The following are new additions or modifications to existing information on NIAAA's Website:

NIH Acting Director Dr. Ruth Kirschstein convened the most recent COPR meeting in April. The Council provides NIH with 20 more ambassadors to and from the community, groups, and individuals who may not be familiar with the agency, its mission and the fruits of its research investment. As in previous COPR meetings, selected Institute Directors (Dr. Hyman of NIMH and Dr. Collins of NHGRI) discussed their public liaison activities and how they use public input to help inform program development. Also on the discussion agenda were important topical issues such as health disparities and human subjects protection. The next COPR meeting is scheduled for October 31, 2000.

It gives me great pleasure to formally welcome George Kunos, M.D., Ph.D. as the new Scientific Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

In 1987, Dr. Kunos joined the NIAAA's intramural program as Chief of the Laboratory of Physiologic and Pharmacologic Studies and subsequently became Head of the Section on Pharmacology. During that time, and later as an NIAAA-funded grantee in his present position as Chairman, department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Virginia, Dr. Kunos applied his extensive knowledge to alcohol research. He provided the first evidence that the effects of alcohol on the neural circuits that control blood pressure and heart rate are mediated by GABA receptors in the brain stem and that endogenous cannabinoid receptors play an important role in cardiovascular regulation. His laboratory also demonstrated that the hepatotoxic effects of alcohol are due, in part, to inhibition of IL-6 signaling and that the Raf/MAP kinase cascade is involved in regenerating rat hepatocytes.

Dr. Kunos has published more than 105 articles in prestigious journals, such as Science, Nature, FASEB Journal and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Six of his articles have been published in Nature and eight have been cited more than 100 times.

During his research career, Dr. Kunos also has nurtured and trained 24 post-doctoral fellows and nine graduate students, some of whom have become very successful researchers.

Dr. Kunos is internationally recognized as a leading scientist and has received numerous honors and awards. He was elected as a foreign member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; fellow, Council on High Blood Pressure Research, American Heart Association; and member, National Board of Medical Examiners.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Kunos to the NIAAA.

The second National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) was held April 6, 2000. Over 50,000 letters were sent to community centers, hospitals, clinics, and colleges inviting them to participate. This year, a number of ancillary activities were planned to promote NASD. For example, NASD's college component was prominently featured in the NCAA Championship Tournament Program. Preliminary analysis of NASD indicate that sites that drew on a built-in audience did well, while those sites that relied on the Site Locator Line and promotional activities to draw potential participants to a health care facility (particularly a treatment center) for the sole purpose of being screened for an alcohol problem did poorly; and the results from College Sites are fairly similar to those of 1999 in terms of both numbers and implementation strategies.

To kick off the second annual National Alcohol Screening Day on April 6, an April 4 media briefing was held at Georgetown University. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., (Delaware); Georgetown Dean of Students James Donahue, Ph.D.; Patrick Kilcarr, Ph.D., Director, Georgetown Center for Personal Development; Ms. Michelle Perry, Radford University student and drinking and driving crash survivor; Mr. Jeffrey Levy, father and MADD committee member; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrator Nelba Chavez; and Dr. Gordis addressed attendees about the importance of screening. Dr. Mary Dufour, NIAAA Deputy Director, gave numerous media interviews, including a live FOX News broadcast the morning of April 6. An NIAAA-developed video news release reached about 3 million viewers and print coverage included articles in Parade Magazine, USA Today, the Washington Post, and numerous local daily papers.

The "Leadership" initiative is rapidly expanding its activities. To date, Governors' spouses from 27 states have agreed to participate in this nation-wide coalition to prevent children ages 9-15 from drinking alcohol, and several more are strong possibilities for recruitment. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence has joined the list of more than 20 organizations on the Executive Working Group, which acts in an advisory capacity to the spouses. Stacia Murphy, President of the organization, will serve as the representative. The initiative, which is being developed and funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with additional support from the NIH Offices of Research on Women's Health and Research on Minority Health, is also attracting further Federal support. Most recently, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration pledged a total of $1 million over the next three years to assist the spouses with their outreach efforts. The Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have also expressed an interest in becoming involved in this project.

The Governors' spouses officially launched the initiative with a national conference in Washington, D.C. The conference brought together spouses from participating states and leading scientists and other experts in the field to consider the problem of underage drinking and how to combat it. The presentations and panel discussions during the day-and-a-half meeting covered a range of topics, including findings from current research on alcohol use by children, environmental influences on children's alcohol consumption, the role of parents and schools in curtailing underage drinking, community and state prevention efforts, and the relative success of various alcohol policies in preventing youth access to alcohol. One session was devoted to a roundtable discussion among young people aged 10 to 15, who expressed their views on why kids drink and the best ways to intervene. Based on comments from attendees, the conference was highly successful in increasing their understanding of the dimensions of the problem and the urgent need to make this issue a national priority. The conference drew substantial national and local media coverage.

The Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, addressed a Congressional reception held in conjunction with the conference. In her remarks, she noted that the Governors' spouses are powerful forces within their states for motivating and building coalitions and drawing the public's attention to the important social and health issues that involve our children, and therefore our families, our communities, and the entire Nation. She stressed the decisive role that science can play in policy development, stating that NIAAA research served as the basis for the passage of the 1984 Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, raising the minimum drinking age to 21 and now the law in all 50 states. She also cited research support for the enactment of zero-tolerance laws in a growing number of states and the current investigation of the tradeoffs involved in moderate alcohol consumption over the life span. She concluded her remarks with the observation that children are this country's greatest resource and pledged the continuing support of the National Institutes of Health to this powerful public-private partnership to protect the health of our youth. Senators Ted Stevens (Alaska), George Voinovich (Ohio), and Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) attended the reception.

A short video introducing the problem of early onset alcohol use was also unveiled at the March conference. It poses and answers three questions: Why do children drink? Why do we care? What should we do? It was very enthusiastically received. Multiple copies will be sent to participating states to be used as an educational tool for adult lay audiences. The conference concluded with a formal pledge signing ceremony in which the First Ladies signaled their ongoing commitment to this campaign.

