CONTENTS

NIH HIGHLIGHTS

NIH Offices of Public Liaison Committee

The NIH Offices of Public Liaison (OPL) Committee provides an avenue for information sharing, problem solving and idea generation around issues relevant to OPL's across NIH. This group is also responsible for the information contained in NIH's OPL Bulletin which is distributed electronically to more than 300 NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives (COPR) Associates and Members across the country, as well as other interested members of the public.

NIAAA Public Liaison Officer, Kelly Green Kahn, Office of Policy and Public Liaison (OPPL) continues to represent NIAAA at the NIH-level by coordinating NIAAA submissions to the NIH OPL Bulletin and through various work group activities focused on the NIH Director’s priority to educate and involve the general public more extensively in NIH activities. NIAAA is currently part of the strategy team that is working on a new NIH web site for the public to be launched in late spring 2003. For additional information about COPR and the OPL community, go to https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080916081155/http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/ocpl/.

NIAAA HIGHLIGHTS

Budget Update

FY 2003 Appropriation

The FY 2003 amended President’s Budget request for the NIAAA is $415.3 million. At this time, there has been no conference activity between the House and Senate on the FY 2003 appropriation. NIH continues to operate under a Continuing Resolution.

FY 2004 President’s Request

The FY 2004 budget request for the NIAAA is $430.1 million, including HIV/AIDS, an increase of $14.8 million and 3.6 percent over the FY 2003 level. The budget request for HIV/AIDS research is $26.9 million. The following highlight some of the major components of the FY 2004 budget request:

Research Project Grants - Under the President’s Request, the Institute plans to support approximately 192 competing research project grants and fund approximately one-third of approved applications. The FY 2004 request provides average cost increases for competing RPGs at approximately 6.6 percent over the FY 2003 level. Noncompeting RPGs will be funded at committed levels, which include increases of 3 percent on average for recurring direct costs.

Alcohol Research Centers - The Centers program budget will support 15 research centers at $28.1 million.

Other Research -- $11.3 million is provided to support 85 research career awards in FY 2004. Cooperative agreements will be funded at $13.4 million.

Research Training -- Research Training is provided $10.2 million for 247 pre- and post-doctoral trainees in full-time training positions, the same number as in FY 2003. Stipend levels for NRSA trainees will increase by 4 percent over FY 2003 levels for pre-doctoral trainees, and from 4 to 1 percent over FY 2003 levels for post-doctoral trainees, depending on years of post-doctoral research experience.

Research and Development Contracts are provided $36.7 million.

Intramural Research Program -- $41.1 million has been allocated to maintain the Intramural Research Program’s overall level of effort with 104 FTE’s for FY 2004.

RMS activities are provided $22.3 million with 137 FTE’s for FY 2004.

NIAAA College Drinking Initiative

Research Initiatives

In December, NIAAA’s Office of Collaborative Research issued a new Request for Applications (RFA), "Research Partnership Awards for Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems,"  was issued. A parallel Program Announcement (PA), Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems is expected to be released later this month. The purpose of these two programs, which will be supported as cooperative agreements, is to develop and conduct timely research on interventions to prevent or reduce alcohol-related problems among college students. Grantees funded under the RFA will be matched with one or more grantees funded under the companion PA to form a performance unit that will implement and test protocols developed under the RFA.

Web Site

The college drinking web site, , continues to be a resource for college presidents, campus health administrators, media, parents, and students. Since NIAAA’s last council meeting, the site has doubled in total number of hits received to about 5 million. The average hits per day is about 28,000. Approximately 300 subscribers to our listserve receive e-mail updates on college drinking research about 4 times each year. In addition, the site has received 20 awards and recognition’s for design, content, usability, and information dissemination. According to AltaVista (internet search engine), 787 web sites offer a link to the college drinking prevention web site. Many of these links are from colleges, universities, and a diverse list of substance abuse prevention organizations.

Pacific Northwest Regional Workshop on College Drinking

On October 21-22, 2002, NIAAA sponsored the first of a series of regional and state interactive workshops structured around the Task Force Report. Susan Resneck Pierce, a member of the Task Force and president of the University of Puget Sound, hosted this one and a half-day event on her campus in Tacoma, Washington. Approximately 130 college administrators, clinicians and alcohol prevention specialists from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska attended sessions on the consequences of college drinking and the effectiveness of alcohol prevention interventions currently in use. Interactive sessions on how to evaluate campus alcohol programs and how to become a successful participant in the National Alcohol Screening Day Program were well attended. A special training for health care providers was pilot tested during this workshop as a tool for campus-based health clinics to identify and treat students who are at-risk drinkers. In addition, representatives from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) spoke as part of a federal resources panel on college drinking.

North Carolina Regional Workshop on College Drinking

The NIAAA Office of Policy and Public Liaison, (OPPL) is in the beginning stages of planning a regional workshop in North Carolina for Fall 2003. We will partner with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse Services Section and Wake Forest University.

Resource Materials Development

Dr. Gail Boyd, Division of Clinical and Prevention Research (DCPR) and Ms. Diane Miller, Scientific Communications Branch, Office of Scientific Affairs (OSA), are co-planning a meeting of select college experts to provide advice on the development of a comprehensive, research-based guide for parents of college students. The guide will include a review of alcohol problems on campuses, how to assess the prevalence of alcohol problems on a specific campus, how to pick housing arrangements, how to support and encourage campus alcohol policies. It will also discuss the importance of parental influence on student behavior, communication with children regarding alcohol use and abuse, and other topics identified by the advisory group. The booklet will be pre-tested with the intended audience. The meeting will be held on February 26.

Other College-Related Meetings

OPPL has been working with the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention (HEC) to disseminate the findings of the Task Force Report to colleges and universities nationwide. As a result of this partnership and collaboration, NIAAA researchers have presented to audiences ranging in size from 140 to 175 in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. They discussed the scope of the problem and the state of research on prevention programs currently in use with college administrators and alcohol prevention program staff.

Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free National Initiative

Leadership Poll Results

On Sunday, December 29, the results of the Leadership’s recent poll on the hidden costs of childhood drinking were highlighted in the column "Intelligence Report," a regular feature in Parade Magazine. The poll, conducted in September 2002 by the opinion research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, surveyed opinion leaders in urban, suburban, and rural areas about the problem of drinking by children. The following key statistics were revealed:

• 78 percent of respondents said drinking by children is a "very serious" problem in the U.S.;
• 74 percent of those polled responded that more children are drinking alcohol at an earlier age compared to 10 years ago; and
• 85 percent agreed that it was either "very easy" or "somewhat easy" for children ages 9 to 15 to get access to alcohol prob1em
• The column also provided a link to the Leadership’s web site. Parade’s weekly circulation is estimated at 36,100,000.

Emeritus Governors’ Spouses

Following the November 2002 elections, several out-going Governors’ spouses have agreed to continue with the Leadership as a part of an Emeritus Group. The group enables participating spouses who are leaving their State houses to continue to contribute to Leadership activities and share their knowledge and experiences on issues of underage drinking. The Emeritus Group will also help to recruit new Governors’ spouses for the Leadership initiative. Vicky Cayetano (HI) and Theresa Racicot (MT) have agreed to serve as co-chairs of the Leadership Emeritus Group. The co-chair positions will rotate annually. In addition to the co-chairs, the spouses who, as of this date, have agreed, to join the Leadership Emeritus Group are Susan Knowles (AK), Mary Herman (ME), Terry Ventura (MN), Cathy Keating (OK), Sharon Kitzhaber (OR), Michele Ridge (PA), Martha Sundquist (TN), Sue Ann Thompson (WI), and Sherri Geringer (WY).

Alcohol Awareness Month

The Leadership spouses have been invited to act as honorary chairs for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) celebration of Alcohol Awareness Month in April. The theme for this year is: "Give Children a Chance - End Underage Drinking." The invitation is historic in that NCADD has usually had prominent individuals co-chairs, never a group. Past honorary chairs have included Derek Jeter, Surgeon General David Satcher, and General Barry McCaffrey. NIAAA Council Member and NCADD President, Stacia Murphy, issued the invitation. Ms. Murphy is also a member of the Leadership Executive Working Group.

Public Testimony

In November, Mrs. Teresa Racicot, former First Lady of Montana, testified on behalf of the Leadership Governors’ spouses before the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Developing a Strategy to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. Mrs. Racicot spoke about the impact of alcohol use on our nation’s children and urged the committee to take seriously the need to focus attention on the early drinkers—children aged 9 to 15. Specifically, the testimony recommended including childhood drinking in the Committee’s report; endorsed the use of science-based and validated environmental strategies as prevention tools and recommend greatly increased investment in research on the consequences, prevention, and treatment of underage drinking as well as an extensive public education program.

NIAAA Council Member, Stacia Murphy, President of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) and Leadership Executive Working Group (EWG) member, testified on behalf of the Leadership and NCADD at a public hearing sponsored by the New York State Assembly on the effects that marketing and advertising of alcoholic beverages have on youth drinking. The hearing was held on October 22, 2002.

On December 12, 2002, NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NIAAA Director Dr. T. K. Li, and Mrs. Teresa Racicot met with Senator Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), to discuss the problem of underage and childhood drinking. The Senator spent more than an hour with the team from NIH and agreed to host Congressional hearings on the issue. Dr. Zerhouni was very supportive of NIAAA’s work on this issue.

Other Leadership Activities

Mary P. Easley, Esq. - First Lady of North Carolina and co-chair of the Leadership initiative - was recently featured in The Prosecutor, a publication of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA). Mrs. Easley stated in the article that "drinking by children and adolescents is one of the most serious alcohol-related challenges confronting us as a Nation and yet it remains inexplicably ignored." She noted the compelling scientific evidence that alcohol is the most commonly used drug among our Nation's children and that new research clearly indicates that the beginning of adult alcohol dependence lies in early childhood drinking - a behavior that too many parents dismiss as a "rite of passage." Mrs. Easley urged members of the NDAA to join with the governors' spouses, noting that "legal professionals have a critical role to play outside the courtroom." She emphasized that they "can play a substantial role in curbing underage drinking" by informing parents, speaking at public forums, and fostering critical community partnerships. The First Lady travels throughout North Carolina to raise awareness about underage drinking.

In early January, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the White House hosted two meetings to review activities by the various agencies within DHHS and across government that addressed underage drinking as a children’s health issue. It is expected that the Department will hold further meetings on this topic. The NIAAA, SAMHSA, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention participated in the January 2 exploratory meeting convened by Terrell Halaska, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Secretary, DHHS. The next day, a follow-on meeting was convened by staff from the Domestic Policy Council that included DHHS, NHTSA, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Programs (OJJDP).

On September 26, 2002, First Lady of Ohio, Hope Taft, hosted a one-day Leadership Summit to Keep Children Alcohol Free for mayors, chiefs of police, and sheriffs across the State. NIAAA Advisory Council member, Sandra A. Brown, Ph.D., University of California San Diego and Dr. Peter Rogers, The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, and Columbus Children’s Hospital, spoke about alcohol’s impact on the adolescent brain, and emerging trends of adolescent alcohol abuse. NIAAA-grantee Dr. Richard Scribner, Louisiana State Health Sciences Center, a leading expert in geospatial analysis techniques, discussed environmental factors that influence youth alcohol use. Summit attendees were provided with a variety of prevention resources including a new video produced by the First Lady's office entitled Smart and Sober. The video, featuring Henry Winkler and rap artist Little Bow Wow, portrays the consequences of underage drinking; the damaging effects of alcohol on a young brain, and the important role parents can play in discouraging alcohol use in their children.

Related Activities

The Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy (PLNDP), a bipartisan group of leading physicians from across the country, recently released a comprehensive report on adolescent substance abuse and urged lawmakers and public health officials to revisit strategies for curbing and treating teen drug abuse. The report, "Adolescent Substance Abuse: A Public Health Priority," contains recommendations for policy changes aimed at prevention, screening, assessment, and treatment of adolescents prone to or affected by substance abuse. The report was distributed to members of Congress and all state governors. The Leadership initiative is the first resource listed in Chapter 2 of the report, "Continuum of Care: Prevention."

OFFICE  AND DIVISION ACTIVITIES

Office of the Director

Director’s Activities

In December, NIAAA Director Ting-Kai Li, M.D. received the 2002 Bowles Lectureship Award awarded by the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Bowles Lectureship is given once each year to an investigator who has made significant contributions to our understanding of the causes, prevention, and/or treatment of alcoholism and alcohol related diseases. Dr. Li gave a talk entitled "Gene-Environment Interaction in Alcoholism and Alcohol Related Disorders." He emphasized similarities between the role of genetics and environment in alcoholism and that of many other diseases including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. First Lady of North Carolina Mary Easley, and Co-Chair of the Leadership initiative, attended the awards ceremony.

