Alcohol consumption in relation to work environment and key sociodemographic characteristics among female sex workers in China

The study explores the variation in pattern of alcohol use and related risk behaviors by types of sex work environments and sociodemographic characteristics among female sex workers (FSWs) in China. Data were collected from 1,022 FSWs in Guangxi, China, through a self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to assess the variations. Results showed that younger FSWs were more susceptible than older FSWs to nearly all the risk drinking behaviors. FSWs of non-Han ethnicity as compared with those of Han ethnicity were more at risk of drinking large amounts of alcohol and having sex under the influence of alcohol. FSWs in entertainment establishments were most likely to have all kinds of risk drinking behaviors. Street-based FSWs were least likely to drink alcohol but more or equally likely to engage in alcohol-related sexual risk behaviors. The study highlights a need to develop tailored alcohol risk reduction intervention that takes into consideration these differences.     

Alcohol consumption and injury risk: a case-crossover study in Sydney, Australia

Introduction and Aims. Alcohol contributes to traumatic outcomes that kill or disable at a relatively young age, resulting in the loss of many years of life or disability. Harm from alcohol consumption can result from chronic or acute alcohol use. The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence of alcohol‐related injury and contextual factors contributing to injury risk in an ethnically diverse population of Sydney. Design and Methods. The study was undertaken in emergency departments of six hospitals between 2005 and 2006 and used a case‐crossover design. The 1599 attendees surveyed (response rate 64.2%) were aged over 14 years and had presented with an injury to the emergency department. Results. Attendees were predominantly male, young, 40% spoke a language other than English at home and 17% had been drinking in the 6 h prior to their injury. Those born overseas drank at lower levels than their Australian born counterparts. The risk of sustaining an injury was 1.42 times greater in attendees consuming alcohol compared with those who had not. At very high intake levels (>90 g) the risk of injury was statistically significant for both men and women (men odds ratio: 1.88, 95% confidence interval: 1.46–2.42; women odds ratio: 1.89, 95% confidence interval: 1.04–3.43). Drinking at a licensed premise and drinking alone or with a group of people also significantly increased the risk of injury. Discussion and Conclusions. The results support current Australian policy concerning alcohol but indicate that further restrictions and increased warnings for the community may be warranted.[Williams M, Mohsin M, Weber D, Jalaludin B, Crozier J. Alcohol consumption and injury risk: a case‐crossover study in Sydney, Australia. Drug Alcohol Rev 2011;30:344–354]     

饮茶对脑梗死发病风险的影响

目的：分析饮茶对于脑梗死发病风险的影响。方法采用前瞻性队列研究方法,以96604人（男性76864,女性19740人）作为观察队列,依据2006＿2008年健康问卷的饮茶频率分为从不饮茶、偶尔饮茶、经常饮茶共3组,平均随访4.02年,用 Cox 风险比例回归模型分析饮茶频率对脑梗死发病的影响。结果（1）在从不饮茶、偶尔饮茶及经常饮茶组的脑梗死累积发病率为1.517％（868/65223）、0.852％（163/22869）、1.998％（143/8512）,差异有统计学意义（χ2＝69.560,P ＝0.000）。（2）多因素 Cox 风险比例回归模型校正性别、年龄、腰围、血压、血糖、血脂及主要病史、吸烟、饮酒、摄盐等因素后显示,各饮茶组的脑梗死的的风险比（95％ CI）分别为1.000、0.713（0.597＿0.852）、0.986（0.814＿1.193）。结论本研究发现适度饮茶可以降低脑梗死的发病风险。     

Large intercommunity difference in cardiovascular drug consumption: relation to mortality,risk factors and socioeconomic differences