On May 15, 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services released the Report on Carcinogens. This report, for the first time, listed alcohol as a "known human carcinogen." The Report summary states:

The Report also states that there is evidence that suggests a link between alcoholic beverage consumption and cancer of the liver and breast.

OPLPL, through Patricia Brown, has been monitoring the process and development of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans for the Year 2000. The Guideline, which was released by the Department of Agriculture at the National Nutrition Summit, May 30-31, 2000. (The lead alternates between the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services each five-year period. As Council may recall, the 1995 Guideline for alcohol was, "If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation." Advisory Committee member Meir Stampfer, M.D., Dr.P.H. (Professor & Chair, Department of Nutrition Sciences, Professor of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham) had the lead in developing the alcohol guideline for the Year 2000 edition.

The NIAAA Subcommittee on Research Priorities met on 21 March. Members of the Subcommittee include Drs. Henri Begleiter, Mark Goldman, Harold Holder, Matt McGue, and Carrie Randall, and Mr. Paul Samuels, along with Dr. T.K. Li, a member of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director, and former Council member Ms. Miggs Woodside. Also attending the meeting from NIAAA were Drs. Enoch Gordis and Mary Dufour, Stephen Long, Acting Executive Officer, Dr. Kenneth Warren, Director of OSA, the Intramural and Extramural Research Division Directors and other members of NIAAA senior staff.

A major function of the Priorities Subcommittee is to examine all of the Extramural Science Advisory Subcommittee (ESAS) Reports arising from the reviews of the eight extramural portfolio areas, to identify cross-cutting issues, and identify research needs and opportunities that are of particular importance when examined in this over-arching perspective. Last year, the Subcommittee considered the ESAS Reports that had been completed to date (Health Services, Alcohol and Pregnancy, Genetics and Neuroscience) and submitted recommendations at the February 1999 Council meeting. The Priorities Subcommittee will consider all eight ESAS portfolio Reports following completion of the Biomedical Consequences Report (which is the last in the series), and will make over-arching recommendations at that time. These recommendations will serve the Institute in its scientific planning process.

While awaiting completion of all eight-portfolio reviews, the Subcommittee is laying the groundwork for integrating its perspectives into the process by which the Institute develops its annual reports on significant research accomplishments, and for contributing concepts and plans for future research initiatives. Mr. Long gave several presentations on the Institute's budget request and how decisions are made, using recommendations from various sources (e.g., Congress, the Council and its subcommittees including ESAS and Priorities, and NIH's Areas of Emphasis). He also discussed a more formal planning and budget process that will seek even more input from outside sources. Since the meeting, the Institute has sought the Subcommittee's perspective on potential research initiatives suggested by the Divisions, and on scientific accomplishments to be reported by the Institute to Congress and the public. As the Subcommittee's recommendations emerge, they will be presented for comment to the full Council.

In an effort to address the complex issue of alcohol abuse among college students in a comprehensive, scientific manner, NIAAA's National Advisory Council created a Subcommittee on College Drinking in February, 1998. Comprised of college presidents and alcohol researchers, the subcommittee provides expertise and guidance to NIAAA based upon this unique dialogue among the administrators and scientists. Subcommittee activities are coordinated by Stephen Long, Fred Donodeo, Vivian Faden, and Gayle Boyd. The long-term goal of the subcommittee is to advise NIAAA on research gaps that need to be explored in order to improve campus prevention and treatment programs. A short-term goal is to provide college presidents and researchers with reliable information on the overall quality and effectiveness of current interventions.

As previously noted, the Subcommittee created two distinct panels which focus on specific aspects of college drinking. Each panel is in the process of reviewing and updating the series of commissioned papers and panel reports. The panel reports will then be used to create a final subcommittee report which will be presented to the Full council at the February 2001 meeting and, ultimately, to Dr. Gordis.

The Subcommittee is co-chaired by Rev. Edward A. Malloy, President of the University of Notre Dame and Dr. Mark Goldman, Distinguished Research Professor, University of South Florida.

NIAAA has been participating in a multi-agency effort led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation and the Office of Personnel Management to design and conduct a study of the effects of instituting parity for substance abuse and mental health benefits for all insurance carriers within the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program. Geoff Laredo, Director OPLPL has managed interagency collaboration on this project and Dr. Michael Hilton, DCPR, has provided scientific expertise for the study design.

Following a one-day symposium entitled "Adolescence and Alcohol, Implications For College Drinking," held in collaboration with the American Psychological Society (APS) and the Academy of Clinical Psychology, NIAAA has received numerous requests for summaries and transcripts. In response to this demand, Fred Donodeo prepared an article summarizing the presentations and discussions of the conference, which was sent to a variety of NIAAA constituency groups. The article has now been published in the newsletters and magazines of four national organizations: American College Health Association, Association of College and University Housing Officers-International, Association of College Unions International, and the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors.

Dr. Gordis participated as member of a panel entitled, " Substance Abuse: Is It All in the Brain?" held as part of this four-day conference sponsored by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) in conjunction with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Conference participants included representatives from research, the media, business, the entertainment industry, family groups, schools systems, religious institutions, government, and law enforcement. Dr. Gordis was joined on the panel by Floyd E. Bloom, Director, Department of Neuropharmacology, the Scripps Research Institute; Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine; and Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Medical department, Brookhaven National Laboratory. William Safire, The New York Times, served as the panel moderator. The Conference was held February 29-March 3 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California.

Dr. Gordis presented on the prevalence and the overall impact of alcohol abuse and alcoholism on our Nation to an audience which included the First Ladies from a number of states, members of their executive staffs, and representatives from their alcohol-related policy and program offices. (See page 4 for more details on the "Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free" and the National Conference).