Past recipients of the Bowles Lectureship Award include Drs. Hidekazu Tsukamoto (USC), Jacquelyn Maher (UCSF), Ivan Diamond (UCSF), George Koob (Scripps) and R. Adron Harris (UT Austin).

Deputy Director’s Activities

Mary C. Dufour, M.D., M.P.H., delivered a talk entitled "Epidemiology of Alcoholic Pancreatitis," at the Mechanisms of Alcoholic Pancreatitis Symposium, held November 12-13 in Chicago, Ill. The Symposium was sponsored by NIAAA and the NIH Office of Rare Diseases.

Office of Collaborative Research

Research Initiatives

Research on Alcohol-Related HIV/AIDS

In October 2002, OCR issued an RFA entitled, "Research on Alcohol-Related HIV/AIDS in Women," to encourage interdisciplinary research on the role of alcohol in the epidemiology, natural history, pathogenesis, prevention, treatment, and control of HIV/AIDS among women. This RFA was developed in response to mounting evidence that alcohol plays a significant role in the sexual transmission of HIV, susceptibility to infection, and progression of HIV disease among women, who now represent 46 percent of adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

In January 2003, OCR released an RFA entitled "Alcohol Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Resource-Poor Societies," which invites applications for international, cross-disciplinary research on HIV/AIDS, other blood-borne infections, (hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus), tuberculosis, and comorbid conditions and consequences in alcohol abusing and dependent individuals, their sexual partners, and their children. This RFA encourages cross-national and international research collaborations that will lead to the development, adaptation, replication, and evaluation of effective interventions and approaches to slow or reverse the spread of HIV and other infections in vulnerable heavy drinking populations.

Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

In October 2002, OCR released an RFA entitled "Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD)" to inform and develop effective interventions and treatment approaches for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) through highly integrated multidisciplinary research involving basic, behavioral, and clinical investigators and projects. A related objective is to integrate existing resources for research on FASD within the alcohol research community and to create new resources to address important research questions. CIFASD will provide opportunities for collaboration between scientists in the alcohol field and investigators from other research areas. Our goal is to apply new ideas and new technologies to the study of alcohol-related fetal injury.

Alcohol, FAS and Other Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes

OCR is collaborating with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), on an RFA entitled "Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Among High Risk Populations: Relationship to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)," which invites applications for cooperative agreements to develop community-linked studies of the role of prenatal alcohol exposure in the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirth and fetal alcohol syndrome. The long-term goals of this initiative are to decrease fetal and infant mortality and improve child health in high-risk communities.

National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD)

NASD 2003, which will take place on April 10, is jointly funded by SAMHSA and implemented by the private non-profit Screening for Mental Health. Our research goals for this program include determining whether a national screening program can be effective in increasing the general public’s awareness of the consequences of at-risk alcohol use and to better understand how to reduce the stigma of being screened for more serious alcohol problems. Dr. Anton Bizzell has led five regional training sessions to help community, college and primary care sites remain engaged in the program and improve the quality of the program at the site level. To date training sessions have taken place in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington (October, 2002); Atlanta, Georgia, San Antonio, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee (January, 2003). Dr. Bizzell and Mr. Roger Hartman also led a training session for military sites (representing all four divisions of the military) in San Antonio in January. Additional training sessions are planned for February and March in Los Angeles, California, Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk, Virginia.

Meetings and Presentations

Dr. Faye Calhoun was an organizer, session chair, and presenter for the South-Africa-U.S. Consultation on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Research in Cape Town, South Africa (S.A.). The purpose of the meeting, which was held November 7-8, 2002, was to review results from FAS research by S.A. and U.S. investigators. Participants also discussed , planned and potential studies and policy changes that might reduce the incidence and impact of FAS. The meeting was attended by the NIAAA-supported U.S.-S.A. transdisciplinary team of FAS researchers, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Ambassador, the U.S. Health Attaché, the Director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Directorate for S.A., and representatives of the Health Directorates for each province in S.A.

Drs. Faye Calhoun and Tom Gentry served as panelists at the National Conference on Tobacco and Health Disparities sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the American Legacy Foundation. Drs. Gentry and Calhoun joined National Advisory Council members Drs. Alpha Estes Brown and Robert Taylor in presenting research and research strategies for exploring the consequences of tobacco and alcohol use in minority populations. They also discussed the potential for collaborations on these topics.

Staff Activities

As co-chairs of the Steering Committee for the SAMHSA FAS Center for Excellence, Dr. Ed Riley, University of California San Diego and Dr. Calhoun provided leadership in a strategic planning meeting to develop the major focus and themes for the Center’s activities in the future. The meeting was held in October 2002.

A retreat with the Directors of the NIAAA Alcohol Research Centers was held January 22-24, 2003 in Charleston, South Carolina. At the retreat, the Center Directors gained an understanding of the resources that are available in each Center and discussed opportunities for future collaborations, between and among Centers, to address critical alcohol research questions. Dr. Carrie Randall and her administrative manager, Bob Peiffer provided outstanding support for the meeting as well as a visit to their Alcohol Research Center at the Medical University of South Carolina.

In December, the Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (ICCFAS) convened for its 19th meeting. Meeting highlights included presentations on advances in the use of neuroimaging techniques to identify fetal alcohol damage and on fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects (FAS/E) as a hidden epidemic in the U.S. court system. The presentation on FAS/E in the criminal justice system addressed issues previously identified by the FAS-Juvenile Justice Working Group (FAS-JJWG), a subcommittee of the ICCFAS chaired by the Department of Justice. The FAS-JJWG, convened its second meeting to discuss approaches to training juvenile justice professionals on issues related to FAS/E and to develop a model for responding to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders within the juvenile justice system.

As part of the NIH Global AIDS Research Strategy, NIAAA, in cooperation with the NIH Office on AIDS Research, other Institutes and Centers (IC’s), and U.S. and foreign investigators, is continuing to stimulate new cooperative efforts in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and maternal and child health. In support of these efforts, Drs. Kendall Bryant and Mahadev Murthy traveled to Mumbai, India and surrounding areas to discuss opportunities for collaborative alcohol research with Indian scientists. We anticipate that these activities will stimulate applications for research on alcohol-related HIV/AIDS suitable for consideration by NIAAA.

In October, Ms. Peggy Murray led a team of medical faculty that pilot tested a training course for college health care professionals in screening and early interventions for alcohol problems. Michael Fleming, M.D., University of Wisconsin, wrote the course curriculum. Additional course faculty included Katherine Bradley, M.D., and Chris Dunn, Ph.D. University of Washington; and Marilyn Sommers, Ph.D., R.N., University of Cincinnati. Several colleges in the Pacific Northwest region participated in this course. NIH provided CME credits for physicians and nurses

The NIAAA Science Education Program Manager, Mr. Jason Lazarow, is working closely with NIAAA science education grantees to assure that materials developed are age- and education-level appropriate and meet the national science education standards. He is preparing to hold teacher workshops at the National Science Teachers Association annual meeting in Philadelphia in March to test new middle- and high-school science education materials developed under various grants and contracts to NIAAA. Of note is a curriculum on the biological basis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and other alcohol-related birth defects developed by Dr. Kathy Sulik and colleagues at the University of North Carolina Medical School.

In December, a working group of alcohol researchers in epidemiology, prevention, policy, and health services research met with Dr. Calhoun, Dr. Tina Vanderveen, Ms. Murray, Dr. Anton Bizzell, and Ms. Isabel Ellis to begin the development of an alcohol curriculum for graduate students in public health. While the curriculum will be directed primarily to the MPH level, it will be flexible enough to be used for a variety of educational purposes. Dr. Raul Caetano, Assistant Dean of the School of Public Health, University of Texas at Dallas chaired the working group that included Drs. Harold Holder, Thomas Babor, Connie Weisner, Alex Wagenaar, and Ralph Hingson.

Ms. Peggy Murray and Ms. Isabel Ellis introduced the NIAAA curriculum for schools of social work at a workshop in January at the annual meeting of the Society for Social Work Research held in Washington, D.C. The curriculum was very well received.

Office of Policy and Public Liaison

Public Liaison Activities

OPPL is responsible for liaison activities as they relate to Council meetings (and associated "liaison group meetings"). Currently, we share information on a regular basis with over 600 outside groups and individuals that comprise our contact list. Liaison representatives meet informally with the NIAAA Director and senior staff following the adjournment of Council meetings. NIAAA also implements an annual plan of specific, formal collaborations with outside groups.

Collaboration with Outside Organizations

Alcohol Research to Practice Network

NIAAA’s Alcohol Research to Practice Network (ARPN) ensures that science-based information is both accessible and usable to clinicians and provides a dedicated avenue for NIAAA to receive input and feedback; provides proactive outreach and partnerships with a broad variety of constituencies; and develops new approaches, such as the Researcher-in-residence Program, to stimulate cross-communication between alcoholism treatment providers and researchers. Selected recent and future ARPN activities include:

National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP): NIAAA sponsored a pre-conference workshop at NADCP’s 4th Annual Juvenile and Family Drug Court Training Conference on the pharmacotherapy of treating alcoholism. Organized by Amy Matush, the workshop was moderated by Dr. Raye Litten of NIAAA’s Division of Clinical and Prevention Research, Treatment Research Branch. NIAAA grantees Bob Swift, M.D., Ph.D., and Darlene Moak, M.D. spoke at the Workshop. The conference was attended by judges, prosecutors, treatment providers, law enforcement officials, and child/family services professionals.

International Conference on Addictions: NIAAA participated in the annual conference cosponsored by NIAAA public liaison group member, Council on Substance Abuse-NCADD (COSANCADD), and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). The conference took place on February 1 and 2, and featured plenary sessions by NIAAA staff Anton Bizzell, M.D., who led a session on screenings and brief interventions; and Geoff Laredo, who provided an overview of the Institute. Primary care physicians are the target audience for this conference, but the audience also includes significant numbers representing other health professions, clergy, and legal professionals.

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA): NIAAA will sponsor the 2003 National Leadership Forum convened by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). This annual conference will occur from February 12-14 in Washington, D.C. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. In consultation with NIAAA staff, the CADCA program committee selected two workshops arranged and supported by NIAAA. One workshop, conducted by National Advisory Council member, Ralph Hingson, Sc. D., and William DeJong, Ph.D., Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, will focus on "Building an Effective Campus-Community Coalition." The other workshop, "Conducting a National Alcohol Screening Day Event," will include presentations by NIAAA staff Anton Bizzell, M.D. and Peggy Murray (Office of Collaborative Research), along with Ann Mahony from SAMHSA. NIAAA Director, T-K Li, M.D., will make his debut before the coalitions community during the federal plenary session.

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT): NIAAA will release a Guide on screening and brief interventions entitled, Alcohol Problems in Intimate Relationships: Identification and Intervention; A Guide for Marriage and Family Therapists. This publication is the result of a partnership between NIAAA and AAMFT to help therapists incorporate screenings and brief interventions into their couples and family practices. Kelly Green Kahn is working with Bill Northey, Ph.D. of AAMFT, and alcohol researchers Linda Roberts, Ph.D. and Barbara McCrady, Ph.D. to incorporate relevant information into the clinical practices and decisions of marriage and family therapists. This guide will complement the Institute’s update of its manual on screenings and brief interventions for physicians and other health professionals.

NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals: NIAAA and NAADAC are partnering to release an article about NIAAA Director, Ting-Kai Li, M.D. and his vision for the Institute. NAADAC will publish this piece in its new publication, Addiction Professional, along with articles from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. NAADAC is a professional membership organization representing a network of 14,000 members who specialize in addiction treatment and serves 47 state affiliates representing more than 80,000 alcoholism and drug abuse treatment professionals. Addiction Professional will be published by Manisses Communications Group, Inc. of Providence, R.I., which produces Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly and The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory and Application.

Join Together: NIAAA, along with NIDA, will again cosponsor a three-day Demand Treatment Institute, April 2-5 in San Francisco, CA. Integrating screening for alcohol problems into the general health care delivery system is a major priority of this organization, and its partners who are involved in demand issues are interested in increasing their understanding about alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis and pancreatitis. Kelly Green Kahn will coordinate with the Join Together team to develop workshops that address these and other topics at the meeting. Demand Treatment! is a nationwide project organized by Join Together, and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to increase the number of people who receive alcohol and drug screenings, brief interventions, and quality treatment in their communities. The initiative is based on the belief that the first step to increasing treatment is to get consumers, family members, and key leaders to take steps to recognize the magnitude of the demand.

