Alcohol Research & Health An issue  on "Women and Alcohol: An Update" has been printed. The new issue covers alcohol’s physiological effects on the reproductive, neurologic, and immune systems; cultural and genetic factors that may contribute to drinking problems in women; and alcohol’s influence on women at different stages of life.

Alcohol: A Women’s Health Issue A new booklet, "Alcohol: A Women’s Health Issue," has been printed and is now available with its companion video of the same title. The 20-page booklet has information on the health effects of alcohol on women and discusses both moderate and heavy drinking. An article based on the booklet is the featured health article for September on the National Women’s Health Information Center’s website www.4woman.gov. The website is a project of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Women’s Health.

The companion video to date has won seven national and international awards, among them a CINE Golden Eagle, a Gold Screen Award from the National Association of Government Communicators, and a finalist award from the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany.

Assessing Alcohol Problems: A Guide for Clinicians and Researchers Copies are expected in October of this 700-page book, which offers discussion of the state of research and practice in a variety of alcoholism assessment areas, among them screening, diagnosis, and alcohol behavior assessment. Fact sheets on diagnostic instruments referred to in the text, or when possible, the actual instruments, are included.

Epidemiologic Reports NIAAA’s Division of Biometry and Epidemiology has published two reference reports, State Trends in Drinking Behaviors, 1984-2001, U.S. Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Reference Manual, Volume 7, 1st edition, and Surveillance Report #62: Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977-2000.

A Family History of Alcoholism: Are You at Risk? and Harmful Interactions: Mixing Alcohol with Medications Both of these public education pamphlets have been adapted for Hispanic audiences and are being pretested in focus groups.

Frontlines NIAAA’s Division of Clinical and Prevention Research (DCPR), Health Services Research Branch, published the June 2003 edition of Frontlines, its semi-annual newsletter produced in collaboration with Academy Health. This issue focuses on the demand for alcohol treatment, examining the nature of that demand, barriers to initiating and adhering to treatment, characteristics of people who seek out and engage in treatment, and the sizable but relatively unstudied "informal" treatment system.

NIAAA Newsletter The inaugural issue debuted at RSA’s annual meeting in June. This first issue featured articles on the NIH Roadmap activities, fifth annual Alcohol Screening Day, and collaboration between the surgeon general and the Governors’ Spouses and highlighted personnel news, a calendar of events, and new NIAAA publications. The newsletter is available in print and on NIAAA’s website. The second issue will be available in October.

PSA on Underage Drinking The new television public service announcement (PSA), The Party’s Over, was submitted for inclusion in the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Media Match Program. Additionally, the PSA package, including the 30- and 60-second segments, a letter from Dr. Li, and a fact sheet on underage drinking, was sent to 900 media outlets across the country. In a 3-week period, the PSAs were aired 1,022 times on 100 different stations across the country. Scripts for radio PSAs have been developed for both teens and parents; in October, the scripts will be pretested in focus groups.

Updates on Key Programs

Surgeon General’s Report on Underage Drinking As reported during the last council meeting, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard H. Carmona agreed to undertake a report on childhood drinking; NIAAA and representatives of the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free have continued to meet with Dr. Carmona and his staff.

Recently, Dr. Carmona requested that NIAAA, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and members of the HHS Secretary’s office convene to discuss the most efficient and effective strategy for the Surgeon General to orchestrate reports from his office on children’s health issues. A workshop will be held with federal agencies and other stakeholders to outline a theme for the overall effort and determine how best to cover individual health issues such as childhood drinking. Several participants were quite specific in their desire to see a series of Calls to Action, consisting of relatively short, focused reports, released independently rather than a larger, more comprehensive report on children’s health.

Dr. Carmona’s commitment to children’s health is strong. He recognizes the strong evidence-based research supported by NIAAA and the role of the Leadership in helping to ensure sustained attention and action in preventing childhood drinking.

COMBINE Recruitment for this 11-site cooperative agreement is within 30 patients of the expected full cohort of 1,375, with the remaining patients to be entered by the end of September. Patient follow-up will be completed over the next year, with outcome analyses beginning in 2004. The steering committee met in Baltimore in June 2003 and discussed closeout procedures and plans for analysis and publication. Three major publications have appeared in the past 2 months. Two report on pilot studies, and one summarizes the rationale and methods of the study. Within the next several months, two manuals on the behavioral interventions used in the trial (Medication Management and Combined Behavioral Therapy) will be published. A methodology monograph is also being planned for next year. Funding for a 2-year competitive continuation will begin in September 2003. The project officer for COMBINE is Dr. Raye Litten, and the staff collaborator is Dr. Margaret E. Mattson, both of DCPR’s Treatment Research Branch.