A member of the Conference planning committee, Dr. Gordis participated in a variety of activities at the annual ASAM Conference including: providing remarks, "Remembering Dr. Ruth Fox" and, as a faculty member, presenting a lecture at the Ruth Fox Course for Physicians entitled, "Treating Alcohol Dependence: New Research, New Solutions"; providing a report on current NIAAA activities as a part of the Opening Ceremonies; co- organizer, along with Dr. Thomas Kresina, Chief, Biomedical Research Branch, NIAAA, of the NIAAA-sponsored Symposium, "Alcohol-induced Toxicity: Implications for Treatment of Alcoholism;" and organizer of the NIAAA-ASAM Symposium, "Clinical Insight from Animal Models. The ASAM Conference was held April 13-16 in Chicago, Illinois.

As visiting scholar, Dr. Gordis gave an invited plenary address, "Promise of Alcohol Research for Treatment and Prevention," at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's annual symposium in recognition of National Science and Technology Week. Past speakers at this annual event have included Drs. Albert Sabin, Nancy Jaax, Anthony Fauci, John Ruffin and Kenneth Olden. The annual symposium was held April 25-26.

Dr. Gordis presented a lecture at the Annual APA Convention entitled, "Alcohol Research: Achievements and Promise. He also was honored to receive a Special Presidential Commendation from the APA for "recognition of your contributions and public advocacy for basic and clinical research, and clinical practice through your accomplishments as director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism." During the course of the Convention, Dr. Gordis met with Bruce Dold, Deputy Editorial Page Editor, The Chicago Tribune, to discuss alcohol-related issues. The APA Convention was help May 14-16 in Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Gordis delivered an invited Keynote Address on the promise of research for treatment and prevention at this inaugural event sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for Alcohol- & Drug-related Studies. the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The Summer Institute was held May 22-24 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Dr. Mary Dufour represented NIAAA at a meeting of the Conference Steering Committee, Alcohol Research in Emergency Departments. The goal of the conference, which was held June 2 in Washington, DC, is to encourage research designed to improve identification and intervention for emergency depart patients with alcohol problems. Researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders will summarize the current status of clinical practice and research in the filed, identify critical research gaps and develop a research agenda intended to advance our knowledge and improve practice in the field.

The mission of the Office of Collaborative Research Activities (OCRA) is to: (a) foster collaboration activities with other NIH Institutes, governmental agencies, and other organizations interested in alcohol research; (b) provide momentum and guidance to projects in collaboration with appropriate program administrators or subject matter experts in other NIAAA offices or divisions; (c) coordinate and administer collaborative international research programs and scientific exchanges; and (d) develop and coordinate science education projects and initiatives.

Currently, the Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) on FAS consists of representatives from ten government organizations, agencies, and Institutes. Three cabinet departments are represented: Health and Human Services, Education and Justice. The meetings are attended by representatives of advocacy groups and state health departments. Drs. Mary Dufour and Faye Calhoun chair the committee. Activities since February Council include the following:

• An Executive Session of the ICCFAS was held on February 22. Agencies and organizations reported on progress made since the last report to Congress and plans for updating the report were made.
• On June 19, the Department of Education and the NIAAA will co-sponsor a working group meeting to develop additional action items for the next report to Congress of the ICCFAS. These will address issues related to the special needs of FAS and ARND children (ages 0-8) and their families. The working group will include educators, school psychologists and administrators as well as representatives from several ICCFAS organizations.
• A workshop entitled "Early Childhood Neurobehavioral Assessment for the Differential Diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Alcohol-Related Neurological Disorder" was held on March 8-10, 2000 at the Bethesda Marriott. Experts presented research findings and techniques used to study a number of teratogenic agents and developmental disorders. The workshop was well attended and progress has been made in sharpening and distinguishing the diagnosis for ARND. A summary report is being prepared.
• On May 24, Drs Faye Calhoun and Kenneth Warren provided leadership to an effort by the Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to develop and test the outcomes of a curriculum to transfer research to practice for criminal justice professionals in Minnesota. The meeting was held in a juvenile detention center which will be participating in the project. The committee to design the curriculum and plan the project includes lawyers, judges and corrections professionals.

This collaborative research study made use of the unique room-sized calorimetric facilities at the Diet and Human Performance Laboratory of the Human Nutrition Research Center (Agriculture Research Service, USDA) in Beltsville, MD to assess the nutritional interaction between alcohol and the energy derived from food. The Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine had the primary responsibility for subject recruitment and clinical care during the study. The data collection phase of the study is now complete and most of the data analysis has been completed. A manuscript describing the results is in preparation for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. This work has been conducted under an interagency agreement between the NIAAA and the Agriculture Research Service of the USDA, and is coordinated by Dr. Tom Gentry. These results will be presented at the RSA meeting in Denver.

A report on the workshop on the In vivo Pharmacokinetics of Alcohol was published in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. The report includes an overview of the meeting as well as individual contributions from each of the fifteen speakers. The meeting, believed to be the first specifically on the topic of alcohol pharmacokinetics, provided a variety of perspectives on the absorption, distribution and elimination of alcohol, and the methodologies used to assess in vivo alcohol pharmacokinetics. Topics include: a) A historical overview of alcohol pharmacokinetics research, b) Alcohol absorption, bioavailability and first-pass metabolism, c) The effect of food and beverage alcohol concentration on alcohol absorption and elimination, d) Distribution dynamics and the significance of various sites of sampling, e) Pharmacokinetics issues in experimental design and forensics, f) Gender and ethnic differences in alcohol pharmacokinetics, and g) Innovative new techniques, including the use of physiologically-based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) modeling. This report was edited by Dr. Tom Gentry.

An intensive, two-day workshop was held May 11-12 in the Colorado Springs headquarters of Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), the contractor supporting the NIH Office of Science Education (OSE) and NIAAA in developing a science education curriculum supplement titled "Understanding Alcohol: Separating Fact from Fiction". The workshop brought together three scientific advisors, a consulting curriculum specialist, a seventh-grade master teacher, and staff from OSE, NIAAA, and BSCS to develop a logical sequence of five class periods and to outline the scientific and pedagogic content of each. A report of the workshop will be developed by BSCS and presented to OSE and NIAAA in June for review and comment, to be followed by a writers' conference in July to flesh out the emerging outline. Dorothea de Zafra, Science Education Program Coordinator, represented NIAAA at the May workshop.