American Psychological Society (APS): NIAAA will participate in an article to be published in the APS monthly newsletter, The Observer. This article is part of a series on behavioral translational research at different NIH Institutes. NIAAA Director, Ting-Kai Li, M.D. and Harold Perl, Ph.D., Chief of the Health Services Research Branch are participating in these interviews. APS is a membership organization serving approximately 12,000 psychologists in the United States and abroad whose specialties span the entire spectrum of scientific, applied, and teaching specialties, and who are interested in advancing scientific psychology and its representation as a science on the national level.

Other Policy and Public Liaison Activities

National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD)

NIAAA has been collaborating with NASADAD to communicate alcohol research findings and implications to State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (AOD) under a contract managed by Kelly Green Kahn. NASADAD members, the Single State Agencies (SSAs), are responsible for certifying professionals, accrediting treatment programs, contracting with community based providers, collecting and analyzing data, assuring quality services, and establishing performance and outcome measures. Four Issue Briefs will be used to present the most up to date research available to assist these individuals in fulfilling their responsibilities to provide a broad range of alcohol and drug prevention and treatment services throughout their states and communities. The first Issue Brief focused on the use of medications as a component of alcohol treatment and its implications for state alcohol treatment systems. The second and third Briefs, projected to be released this Winter/Spring, will address screenings and brief interventions and their cost effectiveness, and fetal alcohol syndrome respectively. If you are interested in copies of the first Issue Brief or would like to receive future Briefs, please contact the NIAAA Public Liaison Officer, Kelly Green Kahn, at or 301-443-0347.

Office of Scientific Affairs

Extramural Project Review Branch

For this review round, Extramural Project Review Branch staff completed 15 review meetings to evaluate a total of 99 grant applications. Reviews completed include the following:

PA00-103 - NRSA Institutional Training Grants - 11 grant applications reviewed

The remaining 88 grant applications were not submitted in response to any special initiatives and therefore were reviewed in the Institute's standing review sub-committees, or special emphasis panels.

Review committees with the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) evaluated 127 research grant applications assigned to NIAAA over the course of this review round.

Special Review Committees are presently being established for the evaluation of applications received in response to the following initiatives:

The outcome of these evaluations will be presented at future council meetings.

Scientific Communications Branch

Alcohol Research & Health

During the reporting period,  "Alcohol and Comorbid Mental Health Disorders," has been printed and disseminated. The issue titled, "Genetic Technology's Role in Alcohol Research," is in the final editing stages. Work continues on issues focusing on women, epidemiology, and the brain.

The full text of all AR&H issues dating back to 1996 is available on NIAAA's web site and can be accessed at www.niaaa.nih.gov/.

Alcohol Alert

The Alcohol Alert issue, "Changing the Culture of Campus Drinking," has been printed. The next issue will focus on underage drinking.

Other Materials

Helping Patients with Alcohol Problems: A Health Practitioner' s Guide, a newly revised 22-page publication, has been received from the printers. Accompanying the publication is a 4x4 2 inch pocket guide with the screening and intervention algorithm and a standard drink chart. The guide updates the 1995 Physicians' Guide to Helping Patients with Alcohol Problems, one of NIAAA' s most requested publications. It has been redesigned in a graphic format and updated with information about the effectiveness of brief interventions. Expert panelists who contributed to the revisions include: Dr. Henrietta Barnes (Harvard Medical); Dr. Simon Budman (Innovative Training Systems); Dr. Michael Fleming (U-Wisc); Dr. David Lanier (DHHS Center for Primary Care Research); Dr. Judith Ockene (U-Mass Medical); Dr. Carl Soderstron (U-MD Shock-Trauma); and Dr. Robert Volk (Baylor). NIAAA staff in five different branches helped to shape the content and design, which was then evaluated and refined through in-depth interviews with nine diverse primary care practitioners from a variety of practice settings.

Because of the large demand for the poster targeting "tweens," NIAAA reprinted another 100,000 copies. The poster was developed last year in collaboration with SAMHSA.

SCB staff coordinated NIAAA review of the alcohol-related sections for the fall issue of Your World, a publication on biotechnology aimed at 7th to 12th grade students. The theme of the issue was "learning about drugs and alcohol through biotechnology." Several DBR and DCPR staffers helped check material for accuracy; Antonio Noronha and Raye Litten, in particular, reviewed and commented on sections before and after revisions. Your World, issued by the Biotechnology Institute, is distributed to secondary high-school teachers along with a teacher' s guide and activity supplements.

Two NIAAA booklets, Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol, and Alcohol: What You Don' t Know Can Harm You, have been revised and reprinted. The booklets are available in full text on the NIAAA web site.

NIAAA is developing two new pamphlets for the public: A Family History of Alcoholism: Are You at Risk? and The Dangers of Mixing Alcohol with Medications. These new publications will be available, along with several other NIAAA brochures, at the National Alcohol Screening Day sites.

Dr.Philip May, Professor of Sociology and Research Scientist at the University of New Mexico, has graciously volunteered to pre-test NIAAA' s pamphlet on drinking and your pregnancy on several Indian reservations. The response to the pamphlet, adapted for American Indian women, has been overwhelmingly positive.

The 486-page research monograph, Alcohol Use Among American Indian and Alaska Natives, has been received from the printers. The monograph covers topics such as the genetic susceptibility to alcoholism, community alcohol control programs, treatment and prevention programs, fetal alcohol syndrome, and alcohol-related violence.

Multimedia—Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and Videos

The video, Alcohol: A Women' s Health Issue, jointly produced by NIAAA and the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, won a bronze "world medal" in the film and video competition of The New York Festivals. The Festivals competitions encompass a variety of communications media; there were more than 3,000 entries from 38 countries in television and nonbroadcast film and video in the 2002 competition.

The storyboards and scripts for a new PSA on underage drinking have been submitted to HHS for review. As soon as approval is received, casting and shooting will begin.

The two television PSAs, developed in collaboration with SAMHSA, continue to be aired on programs targeted to 11 to 14 year olds.

FAS Public Awareness Campaign

Approaching the end of its first year, the NIAAA Public Awareness Campaign on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome for African-American Women in the District of Columbia continues to develop and expand. Posters and dioramas continue to be placed in Metro stations and on Metro buses throughout the metropolitan area. Local retailers, government officials, and staff of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) have placed posters in highly visible, strategic locations around the city. Community events are being planned with churches and hospitals and campaign materials are being disseminated at selected local and national festivals and fairs. In addition, production is being finalized on two television PSAs which will be distributed to local media outlets.

Media

Since the September 2002 meeting of the Council, NIAAA has issued two news releases and responded to over 200 incoming media requests.

On January 8, 2003, NIAAA and NHLBI issued a joint news release entitled, "Frequency of Light-to-Moderate Drinking," that reported the findings of Kenneth Mukamal, M.D., et al. Their article, published in the January 9 New England Journal of Medicine, was based on an analysis of data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. The researchers showed that frequency of alcohol consumption was the most important factor in reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. The findings were widely covered in print, broadcast, and electronic formats as both a news and feature story. Most coverage contained NIAAA-NHLBI messages.

"Mouse Model Links Alcohol Intake to Marijuana-Like Brain Compounds/New Pathway Presents Target for Medication Development," issued January 20, 2003, reported the independent work of NIAAA intramural scientists led by Scientific Director George Kunos, M.D., Ph.D., and a group of extramural researchers led by Basalingappa L. Hungund, Ph.D., of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Journal of Neurochemistry, respectively, the studies together suggest the CB1 receptor as a promising target for pharmacotherapy. The findings were covered nationally.

Web Sites

Results of the second phase of the Web usability study were presented to the NIAAA Internet Committee in late January. Committee members are currently reviewing the recommendations provided in the final report.

A number of new items have been added to the web site including the names of conferences where NIAAA will be exhibiting in 2003.

Last September, NIAAA awarded a contract to Golin/Harris International to update and ultimately overhaul the joint NIAAA/SAMHSA web site on alcohol aimed at middle school children, . The contractor has developed an original design concept for the site that incorporates new animated features, section headings, and appealing characters into the current design. The site architecture is being reconfigured and new content is being developed. The contractor is forming a panel of youth from three cities (Washington, Miami, and Indianapolis) to help ensure that the revised site is engaging to its intended audience.

Division of Basic Research

Research Initiatives

The NIAAA is participating in an RFA, "Large-Scale Genotyping for the Haplotype Map of the Human Genome" (HG-02-005), which was issued on March 26, 2002 by the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, in collaboration with the Trans-NIH Haplotype Mapping Working Group. The request encourages applications for the large-scale human genotyping effort. This data will be used to develop a map of the haplotype patterns that will be used as a key resource for finding genes affecting alcoholism. Dr. Zhaoxia Ren is the NIAAA contact on the RFA and is the NIAAA liaison for the Trans-NIH Haplotype Mapping Working Group. For further information, Dr. Ren can be contacted at 301-443-5733 or

On October 1, 2002, DBR issued an RFA, "Small Business Initiative for Alcohol Proteomics" (RFA-AA-03-003). This RFA solicits applications for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects and for Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) projects that use currently available technologies or emerging new methodologies in protein analysis and proteomics research to conduct studies relevant to alcohol research. The overall goal of this initiative is to use proteomics technologies to identify molecular targets for medication development as well as diagnostic biomarkers for alcohol-induced diseases and excessive alcohol consumption. For further information, contact Dr. Lisa A. Neuhold at 301-594-6228 or , Dr. Roger G. Sorensen at 301-443-2678 or and Dr. Marvin Salin at 301-443-4225 or

Workshops

Drs. Dennis A. Twombly, Roger Sorensen, and Antonio Noronha, represented NIAAA at the Society for Neuroscience training workshop entitled, "Meeting on Training Opportunities – NIH and NSF Funding for Your Research Training," November 2, 2001. This workshop provided an overview of training opportunities and funding mechanisms offered by NIH and NSF. Breakout sessions featured representatives of Institutes with neuroscience-related programs (e.g., NIAAA, NIA, NICHD, NIDA, NIDCD, NEI, NIMH, NINDS). The workshop was organized for graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and young investigators in the neurosciences.

Dr. Mark Egli organized a workshop entitled, "Stress and Alcohol Abuse", which was held September 26-27, 2002 in Bethesda, Maryland. The workshop featured discussions of current research on the neurobiology of stress. Topics included: stress models for alcohol research, functional anatomy of stress, translational research, and genetic approaches to understanding of stress effects on alcohol drinking. Division Director Dr. Sam Zakhari gave introductory remarks at this workshop.

Dr. Denise Russo organized the workshop, "Alcohol Use and Health Disparities 2002: A Call To Arms" held on December 5, 2002 in Rockville Maryland. The workshop covered topics of interest to alcohol research such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, and gene environment interactions affecting the health of diverse groups. The participants examined the potential gaps and avenues of opportunity in biomedical research supported by the Institute. Dr. Ti Kai Li, Director, NIAAA, was a featured speaker. Dr. Zakhari gave the opening remarks at this workshop. Drs. Marvin Salin, Vishnu Purohit, Diane Lucas, Ricardo Brown, Ellen Witt, and Antonio Noronha participated as panelists and discussion leaders for this Workshop.

Symposia

Dr. Vishnudutt Purohit organized a symposium, "The Role of Iron in Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD)" October 25, 2002 in Bethesda, MD. The symposium was sponsored by NIAAA and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS). Distinguished scientists spoke on the following topics: 1) Iron Metabolism; 2) Iron-Dependent Macrophage Cell Activation in ALD; 3) Iron and CYP2E1-Induced Oxidative Stress in ALD; 4) Iron-Induced Oxidant Stress and Liver Fibrogenesis; 5) Hemochromatosis and Alcoholic Liver Disease; 6) Iron in non-Hemochromatic Liver Diseases; 7) Iron and Cancer; and 8) Iron Chelators and Iron Toxicity. The symposium was inaugurated by Drs. Sam Zakhari and Christine Swanson, introduced by Dr. Purohit, and chaired by Drs. Denise Russo, Bin Gao, David Brenner, and Patricia Greenwel.