Summary A comparison of cardiovascular drug sales and cardiovascular mortality was made between two Swedish counties (Värmland and Malmöhus) and between two rural municipalities in those counties (Torsby in Värmland and Hörby in Malmöhus).Cardiovascular drug sales (defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 inhabitants per day) during 1986–87 were 25 higher in Vdrmland than in Malmöhus county, and the age-standardized mortality of coronary heart disease (CHD) was 36% (men) and 54% (women) higher. In Torsby, age-standardized CHD mortality (1986–87) was 71 % (both sexes) higher than in H6rby, and the sales of cardiovascular drugs (1978–87) were 58 % higher. Statistically, every third inhabitant of Torsby took one DDD of a cardiovascular drug every day, as compared to every fifth inhabitant in Hörby. In Torsby there was a 6 % higher serum cholesterol, 71 % lower tap water hardness, 33 lower income, a lower educational level, a three-fold higher unemployment rate, and a different ethnic background (20 % eastern Finnish ancestry), all factors assumed to promote a high CHD rate.All of these factors may contribute to the higher CHD mortality, which was in turn reflected in higher sales of cardiovascular drugs.     

Alcohol consumption, gender and self-reported hypertension

This study examines the relationship of alcohol consumption and self-reported lifetime prevalence of hypertension among 19,284 non-institutionalized civilians in the United States. Cross-sectional data from the 1983 National Health Interview Survey, a national probability sample, were examined for each sex separately. Women who report hypertension consumed significantly less alcohol than women who did not report hypertension. Self-reported hypertensive men consumed equal or greater amounts of alcohol than self-reported normotensive men. Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with greater risk of hypertension among men, but not among women. After controlling for other risk factors significant effects for hypertension were found among males who on average consumed more than one drink/day. Beer consumption and spirits consumption above three drinks/day were significant predictors of male hypertension after adjustment for the confounding effects of other alcoholic beverage consumption and other risk factors. This study suggests that alcohol consumption by men who know that they are hypertensive is an important public health concern, with policy implications for targeting prevention efforts.     

Alcohol consumption in Mozambique: regular consumption, weekly pattern and binge drinking

This study aimed to describe alcohol consumption in Mozambique, discriminating binge drinking behaviour and the weekday variation in drinking patterns, and to quantify the association between socio-demographic characteristics and alcohol intake. A representative sample of 3265 Mozambicans aged 25-64 years was evaluated in 2005 following the World Health Organization Stepwise approach to Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance (STEPS). The consumption of any type of alcoholic beverage, during life and in the previous year, was recorded. Current drinkers were also asked about the number of standard drinks consumed in each day of the previous week. The overall prevalence of current drinking was 28.9% [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 22.6-35.2] in women and 57.7% (95% CI: 49.8-65.7) in men. Forty percent of the current drinkers reported to have had at least one binge drinking occasion in the previous week. The prevalence of current drinking increased with age and education among women and with income among men. No consistent pattern was observed in binge drinking by education in both genders and by annual income among men, but it was significantly less frequent among the more affluent women. Both drinking and binge drinking peaked at the weekend. Knowing the drinking patterns in Mozambique enables the planning of interventions according to the local needs. Future surveys should also include non-adult populations as risk factors for chronic diseases occurs as early as childhood and adolescence, and are associated with increased risk of disease later in life.     

Alcohol consumption, glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 genetic polymorphisms and breast cancer risk

To evaluate the potential association between GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes and development of breast cancer, a hospital based case-control study was conducted in a South Korean study population consisting of 189 histologically confirmed incident breast cancer cases and their 189 age-matched control subjects with no present or previous history of cancer. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction method was used for the genotyping analyses and statistical evaluations were performed by unconditional logistic regression model. The GSTM1 null genotype was significantly associated with breast cancer risk in premenopausal women [odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1-3.7], but not in the postmenopausal women (OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.5-1.9), nor in all women grouped together (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 0.8-1.1). The GSTT1 null genotype posed a similar risk of breast cancer with an OR of 1.6 (95% CI = 1.0-2.5) for the total breast cancer group, OR of 1.7 (95% CI = 0.9-3.2) for pre-menopausal women, and OR of 1.3 (95% CI = 0.6-2.8) for post-menopausal women. The breast cancer risk associated with concurrent lack of both GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes was 2.2 (95% CI = 1.1-4.5), and the risk increased as the number of null genotype increased (P for trend = 0.03). When the data were stratified by the known risk factors of breast cancer, a significant interaction was observed between the GSTM1 genotypes and alcohol consumption (P for interaction = 0.03). An especially remarkable risk of breast cancer was observed for alcohol-consuming premenopausal women lacking both the GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes (OR = 5.3, 95% CI = 1.0-27.8) compared to those with both of the genes. Our findings thus suggest a novel gene-environment interaction which plays an important role in the individual susceptibility to breast cancer. p6     