BSCS pioneered the "5E" learning model in the late 1980's, which is being used in the NIH Curriculum Supplement Series. The 5E concepts are: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. During the May workshop consensus was reached that drinking and driving will be the "Engage" focus of the NIAAA supplement, to stimulate student interest in learning about the science of alcohol. Conceptual understanding will then be developed, focusing primarily on alcohol's effects on the brain and cognition.

The three science advisors who participated in the workshop were all very enthusiastic and proposed leadership roles for themselves, the Alcohol Research Centers, and the Research Society on Alcoholism in teacher-training and implementation promotion when the curriculum supplement is ready for release. The three advisors are: Dr. Gene Erwin of the University of Colorado Alcohol Research Center; Dr. Robert Zucker, Director, University of Michigan Alcohol Research Center, and Dr. Robert Voas of the Public Services Research Institute.

Over 70 applications were received in response to the RFA on Studying Spirituality and Alcohol co-sponsored with the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The RFA requested projects to better understand the role of religiousness and spirituality in the prevention and treatment of and recovery from alcoholism and alcohol-related diseases.

The international research and training program continues to focus on development of opportunities for research collaboration between foreign investigators and alcohol researchers in the United States.

Peggy Murray represented the National Institutes of Health at the signing of the agreement between the governments of Italy and the United States for scientific and technological cooperation which took place April 13-14 in Rome, Italy. Alcohol research was formally adopted into the agenda for research on health as part of this agreement. While in Rome, Ms. Murray met with the Director of the Italian Instituto Superiore Di Santa' (ISS), and finalized the Exchange of Letters between that Institute and NIAAA for cooperation in alcohol research. Areas of cooperation include moderate alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease; alcohol and health in aging populations; prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of alcohol-use disorders in primary care settings; evaluation of treatment for alcohol use disorders; medical education and training regarding alcohol-use disorders for medical students, residents, and post-graduate physicians; genetics of alcoholism; collaborative work on the development of standardized measures for global alcohol epidemiological research; and alcohol and youth.

Dr. Gentry edited and contributed the introduction to a 29-page report on the NIAAA-sponsored "Workshop on the In Vivo Pharmacokinetics of Alcohol: Determinants and Analysis of Blood Alcohol Concentration after Social Drinking" which included 14 separate brief summaries and was published in the April, 2000 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. One of these summaries "Effect of Food on the Pharmacokinetics of Alcohol Absorption" was also contributed by Dr. Gentry.

OPLPL, through Geoff Laredo, continues in its role as Institute liaison with policy staff at NIH, DHHS, other Executive Branch agencies, and ONDCP in matters related to the National Drug Control Strategy. This is accomplished through both formal and informal mechanisms, including Geoff's seat on ONDCP's Staff Agency Representatives Committee, which provides input and support to the Interagency Demand Reduction Workgroup. This function includes the facilitation of NIAAA's "drug budget" (that portion of the budget pertaining to underage use of alcohol, which is included in the National Drug Control Budget) submission.

The President's 2000 National Drug Control Strategy has been published, and copies will be made available to all interested Council members.

NIAAA maintains an active program of both formal and informal outreach to and cooperation with organizations whose interests involve wholly or in part alcohol-related programs and activities. This program, carried out principally through the Office of Policy, Legislation, and Public Liaison, is designed to help increase exposure of non-science specific audiences to alcohol research and of scientific audiences to non-research activities that bear on our common concern-reducing the tremendous impact of alcohol-related problems. An annual plan of specific, formal collaborations with outside groups serves as the basis of much of this activity. The following is a description of NIAAA's ongoing activities in this area.

OPLPL, primarily through Geoff Laredo, is responsible for liaison activities as they relate to Council meetings (and associated "liaison group meetings"). Currently, over 400 outside groups comprise our contact list, and we share information on a regular basis. Liaison representatives meet informally with NIAAA Director Dr. Enoch Gordis and senior staff following the adjournment of Council meetings. Dozens of groups have been able to join us at these meetings since we expanded NIAAA's outreach effort. In addition, we are in constant communication with a large number of these groups on a variety of issues, as they arise.

Activities since the last Council meeting, and those planned throughout FY2000, include:

The Tenth Special Report to the U. S. Congress on Alcohol and Health was submitted to NIH for review on February 1 and to HHS on March 1 for final approval by the Secretary.

NIAAA in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration is developing two television and two radio public service announcements on underage drinking. A kick-off meeting with the subcontractor's staff and representatives from NIAAA and SAMHSA was held on March 29. Creative message "briefs" were developed and approved by NIAAA and SAMHSA staff.

Work continues on developing "taglines" and text for posters and ads that will be used on public transit. These materials will be used in this public education campaign targeting African-American women of child-bearing age in Washington, DC. Plans are to launch the campaign during Alcohol Awareness Month in April 2001.

Areas of potential interest to the sleep and circadian research community include neural mechanisms of alcohol-induced sleep disturbances, persistent poor sleep as a risk marker for development of alcoholism in adolescents and non-alcoholic young adults, sleep disorders as a predictor of relapse in abstinent alcoholics, and the health consequences of alcohol's disruptive effects on sleep. Application Receipt Date: September 14, 2000

Research project grants for the study of ethanol's effects on behavior, nervous system function, and organ pathophysiology using emerging microarray technology. NIAAA also encourages the formation of multidisciplinary teams of investigators drawing from neuroscience, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, behavioral science, bioengineering, and computational biology for this purpose. NIAAA anticipates that such studies will aid in the identification of genes and gene products mediating neurobiological and behavioral changes and tissue damage induced by acute and chronic exposure to ethanol, thereby providing new targets for the development of medications for prevention and treatment of alcoholism and the biomedical consequences of alcohol abuse.

The Division of Biometry and Epidemiology (DBE) Staff along with staff from the Alcohol Epidemiology Data System (AEDS) have participated in the following activities.

