A. NIAAA Budget

Congressional Activity  On June 9, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education held the mark up for the FY 2006 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriation bill, which includes funding for NIH. The full House Appropriations Committee marked up the bill on June 16, and on June 24, the House passed HR 3010, a bill making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes. The bill would provide $28,506,805,000 for NIH and $440,333,000 for NIAAA, a 0.5 percent increase over the FY 2005 appropriation level. The subcommittee mark for NIAAA is identical to the FY 2006 President's Budget request.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education held the markup for the FY 2006 appropriation bill on July 12, with a full committee markup on July 14. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee is recommending $29,414,515,000 for the NIH and $452,271,000 for NIAAA, an increase of 3.2 percent over the FY 2005 appropriation level.

There has been no vote in the Senate on the Labor, HHS and Education Appropriation, and no Conference action has been scheduled.

A summary comparing the President's request, the House level and the Senate level is below (all dollars in thousands):

B. Director's Activities

Conference: Research and Clinical Practice  NIDA and the University of Miami, in conjunction with several cosponsors, presented a conference on June 6 and 7 entitled Smart Practice, Practical Science: Blending Treatment and Research. The conference brought together researchers and health professionals who treat individuals with drug addiction for presentations on the most current drug abuse treatment research. On June 7, Dr. Li gave a plenary presentation on "What Can the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) Tell Us About Directions for Future Research and Practice?" The conference took place in Miami Beach, FL.

Research Society on Alcoholism  Dr. Li opened the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) with an update on NIAAA at the June 26 plenary session. RSA, along with its satellite meetings, took place June 25-30. Dr. Li also welcomed attendees at an NIAAA grantsmanship workshop on June 26.

Institute/Center Directors Meeting  At the August 11 meeting of NIH's Institute/Center directors, Dr. Li gave a presentation entitled "Understanding Alcohol Drinking Behavior (Good and Bad) Through Studies in Animal Models."

Duke University Grand Rounds  On July 21, Dr. Li spoke at grand rounds at the Duke University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry in Durham, NC. The title of his talk was "Genetic and Environmental Influences on Alcohol Drinking Behavior."

American Psychological Association Presidential Citation  The American Psychological Association (APA) awarded Dr. Li its Presidential Citation at the association's annual convention in Washington. The citation, presented on August 19, honors Dr. Li's contributions in support of psychological and behavioral science.

C. NIAAA Staff

Extramural Staff

Michie Hesselbrock, Ph.D.  Dr. Michie Hesselbrock will be at NIAAA on her sabbatical leave from the University of Connecticut for the fall 2005 academic semester. Dr. Hesselbrock is the Zachs Professor and Director of the doctoral program for the School of Social Work at the University. She has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and research, much of it in the areas of behavioral genetics and epidemiology of alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Dr. Hesselbrock will be located in the Health Sciences Education Branch where she will be working on NIAAA's social work education initiative and collaborative activities with Asian-American substance abuse advocacy organizations.

Robin Kawazoe  Robin Kawazoe has joined NIAAA as Senior Advisor to the Director. Before coming to NIAAA, Ms. Kawazoe was Director of the Office of Science Policy and Planning in the Office of the Director, NIH, a position she had held since December 1996. She came to NIH from the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration in 1988, joining the NIDA, where she was Special Assistant to the Deputy Director and then Deputy and Acting Director of NIDA's Office of Science Policy and Communications.

Mahadev Murthy, Ph.D.  Dr. Mahadev Murthy has left NIAAA to join the staff of the National Center for Research Resources. Dr. Murthy was a scientific review administrator in NIAAA's Extramural Project Review Branch.

NIH Director's Award for Antonio Noronha, Ph.D. With the Neuroscience Blueprint Team  Dr. Antonio Noronha received an NIH Director's Award as part of the Neuroscience Blueprint Team for "exemplary leadership, dedication, creativity, and teamwork in planning and designing the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint." NIH Director's Awards recognize superior performance or special efforts significantly beyond the regular duty requirements, and directly related to fulfilling the mission of the National Institutes of Health.