Alcohol consumption among adolescents in Kraljevo,Serbia

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and predictors of alcohol consumption among adolescents in one town in Central Serbia. A questionnaire was used to obtain data from 191 Serbian students aged 18 years regarding personal experience with alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, along with sociodemographics data. Alcohol consumption was reported by 97.4% subjects, with 34.9% having the first experience with alcohol at the age of 14 years or less. Binge drinking (the intake of five or more drinks at one sitting) was reported by 37.8% subjects. Significantly higher consumption of beer (p<0.0001) and spirits (p=0.03) was observed in boys. The most common reason for both initiation and continuation of drinking, regardless of gender, were celebrations (p≥0.12). Smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to consume all alcoholic beverages more frequently (p≤0.04) and in larger quantities (p≤0.004). More frequent or more extensive alcohol consumption, or both, was associated in boys with frequent going out and socializing (p≤0.01), close peer relationship (p=0.04), alcohol abuse within the immediate environment (p≤0.04), better financial status of family (p=0.04), and parental criticism (p≤0.02); in girls, it was associated with parental disapproval (p≤0.02), alcohol abuse within the immediate environment (p≤0.04), and general discontentedness (p=0.049). Regardless of gender, positive alcohol outcome expectancies increased alcohol consumption (p≤0.048), and negative expectancies decreased intake (p≤0.047).     

Alcohol consumption,beverage prices and measurement error

OBJECTIVE: Alcohol price data collected by the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association (ACCRA) have been widely used in studies of alcohol consumption and related behaviors. A number of problems with these data suggest that they contain substantial measurement error, which biases conventional statistical estimators toward a finding of little or no effect of prices on behavior. We test for measurement error, assess the magnitude of the bias and provide an alternative estimator that is likely to be superior. METHOD: The study utilizes data on per capita alcohol consumption across U.S. states and the years 1982-1997. State and federal alcohol taxes are used as instrumental variables for prices. RESULTS: Formal tests strongly confim the hypothesis of measurement error. Instrumental variable estimates of the price elasticity of demand range from -0.53 to -1.24. These estimates are substantially larger in absolute value than ordinary least squares estimates, which sometimes are not significantly different from zero or even positive. CONCLUSIONS: The ACCRA price data are substantially contaminated with measurement error, but using state and federal taxes as instrumental variables mitigates the problem.     

Alcohol consumption, female sexual behavior and contraceptive use

To examine the effects of alcohol consumption on female sexuality and contraceptive use, 69 sexually active women between the ages of 18 and 34 completed daily logs of their drinking behavior, sexual activity and contraceptive use over three consecutive menstrual cycles. In addition, participants completed a post-study questionnaire that assessed personal beliefs regarding alcohol use and sexual behavior. Although the results from the daily logs failed to show any significant effects of alcohol on subsequent sexual arousal, sexual pleasure or orgasm, female-initiated sexual activity appeared to be inversely related to alcohol use with women initiating significantly fewer sexual activities following the consumption of alcohol. On the contrary, the retrospective questionnaire data indicated that women believed alcohol enhanced sexual desire, enjoyment and activity. The findings further indicated that alcohol consumption immediately prior to sexual intercourse did not significantly alter the use of coitus-dependent contraceptives. These data suggest that women view alcohol as an aphrodisiac despite their physiological and reported behavioral responses.     