A total of 6 files (tables) in NIAAA's Quick Facts were updated during from February to the end of April 2000. The Quick Facts database is available online through the NIAAA Website.

Yi, H.; Stinson, F.S.; Williams, G.D.; and Bertolucci, D. Surveillance Report #49: Trends in Alcohol-Related Fatal Traffic Crashes, United States, 1979-97. Bethesda, MD: NIH/NIAAA, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, December 1999.

Whitmore, C.C.; Stinson, F.S.; and Dufour, MC. Surveillance Report #50: Trends in Alcohol-Related Morbidity Among Short-Stay Community Hospital Discharges, United States, 1979-97. Bethesda, MD: NIH/NIAAA, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, December 1999.

Nephew, T.M.; Williams, G.D.; Stinson, F.S.; Nguyen, K.; and Dufour, M.C. Surveillance Report #51: Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977-97. Bethesda, MD: NIH/NIAAA, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, December 1999.

Saadatmand, F.; Stinson, F.S.; Grant, B.F.; and Dufour, M.C. Surveillance Report #52: Liver Cirrhosis Mortality in the United States, 1970-96. Bethesda, MD: NIH/NIAAA, Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, December 1999.

Gregory Bloss participated in the ImpacTeen Alcohol Expert Panel Meeting at the University of Minnesota on May 17-18, 2000. This panel serves in an advisory capacity to the alcohol component of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded ImpacTeen project, a 5-year study to track State alcohol control legislation and to evaluate the effectiveness of selected policies in reducing alcohol-related mortality and other adverse outcomes. Led by Professor Alexander Wagenaar, the alcohol component of the project is a companion to other ImpacTeen research projects that are examining the effects of public policies at the State and community levels on tobacco and illicit drugs, with coordination across the separate components provided by economic and prevention researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

On May 10 Dr. John Allen and Ms. Veronica Wilson convened the first meeting of the Subject Matter Expert Panel that will revise Assessing Alcohol Problems: A Guide for Clinicians and Researchers, originally published in 1995. The new manual will thoroughly update the earlier version of the manual in terms of content-oriented chapters and also will include instruments that now satisfy inclusion criteria. Additionally, the updated manual will include several entirely new chapters and sections dealing with assessment of adolescents, measurement of co-occurring drug abuse and nicotine dependence, craving, and treatment process measures, as well as including a summary chapter suggesting how instruments can be applied to clinical practice. The manual will be available in hard copy as well as on the NIAAA Website.

Drs. Raye Litten and Joanne Fertig of the Treatment Research Branch will serve as authors of the subject matter chapters dealing with biomarkers.

Fuller, R.K. & Allen, J.P. (2000). Patients-to-Treatment Matching. In Gerald Zernig, Alois Saria, Martin Kurz & Stephanie O'Malley (Eds). CRC Handbook on Alcoholism, pp. 363-368, CRC Press, Washington, D.C.

Allen, J.P. (2000). Measuring Treatment Process Variables in Alcoholics Anonymous. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 18(3), 227-230.

Allen, J.P., Litten, R.Z., Fertig, J.B. & Sillanaukee, P. (2000). Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin, Gamma Glutamyl Transferase and Macrocytic Volume as Biomarkers of Alcohol Problems in Women. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24(4), 492-496.

Dr. Raye Litten and Dr. Walter Hunt of Division of Basic Science organized the workshop, "Role of Kindling in Alcohol Withdrawal and Neurotoxicity," held on April 4-5, 2000, in Bethesda, Maryland. Thirteen researchers from preclinical and clinical disciplines convened to review the current findings of kindling, discuss clinical and biological issues, and recommend future research directions. Various topics were discussed including the validity of kindling, physiological mechanisms underlying kindling, relationship between multiple alcohol withdrawals and increased susceptibility to neurotoxicity and cognitive impairment, medications to curb or prevent kindling, and contribution of kindling to relapse. The participants plan to publish a report on the proceedings of the meeting.

Dr. Raye Litten presented "Review of Biomarkers of Excessive Drinking," at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, May 17, 2000.

Dr. Litten presented "Disulfiram: Efficacy, Safety, and Compliance," at the Fourth Annual Addictions Symposium of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command, Walter Reed Medical Center, Washington, D.C., May 11, 2000.

Dr. Litten presented "Medications Development for Alcohol Treatment,"at Psychiatry Grand Rounds, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas, May 9, 2000.

Dr. Raye Litten presented "Variations in Treatment Approaches," Alcohol Clinical Research Working Group Issues in Health Disparities Research, Bethesda, Maryland, May 4, 2000.

Dr. Litten presented "Pharmacotherapy for Alcoholism," at the NIAAA Alcohol Use and HIV Pharmacotherapy Conference, Bethesda, Maryland, April 27, 2000.

Dr. Litten presented "Emerging Biomarkers of Excessive Drinking," at the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) 31^st Annual Medical-Scientific Conference, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2000

The Prevention Research Branch (PRB) received two funding awards from ORMH for FY 2000:

• $50,000 to continue PRB's technical assistance mentoring program for potential minority applicants
• $ 50,000 supplement to an existing NIAAA prevention research grant to complete a literature review and secondary data analysis concerning the effectiveness of preventive interventions among minority populations.

The Prevention Research Branch sponsored the attendance of three "early career" researchers at the annual meetings of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) in Montreal, Canada June 1-3. The three attendees are members of three different ethnic minority groups, come from different regions of the U.S., and are engaged in different types of alcohol-focused prevention research. Participation in the meetings enabled them to broaden their knowledge of substance abuse research and their network of research colleagues.

Six new applicants have been approved under the Alcohol Research Mentoring System () and are in the process of being assigned mentors. The ARMS program, which is under the direction of Dr. Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, continues to process applications. Increased efforts to market the program, including an NIAAA/NIH announcement released in the fall, appear to have been productive, and applications have noticeably increased since the beginning of the year.

