Why build a health promotion evidence base about gender?

Gender has long been recognized as an important determinantof health service usage, but gender is increasingly importantin understanding how women and men experience and respond tohealth promotion programs and interventions and their outcomes.Gender frameworks are vital for understanding not just the differingeffects of the determinants of health on either women or men(Doyal, 1995; Krieger, 2000), but also how health programs shouldrespond in order to improve health outcomes for either womenor men. Much needs to be done to improve the evidence base inhealth promotion with respect to gender. Gender, as a determinant of health, refers to inter-relateddimensions of biological difference, psychological differenceand social experience. Biological     

The volume of the liver in patients correlates to body weight and alcohol consumption

The measurement of liver volume has gained practical use inrelation to liver transplantation (Kawasaki et al., 1993). Livervolume may also relate to the many metabolic processes in whichthe liver is engaged (Homeida et al., 1979; Marchesini et al.,1988; Murry et al., 1995; Reichel et al., 1997; Kwo et al.,1998; Andersen et al., 1999). The present study was undertakento measure liver . . . [Full Text of this Article]FOOTNOTESREFERENCES     

REPLY: THE SBU EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF TREATMENT OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG PROBLEMS

I am happy that the authors (Berglund and Thelander, 2003) havefound several of my comments (Poikolainen, 2002) helpful and     

Determination of ethyl glucuronide in hair samples

Ethyl glucuronide (EtG) is a non-volatile, water-soluble, stable-upon-storage,direct metabolite of ethanol and can be detected in body fluidsand tissues (and also in post-mortem material) for an extendedtime period after the complete elimination of alcohol from thebody (Alt et al., 1997; Schmitt et al., 1997; Seidl et al.,1998; Wurst et al., 1999a,b). The aim of the present Letteris to emphasize . . . [Full Text of this Article]FOOTNOTESREFERENCES     

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)-deficiency in alcohol-dependence?

I wish to propose a hypothesis that could help explain someof the effects of baclofen in alcohol dependence that are describedin Dr. Bucknam's case study (Bucknam, 2007) and in my self-casereport (Ameisen, 2005). At a behavioural     

Alcohol exposure in utero and breast cancer risk later in life

Since the pioneering work of Hiatt and Bawol (1984), there hasamassed a considerable amount of evidence that moderate-to-heavyalcohol consumption increases risk of breast cancer in women(Willett et al., 1987; Longnecker, 1999). A plausible mechanismis by alcohol's effects on circulating hormone levels. Alcoholadministration has been reported to increase circulating oestradiollevels in pre-menopausal women (Reichman et al., 1993); theevidence is mixed in . . . [Full Text of this Article]FOOTNOTESREFERENCES     

Alcohol and hypertension: an old relationship revisited

The American comedian Henny Youngman (1906–1998) oncesaid, ‘When I read about the evils of drinking, I gaveup reading.’ Ironic, but interestingly as though witha sense of foresight, he did not speak of giving up drinking!It is despite the fact that alcohol is responsible for increasedillness, being causally related to more than 60 different medicalconditions (Rehm et al., 2003). Around 4% of the global diseaseburden is also thought to be alcohol related, which is comparablewith that attributed to the effects of tobacco (4.1%) and highblood pressure (4.4%) (Ezzati et al., 2002; WHO, 2002). For most diseases related to alcohol consumption, a dose–responserelationship exists with risk of the disease increasing withgreater amounts of alcohol intake, with cardiovascular     

Thiamine administration in alcohol-dependent patients

Thiamine (vitamin B1) is a water-soluble vitamin that is involvedin the metabolism of glucose and lipids as well as in the productionof glucose-derived neurotransmitters (see Cook et al., 1998).Its deficiency leads to a variety of neurological and cardiovascularsymptoms and signs. Early symptoms may include fatigue, weaknessand emotional disturbance, whereas prolonged gradual deficiencymay lead to a form of polyneuritis (known as dry beriberi),cardiac failure or peripheral oedema (wet beriberi) (Thomson,2000). Severe thiamine deficiency (TD) may result in the     

One hundred alcoholic doctors: a 21-year follow-up

I read with great interest the article by Lloyd (2002) entitled‘One     

Long-term abstinent alcoholics have a blunted blood glucose response to 2-deoxy-d-glucose

With regard to the article entitled as above by Umhau et al.(2002),     

CUNNINGHAM CONCERNING 'REGRESSION TO THE MEAN: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?'