Dr. Vishnudutt Purohit organized a satellite symposium, "The Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Alcoholic Pancreatitis" at the American Pancreatic Association Meeting held at Chicago, Illinois, November 11-13, 2002. NIAAA and the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD), NIH sponsored the symposium. Distinguished scientists spoke on the following topics: 1) Epidemiology of Alcoholic Pancreatitis; 2) Pathophysiology of Alcoholic Pancreatitis; 3) Animal Model of Alcoholic Pancreatitis: Role of Cholecystokinin; 4) Animal Model of Alcoholic Pancreatitis: Role of Viral Infections; 5) Activation of Pancreatic Enzymes by Alcohol; 6) Role of Alcohol Metabolism in Pancreatitis; 7) Stellate cell Activation in Alcoholic Pancreatitis; and 8) Genetic Predisposition to Alcoholic Chronic Pancreatitis. In addition, 20 postdoctoral fellows presented their research findings at a poster session. The symposium was inaugurated by Drs. Mary Dufour and Denise Russo, introduced by Dr. Purohit, and chaired by Drs. Stephen J Pandol, Vay Liang Go, and Ashok Saluja. Dr. Russo also was featured speaker on funding mechanisms and Dr. Dufour presented on the Epidemiology of Alcoholic Pancreatitis.

Staff Activities

Dr. Roger Sorensen represented the NIH Plain Language Coordinating Committee and NIAAA at the NIH Research Festival held on October 15-18, 2002, at the Natcher Conference Center. He assisted with providing information to the NIH community about the NIH-wide Plain Language Initiative, which promotes that all communications should be "clear and to the point."

Drs. Twombly and Sorensen represented NIAAA at the all-day NIH health exposition, "Share the Health: An Exposition of Health Resources from NIH to Its Neighbors." This event, held Saturday, October 26, 2002 in the Natcher Conference Center, featured health seminars by NIH experts, wellness workshops, exhibits by NIH institutes, tours, children’s activities and more. Approximately 800 people from the community attended the fair. Dr. Twombly presented a health seminar entitled, "Alcohol and the Brain: Understanding Intoxication and  Addiction." In addition, Drs. Twombly and Sorensen presented the "Drunken Brain Exhibit" in a series of half-hour sessions throughout the day

Dr. Laurie Foudin, DBR, Ms. Elsie Taylor, Office of Scientific Affairs, and Ms. Judy Fox, NIAAA Grants Management Officer, hosted an informational session on grantsmanship at the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) workshop, "A Day at NIH - Up Close and Personal," which was held in Rockville on November 7, 2002. University administrators learned what the roles of various NIAAA staff are in the grant award process, from application planning through peer review and award.

Division of Biometry and Epidemiology

New Meta Analyses Contract

A contract has been awarded to the Harvard School of Public Health (1) to conduct meta-analyses of epidemiologic studies of the association between alcohol consumption and a wide variety of health conditions thought to be associated (positively or negatively) with different levels of alcohol consumption and (2) to estimate the fractions of U.S. morbidity and mortality from various conditions which are attributable to alcohol consumption based on summary measures of relative risk for these conditions which have been estimated by the meta-analyses conducted under this contract.

Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS)

New Web Site Publications

Four new surveillance reports are now available on NIAAA’s Website:

Surveillance Report #58 (Revised): Trends in Alcohol-Related Morbidity among Short-Term Community Hospital Discharges, United States, 1979–99. Whitmore, C.C.; Yi, H.; Chen, C.M.; Dufour, M.C.

Surveillance Report #59: Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977–99. Nephew, T.M.; Williams, G.D.; Yi, H.; Hoy, A.K., Stinson, F.S.; Dufour, M.C.

Surveillance Report #60: Liver Cirrhosis Mortality in the United States, 1970–99. Yoon, Y.H.; Yi, H.; Grant, B.F; Stinson, F.S.; Dufour, M.C.

Surveillance Report #61: Trends in Alcohol-Related Fatal Traffic Crashes, United States, 1977–2000. Yi, H.; Williams, G.D.; Dufour, M.C.

The Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Directory 2002-2003. This directory is a current listing of surveys and other relevant data suitable for epidemiologic research on alcohol. (The pdf version of the Directory includes the Website addresses of many datasets as hyperlinks so that users can simply click these links to access the sites where the datasets and/or related information are available.)

Presentations

American Public Health Association meeting in Philadelphia on November 11-13, 2002:

Sociodemographic Characteristics, Drinking Patterns and the Risk Behavior of Drinking after Driving. Hsiao-ye Yi, Susan E. Martin, Chiung M. Chen, and J. Quinn Schroeder.

State and Individual Level Effects on Underage Drinking. Gary Huang, Young-Hee Yoon, Hsiao-ye Yi, Chiung Chen, and Mary Dufour. (Poster)

Publications

Faden VB, Baskin ML (2002). An evaluation of college online alcohol-policy information. Journal of American College Health, Vol. 51, No. 3.

Farrell, Susan; Manning, Willard G.; and Finch, Michael D. (2003). Alcohol dependence and the price of alcoholic beverages. Journal of Health Economics 22: 117-147.

Division of Clinical and Prevention Research

Treatment Research Branch

Research Activities

Project COMBINE

The goal of this Cooperative Agreement is to identify optimal combinations of pharmacological and behavioral interventions for the treatment of alcoholism. The pharmacological agents being studied are naltrexone and acamprosate, both alone and in combination. The two behavioral therapies are Medication Management (MM), a brief intervention designed to enhance compliance to medication and encourage drinking cessation, and Combined Behavioral Intervention (CBI), a moderate intensity intervention combining elements from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, and Alcoholics Anonymous.

As of January 12, 2003, 1059 patients (77 percent of the recruitment goal) have been enrolled. Of these, 31 percent are females and 22 percent are minorities. The Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) met on November 6, 2002. The Board performed the first interim review of efficacy data and reviewed the cumulative safety data to date. No evidence of excess adverse events related to the interventions being delivered was found. The DSMB voted in favor of the continuation of the trial. Two ancillary studies are underway: one, a study of cost effectiveness, and another on pharmacogenetics of alcoholism. The next meeting of the Steering Committee in scheduled for March 26-27, 200, in Albuquerque New Mexico.

Subsequent to the retirement of Dr. Richard K. Fuller, DCPR Division Director and COMBINE Project Officer, TRB Branch Chief, Dr. Raye Z. Litten, has been appointed as the new Project Officer. Dr. Margaret E. Mattson will continue to serve as the Trial Staff Collaborator.

Workshops

On September 23-24, 2002, the Treatment Research Branch (TRB) conducted a workshop on "Treatment Research Priorities and Health Disparities." The primary goal of this workshop was to initiate TRB’s program of research to reduce health disparities in the quality and outcomes of treatment for alcohol abuse and dependence among minority groups. The working group had three objectives: (1) determine what we currently know about treatment-related health disparities; (2) evaluate the potential role of economic and cultural variables in explaining diversity of responses within minority groups; and (3) identify future research needs. A series of short articles based on the presentations and a summary of the workshop will be submitted to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Drs. Charlene Le Fauve and Cherry Lowman served as the workshop co-chairs.

In collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Joanne Fertig co-organized a Working Group on "Pharmacologic Approaches to Treating Nicotine Addiction." The meeting was held on October 9-10, 2002 in Bethesda, Maryland. The goal of the meeting was to devise a strategy to stimulate the development of new pharmacological agents to treat nicotine addiction. A set of recommendations and action items for NIH in planning for the discovery, development, and delivery of tobacco cessation medications was produced by the Working Group. 

TRB conducted a workshop on "Measures of Alcohol Consumption" on December 3-4, 2002 in Bethesda, Maryland. The goals of this workshop were to evaluate the current status of research on biomarkers and self-report measures and determine the optimal combinations in measuring drinking outcome. A small group of international experts presented an update for various conventional and promising biomarkers and self-report approaches. They also discussed and advised us on the best experimental approaches for combining self-reports and biomarkers. Future research needs were identified. Articles based on the presentations and discussion of the meeting will be submitted to Addiction.

Presentations

Dr. Margaret Mattson presented, "Experience in Monitoring Adverse Events in COMBINE, a Multisite Clinical Trial," at the Workshop on Monitoring Adverse Events in Trials of Behavioral Therapies, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, July 23, 2002.

Dr. Margaret Mattson presented, "In Utero Exposure to Toxic Effects of Alcohol: Social and Emotional Adjustment of Children with FAS," at the Fifth International Baltic Psychology Conference. University of Tartou, Estonia, August 22, 2002.

On October 7-8, 2002, Dr. Charlene Le Fauve presented at a workshop on "Alcoholism Treatment Research Priorities and Health Disparities: Current Status and Future Directions" at a research conference "Treating Addictions in Special Populations: Research Confronts Reality" in Binghamton, New York.

On November 6, 2002, Dr. Joanne Fertig participated in a strategic planning group on Addressing Tobacco Dependence among Smokers with Mental Illness or Addiction and presented "Overview of NIAAA Research on Alcohol and Tobacco." The meeting was held at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey and was cosponsored by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

On January 7, 2003, Dr. Raye Litten presented "Medications to Treat Alcoholism" to the Army Substance Abuse Program at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

On January 8, 2003, Dr. Litten chaired the workshop Pharmacology of Drug Addiction and presented "Medications Development Program at NIAAA," at the Juvenile and Family Drug Court Training Conference held in Washington, D.C.

Other Activities

On January 9-10, Dr. Le Fauve was nominated and selected to participate in the inaugural Women of Color as Leaders in Public Health and Health Policy Conference sponsored by The Office for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School, in Washington, D.C.

On January 10, the first session of the NIH training symposium on Randomized Clinical Trials Involving Behavioral Interventions sponsored by the Office on Behavioral and Social Sciences Research was held at the Natcher Conference Center. The training program is a series of six modules to be offered to the NIH extramural and intramural communities between January 2003 and June 2003. Dr. Margaret Mattson represented NIAAA on the Planning Committee for the series.

Publications

Symposium on Alcohol and Tobacco: Mechanism and Treatment. Summary of NIAAA May 6 & 7, 2002, workshop proceedings. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26:1909-1955, 2002.

Fertig, Joanne; Overview—Alcohol and Tobacco: Mechanisms and Treatment, Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26:1909-1910, 2002.

Randall C, DelBoca F, Mattson M, Rychtarik, Cooney N, Donovan D, Longabaugh R, and Wirtz P. Primary treatment outcomes and matching effects: Aftercare arm. Babor TF and DelBoca F (Eds.). In Treatment Matching in Alcoholism. Cambridge University Press: United Kington, 2002.

Prevention Research Branch

Research Activities

NIAAA has joined the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) RFA entitled "Maintenance of Long Term Behavioral Change" as a collaborating sponsor along with other Institutes including NIMH, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Eye Institute. The purpose of this trans-NIH RFA is to examine biopsychosocial processes and test interventions designed to achieve long-term health behavior change. Applications must focus on important health-related behaviors already demonstrated amenable to short-term change, such as tobacco use, exercise, eating habits, alcohol and drug use, adherence to health care regimens, and risky sex practices, among others. A particular objective of the initiative is to address relapse prevention with respect to alcohol and tobacco use.

NIAAA has joined the NICHD-initiated PA entitled "Research on Children Exposed to Violence," as a collaborating sponsor with other NIH components including NIDA, NIMH, and OBSSR. The purpose of the PA is to increase "our understanding of children exposed to (or who are the witnesses of) domestic violence, community violence, and war/terrorism." The goal is to develop new knowledge regarding "the definition, identification, epidemiology, prevention, early intervention, etiology, effects (including drug/alcohol abuse), and mechanisms of violence exposure." Topics of particular interest include: Research on processes and mediators accounting for or influencing the effects of exposure to violence; prevention and intervention programs and services for children exposed to violence; and effects of new legislation and policies designed to better protect or help victims of domestic violence, their children, and their families.

Presentations

On November 5, 2002, Dr. Jan Howard gave a presentation: "Moving Prevention Research Into Practice" at the 15th Annual National Prevention Network (NPN) Prevention Research Conference held in San Diego, California. Dr. Howard’s presentation was part of a plenary session that also included presentations by John Walters, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Charles Curie, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Dr. Wilson Compton, Director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research at NIDA.

On November 14, 2002, Dr. Gayle Boyd presented a lecture entitled "The Face You Don’t See: Aging Women and Alcohol" at the NIH, Clinical Center Social Work Department conference, "Aging Women: Health Care Considerations and Challenges." The conference was held at the Natcher Conference Center Building, Bethesda, Maryland.