Advances/Significant Papers

Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research

Endocannabinoids and Appetite Endogenous cannabinoids—endocannabinoids—have been shown to affect a wide range of physiologic systems, among them those involved in appetite and feeding, blood pressure, memory, mood, and stress. Recently, intramural researchers led by Dr. George Kunos showed that endocannabinoids may play a role in aging-related declines in appetite for both food and alcohol. In this study, an antagonist for the endocannabinoid receptor CB1 reduced high ethanol preference in young mice (in a strain known for high ethanol preference) to a level seen in older mice and mice in which CB1 receptors were inactivated (CB1 knockouts). The CB1 antagonist also reduced food intake in young, but not old, food-restricted wild-type mice. Data from the study also suggest that these changes are due to changes in the coupling of CB1 receptors to intracellular signaling molecules (G proteins), but not to changes in the level of either the receptor or G proteins. The advance was featured in an editorial in TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences (24:266-268, 2003). (Wang, L. et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 100:1393-1398, 2003)

Pretreatment for Fatty Liver Transplants A multi-center team of scientists led by NIAAA’s Dr. Bin Gao found that adding the cytokine or cell-signaling molecule interleukin-6 (IL-6) to the solution in which a donor liver is stored before transplantation significantly increases post-transplant survival of rats receiving organs with fatty degeneration. Fatty degeneration is a common condition in humans and typically reduces transplant viability. The results suggest a means of making it possible to use a higher percentage of available donor livers for transplantation. NIAAA issued a news release on this advance on June 30. (Sun, Z., et al, Gastroenterology 125:202-215, 2003)

Serotonin Transporter Gene and College Students NIAAA clinical investigators Dr. Paolo B. DePetrillo, and Aryeh I. Herman, along with researchers from George Washington University in Washington, DC, found that college students who shared a particular variant of the serotonin transporter gene (5HTT) consumed more alcohol per occasion, more often drank expressly to become inebriated, and were more likely to engage in binge drinking than students without the variant. The researchers interviewed college students about their alcohol consumption and then analyzed each student’s genotype with a focus on the 5-HTT gene, which is involved in recycling the chemical serotonin after it is secreted into the synapse of a cell. The team found that the students who carried two copies of one version of 5-HTT were more likely to report troublesome drinking patterns. NIAAA issued a news release on this advance on August 18. (Herman, A., et al, Alcohol and Alcoholism 5:446-449, 2003)

Division of Biometry and Epidemiology

Alcohol and Diabetes in Women Grantees led by Dr. Eric Rimm at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston investigated the relationship of alcohol consumption and the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus prospectively in 109,690 25- to 42-year-old women who had no history of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes mellitus on entering the study. During 10 years of follow-up, 935 cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus were documented in the study population. Compared to abstainers, those consuming low to moderate amounts of alcohol (0.1 to 29.9 grams/day, where one drink has between 11 and 14 grams of alcohol) had decreased risk for type 2 diabetes, but those consuming greater amounts (30.0 grams/day) had increased risk. (Wannamethee, S.G., et al, Archives of Internal Medicine 163:1329-1336, 2003.

Childhood Behavior and Future Substance Use Scientists led by Dr. Ralph Tarter at the University of Pittsburgh used an index of neurobehavioral disinhibition based on measures of affect, behavior, and cognition, to predict substance use frequency after 4 to 6 years and substance use disorder after 7 to 9 years. The index significantly distinguished boys at high average risk from those at low average risk at ages 10 to 12. The authors concluded that neurobehavioral disinhibition is a component of the liability to onset at an early age of substance use disorder. (Tarter, R.E., et al, American Journal of Psychiatry 160:1078-1085, 2003)

Alcohol Consumption and Glycemic Control in Women Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, found that, after adjusting for age, smoking, physical activity, television watching, body mass index (BMI), and several dietary factors, average alcohol intake was found to be inversely associated with a biochemical measure of glycemic control (HbA1c) in a population of healthy normal weight and overweight female nurses. The team, led by Dr. Eric Rimm, also found an inverse association between alcohol intake and insulin, but only for women with a BMI of 25 or more. HbA1c is generally used to measure long-term glycemic control in individuals with diabetes. The authors concluded that alcohol consumption of 1 to 2 drinks per day on a few to several days of the week may have a beneficial glycemic effect, particularly among overweight women.