Harold Perl, Ph.D.  Dr. Harold Perl is leaving NIAAA to take a position at the NIDA (NIDA). Dr. Perl has been with NIAAA for almost 16 years and was the chief of the health services branch before the 2003 NIAAA reorganization. Over the years he was particularly involved in screening and brief intervention and the expansion of alcoholism treatment beyond alcohol treatment specialty settings; an example of such programs includes a project in the welfare system in New York City for which Dr. Perl helped put together funding from NIAAA, NIDA and three other government components. At NIDA, he will be senior team leader for behavioral research dissemination and training in the Center for the Clinical Trials Network.

Intramural Staff

Bin Gao, M.D., Ph.D. and Bridget Grant, Ph.D. Awarded Tenure  Dr. Bin Gao, Chief, Section on Liver Biology, LPS, and Dr. Bridget Grant, Chief, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biometry (LEB), have been awarded tenure by Central Tenure Committee, NIH.

George Kunos, M.D., Ph.D. Wins Mechoulam Award  Dr. George Kunos, NIAAA Scientific Director, received the 2005 Mechoulam Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society. The award is named for Raphael Mechoulam, an Israeli medicinal chemist renowned for his discovery of endogenous cannabinoids and, earlier, for identifying delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol as the psychoactive principle of marijuana. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to cannabinoid research and was presented during the Society's annual symposium at Clearwater, FL, in June.

NIH Director's Award for the NESARC Team  The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) team in LEB received an NIH Director's Award on July 14 for "outstanding national leadership in implementing NESARC." Cited for the award were S. Patricia Chou, Ph.D., Deborah Dawson, Ph.D., Bridget Grant, Ph.D., Roger Pickering, M.C.S., and Frederick Stinson, Ph.D.

Pál Pacher, M.D., Ph.D.  Dr. Pál Pacher, Acting Chief, Section on Oxidative Stress and Tissue Injury, Laboratory of Physiologic Studies (LPS), has been selected after a national search and has been approved for a tenure-track position by the Deputy Director of Intramural Research, NIH.

D. NIAAA Research Programs

Extramural Programs

NIAAA Retreat  On July 26-27, 2005, NIAAA staff participated in a cooperative exercise to discuss future initiatives for FY 2007. This training/networking "retreat" is expected to become a regular component of the Institute's annual budget and planning process, and to facilitate development of the Congressional Justification.

More than 70 people attended the event. Mr. Larry Lewin served as the meeting facilitator, overseeing two days of presentations, panel discussions, question-and-answer sessions, and participant evaluation.

The overall goal was to afford staff additional knowledge/skills/experience in coordinating division/team efforts in developing strategies for advancing alcohol science for FY 2007 and beyond. The specific objectives were to (1) link initiative development with the annual budget cycle, (2) provide feedback for the Congressional Justification, (3) determine the primary research initiatives for FY 2007, (4) share information about activities across NIAAA, and (5) develop a sense of shared purpose.

Research Society on Alcoholism  The annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) took place this year in Santa Barbara, California, June 25 to 30. NIAAA supported 30 junior investigators and 81 students attending the meeting. NIAAA staff participated in a number of satellite sessions and meeting symposia and events:

• NIAAA was a co-sponsor for the satellite session on "The Search for Mechanisms of Change in Evidence-Based Behavioral Treatments." Division of Treatment and Recovery Research Director Dr. Mark Willenbring and Deputy Division Director Dr. Robert Huebner spoke at the symposium.
• Dr. Vishnudutt Purohit was the organizer and Drs. Max Guo, Diane Lucas, Jose Velazquez, and R. Thomas Gentry co-organizers for the satellite symposium on "Mechanisms of Alcohol-Induced Hepatic Fibrosis." NIAAA co-sponsored the symposium. Dr. Bin Gao gave a presentation on alcohol immunity and fibrosis.
• Dr. Joanne Fertig was one of the organizers of a satellite symposium on "Smoking and Alcohol Abuse: From Lab to Clinic." Dr. Peter Silverman gave a presentation at the satellite.
• Dr. Sam Zakhari was the chair for a symposium on hepatitis C infection and alcohol use.
• Dr. Harold Perl chaired a symposium on brief intervention.
• Dr. David Goldman was the moderator for a paper session on molecular genetics.
• Dr. Cherry Lowman was the chair for a symposium on aftercare for adolescent alcohol and other substance use disorders.
• Dr. Mark Willenbring was a panelist in symposia on advances in pharmacotherapy of alcoholism, recovery from alcoholism, and addressing substance abuse in health care settings. Dr. Willenbring also participated in a roundtable on addressing substance abuse in health care settings, and he gave a poster on response to a brief intervention for heavy drinkers in a hepatitis C clinic.
• Dr. Mark Egli was a co-organizer/chair of a symposium on pre-clinical medication development. Dr. Markus Heilig gave a presentation on the NYP system at that symposium.
• Dr. David Lovinger was the moderator for a paper session on physiology.
• Dr. Bridget Grant was the organizer/chair for a symposium on findings from NESARC. Drs. S. Patricia Chou, Deborah Dawson, and Tulshi Saha from LEB, and Dr. Li were also panelists at the symposium.

The College on Problems of Drug Dependence  At the 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Dr. Mark Willenbring gave a presentation entitled "Substance Misuse Management and Psychiatric Aspects of Interferon Treatment" in a symposium on HCV, Interferon Resistance, and Drug Addiction: Travels from the Human Genome to the Clinic and Beyond.

American Psychological Society  Dr. Ellen Witt was co-organizer of a symposium entitled "Gene-Environment Interactions: Human and Animal Models to Study the Effect of Genes and Environment on Alcohol-Related Behaviors," which took place May 27 at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society in Los Angeles, CA. The purpose of this symposium was to educate individuals from behavioral and social science backgrounds about research on gene-environment interactions from the perspective of alcohol research, and to demonstrate how genetically informative designs may increase the power of their own research.

Report on Alcohol and the Cardiovascular System Published  Drs. Diane Lucas and Ricardo Brown were coauthors on a state-of-the-art report on alcohol and the cardiovascular system published in June in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The report came out of a workshop convened in May 2003 by NIAAA and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to review the data in the field and discuss the need for future research. The report summarizes the epidemiology, genetics, and clinical manifestations of alcohol-related cardiovascular disease and new findings on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the medical consequences of alcohol. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology 45:1916-1924, 2005)

NIH Child Abuse and Neglect Working Group  Dr. Robert Freeman gave a talk on "Alcohol Use and Child Maltreatment: Promising Research Directions," at the annual meeting and seminar of the NIH Child Abuse and Neglect Working Group on June 20.

Collaborative Research Efforts

Evaluation of the NIAAA Social Work Curriculum  The fourth regional training session for MSW faculty participating in a nationwide evaluation of the NIAAA Social Work Education Model for the Prevention and Treatment of Alcohol-Use Disorders took place at the University of Southern California School of Social Work on June 23rd. Graduate schools of social work from California and the Northwest region took part in the two-day session, and will provide faculty and student data for evaluation of the use and efficacy of the curriculum.

Nursing Education Curriculum  On May 19th, the Health Sciences Education Branch of NIAAA convened an expert panel of nursing educators, practitioners, and researchers to provide guidance on the development of a nursing curriculum in alcohol. Participants gave recommendations on content, format, and dissemination strategies including on-line courses and distance learning. Senior NIAAA staff, including Dr. Howard Moss, Associate Director for Education, and Dr. Li, attended the panel meeting.

Rapid-Response-to-College-Drinking-Problems Program  The second meeting of the Rapid-Response-to-College-Drinking-Problems Program Steering Committee was held on June 24 in Santa Barbara, CA, in connection with the RSA annual meeting. All 15 of the U18 college grantees, their 5 U01 research partners, and the NIAAA scientific staff collaborators met to review the progress of each project and map out future activities.

Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws in Rural Communities  NIAAA is providing evaluation support for the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) initiative "Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws in Rural Communities." The initiative seeks to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to and the consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons in rural communities. OJJDP proposes to accomplish this reduction by implementing research-based "best" and "most-promising" practices to enforce underage drinking laws and prevent and reduce underage drinking. NIAAA is evaluating the process and program outcomes of the initiative. The evaluation work is underway and in August, three more states were added for a total of seven: the new states are California, Oregon, and Washington. (There are already participating communities in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Mexico.)

New RFA's/PA's

Structural Interventions, Alcohol Use, and Risk of HIV/AIDS (PA-05-146)  This program announcement, issued by NIAAA and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), requests research on the effectiveness of structural interventions that reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission by changing the environment of alcohol use. Applicants are especially encouraged to examine the ramifications for HIV/AIDS risk of "naturally occurring" or already-announced changes in alcohol-related laws, regulations, programs, or policies. The PA can be accessed on the web at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090506093955/http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-05-146.html. (For information on AIDS-related application due dates, see https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090506093955/http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/submissionschedule.htm#AIDS.) For further information, contact Dr. Robert Freeman at 301-443-8820, rfreeman@mail.nih.gov.

Underage Drinking: Building Health Care System Responses (RFA-AA-06-003)  This Phase I of a two-part RFA solicits applications for cooperative agreements (U01s) to enable rural and small urban health care systems to become platforms for research programs on underage drinking. NIAAA seeks to fund such systems to (1) assess the extent of underage drinking in the areas they serve and (2) develop capacity for intervening with this problem (Phase I). Phase 2 will fund systems that have successfully completed Phase 1 to implement and evaluate interventions designed to address underage alcohol consumption in the areas they serve. This RFA can be accessed on the web at https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090506093955/http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AA-06-003.html. The application receipt date is December 19, 2005. For further information, contact Dr. Judith Arroyo, 301-402-0717, jarroyo@mail.nih.gov.

Research Reports

NIAAA Press Release: Adult Antisocial Syndromes Common Among Substance Abusers  Data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) show that antisocial syndromes-marked by little concern for the rights of others and violations of age-appropriate societal rules-are more common among people with substance abuse disorders than those without these disorders. These scientists calculated the odds ratios-an estimation of the relative risk of having a particular antisocial syndrome and a specific substance abuse disorder-and found that for antisocial personality disorder and adult antisocial behavior, the odds of having a substance abuse disorder were very high overall, and were higher for women than for men. The authors speculate that substance abuse disorders and antisocial personality syndromes share common underlying physiologic features that may be related to the same neural systems involved in decision-making. (Compton, W.M., Conway, K.P., Stinson, F.S., Colliver, J.D., and Grant, B.F. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 6:677-685, 2005.)

NIAAA Press Release: Link Between Alcohol and Certain Cancers  Drinking alcoholic beverages has been linked to an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal cancer and other types of cancer. Researchers looking for the potential biochemical basis for this link have focused on acetaldehyde, a suspected carcinogen formed as the body metabolizes alcohol. Data from this study suggest that polyamines-natural compounds essential for cell growth-react with acetaldehyde to trigger a series of reactions that damage DNA, an event that can lead to the formation of cancer. The work may provide a mechanism to explain how alcohol consumption increases the risk of some types of cancer. (Theruvathu, J.A., Jaruga, P., Nath, R.G., Dizdaroglu, M., and Brooks, P.J. Nucleic Acids Research 11:3513-3520, 2005.)

Low Alcohol Doses Decrease Brain Glucose Metabolism  Doses of alcohol equivalent to one or two drinks substantially decreased glucose metabolism in the brains of healthy subjects, according to results from a study that used positron emission tomography to track glucose use. Despite the decrease in glucose metabolism, however, there was little change in the results of tests of cognitive performance. This finding contrasts with studies in which a sedative (lorazepam) caused much smaller decreases in glucose metabolism, but marked effects on behavior and cognition. The authors suggest that a possible explanation for this mismatch between glucose use vs. cognitive performance may be that the brain may switch to using acetate as a fuel after someone drinks alcohol. Acetate is one product of alcohol metabolism and it rises significantly during intoxication. Determining whether this is true would clarify aspects of both alcohol's effects and brain metabolism. (Volkow, N.D., Wang, G.-J., Franceschi, D., Fowler, J.S., Thanos, P.K., Maynard, L., Gatley, S.J., Wong, C., Veech, R.L., Kunos, G., and Li, T.-K. NeuroImage Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.07.004.)