On May 19, Dr. Jessica Warner, of the University of Toronto, addressed the Prevention Research Branch and invited guests on findings from her NIAAA-funded study of the Gin Epidemic in 18th century England. Her presentation was titled: The Gin Epidemic and the Prevention of Debauchery. Three papers from this historical/naturalistic study have been published or are in press, and at least three more are under review.

Boyd, G.M. (2000) Book review: Stephanie Brown and Virginia Lewis. The Alcoholic Family in Recovery: A Developmental Model, New York, Guilford Press, 1999. Addiction, 95(4), 633.

In March of Year 2000, the Institute elevated the status of Health Services Research from that of a research program to that of a branch, making it one of three branches within the Division of Clinical and Prevention Research.

02/10/00, Louis Holdstock, University of Chicago, Department of Psychiatry, gave the lecture Individual Differences in Subjective Behavioral and Cognitive Responses to Ethanol

02/24/00, James Bjork, Ph.D., Harris County Psychiatric Center, University of Texas (Houston), Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences gave the seminar Serotonin, Aggression and Impulsivity

04/06/00, Sean O'Connor, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Chief, Substance Abuse Treatment Section, Indiana University School of Medicine, gave the lecture Determinants of the Human Response to Alcohol,

04/06/00, National Alcohol Screening Day (a program of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in partnership with the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and Screening for Mental Health)

04/20/00, Georg Winterer, M.D., NIH/NIMH, gave the seminar Electrophysiological Phenotyping in Alcoholics

04/24/00, Christopher Mullins met with LMBB/NMR staff to discuss ongoing collaborative research

04/30-05/06/00, Yoshihiro Kashiwaya gave the lecture Ketones in Neuronal Culture Models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease at the Rare Disease Workshop and also met with LMBB staff regarding collaborative research

05/11/00, Gary Kaplan, M.D., Professor, Dartmouth College, presented seminar Role of Mid Brain Neurotransmitter Systems on Opioid Actions.

05/22/00, Bin Gao, M.D., Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University, presented seminar Signal Transduction During Liver Regeneration: Targeted by Ethanol

05/24/00, Steven Xi Zhan, Ph.D., Holland Laboratory, American Red Cross, presented seminar the Role of Src and Cortactic in the Injury of Endothelial Cells Induced by Reactive Oxygen Species

Philip J. Brooks (LNG) participated on a panel entitled DNA Repair in the Nervous System

Forrest F. Weight (LMCN) gave an invited lecture in a session entitled Anesthetic Actions at GABA and Glutamate Synapses

Khaleda A. Bhuiya, Postbac IRTA (LNG) presented poster DNA End-Joining by Adult Rat Cerebellum Extracts (PJ Brooks, Preceptor)

Aimee Marko, Postbac IRTA (LNG) presented poster Development of Immobilized cDNAs for Screening of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Human Brain (RH Lipsky & D Goldman, Preceptors)

Charity L. McManaman, Postbac IRTA (LNG) presented poster High Throughput Screening and Detection of Human Brain Expressed Single Nucleotide polymorphisms (D Goldman & JG Rudolph, Preceptors)

Jamie A. Rackoff, Predoc IRTA (LCS) presented poster Protein Kinase Activation Alters Cytoplasmic Calpastatin Immunoreactivity In Situ (PB DePetrillo, Preceptor)

Anitza M. San Miguel, Predoc IRTA (LCS) presented poster Differential Effects of Alcohol and Corticosterone on Calcium-Stimulated Neutral Proteases (PB DePetrillo, Preceptor)

Kim Wittenberg, Technical IRTA (LCS/NN) presented poster the Serotonin Metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic Acid (5-HIAA) in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta): Does it predict alcohol tolerance? (JD Higley, Preceptor)

Aneeq Ahmad presented poster titled Effects of Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid on the Morphology of the Hippocampus

Mohammed Akbar presented poster titled Protective Effect of Docosahexaenoic Acid in Neuronal Apoptosis: Involvement of Phosphatidyl Inositol 3-Kinase Pathway

Klaus Gawrisch presented the poster Lateral Lipid Diffusion Dominates Noesy Cross-Relaxation In Membranes

Edward Sternin presented the poster Temperature Dependence of DMPC/DHPC Mixing in Bicelles and Its Structural Implications

Melissa Gerald (LCS/NN) presented the lecture Cheaters Never Prosper--Social Mechanisms Maintain Honest Signals of Status in Vervet Monkey Scrotal Color

Connie Kolman and Jeffrey Long (LNG) presented the paper the Mongolian Diaspora?

Joseph Lorenz (LNG) presented the poster Sequence Diversity Among Haplogroup A mtDNA Control Region Lineages in an Alaskan Na-Dene Population

James D. Higley presented lecture Genotypic and Environmental Influences on the Neurobiology of Excessive Alcohol Consumption: A Nonhuman Primate Model

Daniel W. Hommer presented lecture in the Symposium Neuroimaging for Addictive Disorders--Examining the Brain in Humans

James D. Higley (LCS/NN) Chaired a symposium and present the paper Genotypic and Environmental Influences on Serotonin Differences--A Nonhuman Primate Model

David Goldman (LNG) gave the lecture Variation in Dopamine and Serotonin Function

Joseph Hibbeln presented lecture Omega-3 PUFAs and Psychiatric Disorders: Vulnerability for Adults and Infants

Burton J Litman presented lecture How Do DHA Phospholipids Modulate the Activity of the Visual Transduction Pathway

Mohammed Akbar presented lecture the Role of Docosahexaenoic Acid in Neuronal Signaling

Robert Pawlosky gave the talk Kinetic Modeling of Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism in Humans vs Bolus-Dose Administration of Deuterium-Labeled Linoleic and Linolenic Acid

Norman Salem presented the lecture Rats with Lower Brain DHA Show Performance Losses in Olfactory and Spatial Learning and Memory-Related Tasks

Burton J. Litman (LMBB) present seminar How Do Membrane Hydration and ETOH Modulate Signaling in the Rhodopsin Activated Visual Transduction System? University of North Carolina, Department of Biochemistry, Chapel Hill NC, 2/1/2000

