4/16 versus 9/10, p = 0.002) than CRA vaccinees with a confirmed intercurrent viral infection. Recipients of TI vaccine and Pli.m. did not develop reactions at the injection site. For each of the CRA vaccines tested, a dominant CRA virus was identified. The dominant CRA viruses were isolated from a greater number of infants or for a longer duration than the non-dominant CRA viruses. All 14 non-dominant CRA viruses were recovered from infants within the first week after vaccination; 24 of 77 dominant CRA viruses were recovered more than 7 days after vaccination. The immunogenicity of CRA vaccines was not affected by a confirmed intercurrent viral infection or low titres of influenza-specific antibody.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The effects of caffeine and nicotine consumption on mood and somatic variables in a penitentiary inmate population.

A sample of 144 inmates from a maximum security penitentiary responded to a request for information regarding their average daily intake of nicotine and caffeine. They also rated the quality of their appetite and sleep, their level of concentration, their mood and specific feelings of anger, anxiety, frustration, and irritability. Factor analysis generated a two-factor solution of these variables, namely general mood state (mood, anxiety, anger, frustration, and irritability) and a somatic state (appetite, concentration, and sleep). Analysis of variance showed an interaction between level of smoking (nonsmokers, low and high cigarette smokers) and caffeine use (moderate vs. high) on the general mood factor. Nonsmokers who consumed high levels of caffeine experienced poorer general mood than any other group. There was a main effect of cigarette smoking status on the somatic factor, such that greater dissatisfaction was associated with greater consumption. Caffeine consumption was generally high, averaging 800 mg of caffeine per day, per inmate, well above the amount considered to be potentially damaging to health.

Restrained eating: an experimental disentanglement of the disinhibiting variables of perceived calories and food type.

The influence of food type on the restrained eating pattern was examined. In Study 1, subjects rated the degree to which each of 149 foods were dietary permissable or dietary forbidden. The number of avoided foods correlated positively with restraint score. Study 2 compared Herman and Mack's (1975) 1- and 2-milk shake preloads to two nonforbidden preloads of equivalent calories. Food type, and not perceived calories, was found to be the element of the preload required to cause disinhibition among restrained eaters, both within the experiment and outside the experimental setting. Study 3 examined the effects of anticipated consumption (varying food type and calories) on the restrained eating pattern. Only restrained eaters anticipating a forbidden food (whether high or low in calories) were disinhibited. The restrained literature was reconsidered in light of the forbidden food hypothesis.

A role for taste aversion learning in FLA-57 induced reductions of voluntary alcohol intake.

It has been proposed by Amit, Brown and colleagues that the reduction in voluntary alcohol intake observed after the administration of FLA-57 in rats can be attributed to decreased NE levels produced by FLA-57. Our studies investigated whether a conditioned taste aversion could better explain this phenomenon. In the key study, two groups of rats were injected with FLA-57 or Ringers before drinking alcohol for five days, while a third group was injected with FLA-57 before exposure to intragastrically intubated (untasted) alcohol in amounts identical to those in the tasted group. Results showed that only the FLA-57 group that tasted alcohol reduced subsequent voluntary alcohol intake. When a CTA was precluded, allowing only for an effect due to reduced NE, no reduction was observed. This suggests that FLA-57 reduces VAI, not via reduced NE levels, but by a conditioned taste aversion. A second study, utilizing saccharin instead of alcohol, generally supported this conclusion. While these results support a CTA explanation, it is possible that under other conditions FLA-57 might produce a central pharmacological effect.

Side-effects and weight gain following a smoking cessation program.

Few prospective studies on possible side-effects of smoking cessation have been reported. In the current study, a variety of side-effects and weight gain were assessed throughout and following a smoking cessation program with 94 subjects. Subjects in a cognitive urge control maintenance condition were found to have gained significantly more weight than other conditions. This group also tended to have the highest abstinence rate and lowest percent baseline smoking at follow-up. Abstainers tended to have gained more weight than relapsers , and had rated themselves as higher on "eating more" and had placed themselves as farthest from "optimal" on a measure of general appetite and overeating. On all other side-effects, however, relapsers appeared to be reporting more negative attributes. These results were discussed within the context of incorporating side-effect control strategies as part of smoking cessation programs.