Alcohol Screening Day Results Scientists at Harvard Medical School, Screening for Mental Health, Wellesley, Massachusetts, and KAI, Rockville, Maryland, looked at the results of the first National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) in 1999 to assess the numbers and characteristics of those who participated in the screening and the extent to which individuals followed up on recommendations regarding their drinking. The authors, led by Drs. Shelly Greenfield and Douglas Jacobs, reported that 1,218 community and 499 college sites participated in NASD. Among those sites that reported results, 32,876 people participated and almost 6,000 had a score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) that indicated harmful or hazardous drinking. Among those participating in a follow-up survey, 50 percent of the community participants and 20 percent of the college participants complied with a recommendation for a follow-up visit.

Division of Basic Research

Proteomic Approaches to Study Alcohol-Related Phenotypes in Animal Models This paper is the first comprehensive study to use proteomics technology to understand differences in protein expression underlying neurological phenotypes associated with alcohol. The scientific team identified protein expression differences in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus of alcohol-preferring and non-preferring rats, and identified many of these proteins using mass spectrometry. Some of the proteins thus identified are known to be involved in synaptic function and cellular signaling pathways. The study results indicate that selective breeding for disparate alcohol drinking behaviors produce innate alterations in the expression of several proteins that could influence neuronal function in these brain regions. Drs. David Crabbe, Lawrence Lumeng, and Ting-Kai Li at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis participated in this research. (Witzmann, F.A., et al, Proteomics 3:1335-1344, 2003)

Pharmacogenomic Analysis of an Alcohol-Regulated Gene The regulation of gene expression appears to play an important role in the regulation of alcohol’s action and alcohol-related diseases. In this study, Dr. Michael Miles and colleagues at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, performed a detailed analysis of the mechanisms underlying ethanol regulation of the enzyme dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH). DBH catalyzes norepinephrine synthesis and previous studies have suggested a role for norepinephrine in ethanol-mediated behaviors. In the current study, they identified ethanol-responsive sequences in the promoter region of the DBH gene (the promoter is a stretch of DNA where transcription of a gene is initiated). Pharmacogenomic studies suggest that ethanol regulation of DBH requires several elements which co-regulate responsiveness to ethanol. These studies improve our understanding of ethanol action at a cellular level and may have implications for behavioral responses to ethanol. (Paper in press published online ahead of print: Hassan, S., et al, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 10.1074/jbc.M305040200)

Abstinence and Responsiveness to Stress Among alcoholics, one of the most critical attributes of chronic abstinence from alcohol is a state of anxiety, which can lead to mood disturbances and negative affect lasting for months or even years. In this study using rats, scientists led by Dr. George Koob at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, found that injecting an antagonist to corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF)—a peptide that is critical to the body’s response to stress—into the brain attenuated the response to stress in rats who had been dependent on ethanol and then subjected to a stressor. The results indicate that continuous exposure to ethanol over a 3-week period leads to an increased behavioral responsiveness to stress, which seems to be regulated by CRF. (Valdez, G.R., et al, Alcohol 29:55-60, 2003)

Alcohol and Hepatitis C Virus In this study, scientists found that alcohol increases replication of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in human cells and, by so doing, may contribute to the rapid course of HCV infection. They also found that alcohol inhibits the anti-HCV effect of interferon-alpha therapy and that treatment with the opioid antagonist naltrexone abolishes alcohol actions. They suggest that activation of the endogenous opioid system is implicated in alcohol-induced HCV expression. NIAAA issued a news release on this research which was conducted by a team led by Drs. Wenzhe Ho and Steven Douglas at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. (Hepatology 38:57-65, 2003)

Protective Mechanism Against Alcohol-Induced Embryo Toxicity In an ongoing search to understand the mechanisms of fetal alcohol syndrome, scientists found that NAP, a fragment of a neuroprotective brain protein, protects mouse embryos from alcohol toxicity by blocking alcohol effects on a cell adhesion molecule (L1). The research, headed by Dr. Michael Charness at Harvard Medical School, helps show how alcohol disrupts fetal development. NIAAA issued a news release on this research on June 9. (Wilkemeyer, M.F., et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 100:8543-8548, 2003)