Alcohol consumption across the lifecycle in Australia, 1985-1988

National studies show an overall decline in alcohol consumption across a range of developed countries. Using national population survey data collected in 1985 and 1988 in Australia indicate a decline in alcohol consumption with a differential impact upon particular age and sex groups. In particular, the results support Ledermann's prediction that as consumption declines, heavy drinkers will decline disproportionately. This trend is particularly notable among women. While overall levels of alcohol consumption have remained stable among the young, the pattern for women is for a uniform decrease in consumption, for men, a decrease in the older age groups. Various possible explanations for these trends are discussed.     

TESTIN在鼻咽癌中的表达及对鼻咽癌细胞系增殖、上皮-间质转化和侵袭转移的影响

目的 观察TESTIN在鼻咽癌组织和细胞中的表达,分析TESTIN过表达对鼻咽癌细胞增殖、上皮-间质转化(EMT)和侵袭转移的影响.方法 采用免疫组化、Real time-PCR、Western-blot检测TESTIN在鼻咽癌组织和细胞系的表达状况.利用脂质体LipofectamineTM2000转染鼻咽癌5-8F细胞,Real time-PCR、Western-blot验证转染效率.MTT、细胞划痕实验、细胞侵袭实验检测TESTIN过表达对5-8F细胞增殖、EMT和侵袭转移的影响.Western-blot检测TESTIN过表达对侵袭转移相关基因表达的影响.结果 TESTIN在鼻咽癌组织的阳性表达率和表达水平明显低于正常鼻咽部组织,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05).与人正常永生化鼻咽上皮细胞系NP69比较,鼻咽癌细胞系CNE1、CNE2、C666-1、5-8F、6-10B中TESTIN表达水平显著降低,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05).转染pcDNA3.1/TESTIN的5-8F细胞中TESTIN表达显著上调(P<0.05).TESTIN过表达显著抑制5-8F细胞增殖、EMT和侵袭转移,同时上调E-cadherin表达,下调N-cadherin、Vimentin、MMP-2、MMP-9表达(P<0.05).结论 鼻咽癌组织和细胞系中TESTIN表达显著降低,TESTIN过表达可抑制鼻咽癌5-8F细胞增殖、EMT和侵袭转移.     

Alcohol consumption and health-services utilization in Germany

OBJECTIVE: This study tests two hypotheses. The first is that a U-shaped or inverse linear association exists between alcohol consumption and health-services utilization. Although this relationship has been examined previously, conclusions have been inconsistent. Additional research is needed to explain why abstainers use more health services than drinkers. Our second hypothesis is that abstainers with a history of heavy drinking seek out more health services than those without heavy drinking histories. METHOD: Data were from two surveys conducted in Germany (N's=4268 [51% women] and 6857 [52% women]). Alcohol consumption was assessed using a quantity-frequency measure. RESULTS: Outpatient and inpatient services showed an inverse linear relation with alcohol consumption. Among abstainers, those with a drinking history exhibited a higher use of outpatient visits but were not more likely to have been hospitalized. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the view that alcohol consumption is associated with decreased utilization of health services. Results provide some evidence for the hypothesis that former heavy drinkers have higher health-services utilization than either moderate drinkers or other abstainers.     

Alcohol consumption patterns of women in Perth, Western Australia

A survey of women aged 18-64 living in Perth in February 1987 showed that a prospective alcohol consumption diary measured a higher level of consumption (9.3%) than did a retrospective alcohol consumption diary. According to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) guidelines for safe and responsible drinking, 11.2% of women drank alcohol at hazardous levels (14⁺ drinks per week). Although on an overall weekly basis there was no significant association between age and consumption level, drinking patterns varied on a daily basis according to age. The current study may provide a conservative estimate of the percentage of women at risk. The reasons for this underestimation and the implications are discussed, together with the need to develop health promotion messages based on drinking patterns.