On December 10, 2002, Dr. Howard gave a short lecture on "FAS-Focused Prevention Research" at Grand Rounds for OB-GYN and Family Medicine residents at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC.

Liaison Activities

On September 17-19, 2002, Dr. Marcia Scott attended the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s First Conference on Birth Defects, Developmental Disabilities, and Disability and Health in Atlanta, GA. She also participated in a Partners Planning Meeting of the Roundtable of the National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), a coalition of government and private sector agencies whose focus includes enhancing the prevention mission and activities of the NCBDDD.

On September 27, 2002, Dr. Scott served as PRB’s representative at a meeting of the Diabetes Mellitus Interagency Coordinating Committee (DMICC) on "The Science of Translation Research: Outcomes and Opportunities." The purpose of the meeting, coordinated by NIDDK, was to explore opportunities for interagency collaboration in using extant archival, surveillance, and clinical trial data to develop the best research-based approaches to benefit patients in clinical practice. Dr. Scott is responsible for PRB research on special populations, including African Americans, who are at elevated risk for diabetes, and alcohol abuse can interfere with effective control of the disease.

On October 7, 2002, Dr, Kathy Salaita represented the Prevention Research Branch at the National Drug Court Institute focus group forum on DUI/Drug Court Treatment issues held in Alexandria, Virginia. A panel of drug court judges, social workers, and other professionals discussed their experiences in dealing with DUI offenders.

On December 18, 2002, Drs. Boyd and Salaita participated in the inaugural meeting of an NIH-wide Health Communications Research Working Group. This meeting, hosted by NCI, initiated what will be an ongoing collaboration among NIH programs with interest in health communications. Common areas of interest include effective utilization of computer- and web-based interventions or information campaigns, research on counter-advertising, and the roles of advertising and media portrayals in public understanding of health-risk behaviors.

On December 18, 2002, Dr. Salaita represented NIAAA at the kick-off meeting of a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s national impaired driving enforcement crackdown effort, "You Drink and You Drive. You Lose."

On January 13, 2003, Dr. Salaita represented NIAAA at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation. The committee meeting was held during the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

On January 13 and 14, 2003, Dr. Robert Freeman represented NIAAA at the annual meeting of the Federal Child Neglect Research Consortium, held in the Neuroscience Center. PRB staff has participated in this consortium since its inception. Presentations were made by NIH grantees (including NIAAA-supported Duncan Clark) who are currently doing research on child neglect. The second day of the conference was devoted to discussions of data archiving, operationalizing and defining the concept of "neglect", ethical challenges, and future plans.

Dr. Salaita has been an active participant on behalf of NIAAA on a joint National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) conference planning committee. The conference topic is "Improving Treatment and Other Interventions For Those Arrested for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol". The conference is scheduled for March 19-20, 2003 and is expected to result in a White Paper.

Other Activities

On November 8 and 9, 2002, Dr. Freeman participated in the NIAAA workshop on "Ecological Modeling of Alcohol-Related Behavior" held in Philadelphia, PA. This workshop was the third of three brainstorming meetings sponsored by NIAAA to gather advice from the research community concerning this challenging topic area. Ten participants, drawn from an array of scientific disciplines (e.g., mathematics, applied statistics, computer sciences) generated an innovative, outside-the-box approach to simulating alcohol use ecologies in small geographical areas.

Health Services Research Branch

Research Initiatives

On September 16, 2002, the Health Services Research Branch (HSRB) issued the PA entitled, "Alcohol Treatment, Services, and Prevention Studies of High Priority to Providers" (PA-02-167). This announcement aims to continue NIAAA interest in narrowing the provider-researcher gap by focusing attention to research suggestions emanating from the provider community. It directs researchers' attention to research topics that providers have suggested as having a high priority. Providers' suggestions cover a variety of subjects in treatment, prevention, and health services research. Specific topics include: clinical outcomes under managed care, robustness of outcomes to applied conditions, case management, tools for improved services delivery, treatment of individuals with co-occurring mental disorders, treatment for other special populations, improved prevention practices, behavior and management of providers, linkages to other medical and social services, and studies of treatment policy decisions.

On September 17, 2002, HSRB issued the PA entitled, "Implementation of Screening and Brief Interventions for Alcohol-Related Problems" (PA-02-168). Issued in collaboration with NIDA, this announcement encourages continued investigation into the implementation and application of brief intervention models in a variety of applied and real-world settings. Brief interventions with non-dependent but high-risk drinkers have been shown to have positive effects in reducing alcohol use and alcohol-related problems across a broad range of settings and with a broad range of patient subpopulations. Still, a great deal remains to be done in order to consolidate and expand understanding of this intervention strategy across varied settings and populations.

Newsletter

In November 2002, HSRB published FrontLines, its semi-annual newsletter produced in collaboration with AcademyHealth (formerly the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy). This issue of FrontLines focuses on the alcohol and drug abuse counselor workforce. This is a critical issue because the counselor workforce has undergone a dramatic shift in education and practice requirements in recent years with an as yet undetermined impact on service availability, quality, and outcomes.

National Treatment Outcomes Monitoring System

The National Treatment Outcomes Monitoring System (NTOMS) is a four-year SAMHSA collaborative endeavor designed to collect and disseminate information about client-level and facility-level treatment outcomes. Dr. John Hough represents NIAAA on the Data Users’ Panel for this effort. The initial meeting of the Data Users Panel convened on December 3, 2002, in Rosslyn, Virginia. NTOMS surveys and interviews will include a broad array of alcohol-related variables, including duration of last abstinence, alcohol-attributable emergency department visits, money spent on alcohol during the previous month, alcohol detoxification setting, and others. NTOMS data sets will be available in the public domain for use by health services researchers and treatment investigators for both point-in-time estimation as well as observation of longitudinal trends in alcohol and substance abuse treatment outcomes.

Liaison Activities

Dr. John Hough serves as NIAAA representative on the Steering Committee for the Third Employer Summit within the Behavioral Healthcare and Informatics Conference Series, an initiative with the private and academic sectors designed to explore common interests in managing the costs and enhancing the effectiveness of behavioral health interventions. This Conference Series is organized by the Center for Health Services Research and Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, as part of their imitative entitled, "Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems." The first meeting of the Steering Committee was held on January 15, 2003 in Washington, D.C.

Branch Chief, Dr. Harold Perl, represented NIAAA at the first meeting of the Federal Advisory Panel for the NIDA Cooperative Agreement research program entitled "The National Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies" (CJ-DATS) on December 9, 2002, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Staff Activities/Presentations

Dr. Perl facilitated two workshops at the conference entitled "Practical Strategies for Addressing Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders in Correctional Settings" held on October 16-18, 2002, in Washington, DC. The conference was cosponsored by the National Institute on Corrections (Department of Justice), NIDA., NIAAA, CSAT, and CMHS.

Dr. Perl presented a talk entitled "Making Science Work in Your Community" at the Demand Treatment! Leadership Institute I, October 22, 2002, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Dr. Perl and Dr. Jon Morgenstern, Director of Alcohol Treatment and Research Programs, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, reported on Dr. Morgenstern’s NIAAA-supported research project "Interventions for Welfare Clients with AOD Disorders" at the October 23, 2002, meeting of the Federal Interagency Work Group on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Perl participated in two panel sessions, "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Applying for Training Grants" and "NIH Research Funding and Applications," at the 18th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies on November 8, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dr. Hough delivered a paper entitled "Estimating the Proportion of Disabled Adults Reporting Depressive Symptoms: Data From the 2000 National Health Interview Survey" on November 12, 2002, at the 130th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Perl served on the Resource Panel for the planning and development of the Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) entitled "Substance Abuse Treatment and Trauma," organized by CSAT on November 12, 2002, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Perl participated in the workshop entitled "Understanding Federal Funding and the Grant Review Process" at the 30th Annual Meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group on November 17, 2002 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Perl organized and led a second workshop, entitled "Maximizing Opportunities to Obtain Funding for Alcohol-Related research in Family Medicine" on November 19 at the same meeting.

Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research

Significant Events

NIAAA Fellows did very well in the latest round of the NIH Award for Research Excellence (FARE) competition. The FARE competition recognizes outstanding intramural scientific research and is open to postdoctoral IRTAs, visiting fellows, and other fellows with less than 5 years total postdoctoral experience in the NIH intramural research program. Recipients receive a $1000 Travel Award to be used to attend and present their work at a scientific meeting of their choice. In addition, awardees present research posters following a NIH Wednesday Afternoon Lecture (WALS) and serve as "postdoctoral" judges for the following year FARE competition. DICBR award recipients (mentors in parentheses) were: Drs. Myoungsook Lee (BJ Song); Myung-Ae Bae (BJ Song); Hong Ren (Bob Peoples); Hong Feng (Bin Gao) and William Lefkowitz (Norm Salem).

Dr. Joseph R, Hibbeln (LMBB) was a recipient of a 2002 NARSAD Independent Investigator Award. The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) award provides support for the investigator during the critical period between initiation of research and receipt of sustained funding. A two-year award of up to $50,000 per year (maximum of $100,000 for two years) is provided to the scientist (at the associate professor level or equivalent) who is clearly independent and has won national competitive support as a principal investigator. Awards are granted to both basic and clinical investigators, but their research must be relevant to schizophrenia, major affective disorders, or other serious mental illnesses. The program is intended to facilitate innovative research opportunities. Dr. Hibbeln received the maximum award.

DICBR Sponsored Seminars

09/13/02 John Commissiong, PhD (Chief Scientific Officer, Prescient NeuroPharma, Inc. (Toronto)) presented a seminar "Discovering Phenotype-specific, Astrocyte-derived Neurotrophic Factor to Treat Neurodegenerative Diseases"

09/24/02 Boris Tabakoff, PhD (Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology School of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center) presented a seminar "The Search for the Genetic Predisposing Factors of Alcoholism and Depression"

09/25/02 Michael A. Crawford, PhD (Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, London Metropolitan University) presented a seminar "An update on the evidence for docosahexaenoic acid as determinant of human cerebral evolution"

10/03/02 John J. Lemasters, MD/PhD (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) presented a seminar "Mitochondrial Pathways to Necrotic and Apoptotic Cell Death"

10/04/02 Dr. Rueben Gonzales (University of Texas at Austin) ) presented a seminar "Neurochemical Mechanisms of Alcohol Consumption"

10/17/02 Jeffery L. Barker, MD (NINDS/NIH) presented a seminar "Early Roles for Neurotransmitters in Regulating Neural Stem Cell Differentiation"

10/24/02 Jacqueline N. Crawley, PhD (NIMH/NIH) presented a seminar "Strategies for Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice"

10/31/02 Esther M. Sternberg, MD (NIMH/NIH) presented a seminar "Neuroendocrine Regulation of Inflammatory Disease"

11/07/02 Jurgen Wess, PhD (NIDDK/NIH) presented a seminar "Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Knockout Mice: Novel Phenotypes and Clinical Implications"

11/08/02 Dr. Fwu-Shan Sheu (Department of Biological Sciences and The University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore) presented a seminar "In Search of the Molecular Candidates for Learning and Memory"

11/14/02 Appa Hungund, PhD (Nathan Kline Institute) presented a seminar "Role of endocannabinoids and cannabinoid CB1 receptors in alcohol related behaviors"

11/19/02 Jaakko Lappalainen, MD/PhD (Yale University/VA Hospital Dept of Psychiatry) presented a seminar "Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping of Susceptibility Genes for Alcoholism"

11/26/02 Xiao-Ming Guan, MD/PhD (Merck Research Labs, Dept Metabolic and Obesity Research) presented a seminar "Probing Neuronal Mechanisms of Feeding Regulation and Energy Metabolism"

12/12/02 Stephen J. Korn, PhD (University of Connecticut) presented a seminar "Modulation of Potassium Channel Conformation and Function by Permeating Ions"

12/13/02 Colin Hodgkinson, PhD (King Faisal Specialist Hospital/Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) presented a seminar "Gene Mapping: The Genomic Endgame"

12/18/02 Dr. Matthew S. Goldberg (Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School) presented a seminar "Characterization of Parkin Knockout Mice as Models for Parkinson's Disease"

12/18/02 Melanie Lorraine Schwandt, PhD (Arizona State University) presented a seminar "The Ontogeny of Positional Behavior in Captive Chimpanzees"

01/07/03 Gary Wand, MD (Professor of Medicine & Psychiatry and Director, Neuroendocrine Service, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) presented a seminar ""Is the Endophenotype of Hypercortisolism a Risk Factor for Alcoholism?" "