Division of Clinical and Prevention Research

Long-Term Efficacy of Naltrexone with Primary Care versus Specialty Care Therapies In this study, naltrexone was equally effective in alcohol dependent patients who received either a primary care management therapy or a more intensive cognitive behavior therapy during the first 10 weeks of treatment. However, maintenance of improvement was enhanced by continued naltrexone treatment in the primary care management group, but not in the group receiving cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. Stephanie O’Malley at the Yale University School of Medicine led a multi-center team in this study. (O’Malley, S.S., et al, Archives of Internal Medicine 163:1695-1704, 2003)

Gene Associated with Treatment Outcome with Naltrexone In a preliminary study, scientists found that allelic variation of the mu-opioid receptor gene is associated with differential response to the mu receptor antagonist naltrexone in alcohol dependent patients. This is the first study to use pharmacogenetics to predict favorable treatment outcome with pharmacologic agents. The authors of this study were, at the University of Pennsylvania, Drs. David Oslin, Wade Berrettini, Helen Pettinati, Joseph R. Volpicelli and Charles P. O’Brien; at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Dr. Henry R. Kranzler; and at Yale University School of Medicine and Psychiatry, Dr. Joel Gelernter. (Oslin, D. W., et al, Neuropsychopharmacology 28:1546-1552, 2003)

Adolescent Alcohol Use and Suicidal Ideation Results from this study, led by Dr. Joel Grube at the Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, California, suggest that, among adolescents, suicidality leads to increased alcohol-related problems for females, while alcohol-related problems are predictive of suicidality among males. If replicated, the observed gender differences have implications for the prevention of both alcohol abuse and suicidality among adolescents. (Light, J.M., et al, Addictive Behaviors 38:705-724, 2003)

Severe Childhood ADHD May Predict Alcohol, Substance Use in Teens Drs. Brooke Molina and William Pelham at the State University of New York at Buffalo conducted this study, which showed that individuals with severe problems of inattention as children were more likely than their peers to report alcohol-related problems, a greater frequency of getting drunk, and heavier and earlier use of tobacco and other drugs. The findings indicate that childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be as important for the risk of later substance use problems as having a history of family members with alcoholism and other substance use disorders. NIAAA issued a news release on this work on August 17. (Molina, B.S. and Pelham, W.E., Journal of Abnormal Psychology 112:497-507, 2003)

Staff Transitions/Awards

Office of Resource Management

Kim Mott is joining NIAAA’s Office of Resource Management, Administrative Services Branch for the next several months.  She was accepted into NIH’s prestigious Management Intern Program in 2003.  Ms. Mott comes to NIAAA from the National Cancer Institute, Pediatric Oncology Branch, Cell and Molecular Biology Lab, where she assisted the head of that branch.  Kim has a B.A. in communication arts and sciences—public relations from Howard University.  While at NIAAA, Kim will be responsible for assisting the office director and staff with various projects relating to management analysis. 

Division of Biometry and Epidemiology

June Ruan, M.S., has joined the staff of DBE’s Biometry Branch. She is a survey statistician and will be working on NIAAA’s National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Ms. Ruan has two Master’s degrees—one in biological psychology from The Johns Hopkins University, the second in applied human development from the University of Delaware.

Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research

Joannie Shen, M.D., Ph.D. received the Lane Award, also called the Clinical Society Open Award, during the Public Health Service commissioned officers annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ, in June. Surgeon General Richard Carmona presented the award, which is the highest annual clinical investigator award for PHS officers for original research. Dr. Shen, a neuroscientist in the Laboratory of Clinical Science (LCS), won the award for research using functional magnetic resonance in normal volunteers to explore electro-acupuncture’s effects on the reward response mechanisms in the brain’s mesolimbic system. Acupuncture is used as an effective complementary therapy in many addiction treatment programs around the country, but the precise nature of how and why it works remains unclear. Dr. Shen’s research could help the development of effective treatments for alcohol dependence and other substance abuse disorders.