Melissa S. Gerald (LCS/NN) presented seminar How Color May Guide the Vervet Monkey World. Lehigh University, Department of Biological Sciences, Bethlehem PA, 2/10-11/00

Daniel E. Rio (LCS) presented a research paper at the International Society for Optical Engineering, Medical Imaging 2000 Conference, San Diego CA, 02/12-18/00

David Goldman (LNG) gave a lecture entitled In Vivo Neurochemical Correlates of Neurotrans Gene Polymorphs that are In Vitro Functional. 7^th Annual Meeting on Molecular Psychiatry, Park City UT, 2/13-15/00

Klaus Gawrisch (LMBB) gave lectures entitled Role of the Aromatic Amino Acid-Tryptophan in Lipid-Protein Interaction, Muenster, Germany; and Lipid-Protein Interaction in Neural Receptor Membranes, Halle, Germany, 3/22-29/00

Joannie Shen (LCS) presented a paper at the International Congress on Clinical Research and Quality Management in Complementary Medicine, Munich, Germany, 04/6-8/00

Norman Salem (LMBB) presented the talk Essentiality of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Brain Development at the Experimental Biology 2000 Food & Nutrition Forum, San Diego CA, 04/15/00

Joseph Lorenz (LNG) gave the talk Out of California? the Pattern of Mitochrondial DNA Sequence Variation in North America at the Society for California Archaeology (SCA) Year 2000 Annual Meeting, Riverside CA, 04/19-22/00

Jeffrey Long (LNG) give the talk Genetic Studies on Alcoholism in American Indian Communities at the Indian Health Service Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, 04/24-25/00

Joseph Hibbeln (LMBB) Chaired the session Lipids and Psychiatric Disorders and presented a talk on Improvements in heart rate variability among adolescent rhesus monkeys fed formula supplemented with dha and aa as infants-Neuropsychiatric Implications at the 91^st Annual Meeting & Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS), San Diego CA, 04/25-28/00

Joseph Hibbeln (LMBB) gave the talk Fish Consumption, Depression and Suicidality in a General Population at the 153^rd Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Chicago IL, 05/13-18/00

Norman Salem presented the lecture Essential Fatty Acid Comp & Metabolism in Relation to Nervous System Development and Function at the University of Tokyo, 06/09/00

Cardozo-Pelaez F, Brooks PJ, Stedeford T, Song SJ, Sanchez-Ramos J: DNA damage, repair, and antioxidant systems in brain regions: A correlative study. Free Radical Biology and Medicine 2000;28(5):779-85

Castellanos FX, Marvasti FF, Ducharme JL, Walter JM, Israel ME, Krain A, Pavlovsky C, Hommer DW: Executive function oculomotor tasks in girls with ADHD. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2000;39(5):644-50

DePetrillo PB, Bennett AJ, Speers D, Suomi SJ, Shoaf SE, Karimullah K, Higley JD: Ondansetron modulates pharmacodynamic effects of ketamine on electrocardiographic signals in rhesus monkeys. European Journal of Pharmacology 2000;391(1-2):113-9

Fenton WS, Hibbeln J, Knable M: Essential fatty acids, lipid membrane abnormalities, and the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 2000;47(1):8-21 (REV)

Heinz A, Goldman D, Jones DW, Palmour R, Hommer D, Gorey JG, Lee KS, Linnoila M, Winberger DR: Genotype influences in vivo dopamine transporter availability in human striatum. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000;22(2):133-9

Heinz A, Jones DW, Mazzanti C, Goldman D, Ragan P, Hommer D, Linnoila M, Weinberger DR: A relationship between serotonin transporter genotype and in vivo protein expression and alcohol neurotoxicity. Biological Psychiatry 2000;47(7):643-9

Heinz A, Weingartner H, George D, Hommer D, Wolkowitz OM, Linnoila M: Severity of depression in abstinent alcoholics is associated with monoamine metabolites and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate concentrations. Psychiatry Research 1999;89(2):97-106

Hommer DW: Functional imaging of craving. Alcohol Research & Health 1999;23(3):187-196

Johnstone LE, Brown CH, Meeren HKM, Vuijst CL, Brooks PJ, Leng G, Russell JA: Local morphine withdrawal increases c-fos gene, fos protein, and oxytocin gene expression in hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory cells. JOURNAL OF Neuroscience 2000;20(3):1272-80

Kim HY, Hamilton J: Accumulation of docosahexaenoic acid in phosphatidylserine is selectively inhibited by chronic ethanol exposure in C-6 glioma cells. Lipids 2000;35(2):187-95

Kim SS, Yoo YM, Shin JS, Jeong KS: Blood compatibility of polyurethane-poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer blends. Polymer-Korea 2000;24(1):82-89

Kim YS, Zhang HJ, Kim HY: Profiling neurosteroids in cerebrospinal fluids and plasma by gas chromatography/electron capture negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Analytical Biochemistry 2000;277(2):187-95

Koenig BW, Mitchell DC, Konig S, Grzesiek S, Litman BJ, Bax A: Measurement of dipolar couplings in a transducin peptide fragment weakly bound to oriented photo-activated rhodopsin. Journal of Biomolecular NMR 2000;16(2):121-5

Kolman CJ, Tuross N: Ancient DNA analysis of human populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2000;111(1):5-23

Liesi P, Stewart RR, Wright JM: Involvement of GIRK2 in postnatal development of the weaver cerebellum. Journal of Neuroscience Research 2000;60(2):164-73

Mehlman PT, Westergaard GC, Hoos BJ, Sallee FR, Marsh S, Suomi SJ, Linnoila M, Higley JD: CSF5-HIAA and nighttime activity in free-ranging primates. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000;22(2):210-8

Mitchell DC, Litman BJ: Effect of ethanol and osmotic stress on receptor conformation - reduced water activity amplifies the effect of ethanol on metarhodopsin II formation. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2000;275(8):5355-60

