William F. Gabrielli

Intellectual performance in children of alcoholics.

Alcoholics tend to show some cognitive deficits relative to nonalcoholics. The present study of a sample from a Danish birth cohort examined whether these deficits might be present in children at high risk for later alcoholism. The subjects were tested at age 12 with a Danish translation of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children. Risk status for later alcoholism was defined by parental alcoholism as determined by interview and medical records. Results suggest that Performance IQ deficits may be consequential to alcoholism whereas Verbal deficits (characteristic of the high risk children) may be antecedent to alcoholism.

Rearing social class, education, and criminality: a multiple indicator model.

Controversy exists in the criminology literature over whether rearing social class influences the emergence of criminal behavior. Theoretically, some researchers have argued, a lower rearing class status reflects intellectual and emotional deprivation which motivates later illegal activity. Other researchers argue that intelligence, regardless of rearing status, is the chief determinant of criminal behavior. Using maximum-likelihood path-analytic techniques and a split sample validation design on data from a longitudinal study of a true birth cohort (adult male in Denmark, N = 3,421) the present study finds support for the hypothesis that rearing social class does relate to criminal behavior—indirectly. The model tested and supported in this research is that rearing class status predicts educational performance, which in turn precedes the development of criminal activity.

Sex of parent and offspring in the transmission of alcoholism. A meta-analysis.

Familial studies of alcoholism were reviewed to evaluate the role of sex of parent and offspring in alcoholism transmission. Data from 32 familial alcoholism studies were evaluated by meta-analysis. The results indicated that both male and female alcoholic patients more frequently come from homes in which their father, rather than their mother, is alcoholic, even when sex differences in alcoholism prevalence rates are taken into account. Although female offspring of alcoholic mothers show alcoholism rates that are elevated relative to those expected in the general population, male offspring of alcoholic mothers do not.

Developmental Differences in Childhood Motor Coordination Predict Adult Alcohol Dependence: Proposed Role for the Cerebellum in Alcoholism

BACKGROUND The Danish Longitudinal Study of Alcoholism has identified a number of early biological indicators that predicted alcohol dependence 30 years later. In light of recent evidence linking deficits of the cerebellum to certain neuropsychiatric disorders often comorbid with alcoholism, we hypothesized that developmental deficits in the cerebellar vermis may also play a role in the initiation of adult alcohol dependence. The present study evaluated whether measures of motor development in the first year of life predict alcohol dependence three decades later. METHODS A total of 241 subjects of the original 330 infants who were entered into this study completed the 30-year follow-up (12 had died). The subjects were men who were drawn from a large birth cohort born in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1959 to 1961. A comprehensive series of measures were obtained on each subject before, during, and shortly after birth as well as at 1 year of age. Muscle tone at birth and day 5 as well as 1-year measures of motor coordination--age to sitting, standing, and walking--were examined. A DSM-III-R diagnosis of alcohol dependence and a measure of lifetime problem drinking served as the 30-year outcome variables. RESULTS Several measures of childhood motor development significantly predicted alcohol dependence at 30 years of age. These included deficits in muscle tone 5 days after birth, delays in the age to sitting, and delays in the age to walking. CONCLUSIONS Relationships found between adult alcoholism and early delays in motor development offer support for the theory that cerebellar deficits may play a causal role in the addiction process.

Histamine receptor antagonism of intolerance to alcohol in the oriental population

The Oriental flushing reaction is an adverse response to alcohol that appears to be genetically determined. In this study, the Oriental flushing reaction that was produced with ingestion of small amounts of alcohol was antagonized by antihistamine administration. A group of 17 subjects was tested. Each subject received placebo, diphenhydramine 50 mg (H-1 receptor antagonist), and cimetidine 300 mg (H-2 receptor antagonist) singularly and in combination. Alcohol was then administered orally. Most subjects given placebo experienced the typical flushing reaction that included a cutaneous flush, increase in skin temperature, decrease in blood pressure, increase in pulse rate and subjective symptoms such as dizziness, sleepiness, anxiety, headache, generalized weakness, and nausea. The flush, temperature and systolic hypotension were significantly blocked by the combined antihistamine administration. Cimetidine given alone blocked the flush, temperature increase, and systolic hypotension significantly more than diphenhydramine but less than the combined antihistamines. Diphenhydramine was similar to placebo in its effect on the flushing reaction. The role of histamine in the expression of tolerance to alcohol is not known. Antihistamine antagonism of the adverse flushing reaction suggests that histamine receptors may participate in the intolerance to ethanol in Orientals. Histamine may be an important protective factor in the low prevalence of alcoholism in Orientals.

Forty-five-year mortality rate as a function of the number and type of psychiatric diagnoses found in a large Danish birth cohort

Objective: Psychiatric comorbidities are common among psychiatric patients and typically associated with poorer clinical prognoses. Subjects of a large Danish birth cohort were used to study the relation between mortality and co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses. Method: We searched the Danish Central Psychiatric Research Registry for 8109 birth cohort members aged 45 years. Lifetime psychiatric diagnoses (International Classification of Diseases, Revision 10, group F codes, Mental and Behavioural Disorders, and one Z code) for identified subjects were organized into 14 mutually exclusive diagnostic categories. Mortality rates were examined as a function of number and type of co-occurring diagnoses. Results: Psychiatric outcomes for 1247 subjects were associated with 157 deaths. Early mortality risk in psychiatric patients correlated with the number of diagnostic categories (Wald ×2 = 25.0, dl = 1, P < 0.001). This global relation was true for anxiety and personality disorders, but not for schizophrenia and substance abuse, which had intrinsically high mortality rates with no comorbidities. Conclusions: Risk of early mortality among psychiatric patients appears to be a function of both the number and the type of psychiatric diagnoses.

Book Reviews : Sharon L. Weinberg and Kenneth P. Goldberg. Basic Statistics for Education and Behavioral Sciences. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979. Pp. xiv + 546.

provided as an illustration of the technique. chapter 6 summarizes computer algorithms for the analysis of contingency tables involving as many as four factors by means of iterativo marginal fitting, Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to descnptioas of the analysis of additional examples, including several with incomplete data. Most of the examples are drawn from biological science and medicine. There are several other aspects of this book which should be noted. It contains an -excellent bibliography which spans the period from 1898 to 1976 and provides much useful information about. techniques for analyzing contingency tables and about the development of these techniques. The volume was produced by the typewriter and photooffset method, and many of;lhe pages are mushy in appearance and