01/09/03 Andreas Heinz, MD (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany) presented a seminar "Development and Medical Treatment of Alcoholism"

01/16/03 Robert Wenthold, PhD (NIDCD/NIH ) presented a seminar "Trafficking of NMDA Receptors: From Assembly to Synapse"

02/03/03 Dr. Markus Heilig (Karolinska Institute, Sweden) presented a seminar "You Can Get There From Here: Possible Routes from Experimentally Identified Targets to Clinical Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Dependence"

Collaborations

Dr. Stephanie O'malley (Dept Psychiatry, Yale University) & Dr. Bonnet (Sanofi Pharmaceutical Co) met with Dr. George Kunos (LPS) to discuss collaboration, Bethesda MD, 9/6/02

Dr. David M. Lovinger (LIN) attended meeting of the Integrative Neuroscience Imitative on Alcoholism group to discuss collaborative multi-site research, Winston Salem NC, 10/11-13/02

Dr. Christina Barr (LCS/NN) visited with collaborators at the University of Michigan to perform gene microarray analysis, Detroit MI, 11/10-20/02

Geoffrey G. Schofield visited Dr. Stephen Ikeda (LMP) to collaborate on recombinant H1 histamine receptor study, Rockville MD, 12/2-13/02

Dr. George Kunos (LPS) met to discuss collaboration on endocannabinoid research with Dr. Jarai Zoltan (St. Emory Municipal Hospital), Budapest, Hungary 12/2,3,5/02 and presented paper Hungary Hypertension Conference 12/4/02

Dr. Joannie C. Shen (LCS) attended a meeting on Collaborative Research Project and site visit at UCLA/Rand, Santa Monica CA, 12/19-22/02

Dr. Ephraim Yavin (LMBB) visited Weizmann Institute to continue collaborative work with LMBB on gene expression of experimental animals supplemented with DHA & extending the work on lead toxicity, Rehovot, Israel, 1/14-31/03

Dr. George Kunos (LPS) met to discuss research topics of mutual interest with Dr. David Woodward and staff (ALLERGEN), Irvine CA, 1/30-31/03

DICBR Poster Presentation at the NIH Research Festival, 15-18 October 2002

Akbar, Mohammed (LMBB): Effect of N-3 fatty acid deficiency on neuronal apoptosis via modification of cell membrane

Begg, Malcolm (LPS): Identification of a voltage-gated K+ current and its modulation by atypical cannabinoid ligands in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Brooks, PJ (LNG): A Single 8,5’ Cyclo-2’deoxyadenosine Lesion in a TATA Box Prevents Binding of the TATA Binding Protein and Strongly Reduces Transcription In Vivo

Brooks, PJ (LNG): Expression of The ATM-Regulated Cell-Cycle Checkpoint Gene Rad9 in The Adult Rodent Brain

Calderon, Frances S (LMBB): Docosahexaenoic But Not Arachidonic or Docosapentanoic Acid Enhances Neuronal Differentiation In Hippocampal Cultures

Clark, Catharine G (LNG): Identification of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Human Choline Acetyltransferase Gene

Davis, Margaret I (LIN): Are Phosphatases Involved in Cannabinoid Receptor Signaling to ERK?

Eldho, Nadukkudy V (LMBB): The difference in polyunsaturated lipid properties from the loss of one single double bond in docosapentaenoic acid from docosahexaenoic acid

Honse, Yumiko (LMCN): Role of the NMDA Receptor NR2A Subunit M4 Domain in Ion Channel Gating and Alcohol Action

Jaruga, Barbara (LPS): Activation of STAT6 is essential for T cell-mediated hepatitis: Involvement of interleukin-4 and Upregulation of JNK

Kim, Won Ho (LPS): Hyperexpression of STAT1 correlates with liver damage in chronic active hepatitis C: essential role of STAT1 in hepatitis

Lee, Yun-Sik (LMBB): Ubiquitin-Dependent Degradation of p53 Tumor Suppressor Protein by Acetaminophen

Lim, Sun-Young (LMBB): Effect of n-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency and Lead Exposure during Neonatal Development on Spatial Learning and Olfactory-based Task Performance

Lin, Yuhong (LMBB): Study of Essential Fatty Acids Metabolism using Deuterium-labeled Linoleic and Linolenic Acids in Rats

Lipsky, Robert H (LNG): Identification of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Human Choline Acetyltransferase Gene

Mitchell, Drake C (LMBB): Ethanol Enhances The Kinetics Of Receptor-G Protein Binding

Niu, Shui-Lin (LMBB): N-3 Deficiency in Rats Reduces G-protein Coupled Signal Transduction in Retinal Rod Outer Segment Membranes

Olumee-Shabon, Zohra (LMBB): Probing Protein Conformational Changes by Chemical Crosslinking and Mass Spectrometry

Osei-Hyiaman, Douglas (LPS): The Role of Endocannabinoids in Food Intake and Body Weight Control

Ren, Hong (LMCN): A Site in the Fourth Membrane-Associated Domain of the NMDA Receptor Regulates Desensitization and Ion Channel Gating.

Umhau, John C (LCS): Positron emission tomography imaging of incorporation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from plasma into rhesus monkey brain

Wen, Zhiming (LMBB): Effects of Fetal Ethanol Exposure on Phosphatidylserine Content and Apoptotic Cell Death in Rat Hippocampal Neurons

Westly, Erica (LNG): Haplotype-based association for alcoholism and opium dependence to the GABA Receptor Cluster on Chromosome 5 in two populations

DICBR Staff Participation at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Orlando FL, 2-7 November 2002

Poster Presentations

Dr. James D. Higley (LCS) - "Neurobiological Predictors of Excessive Alcohol Intake: A Nonhuman Primate Model of Risk Factors…"

Dr. Xiang-Qun Hu (LMCN) - "Modulation of 5-HT3 Receptor Function by Extracellular ZN2+ in NIE-115 Cells"

Dr. Yoshio Kanemitsu (LMBB) - "Inhibition of NMDA Receptor by Dynorphine is Dependent on Extracellular Ph"

Dr. Susumu Koyama (LMCN) - "Voltage-Dependent Ion Channels Underlying Inter-Action Potential Spike Trajectory in the Ventral Tegmental Area Principal and Secondary Neurons"

Dr. Angela Miko (LMCN) - "A Single Amino Acid Mutation at 265 In the TM2 Domain of the Rat GABA(A) Receptor Beta1 Subunit Alters Spontaneous Opening & Sensitivity to Ethanol in the Absence…"

Dr. Hui Sun (LMCN) - "A Salt-Bridge in the N-Terminal Domain of the 5HT3a Receptor Stabilizes the Ion Channel in a Close State"

Keming Xiong (LMCN) - "Mutation of Histidines in the Rat P2x4 Receptor Alters Agonist Potency: Gating Versus Binding"

Dr. Guan-Shan Zhu (LNG) - "Detection of COMT Differential Allele Expression by RT-Coupled 5'nuclease Assay"

Dr. Pingjun Zhu (LMCN) - "Activation of Alpha4/Beta2 Containing Nicotinic Receptors Increases the Frequency of Spontaneous GABAergic Currents In Rat CA1 Neurons"

Posters were also presented by Dr. Margaret I. Davis (LIN), Grace W. Fong (LCS), Dr. Wendol A. Williams, Dr. Joannie C. Shen, Dr. Henry L. Puhl III, Jennifer Ronesi, Dr. David M. Lovinger, Dr. Daniel W. Hommer, and Dr. Stephen R. Ikeda (LMP).

Section on Liver Biology (LPS) Staff Participation at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Boston, MA, 2-5 November 2002

Dr. Bin Gao Chaired a morning workshop

Dr. Feng Hong Chaired a morning workshop

Posters were presented by Dr. Won-Ho Kim and Dr. Svetlana Radaeva.

DICBR Staff Participation at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), San Juan PR, 7-11 December 2002

Posters

Dr. Mary-Anne Enoch (LNG) - "Sex Differences In Relationships Between Anxiety Temperament & Clinical Anxiety Disorders"

Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln (LMBB) - "Omega-3 Fatty Acid Deficiency Increase Risk for Depression in Ante- and Post-Periods" and lecture on "Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Depression and Aggression"

Dr. James D. Higley (LCS/NN) - "Neurobiological Factors..." and visited Cayo Santiago to continue collaboration with Dr. Melissa Gerald

Dr. Timothy K. Newman (LCS/NN) - "Evidence for Association Of a Novel Monoamine Oxidase A (MAO-A) VNTR Promoter Polymorphism with Alcohol Consumption in Male Rhesus Macaque"

Dr. Michelle L. Becker (LCS/NN) - "The Role of Mother and Maturation on Behavioral..." and visited Cayo Santiago to continue collaboration with Dr. Melissa Gerald

Dr. Christina S. Barr (LCS/NN) - "Early Experience and Sex Interact to Influence LHPA-Axis Function Following Both Acute and Chronic Administration in Rhesus Macaques"

Other Meetings/Invited Lectures

Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln (LMBB) was interview on ABC'S Good Morning America relating omega-3 fatty acids in depression & violence, etc, New York NY, 9/16-17/02

Dr. Alan L. Chedester (LAS) attended and presented at the 27th World Veterinary Congress, Tunis, Tunisia, 9/22-28/02

Dr. Gabriella Stocca (LIN) presented an invited lecture "Modulation of Presynaptic Calcium Transients by Metabotropic Receptors: Short and Long Term Effects," and discussed collaboration with Dr. J. Bischofberger, University of Freiburg, Institute of Physiology, Germany 10/3-6/02

Dr. George Kunos (LPS) presented a lecture "Novel Physiologic Functions of Endocannabinoids" and discussed collaboration with Dr. Ervin Erdos, Dept Pharmacology, University of Illinois, Chicago IL, 10/3-4/02

Dr. Richard L. Veech (LMBB) presented a lecture "Metabolic Complexity" at the Biotechnology and Complexity in Agriculture and Medicine Conference, Bozeman MO, 10/6-10/02

Dr. James D. Higley (LCS/NN) presented a lecture "A Nonhuman Primate Model of Risk Factors for Type II-Like Excessive Alcohol Intake," Yale University School of Medicine, West Haven CT, 10/14/02

Dr. Stephen R. Ikeda (LMP) presented a lecture "RGS Proteins And Ion Channel Modulation," at the 3rd Annual Great Lakes GPCR Conference, Ann Arbor, MI, 10/18-20/02

As guest lecturer, Dr. Drake C. Mitchell (LMBB) presented a course on "Biological Membranes," Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami FL, 10/20-21/02

Dr. James D. Higley (LCS/NN) presented lecture " Biochemical Predictors of Nonhuman Primate Behavior: Genetic and Environmental Contributions," Madison WI, 10/24-26/02

Antonia M. Calzone (AMB) attended conferences related to record keeping in the ACUC & animal facility environment and participated in discussion groups on these issues to provide technical expertise, San Antonio TX, 10/26-11/02/02

Dr. George Kunos (LPS) presented a seminar "Novel Physiologic Functions of Endocannabinoids" Willial Paterson University, Wayne NJ, 11/15/02

Dr. Hee-Yong Kim (LMBB) presented a seminar "Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids In Neuronal Signaling" and attend graduate student’s prospectus for PhD thesis, Department of Chemistry, University of Memphis, TN, 11/15/02

Dr. Douglas Osei-Hyiaman (LPS) presented a poster at the Endocrine Society Hot Topics Symposia on the Molecular Basis of Metabolic Regulation, New Orleans LA, 11/16-19/02

Dr. Myung-Ae Bae (LMBB) presented a poster "Critical Role Of C-Jun N-Terminal Protein Kinase Activation In Troglitazone-Induced Apoptosis of Human HEPG2 Cells" at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), San Francisco CA, 12/14-18/02

Dr. George Kunos (LPS) present a lecture "Novel Physiologic Functions of Endocannabinoids," University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 12/15-17/02

Dr. Philip J. Brooks (LNG) presented a poster and lecture "Detection of 3' End of RNA Transcepts Stalled at DNA Lesians in Mammalian Cells" at the Gordon Conference on Mammalian DNA Repair, Los Angeles CA, 1/19-24/03

Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln (LMBB) presented a lecture "Omega 3 Fatty Acid Deficiencies & Increased Risk of Alcoholism, Depression & Homicide" to the Committee of House of Lords and met with collaborators on ALSPAC Project, University of Bristol, UK, 01/19-28/03

Dr. Burton J. Litman (LMBB) served as a discussant in symposium "Thermodynamics And Dynamics in Biological System" at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA, 1/23-24/03