Nicolson R, Lenane M, Singaracharlu S, Malaspina D, Giedd JN, Hamburger SD, Gochman P, Bedwell J, Thaker GK, Fernandez T, Wudarsky M, Hommer DW, Rapoport JL: Premorbid speech and language impairments in childhood-onset schizophrenia: Association with risk factors. American Journal of Psychiatry 2000;157(5):794-800

Shoaf SE: Pharmacokinetics of intravenous alcohol: Two compartment, dual Michaelis-Menten elimination. Alcoholism-Clinical and Experimental Research 2000;24(4):424-5

Shoaf SE, Carson RE, Hommer D, Williams WA, Higley JD, Schmall B, Herscovitch P, Eckelman WC, Linnoila M: the suitability of [C-11]-alpha-methyl-L-tryptophan as a tracer for serotonin synthesis: Studies with dual administration of [C-11] and [C-14] labeled tracer. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 2000;20(2):244-52

Yau WM, Gawrisch K: Lateral lipid diffusion dominates NOESY cross-relaxation in membranes. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2000;122(16):3971-2

Zajicek KB, Price CS, Shoaf SE, Mehlman PT, Suomi SJ, Linnoila M, Higley JD: Seasonal variation in CSF5-HIAA concentrations in male rhesus macaques. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000;22(3):240-50

Zhang HJ, Akbar M, Kim HY: Melatonin: an endogenous negative modulator of 12-lipoxygenation in the rat pineal gland. Biochemical Journal 1999;344:487-93 (Part 2)

Ahmad A, Greiner RS, Moriguchi T, Salem N: Effects of dietary omega-3 fatty acid on the morphology of the hippocampus. Journal of Neurochemistry 2000;74:S88 (Suppl. S)

Akbar M, Kim HY: Protective effect of docosahexaenoic acid in neuronal apoptosis: Involvement of phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase pathway. Journal of Neurochemistry 2000;74:S7 (Suppl. S)

Bennett AJ, Lesch KP, Heils A, Long J, Lorenz JP, Shoaf SE, Champoux M, Suomi SJ, Higley JD: Serotonin transporter gene variation and early rearing environment interact to affect CSF5-HIAA concentrations, aggressive behavior, and alcohol consumption in rhesus monkeys. Behavior Genetics 1999;29(5):349-50

Contreras MA, Greiner RS, Chang MCJ, Myers CS, Bell JM, Balbo A, Salem N, Rapoport SL: Chronic deprivation of alpha-linolenic acid decreases the turnover of docosahexaenoate in rats brain phospholipids. Journal of Neurochemistry 2000;74:S88 (Suppl. S)

Goldman D, Kittles RA, Bergen AW, Eggert M, Virkkunen M, Long J: Role of the Y chromosome in alcohol dependence and related personality traits: A cladistic analysis with eight-locus haplotypes in Finnish males. Behavior Genetics 1999;29(5):356-7

Higley JD, Bennett A: Impaired CNS serotonin functioning, excessive alcohol intake and aggression: A nonhuman primate model of genetic and environmental influences. Behavior Genetics 1999;29(5):357-8

Knutson B, Adams S, Kaiser E, Walker J, Hommer D. FMRI visualization of brain activity during anticipation of monetary reward. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2000;56 (Suppl. S)

Kolman CJ, Sambuughin N, Goldfarb L. the Mongolian diaspora? American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2000;199 (Suppl. 30)

Lorenz JG, Wang YL, Romero FC, Kittles RA, Goldman D, Long JC: Sequence diversity among haplogroup A mtDNA control region lineages in an Alaskan Na-Dene population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2000;213 (Suppl. 30)

Malhotra AK, Goldman D: Reverse pharmacogenetics: molecular genetics in the prediction of rapid relapse following antipsychotic drug discontinuation. Schizophrenia Research 2000;41(1):97-8 (Sp. Iss)

Mitchell DC, Litman BJ: Reduced water activity amplifies the poteniation of metarhodopsin II formation by ethanol. Biophysical Journal 2000;78(1):410A (Part 2)

Niu SL, Mitchell DC, Litman BJ: Dependence of G-protein binding by metarhodopsin II on bilayer lipid composition. Biophysical Journal 2000;78(1):67A (Part 2)

Pawlosky R, Novotny JA, Hibbeln J, Wegher B, Salem N: A compartmental model for the metabolism of essential fatty acids in humans. FASEB JOURNAL 2000;14(4):A251

Polozov IV, Litman BJ, Gawrisch K: Deuterium-NMR studies of protein-lipid interactions - Rhodopsin's preference for polyunsaturated lipids. Biophysical Journal 2000;78(1):412A (Part 2)

Polozova A, Litman BJ: Acyl chain-based molecular sorting of lipids by a G-protein coupled receptor: Specific association of rhodopsin with polyunsaturated lipids. Biophysical Journal 2000;78(1):410A (Part 2)

Yau WM, Gawrisch K: Electric dipolar interactions between tryptophan and phospholipids. Biophysical Journal 2000;78(1):413A (Part 2)

The following Alcohol Research Utilization System (ARUS) symposia and activities have been scheduled for the next four months (June, July, August, and September).

The Institute is providing partial support for 40 students and 22 Junior Investigators to assist them in participating in the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) June 24-29, 2000, in Denver, Colorado.

The Institute is co-sponsoring the satellite symposium, "CNS Mechanism in Alcohol Relapse," to be held on June 24, 2000, from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm at the Annual Scientific Meeting of RSA June 24-29,2000 in Denver, Colorado.

Patrick already has significant experience in the alcohol field. He has participated in and/or led several university-based activities around alcohol issues (U. Virginia alcohol awareness week; U. Virginia Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team, etc.), and he also volunteers his time as a mentor to recovering addicts and alcoholics in treatment centers. Patrick is also a student representative to the NIAAA National Advisory Council's Subcommittee on College Drinking. This internship will give him an opportunity to learn about and assist OPLPL acting director Geoff Laredo with a variety of policy issues and projects currently under development in the Office. Patrick's primary focus will be on college drinking issues, where he will provide significant assistance to Steve Long and Fred Donodeo in the various activities of the Subcommittee.