Topiramate Shows Promise for Treating Smoking in Alcohol Dependent Patients  Research suggests that over 80 percent of individuals with alcohol dependence also smoke and many are reportedly nicotine dependent. In individuals with both nicotine and alcohol dependence, the risk of mortality is higher from smoking than alcohol-related causes. This group reported earlier that, in a study with 150 individuals with alcohol dependence, the drug topiramate was effective in reducing drinking and promoting abstinence. A recent subgroup analysis of the earlier study looked at 94 individuals who smoked, and found that those receiving topiramate were more likely to abstain from smoking. The rates of those stopping smoking after 12 weeks were 19.4 percent for those receiving topiramate, compared with 6.9 percent of those receiving placebo. The authors suggest that topiramate has promise as a safe and effective medication for co-existing alcohol and nicotine dependence. (Johnson, B.A., Ait-Daoud, N., Akhtar, F.Z., and Javors, M.A. Archives of Internal Medicine 165:1600-1605, 2005.)

CRF and NPY in Alcohol Consumption  The relationship between stress and drinking is complex. Although stress reportedly can contribute to increased drinking, the relationship between the neuropeptides involved in the regulation of stress responses and alcohol consumption is complex. In this study, scientists administered neuropeptide Y (NPY)-a peptide that is anxiolytic or anxiety-reducing-and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-which is anxiogenic or anxiety promoting-directly into the cerebral ventricles of rats and observed the effects on alcohol consumption. Rather than consistently finding that one peptide increased consumption and the other suppressed it, the results depended on whether the rats had prior chronic alcohol exposure, and whether the peptides were administered separately or in combination. The results suggest that a balance between the two peptides is involved in consumption-an understanding of the complexities of stress regulation and drinking is an important avenue towards developing medications that might be helpful in preventing stress-related relapse. (Thorsell, A., Slawecki, C.J., and Ehlers, C.L. Behavioural Brain Research 161:133-140, 2005.)

DHA and Neurons  Studies of brain development and disease have suggested that the long chain omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supports neuronal survival and development. Dietary deficiencies of DHA in early development, for example, have been shown in animal models to cause measurable deficits in learning and behavior. This work by intramural scientists identifies a mechanism that appears to underlie DHA's role in neuronal health: results from the study suggest that DHA acts on a key pathway in cell survival through its ability to increase the content of a phosopholipid in the cell membrane (phosphatidylinositol or PS). The increase in PS, in turn, results in increased signaling of a kinase-one of a class of enzymes that frequently act as a metabolic on/off switch-known to involved in supporting cell survival. PS levels reflected DHA levels, and higher levels of both protected the cell from apoptosis, or cell death. (Akbar, M., Calderon, F., Wen, Z., and Kim, H.-Y. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 102:10858-10863, 2005.)

Timely Alcoholism Treatment Associated With Higher Remission Rates  Sixteen years after having first recognizing that they had an alcohol problem, individuals in this study who had either entered treatment or joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the first year had improved more quickly and had achieved higher long-term remission rates than those who had delayed obtaining help. Of the 461 participants in the study, 37.1 percent of those who had entered AA and 44.0 of those who entered treatment in the first year had achieved stable remission at 16 years, compared with 24 percent of individuals who had not obtained help the first year. While the authors point out that self-selection has a role in the benefits of help, they also suggest that the findings support the value of strengthening the referral process through which individuals recognize their alcohol problems and find treatment. (Moos, R.H. and Moos, B.S. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Epub ahead of print. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2005.05.001.)