Dr. Norman Salem (LMBB) presented a lecture in symposium "The Influence of Glucose & Lipids on Brain Functions" at the 36th Winter Conference on Brain Research, Snowbird UT, 1/26-29/03

Dr. David M. Lovinger (LIN) will present a seminar "Striatal Synaptic Plasticity: Where Dope Meets Dopamine" at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, 2/13/03

Articles

Brooks PJ: DNA repair in neural cells: basic science and clinical implications. Mutat Res-Fund Mol M 2002;509(1-2):93-108

Castonguay TW, Beaulieu S, Eskay RL, Barden N, Kamara K, Khozin S, Lustberg L, Brown L: The effects of adrenalectomy and aldosterone replacement in transgenic mice expressing antisense RNA to the type 2 glucocorticoid receptor. Physiol Behav 2002;77(2-3):417-23

Catalan J, Moriguchi T, Slotnick B, Murthy M, Greiner RS, Salem N: Cognitive deficits in docosahexaenoic acid-deficient rats. Behav Neurosci 2002;116 (6): 1022-31

Champoux M, Bennett A, Shannon C, Higley JD, Lesch KP, Suomi SJ: Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism, differential early rearing, and behavior in rhesus monkey neonates. Mol Psychiatry 2002;7(10):1058-63

Cole M, Shen J, Hommer D: Convulsive syncope associated with acupuncture. Am J Med Sci 2002;324(5):288-9

DeMille MMC, Kidd JR, Ruggeri V, Palmatier MA, Goldman D, Odunsi A, Okonofua F, Grigorenko E, Schulz LO, Bonne-Tamir B, Lu RB, Parnas J, Pakstis AJ, Kidd KK: Population variation in linkage disequilibrium across the COMT gene considering promoter region and coding region variation. Hum Genet 2002;111 (6):521-37

Ehringer MA, Thompson J, Conroy O, Goldman D, Smith TL, Schuckit MA, Sikela JM: Human alcoholism studies of genes identified through mouse quantitative trait locus analysis. Addict Biol 2002;7(4):365-71

Enoch MA, White KV, Harris CR, Rohrbaugh JW, Goldman D: The relationship between two intermediate phenotypes for alcoholism: Low voltage alpha EEG and low P300 ERP amplitude. J Stud Alcohol 2002;63(5):509-17

Goldman D, Barr CS: Restoring the addicted brain. New Engl J Med 2002;347(11):843-45

Heinz A, Jones DW, Bissette G, Hommer D, Ragan P, Knable M, Wellek S, Linnoila M, Weinberger DR: Relationship between cortisol and serotonin metabolites and transporters in alcoholism. Pharmacopsychiatry 2002;35(4):127-34

Hong F, Jaruga B, Kim WH, Radaeva S, El-Assal ON, Tian ZG, Nguyen VA, Gao B: Opposing roles of STAT1 and STAT3 in T cell-mediated hepatitis: regulation by SOCS. J Clin Invest 2002;110(10):1503-13

Jeffrey BG, Mitchell DC, Hibbeln JR, Gibson RA, Chedester AL, Salem N: Visual acuity and retinal function in infant monkeys fed long-chain PUFA. Lipids 2002;37(9):839-48

Kammermeier PJ, Davis MI, Ikeda SR: Specificity of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 coupling to G proteins. Mol Pharmacol 2003;63(1):183-91

Kammermeier PJ, Ikeda SR: Metabotropic glutamate receptor expression in the rat superior cervical ganglion. Neurosci Lett 2002;330(3):260-4

Koenig BW, Kontaxis G, Mitchell DC, Louis JM, Litman BJ, Bax A: Structure and orientation of a G protein fragment in the receptor bound state from residual dipolar couplings. J Mol Biol 2002;322(2):441-61

Li XW, DePetrillo PB: Corticosterone increases serotonin type-3 receptor mRNA in rat pheochromocytoma-12 cells. Neurosci Lett 2002;331(2):143-5

Lin Y, Salem N: A technique for the in vivo study of multiple stable isotope-labeled essential fatty acids. Prostag Leukotr Ess 2002;67(2-3):141-6

Marietta C, Gulam H, Brooks PJ: A single 8,5 '-cyclo-2 '-deoxyadenosine lesion in a TATA box prevents binding of the TATA binding protein and strongly reduces transcription in vivo. DNA Repair 2002;1(11):967-75

Oz M, Zhang L, Morales M: Endogenous cannabinoid, anandamide, acts as a noncompetitive inhibitor on 5-HT3 receptor-mediated responses in Xenopus oocytes. Synapse 2002;46(3):150-6

Oz M, Zhang L, Spivak CE: Direct noncompetitive inhibition of 5-HT3 receptor-mediated responses by forskolin and steroids. Arch Biochem Biophys 2002;404(2):293-301

Rudolph JG, White S, Sokolsky C, Bozak D, Mazzanti C, Lipsky RH, Goldman D: Determination of melting temperature for variant detection using dHPLC: A comparison between an empirical approach and DNA melting prediction software. Genet Test 2002;6(3):169-76

Strome EM, Wheler GHT, Higley JD, Loriaux DL, Suomi SJ, Doudet DJ: Intracerebroventricular corticotropin-releasing factor increases limbic glucose metabolism and has social context-dependent behavioral effects in nonhuman primates. P Natl Acad Sci USA 2002;99(24):15749-54

Tian ZG, Sun R, Wei HM, Gao B: Impaired natural killer (NK) cell activity in leptin receptor deficient mice: leptin as a critical regulator in NK cell development and activation. Biochem Bioph Res Co 2002;298(3):297-302

Umhau JC, Petrulis SG, Diaz R, Riggs PA, Biddison JR, George DT: Long-term abstinent alcoholics have a blunted blood glucose response to 2-deoxy-D-glucose. Alcohol Alcoholism 2002;37(6):586-90

Wan WS, DePetrillo PB: Ritonavir protects hippocampal neurons against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Neurotoxicology 2002;23(3):301-6

Weisinger HS, Armitage JA, Jeffrey BG, Mitchell DC, Moriguchi T, Sinclair AJ, Weisinger RS, Salem N: Retinal sensitivity loss in third-generation n-3 PUFA-deficient rats. Lipids 2002;37(8):759-65

Westergaard GC, Suomi SJ, Higley JD: Handedness is associated with immune functioning and behavioural reactivity in rhesus macaques. Laterality 2002;7(4):359-69

Williams RW, Dubnau J, Enoch MA, Flaherty L, Sluyter F, Gannon KS, Maxson SC, Riedl CAL, Williams KD, Holmes A, Bolivar VJ, Crusio WE: Hot topics in behavioral and neural genetics. Genes Brain Behav 2002;1(2):117-30

Xu K, Lipsky RH, Mangal W, Ferro E, Goldman D: Single-nucleotide polymorphism allele frequencies determined by quantitative kinetic assay of pooled DNA. Clin Chem 2002;48(9):1605-8

Zhang L, Hosoi M, Fukuzawa M, Sun H, Rawlings RR, Weight FF: Distinct molecular basis for differential sensitivity of the serotonin type 3A receptor to ethanol in the absence and presence of agonist. J Biol Chem 2002;277(48):46256-64

Zhu D, Lipsky RH, Marini AM: Co-activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway by N-methyl-D-aspartate and TrkB receptors in cerebellar granule cell neurons. Amino Acids 2002;23(1-3):11-7

Abstracts

Crawford F, Freeman M, Singh S, Abdullah L, Mullan M, Vanderploeg R, Waisman M, Michaels L, Warden D, Salazar A, Lipsky R: APOE genotype influences acquisition and recall following traumatic brain injury. Neurobiol Aging 2002;23(1):1638 (Suppl. 1)

Igbavboa U, Hamilton J, Kim HY, Sun G, Wood WG: Expression of low density lipoprotein receptor regulates phospholipid molecular species in brain synaptic plasma membranes. Neurobiol Aging 2002;23(1):1485 (Suppl. 1)

Knutson B, Fong GW, Bennett SM, Adams CM, Hommer D: FMRI characterization of a region of medial prefrontal cortex that tracks rewarding outcomes. Psychophysiology 2002;39:S4 (Suppl. 1)

UPCOMING MEETINGS

"Advances in Alcoholism Treatment and Health Services Research,"a symposium to held on May 3, 2003, during the American Society of Addiction Medicine's 34th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contact:: Dr. Robert Huebner, 301-443-4344,

"High-Throughput Proteomics for Alcohol Research," This symposium will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, and will be held on June 21 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The goal of this workshop is to identify new proteomic directions in alcohol research and promote the application of high-throughput approaches in proteomics to understand alcohol-related diseases. Areas for discussion will include 1) protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions as well as the subcellular localization of proteins; 2) identification of biomarkers for alcohol susceptibility, consumption, and relapse as well as for alcohol induced pathologies; and 3) high-throughput drug screens to test the efficacy of therapeutics that control alcohol consumption & relapse as well as its mechanism of action. Dr. Lisa A. Neuhold, Division of Basic Research, NIAAA, is chairing the planning committee for the symposium, which includes DBR staff Q. Max Guo, Marvin Salin, Roger G. Sorensen, Antonio Noronha, and Jose Velazquez.

Contact:: Dr. Lisa Neuhold, 301-443-4344, ,

STAFF NOTES

Transitions

Division of Clinical and Prevention Research

On January 3 2003, Dr. Richard K. Fuller retired from NIAAA where he served as Director of the Division of Clinical and Prevention Research. Dr. Fuller graduated from Manmouth College (magna cum laude) and Case Western Reserve University Medical School. Dr. Fuller did his internship and residency at University Hospitals in Cleveland, and received his masters in biometry from Case Western University. Dr. Fuller eventually became an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at Case Western while simultaneously performing variety of leadership roles at the Cleveland VA. While at the Cleveland VA, Dr. Fuller led the now famous clinical trial of disulfiram (Antabuse). Dr. Fuller joined NIAAA in 1989. During his tenure at NIAAA, he was responsible for significant growth in the Institute’s clinical and prevention research portfolio and most notably, two landmark multi-site clinical trials—Project Match and COMBINE. Dr. Fuller’s career in the alcohol field was very productive. He has well over 40 publications, 30 book chapters, and countless presentations at professional conferences.

Dr. Robert Huebner, Deputy Director of DCPR, has been selected to serve as Acting Director of the Division of Clinical and Prevention Research, NIAAA. Dr. Huebner joined the Division of Clinical and Prevention Research, NIAAA, in 1988 as a Public Health Analyst where he oversaw the national evaluation of the Institute's initial research demonstration program for the homeless. In 1992, he was appointed Chief of the former Homeless Demonstration and Evaluation Branch and directed the second generation of the Institute's research demonstration projects for the homeless. Starting in 1995, Dr. Huebner served as Chief of the Division's Health Services Research Branch. There he played a leadership role in establishing Institutes health services research portfolio and oversaw the National Advisory Council's national plan for health services research.

New Staff

Office of Collaborative Research

Judith A. Arroyo, Ph.D., joined OCR in the Research Development and Health Disparities Branch in December 2002. Judy is a bilingual–bicultural Mexican-American, who received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA with emphases on minority mental health and health psychology. She comes to OCR from the University of New Mexico (UNM) where she was an assistant professor and a Senior Research Scientist at the UNM Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions. Her early research on Hispanic ethnic identification and acculturation contributed to her published work on the efficacy of alcoholism treatment for Hispanics. Most recently, Dr. Arroyo was a co-Investigator and the Project Coordinator for the Albuquerque site of COMBINE.

Dr. Arroyo is an active member in the American Psychological Association, the Research Society on Alcoholism, and the National Hispanic Psychology Association. She received the APA, Minority Fellowship Program Distinguished Teaching Award for her achievements in recruitment, retention and mentoring of ethnic minority as well as non-minority undergraduate and graduate students interested in research careers. She was the Charter Chairperson of the international U.S./Mexican Border Governor’s Policy and Research Advisory Committee on Substance Use and Abuse. She is deeply committed to minority research and investigators and will help provide additional direction for the NIAAA Health Disparities Initiatives.

Jason Lazarow, M.Ed., joined OCR to manage the Institutes Science Education Program and related activities. Dr. Lazarow received a master’s degree in Secondary Education with a concentration in Biology from Temple University. His undergraduate degree was in Life Sciences from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Lazarow has more than four years experience as a middle school and high school science teacher in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Dr. Michael Hilton joined the OCR Collaborative and Special Health Programs Branch of OCR as a Health Scientist Administrator and Program Officer. Formerly, Dr. Hilton was a Program Officer in the Division of Clinical and Prevention Research. Dr. Hilton is responsible for epidemiology, dissemination and training initiatives in the HIV/AIDS program and will focus initially on under resourced settings, cost of care and special populations.