Delay of gratification in obese children.

Obese (n = 20) and normal weight (n = 20) children (8-11 years) were compared using the delay of gratification paradigm. All children were asked to choose between an immediate reward or a larger delayed (one day) reward. Half the children were offered an edible incentive and half a non-edible incentive. Results showed that the obese choose immediate rewards more often than normals only when the incentive was edible. This suggests that deficits in delay of gratification shown by obese children are not generalized dispositions but are specific to food. A second aspect of the study examined preference for food vs non-food items and activities. Normals showed a much stronger preference for non-food items, nutritious foods and non-food related activities than the obese. This suggests that the deficits in delay of gratification shown by the obese children for food related items may be due to the stronger incentive value of these items for them.

Amebic liver abscess in children.

Five children with amebic liver abscesses are presented, and the distinctive clinical and laboratory features for these and 119 other children are described. The majority (91%) were less than 3 years old, and 77% had an isolated abscess in the right hepatic lobe. Each child presented with a history of fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, and two-thirds presented with cough or difficulty breathing. Most (81%) patients had hepatomegaly on physical examination and some had a well-defined mass. Hematologic abnormalities including anemia, neutrophilia and an increased ratio (greater than 0.15) of immature neutrophils to total neutrophils were commonly observed at the time of admission. Of interest, intravenous pyelograms revealed deviation of the right kidney due to hepatomegaly in each of three children studied. All patients evaluated had one or more filling defects demonstrated by liver-spleen scan or abdominal ultrasound. Most patients underwent either an open (9%) or closed (77%) drainage procedure. Fifty-six children (46%) died, in some cases before specific therapy was instituted. Of those who recovered all received therapy with metronidazole or a combination of chloroquine with emetine or dehydroemetine.

Lithium accelerates the development of tolerance to alcohol in rats.

Thirty male Wistar rate, trained on the moving belt test, were used to test the effect of acute and chronic lithium administration on tolerance to alcohol. Over the first 11 days, a group receiving lithium (1.5 mequiv./kg, i.p.) 4 h before and alcohol (2 g/kg, i.p.) 17 min before three daily 2-min test trials on the moving belt showed accelerated development of tolerance to alcohol compared with a group receiving saline (instead of lithium) and the same dose of alcohol. There were no differences between the groups in the level of tolerance finally reached and no differences could be detected in the effects of lithium on physiological as opposed to behaviorally augmented tolerance. Also, 12 days of lithium pretreatment did not increase tolerance to an initial dose of alcohol or modify the expected blood alcohol level. Conversely, tolerance, as a result of 12 days of chronic alcohol pretreatment, was not increased further by a single lithium administration. Drug-free performance at the end of the experiment showed that the injection procedure per se did not influence performance.

Suppression by lithium of voluntary alcohol intake in the rat: mechanism of action.

Subjects were 70 Wistar rats showing either low preference for aversive alcohol solutions or a high preference induced by hypothalamic stimulation. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a large lithium chloride injection.(3 meq/kg) suppressed alcohol intake only if alcohol was tasted. Pairing lithium contiguously with water or intubed alcohol failed to reduce subsequent alcohol intake despite the concurrent presence of high serum lithium levels. In Experiments 3 and 4 a series of seven lithium injections increased rather than decreased alcohol intake if lithium was allowed to accumulate in the blood and brain during alcohol exposure while the transitory sickness associated with each injection was prevented from association with the taste of alcohol. When sickness was allowed to occur during alcohol exposure a suppression of intake resulted after two injections. Contrary to current interpretations these results suggest that the suppression of voluntary alcohol intake by acute and chronic lithium administration is due to a learned taste aversion rather than to a pharmacological mechanism specific to alcohol;