Association Between Stress and Drinking  People who reported a larger number of stressful events in the previous year also reported more frequent heavy drinking and less frequent moderate drinking according to data from NESARC. The results suggest that, in reacting to stress, individuals who drink tend to consume larger quantities of alcohol on the days when they do drink, rather than increasing the number of days they drink. The relationship between stress and drinking was more pronounced in men than in women; frequency of heavy drinking (five or more drinks for men on occasion, four or more for women) increased by 24 percent with each additional stressor reported by men and by 13 percent with each stressor reported by women. The level of stress was also positively associated with the volume of consumption and the usual and largest quantities of drinks consumed. Stress related to a job or legal issues was more strongly associated with alcohol consumption than were social and health related stress. The authors suggest that treatment and brief interventions aimed at problem drinkers and any drinkers reporting high stress levels might benefit from addressing alternative means of coping with stress. (Dawson, D.A., Grant, B.F., and Ruan, W.J. Alcohol & Alcoholism 40:453-460, 2005.)

E. Outreach

National Outreach

The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Louisiana  First Gentleman Raymond "Coach" Blanco has joined The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, bringing membership in the Leadership to 37 States. Mr. Blanco has served as vice president of student affairs at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette since 1982, having begun his career there as a football coach.

Leadership member and Hawaii Lieutenant Governor James "Duke" Aiona initiated a summer pilot program to fight underage drinking and other illegal activity in State parks and harbors. The Department of Land and Natural Resources are joining with State and county law enforcement agencies for the effort, in which uniformed officers patrol the State's 54 parks and 21 small-boat harbors periodically throughout the night and early morning hours until Labor Day. They will have the choice of making arrests, or issuing citations or warnings. After Labor Day, the arrest and citation statistics will be analyzed to ascertain whether the program had a significant effect. If the program is deemed effective, Mr. Aiona hopes it can be conducted throughout the year.

Judge Gary Sebelius, Kansas First Gentleman, has recorded a PSA about underage drinking in Kansas, which is part of an ongoing campaign to promote healthy families. This PSA provides information on how to order NIAAA's booklet Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol.

Wyoming First Lady Nancy Freudenthal provided information to the Wyoming Legislature's Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Interim Committee on the value of screening for alcohol use in emergency rooms. She also talked about the impediments to screening, including laws permitting insurance companies to deny coverage for injuries related to alcohol and drug use. Mrs. Freudenthal said she brought the matter before lawmakers last month as part of her effort to curb underage drinking. "Screening of children and teens in emergency rooms can lead to early identification, intervention and treatment to reduce the risk of additional injuries and alcoholism," she said in her remarks to the committee.

American Medical Association Alcohol Dependence Media Briefing  On July 21, the American Medical Association (AMA)'s Science News Division, hosted a science media briefing on alcohol dependence, held in New York and supported by an unrestricted education grant from Alkermes, Inc.

Dr. Raye Litten discussed NIAAA's medications development program and some of the more than 50 studies now under way. Dr. Mark Willenbring discussed changing views on the nature and onset of alcohol dependence; a treatment system that integrates alcoholism treatment into mainstream medical and mental health care and directs complex and difficult cases to addiction specialists; and new treatment tools, including the newly revised Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much--A Clinician's Guide. NIAAA released the revised guide for health care practitioners in July to help them identify and care for patients with heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders. The Guide provides a research-based approach to alcohol screening and brief intervention for both primary care and mental health clinicians. It updates earlier NIAAA guidelines, which focused solely on primary care providers and used a lengthier screening process. Included in the new Guide are an optional written self-report screening tool in both English and Spanish (the AUDIT); a new section about prescribing medications for alcohol dependence; new forms for recording patient baseline and progress notes; and a pocket-sized version. A number of organizations have ordered hundreds of Guides already. Among them: The American Academy of Family Physicians will insert 500 Guides in screening 'tool kits' they will distribute at their annual fall conference; public health programs in California, Oregon, Maine, Texas, and several other states have ordered from 200 to 500 copies; and the Georgetown University School of Medicine will use 200 copies for a first-year medical school course on interviewing. The Guide can be viewed online at the NIAAA website under publications/professional education materials.