Office of Scientific Affairs

Dr. Jeffrey Toward has joined the Extramural Project Review Branch, Office of Scientific Affairs, as a Health Scientist Administrator.  He will be performing duties as a Scientific Review Administrator and will work with the Scientific Communications Branch on a variety of writing tasks related to education and outreach.

Dr. Toward earned his Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Ottawa in 1996, and has been active in both research and research administration.  While at the University of Texas, School of Nursing, Center on Aging, he oversaw the evaluation of exercise programs for the elderly, chaired the organizing committee for the annual gerontology conference, managed several research grants and contracts, oversaw library operations and taught courses in mental health and aging.  As a research consultant for the SPRY Foundation, he authored the external evaluation report for the CaregiverPA Website.  Most recently, he was a Research Associate at Westat, where he conducted evaluations of health communication programs, national media campaigns, and federal Websites.  He has expertise in designing questionnaires and conducting qualitative and quantitative research, focus groups, surveys, and cognitive interviewing.

Gregory Roa recently joined the staff of the NIAAA Office of Scientific Affairs. He will serve as a liaison with the Scientific Communications Branch and will assume a variety of writing and editing projects. Greg has more than 10 years experience at NIH, having previously served in the communications office at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and in the Office of the Director.

Division of Basic Research

Dr. Sally Anderson joined DBR as Deputy Director. Dr. Anderson received her Ph.D. from the Genetics Section of the Population Biology Department at the University of Colorado. During graduate school she studied genetic variation in ethanol drinking, ethanol sensitivity, and ethanol metabolism among inbred mouse strains, selectively bred lines, and in genetically heterogeneous populations of mice in the Pharmacogenetics Laboratory at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics.

After graduate school, Dr. Anderson moved to the intramural research program at the NIMH and began investigations of genetic variation in behavior and catecholamine metabolism in inbred mouse and rat strains. Several years later, Dr. Anderson moved to the Neurotoxicology Section of the NINCDS where she studied behavioral toxicology and in vitro neurochemical effects of red food dye #3 on young and adult inbred and genetically heterogeneous rats. In the mid eighties, Dr. Anderson moved to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) to assist in the development of an interdisciplinary research project on the effects of chronic stress. For a decade at the WRAIR, Dr. Anderson directed numerous research projects characterizing neuroendocrine, behavioral, molecular genetics and neurochemical effects of continuous stress in rats. Dr. Anderson’s has most recently managed a large interdisciplinary research project on the effects of repeated exposure to subclinical doses of anticholinesterase agents on brain energy systems involving biochemical and behavioral studies. In addition to her research duties, Dr. Anderson was an advisor for the Medical Research Fellowship Program and served on the Animal Care and Use Committee at the WRAIR. During the nineties Dr. Anderson served as a regular member of the NIAAA Neuroscience and Behavior IRG and as an ad hoc member on numerous review committees for NIDA, NIMH, and the VA.

Dr. Jose Velazquez joined DBR as the Chief of the Genetics and Proteomics Research Branch. He received his Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from The University of Chicago under the supervision of Dr. Susan Lindquist. Later he moved to Harvard University where he conducted research in the Department of Developmental Biology under the supervision of Dr. Peter Cherbas.

After post-doctoral work, Jose moved to the University of Puerto Rico where he served for 12 years in different capacities. He was the chairman of the Biology Department, was the Director for Biomedical Research and the Director for the Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Program. In 1990 he joined the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH as a Program Director for the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program, and later as Program Director for Transcriptional Regulation in the Division of Genetics. Since 1995 Jose served as Program Director for Genetics and Molecular Biology in the Division of Extramural Research and Training at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina. During his tenure at NIEHS he developed and implemented the Environmental Genome Program, the Comparative Mouse Genomics Centers Consortium, and fostered the development of new technologies in the areas of genomics and proteomics. He held that position until joining the Division of Basic Research at NIAAA.

Dr. Lindsey Grandison joined the Neuroscience and Behavior Branch. He earned his Bachelors degree from Johns Hopkins University and then a Masters and Ph.DPh.D. from Michigan State University under the direction of Joseph Meites, one of the founders of Neuroendocrinology. He then moved to NIMH for a postdoctoral experience with Ermino Costa in the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology. He continued research as a faculty member in the Physiology Department of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, NJ for the past 24 years. During his career he was a visiting scientist at Rockefeller University in the Laboratory of Neuroscience and Behavior headed by Donald Pfaff and at the Karolinska Institute in the Neurobiology Group of Sandra Ceccatelli.

He has applied biochemical approaches to examine hypothalamic regulation of anterior pituitary hormone secretion publishing more than 40 peer reviewed publications and reviews. More recently he joined with Dipak Sarkar in examining the effects of alcohol on beta endorphin containing neurons of the hypothalamus before joining the Neuroscience and Behavior Branch of the Division of Basic Research, NIAAA.

Dr. Peter Silverman received his B.S. in Psychology from Iowa State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston. He comes here from the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Texas Medical School in Houston where he was a tenured Associate Professor. His research has been in preclinical and clinical behavioral pharmacology studying drugs of abuse. He has been Project Investigator on grants from NIAAA and NIDA. Dr. Silverman was also adjunct faculty in Neuropsychology at the University of Houston. He has a degree in law from that institution and is a member of the State Bar of Texas.

Division of Biometry and Epidemiology

Dr. Rosalind Breslow has joined DBE’s Epidemiology Branch as a Health Scientist Administrator, responsible for studies on alcohol and aging. Dr. Breslow received her Ph.D. (1990) in nutrition from the University of Maryland and completed a fellowship in Cancer Prevention and Control at the National Cancer Institute (1998). Before joining NIAAA she was an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta where she also served as an Acting Associate Director for Science in the Cancer Prevention and Control Division and the Nutrition and Physical Activity Division. Her research has focused on associations between nutrition, alcohol use, physical activity, and obesity, and outcomes including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. While at CDC Dr. Breslow was also the coordinating scientist for the cancer screening section of the Guide to Community Preventive Services, a series of evidence-based systematic reviews of the effectiveness of public health interventions.

Division of Clinical and Prevention Research

John F. Hough, Dr.P.H. joined the Division’s Health Services Research Branch as a Health Scientist Administrator following six years of service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Between 1996 and 1998, Dr. Hough served as Steven M. Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Office on Disability and Health in CDC’s National Center on Environmental Health, where he conducted a cost-utility analysis comparing the effectiveness of selected asthma medications used by adults. Between 1998 and 2002, Dr. Hough served as a Health Scientist within the Disability and Health Branch within the Division of Human Development and Disability in CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, in which his duties included intramural research on estimating and projecting the utilization and expenditures associated with disabilities in the American population, contributing to the development and testing of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and serving as a project officer among extramural grantees conducting disability-related research in state health departments, universities, and schools of medicine and public health.

Dr. Hough earned the Dr.P.H. degree in Epidemiology and Health Services and Policy Analysis from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. In 1984 John earned the M.P.H. degree in Behavioral Sciences, also from U.C. Berkeley. In 2002,he earned the Master of Business Administration degree in the Executive MBA Program at the Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University of Atlanta. Dr. Hough also has been a Certified Health Education Specialist since 1999.

Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research Term Appointments:

Pal Pacher, MD/PhD, was appointed as a Research Fellow, Visiting Program (11/12/02–11/11/04) in the Section on Neuroendocrinology, Laboratory of Physiologic Studies (LPS). Dr. Pacher received his MD (1993) Summa Cum Laude from the Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, and his PhD (2001) Summa Cum Laude, in Pharmacology, from the Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. Between 1997-2000, Dr. Pacher received numerous scientific awards such as the Juvenile Diabetes Association Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, the Hungarian Pharmacological Society Young Researcher Award, the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy Young Investigator Award, the TEVA-Biogal Pharmaceutical Company Scientific Research Award for the best CNS drug-developmental proposal, to name a few.

Dr. Pacher was appointed as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Semmelweis University of Medicine, in August 1995. Between 1996-1999, he served as a graduate assistant in the First National Institute of Cardiology & Department of Pharmacology, Semmelweis University of Medicine. In 1999 he accepted a Visiting Researcher appointment in the Department of Pathology & Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson Medical University, Philadelphia, and from March 2001 until joining the LPS, he served as Senior Staff Pharmacologist, Inotek Corporation, Beverly, MA. During his appointment with LPS, Dr. Pacher will investigate the mechanisms of ischemic preconditioning of the heart (since it is well documented that moderate ethanol consumption has the ability to induce this condition) with a focus on the possible role of endocannabinoids in this phenomenon. The possibility that endocannabinoids may be mediators of ischemic preconditioning is suggested by their documented neuroprotective properties in the brain and their presence at very high levels in the ischemic myocardium. Thus, he will investigate the role of endocannabinoids employing animal models that lack cannabinoids receptors or the enzyme that degrades endocannabinoids.

John G. Partridge, PhD, was appointed as a Research Fellow (10/06/02-10/05/04) in the Section on Transmitter Signaling, Laboratory of Molecular Physiology (LMP). Dr. Partridge received his PhD (2000), in Pharmacology, from Vanderbilt University. Between 1993-94 he served as a chemist with the Andrew Jergens Company followed by his doctoral matriculation at Vanderbilt University and where he served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2000. Prior to joining the LMP, John held a Postdoctoral Research Associate appointment at MIT (2001-02) where his research focus was primate CNS electrophysiology. During this appointment, Dr. Partridge’s research focus will be on the molecular signaling pathways linking G-protein coupled receptors to ion channel modulation and examining how ethanol might influence receptor coupling. He will continue to develop molecular biological and electrophysiological techniques, incorporating newer optical methods for studying signal transduction, which can be implemented within the LMP.

Alla Polozova, PhD, was appointed as a Research Fellow, Visiting Program (12/15/02-12/14/04) in the Section of Nutritional Neurosciences, Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry & Biophysics (LMBB). Dr. Polozova received her PhD (1993) in Biophysics and her MS (1990) in Applied Physics & Mathematics from the Department of Physical-Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology. Dr. Polozova served as a postdoctoral fellow (1995-98) in the Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, where her research focused a systematic study of liposome interactions with hydrophobically-modified polymers and resulted in the development of new generations of stimuli-responsive liposomes for targeted drug deliver and also the design formulations and preparation techniques, including scaling up procedures, for liposomes stable under extremely harsh conditions for industrial application. Between 1998-2001 she was appointed as a Visiting Fellow in the Section of Fluorescence Studies (LMBB) where her research focused on investigating structural organization of biological membranes, elucidating the role of lipid types in lateral organization of photoreceptor membrane signal transduction systems. In 2001-02, Dr. Polozova served as a Scientist, in the Drug Delivery Division, Elan Corporation where her focus was on design and development of advanced formulations and drug delivery systems for small and large pharmaceutical compounds. During this appointment, Dr. Polozova will investigate the mechanisms by which DHA is transported into the nervous system. Specificity of various plasma protein carriers will be examined and, if found, knock-out mice will be tested for the particular lipoprotein.

Vijay A. Ramchandani, PhD, was appointed as a Staff Scientist (02/29/02-12/28/07) in the Section of Brain Electrophysiology & Imaging, Laboratory of Clinical Studies. Dr. Ramchandani received his PhD (1996), in Pharmacology, from Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutics, Medical College of Virginia, where his graduate research involved the development of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling of alcohol administration in humans. Dr. Ramchandani has held appointments at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) since 1996, first as a Visiting Research Associate (1996-97), then Research Associate (97-01), then Assistant Scientist & Assistant Professor, in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism. In 2002, he became a member of the Faculty of the Graduate Program in Medical Neurobiology, and later that year an Associate member of the Faculty of Indiana University Graduate School. While at IUSM, a major focus of Dr. Ramchandani’s research was in the development of an "alcohol clamping" technique that allows precise control of the blood concentrations of IV administered ethanol to humans. This technique has enabled him to examine the effects of such factors as gender, ethnicity, ADH geneotypes, liver volume, age, family history and recent food intake on elimination rates and sensitivity to alcohol. During the course of his present appointment, Dr. Ramchandani’s work will focus on the continued development of the "alcohol clamp" technique with a particular emphasis on its extension for use in neuroimaging research.