Summer Interns A number of students working with NIAAA preceptors in the Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research presented their work at the NIH Office of Education’s "Research at the Frontier" poster day on August 7. The names of the students and their schools are Karl M. Dauphinais, University of Miami School of Medicine; Elisa A. Gionfriddo, College of William & Mary; Christopher J. Innis, Thomas S. Wootton High School; Sylvia Kim, University of Maryland; Shalini V. Kulkarni, Virginia Tech; David A. Mayorga, University of Florida; Sunil Patel, Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine; Mumta Purohit, University of Maryland; Michele A. Schottenbauer, Catholic University of America; Kathryn M. Solon, Washington College; and Jeffrey D. Sparenborg, Brigham Young University.

New Research Fellows A number of scientists have joined the Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research as fellows. They are Elena Gorodetsky, M.D., postdoctoral intramural research training award fellow in the Section of Molecular Genetics, Laboratory of Neurogenetics (LNG); Colin Hodgkinson, Ph.D., senior research fellow, visiting program, in the Section of Human Neurogenetics, LNG; Bong-Jo Kim, Ph.D., visiting fellow in the Unit of Molecular Biology, Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics (LMBB); Hongna Pan, M.D., research fellow, visiting program, in the Section on Liver Biology, Laboratory of Physiologic Studies; Soo-Kyung Suh, Ph.D., supplemental visiting fellow in the Unit of Molecular Biology, LMBB; and Jacob Theruvathu, Ph.D., visiting fellow in the Section on Human Neurogenetics, LNG.

Advisory Committee Appointments

Three new members have joined NIAAA’s Board of Scientific Counselors, which advises NIH and NIAAA on the intramural research program:

David J. Linden, Ph.D. (2003-2005)
Professor of Neuroscience
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland

Robert O. Messing, M.D. (2003-2005)
Professor in Residence, Neurology
Associate Director
Ernest Gallo Clinical Research Center
Emeryville, California

George K. Michalopoulos, M.D., Ph.D. (2003-2005)
Professor and Chairman, Department of Pathology
School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

New RFA’s/PA’s

Division of Basic Research

Finding Genes for Alcohol-Related Behaviors and Risk for Alcoholism (PA-03-162) This program announcement solicits applications that will use fine mapping strategies to identify and characterize genes that contribute to individual susceptibility to alcoholism and alcohol-related behaviors. Applicants are encouraged to use fine mapping strategies such as high-throughput SNP genotyping to identify these genes in the existing rodent or human QTL or chromosomal region. The announcement can be accessed at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-162.html.

Gene-Environment Interactions Influencing Alcohol-Related Phenotypes and Diseases (PA-03-141) This program announcement, issued by NIAAA and NIEHS, invites grant applications to study the role of gene-environment interactions underlying susceptibility to alcohol-related phenotypes. More information is available at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-141.html.

Division of Clinical and Prevention Research

Research on the Reduction and Prevention of Suicidality (PA-03-161) NIAAA collaborated with four other NIH institutes in this program announcement. The alcohol prevention components include intervention studies for early co-morbid behaviors that are precursors of both alcohol problems and depression, prevention of alcohol problems among depressed populations, and studies of the effects of alcohol prevention on depression.

Office of Collaborative Research

Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems (PAR-03-133) This program announcement provides a rapid funding mechanism for timely research to prevent or reduce alcohol-related problems among college students. Each awardee under this announcement will be required to partner with an awardee under RFA AA0-3-003, "Research Partnership Awards for Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems." More information is available at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-03-133.html.

Secondary Analysis of Existing Alcohol and HIV/AIDS Data Sets (PA-03-132) Modeled on successful NIAAA announcements in prevention, health services, and epidemiology, this announcement seeks to stimulate greater use of existing data sets for continued study and analysis. More information is available at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-03-132.html.

Research on Mind-Body Interactions and Health (OB03-008) NIAAA is participating on three RFAs originated by NIH’s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. Two, OB03-004 and OB03-005, were for research infrastructure (R24) and exploratory/developmental research programs (R21) respectively, and are now under review. The third, OB03-008, for R01 projects, was released in July. More information is available at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OB-03-003.html.

Research Grant Application Peer Review Activities

For this review round, Office of Scientific Affairs Extramural Project Review Branch staff completed 46 review meetings to evaluate a total of 237 grant applications, 1 review meeting to evaluate 31 loan repayment applications, and 3 review meetings to evaluate a total of 4 contract proposals. Reviews completed include the following:

Alcohol Research Centers (RFA No. AA03-001)

10 grant applications reviewed by reverse site visit; four supplements to existing center awards were also reviewed.

Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (RFA No. AA03-002)

18 grant applications reviewed.