More than 50 reporters attended the AMA briefing either onsite or by teleconference. Dr. Willenbring gave interviews to an additional 12-15 broadcast media, several with national or syndicated distribution. A radio news release that featured Dr. Litten aired in most major markets. Noteworthy national or syndicated coverage included features in the Wall Street Journal and Cox newspapers; UPI and Reuters wire services; Web M.D. and HealthDay web sites; and AP, Bloomberg, Urban Radio Network, and MetroNetwork radio. Media interest in and coverage of NIAAA's medications development program and the Clinician's Guide continues.

U.S. Navy  On July 19, Roger Hartman gave a presentation in Arlington, VA on underage drinking to the newly-created Navy Executive Steering Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention for the 26-and-Under Sailor. The purpose of this committee is to advance substance abuse prevention and policy initiatives for the 26-and-under sailors, consistent with Department of Navy readiness requirements.

Social Work Research  Peggy Murray represented NIAAA at the Summer Institute on Methods in Behavioral Interventions Research that took place in Washington, DC, July 18-22. This intensive course is designed to provide advanced research training for junior faculty in schools of social work across the country in order to increase the scientific rigor of NIH applications received from social work researchers. It is sponsored by NIH's Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in collaboration with several institutes, including NIAAA, NIDA, NIMH, and the National Cancer Institute.

International Social Work Symposium  Peggy Murray represented NIH by giving a plenary talk on research opportunities for the International Social Work Practice Research Symposium held June 1-2 at the School of Social Welfare, State University of New York at Albany.

Emergency Medicine  Peggy Murray spoke on research opportunities for academic emergency medicine in alcohol as part of a Federal panel at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine on May 23rd in New York City. Preliminary findings from the NIAAA Collaborative Emergency Room Screening and Brief Intervention study were presented in a separate session at the meeting.

Workshop for Youth Leaders  On June 4, Jason Lazarow led a 4-hour program at the Philadelphia Zoo, as part of the Association of Science and Technology Centers, Mid-Atlantic Youth Alive Program. Mr. Lazarow talked about NIAAA's science education programs, and highlighted recent research findings on alcohol's impact on the adolescent brain and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. In addition, he provided attendees from as far away as Florida and Boston with promotional items, handouts, and CD-ROMs to use in their communities served by their museums and science centers.

Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators  On July 20, Dr. Ralph Hingson and Fred Donodeo made a presentation to 25 vice presidents for student affairs, and their staff dealing with alcohol and other drug abuse, who were participating in the Summer Institute of the Jesuit Association of Student Personnel Administrators (JASPA). This was a follow-up to a preliminary meeting with Fred Donodeo in March. As part of his comprehensive presentation on college drinking trends and interventions, Dr. Hingson called on the vice presidents to join together to undertake a multi-campus program evaluation. The reaction of the group was extremely positive and members discussed how a multi-school research initiative might be organized. Several researchers at these schools have already volunteered to take the lead on this project, and Dr. Hingson offered to serve as an informal consultant as it progresses. He also provided them with a list of additional researchers in this area with whom they could consult. The vice presidents will revisit the issue at their September meeting and will begin to determine the focus of this research project and the specific schools that will participate.

Local Outreach

Science in the Cinema  On August 3, Dr. Mark Willenbring spoke to the public at the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD, following a viewing of the 1994 film, When a Man Loves a Woman. This program was part of the Science in the Cinema series, a collaboration between NIH's Office of Science Education and the AFI Silver. The film depicts the impact of alcoholism, treatment, and recovery on a family. Dr. Willenbring gave examples of how the film was accurate or misleading in its depiction of alcoholism and treatment and answered questions from the public.

Virginia School Safety Conference On August 8 and 9, the Virginia Center for School Safety sponsored Jason Lazarow's attendance at the Virginia School Safety Conference in Roanoke, VA. In addition to staffing an exhibit booth, Mr. Lazarow presented two workshops to law enforcement officials, school safety leaders, teachers, and administrators.

F. Multi-Media Products from NIAAA

Publications and Periodicals

Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol  Two thousand copies of the booklet Make a Difference: Talk to Your Child About Alcohol were sent to the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey for use in their "15 Minute Child Break," a 1-hour presentation for parents, grandparents, and caregivers. The booklet is distributed to the participants at presentations held throughout the state of New Jersey. For another program targeted to middle schools and sponsored by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), NIAAA sent 15,000 copies of the English-language Talk to Your Child booklet. In addition, CHP is reprinting an additional 15,000 English-language copies and 30,000 Spanish-language copies for use in the program. It is expected that the booklet will be mailed to the parents of students participating in the school program.