We agree that our interpretation of our results regarding acognitive behaviour alcohol programme compared with post-mailedminimal intervention (Johnsson and Berglund, 2006) is conservativein that we did     

Regression to the mean: what does it mean?

To the Editor Johnsson and Berglund's recent article evaluating two interventionsfor high-risk drinking in university freshman could be regardedas a model of appropriately conservative interpretation of experimentalresults (Johnsson and Berglund, 2006). The authors found statisticallysignificant reductions in drinking from baseline to one-yearfollow-up but little evidence of differences     

Cyanamide or disulfiram in the treatment of adolescent alcohol misusers?

The Randomised Controlled Trial by Niederhofer et al.(2003)describing the successful use of cyanamide in a group of alcohol-misusingadolescents, is further and convincing evidence of the effectivenessof deterrent or antagonist medication in the management of sometypes of substance     

Pragmatic trials and the ARES study

The ARES study (Kiritzé-Topor et al., 2004) addressesan important issue of the use of acamprosate in general practicepatients with alcohol dependence. The paper gives a stronglyargued advocacy for pragmatic trials in alcohol dependence.The authors have tried to ensure that the study closely mimicsclinical practice in almost all possible ways, thus increasingthe     

Prevalence of asthma in schoolchildren under-represents those from socially deprived areas

We were interested to read the excellent study by McCann etal. in the February edition of Health Education Research (McCannet al., 2002). We have recently conducted a similar, but smaller,study that sheds some light upon their results. Our study aimedto assess the impact of our local asthma health promotion schemefor schools [Asthma Friendly Schools (AFS) Initiative], whichhad been in place for 5 years and had been adopted by abouthalf of all Portsmouth schools. We     

Evaluating the progress of the health promoting hospitals initiative? A WHO perspective. Commentary on: Whitehead, D. (2004) The European Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) project: how far on? Health Promotion International, 19, 259-267

We have read with interest the contribution of Dean Whiteheadon ‘The European Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) project:how far on?’ in a recent issue of Health Promotion International(Whitehead, 2004). He points out some of the issues the HPHmovement has faced over the years that are linked to the inherentdifficulties in changing the behaviour of organizations. However,we would like to clarify a number of points. Dean Whitehead's article aims ‘to investigate the natureand progress of the European HPH movement’ and he concludesthat ‘the majority of the available literature demonstratesa more limited impact than perhaps the World Health Organization(WHO) might have     

Questioning sustainability in health promotion projects and programs

"The precise definition of sustainability is still subject todebate. It has no single or universally accepted definition.Like truth and justice, it is not easily captured in a concisedefinition and means different things to different people" (AuditorGeneral of Victoria 2004).

The documented plans of most HealthPromotion projects and programs usually contain the word ‘sustainability’.Some even identify specifically what is intended to be sustained,after the project or program funding resources cease. Yet, manyplans do not tease out those important aspects of the interventionwhich are worth sustaining. Nor do they identify whether theintervention itself actually nurtures the processes necessaryto ensure the stated intentions have a reasonable chance ofbeing sustained. For too long we have paid little attention to what we mean     

Disulfiram, cocaine, and alcohol: two outcomes for the price of one?

The concurrent abuse of cocaine and alcohol is a common phenomenon,and is increasingly recognized as a difficult clinical issue.Several effective pharmacotherapies for substance dependencedisorders have been identified, though the search for an effectivepharmacotherapy for cocaine dependence has proved difficult.However, it has been suggested that disulfiram may offer a promisingtreatment option. The randomized, placebo-controlled study of Carroll et al. (2004)provides some of the strongest evidence to date regarding theeffectiveness of disulfiram treatment in reducing cocaine use.In a large     

The Lancet {middle dot} Saturday 13 May 1972

Reprinted with permission from     

Commentary: It's a difference of opinion that makes a horserace..

The authors of ‘Health behavior theory and cumulativeknowledge regarding health behaviors: are we moving in the rightdirection’ (Noar and Zimmerman, 2005) have taken a boldstep by advocating for change in the field of change. The authorsare correct when they note that our field should continuallyand critically reflect upon itself; however, it may be thatour systems of funding, publication, peer review and specializationhave made us too introspective, and discourage the types ofinnovation and risk-taking that could move our field to newesteem. Herein, we provide some additional points for considerationin an effort to continue the dialogue initiated by Noar andZimmerman (Noar