Collaborative Minority Serving Institution Alcohol Research (CMSIAR) Program (U24) (RFA No. AA03-007)

4 grant applications reviewed.

Consortium for Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems (RFA No. AA03-008)

21 grant applications reviewed.

Alcohol Abuse and HIV/AIDS in Resource Poor Societies (RFA No. AA03-009)

34 grant applications reviewed.

Cooperative Agreement for Exploratory/Developmental Grants for Minority Institutions Alcohol Research Planning (RFA No. AA03-010)

5 grant applications reviewed.

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Among High-Risk Populations: Relationship to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (RFA No. HD03-004) (in collaboration with NICHD)

11 grant applications reviewed.

Loan Repayment Program (LRP)

31 loan repayment applications reviewed.

Alcohol Epidemiology Data System (RFP)

1 contract proposal reviewed.

Transdermal Non-Invasive Monitoring of Medication Ingestion (RFP for SBIR Phase II Topic 017)

1 contract proposal reviewed.

Science of Alcohol; and Integration of Intelligent Tutoring Systems into Middle School (RFP for SBIR Phase II Topic 022)

2 contract proposals reviewed.

The remaining 130 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 175 NIAAA research grant applications 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: National Alcohol Screening Day Academic Emergency Medicine Department Collaboration (AA04-001) and NRSA Institutional Training Grants (PA00-103). The outcome of these evaluations will be presented at future council meetings.

What’s Ahead

North Carolina Presidents Summit on Alcohol Use and Abuse On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, North Carolina First Lady Mary Easley, co-chair of The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, will host this meeting at the governor’s executive mansion in Raleigh. Presidents, chancellors, and counsels from all 52 four-year colleges and universities in North Carolina have been invited to participate. The goal is to share the research findings, recommendations, and implications of the task force report on college drinking report, A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges. The summit is also supported by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Governor’s Institute on Alcohol & Substance Abuse, Inc. and Wake Forest University.

Role of Fatty Liver (Steatosis), Dietary Fatty Acids, and Obesity in the Progression of Alcoholic Liver Disease A panel of distinguished scientists will address a series of issues, including the mechanisms by which alcohol leads to fat accumulation in hepatocytes, how accumulated fat in the liver leads to inflammation and fibrosis, how obesity makes the liver susceptible to alcoholic liver disease, and whether fatty liver can be treated to improve the success rate of liver transplants. Contact: Dr. Vishnu Purohit, 301-443-2689, vpurohit@willco.niaaa.nih.gov.

NIAAA Collegiate Alcohol Prevention Workshop This NIAAA-sponsored workshop will be hosted by Wake Forest University on October 7-8, 2003. Student affairs administrative leaders and campus/community prevention professionals from across the state are invited to attend. The workshop will provide an in-depth look at the implications of the NIAAA task force report on college drinking and how to use the report to improve effectiveness of campus prevention efforts.

U.S. Department of Education’s 17th Annual National Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention in Higher Education NIAAA will co-present a workshop at this meeting with the Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. The title of the workshop will be "Making Ends Meet: Resources for Planning and Evaluating Your Alcohol Prevention Program." The meeting will be held in Austin, Texas, October 16 – 19.

Addiction Medicine Course NIAAA is co-sponsoring the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s The State of the Art in Addiction Medicine course entitled "An Update on the Unifying Concepts of Addiction – Drug Development, Emerging Therapies, and Individual Treatment" October 30-November 1, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel, Washington, D.C. Contact: Dr. Patricia Powell, 301-443-5106, ppowell@mail.nih.gov.

Workshop on Binge Drinking On November 4 and 5, NIAAA is sponsoring a workshop on binge drinking at the Holiday Inn Georgetown. The goal of the workshop is to assist the members of NIAAA’s National Advisory Council in developing a recommended definition of binge drinking (i.e., heavy episodic drinking) for use in the field’s future research efforts. The workshop is specifically not focused on college drinking, but instead will address neurobiological, physiological, and socio-cultural aspects that help to define heavy episodic drinking or distinguish it from other patterns of alcohol use/abuse.

Participants must register before Tuesday, September 30, 2003 at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090130230531/http://www.fedmeetings.net/common/registration.cfm?mid=379&meetingcode=1945. Please note that the workshop materials will be available only in sufficient numbers to accommodate those who have registered. 


Prepared: September 29, 2003