Alcohol Research & Health  Two issues of Alcohol Research & Health were printed and disseminated: "Screening and Brief Intervention: Part I (An Overview)" and "Part II (A Focus on Specific Settings)." Work continues on upcoming issues focusing on young adult drinking and NESARC highlights. Full text of the published journals is available on the NIAAA website.

Alcohol Alert  An Alcohol Alert issue on "Screening for Alcohol Use and Alcohol-Related Problems" has been printed and disseminated. Alert issues are available full text on the NIAAA website.

NIAAA Newsletter  The summer issue of NIAAA's newsletter featured articles on the NIAAA budget and the development of an alcohol education curriculum for nurses, new publications, new research initiatives, and a calendar of events.

Entertainment Industries Council, Inc.  NIAAA is working with the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. to develop a second issue of its Spotlight on ...series of topical informative news briefs. This second news brief focuses on college drinking. The news brief will be disseminated to approximately 4,500 developers, writers, producers, directors, and researchers for television programming.

College "Fall Semester" Fact Sheet for Parents  Continuing its series of seasonal outreach fact sheets, a college fact sheet for parents entitled, "Fall Semester - A Time for Parents to Revisit Discussions About College Drinking," was issued in August. Fact sheets in this series contain relevant statistics presented in an easy-to-understand "infograph" style, practical science-based commentary, and website addresses for further information. They are disseminated widely through electronic media distribution channels, and through selected partner organizations. Thus far, the college fact sheet has led to television interviews for Drs. Ralph Hingson and Sandra Brown (University of California, San Diego), and a radio interview for Dr. Vivian Faden. In addition, Santa Clara University, Virginia State University, and St. Mary's College (MD) are partnering with NIAAA to distribute hard copies of this fact sheet to parents of their incoming freshmen classes.

Electronic Media

Award for Radio PSA  NIAAA's latest radio public service announcement (PSA) "Don't have to. Don't need to," recently received the Award of Excellence from the National Association of Government Communicators. This series of PSAs is the latest in a line of products-including television PSAs, publications, and Web sites-specifically designed by NIAAA to address the problem of underage drinking. The ads provide parents and teens with information on alcohol and give kids tips for avoiding drinking without losing their "cool."

The PSAs were developed to run in four distinct music formats-hip hop, alternative rock, rock, and country. Feedback from stations airing the PSAs has been highly complimentary: Directors reported that the ads were "very well produced," with a "great message" that was "very needed in our community."

The PSAs and other materials on preventing underage drinking are available through the NIAAA Web site (https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090506093955/http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/PSA/underage.htm).

G. What's Ahead

Healthy People 2020 Workshop, Shanghai  NIAAA has joined with the Institute of Nutritional Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, People's Republic of China, in organizing a workshop on Healthy People 2020-Alcohol, Obesity, and Diabetes, to take place October 12-16 in Shanghai, China. Dr. Li will be giving a keynote lecture entitled "The Diversity of Alcohol-Nutrition Interactions-Opportunities for International Collaborations." Dr. Zhaoxia Ren is a co-organizer of the workshop and will be a speaker, along with a number of NIAAA intramural and extramural scientists, and representatives from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and NIH's Division of Nutrition Research Coordination. The workshop is an example of the areas of collaboration between NIAAA and the Institute of Nutritional Science identified in a letter of intent to increase cooperation in the fields of biomedical and behavioral sciences research regarding alcohol as well as related research training

Role of Betaine in the Treatment of Alcoholic Liver Disease  NIAAA is co-sponsoring a meeting on the role of the dietary supplement betaine in the treatment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic liver disease. Co-sponsors for the meeting include the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The symposium will be held October 3 in Bethesda. At NIAAA, contact Dr. Vishnudutt Purohit, 301-443-2689, e-mail vpurohit@mail.nih.gov.