Subjective stress and any drinking during alcohol treatment: Disentangling within and between person autoregressive effects.

Alcohol use has been shown to increase stress, and there is some evidence that stress predicts subsequent alcohol use during treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), particularly among females who are more likely to report coping-motivated drinking. Gaining a better understanding of the processes by which stress and alcohol use are linked during treatment could potentially inform AUD treatment planning. The current study aimed to characterize the association between stress and drinking during the course of AUD treatment and whether there were sex differences in these associations.

Genome-wide association study in bipolar patients stratified by co-morbidity.

Background: Bipolar disorder is a severe psychiatric disorder with high heritability. Co-morbid conditions are common and might define latent subgroups of patients that are more homogeneous with respect to genetic risk factors.

Methodology: In the Caucasian GAIN bipolar disorder sample of 1000 cases and 1034 controls, we tested the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms with patient subgroups defined by co-morbidity.

Partnerships for the design, conduct, and analysis of effectiveness, and implementation research: experiences of the prevention science and methodology group.

What progress prevention research has made comes through strategic partnerships with communities and institutions that host this research, as well as professional and practice networks that facilitate the diffusion of knowledge about prevention. We discuss partnership issues related to the design, analysis, and implementation of prevention research and especially how rigorous designs, including random assignment, get resolved through a partnership between community stakeholders, institutions, and researchers. These partnerships shape not only study design, but they determine the data that can be collected and how results and new methods are disseminated.

Effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug treatments on cognitive decline vary by phase of pre-clinical Alzheimer disease: findings from the randomized controlled Alzheimer's Disease Anti-inflammatory Prevention Trial.

Objective: We examined the effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on cognitive decline as a function of phase of pre-clinical Alzheimer disease.

Methods: Given recent findings that cognitive decline accelerates as clinical diagnosis is approached, we used rate of decline as a proxy for phase of pre-clinical Alzheimer disease. We fit growth mixture models of Modified Mini-Mental State (3MS) Examination trajectories with data from 2388 participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Anti-inflammatory Prevention Trial and included class-specific effects of naproxen and celecoxib.

Two-Part Factor Mixture Modeling: Application to an Aggressive Behavior Measurement Instrument.

This study introduces a two-part factor mixture model as an alternative analysis approach to modeling data where strong floor effects and unobserved population heterogeneity exist in the measured items. As the names suggests, a two-part factor mixture model combines a two-part model, which addresses the problem of strong floor effects by decomposing the data into dichotomous and continuous response components, with a factor mixture model, which explores unobserved heterogeneity in a population by establishing latent classes. Two-part factor mixture modeling can be an important tool for situations in which ordinary factor analysis produces distorted results and can allow researchers to better understand population heterogeneity within groups.

A multilevel linear mixed model of the association between candidate genes and weight and body mass index using the Framingham longitudinal family data.

Obesity has become an epidemic in many countries and is one of the major risk conditions for disease including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified two genes (FTO and near MC4R) that were unequivocally associated with body mass index (BMI) and obesity. For the Genetic Analysis Workshop 16, data from the Framingham Heart Study were made available, including longitudinal anthropometric and metabolic traits for 7130 Caucasian individuals over three generations, each with follow-up data at up to four time points.

Growth mixture modelling in families of the Framingham Heart Study.

Growth mixture modelling, a less explored method in genetic research, addresses unobserved heterogeneity in population samples. We applied this technique to longitudinal data of the Framingham Heart Study. We examined systolic blood pressure (BP) measures in 1060 males from 692 families and detected three subclasses, which varied significantly in their developmental trajectories over time.

Antidepressant response trajectories and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) biomarkers in major depressive disorder.

Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) vary regarding the rate, magnitude and stability of symptom changes during antidepressant treatment. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) can be used to identify patterns of change in symptom severity over time. Quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG) cordance within the first week of treatment has been associated with endpoint clinical outcomes but has not been examined in relation to patterns of symptom change.

Intention-to-treat analysis in cluster randomized trials with noncompliance.

In cluster randomized trials (CRTs), individuals belonging to the same cluster are very likely to resemble one another, not only in terms of outcomes but also in terms of treatment compliance behavior. Although the impact of resemblance in outcomes is well acknowledged, little attention has been given to the possible impact of resemblance in compliance behavior. This study defines compliance intraclass correlation as the level of resemblance in compliance behavior among individuals within clusters.

Cluster randomized trials with treatment noncompliance.

Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) have been widely used in field experiments treating a cluster of individuals as the unit of randomization. This study focused particularly on situations where CRTs are accompanied by a common complication, namely, treatment noncompliance or, more generally, intervention nonadherence. In CRTs, compliance may be related not only to individual characteristics but also to the environment of clusters individuals belong to.

Developmental epidemiological courses leading to antisocial personality disorder and violent and criminal behavior: effects by young adulthood of a universal preventive intervention in first- and second-grade classrooms.

Background: Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), violent and criminal behavior, and drug abuse disorders share the common antecedent of early aggressive, disruptive behavior. In the 1985-1986 school year teachers implemented the Good Behavior Game (GBG), a classroom behavior management strategy targeting aggressive, disruptive behavior and socializing children to the student role. From first through seventh grade the developmental trajectories of 2311 students from 19 Baltimore City Public Schools were examined.

Methods for testing theory and evaluating impact in randomized field trials: intent-to-treat analyses for integrating the perspectives of person, place, and time.

Randomized field trials provide unique opportunities to examine the effectiveness of an intervention in real world settings and to test and extend both theory of etiology and theory of intervention. These trials are designed not only to test for overall intervention impact but also to examine how impact varies as a function of individual level characteristics, context, and across time. Examination of such variation in impact requires analytical methods that take into account the trial's multiple nested structure and the evolving changes in outcomes over time.

DSM-IV alcohol dependence and abuse: further evidence of validity in the general population.

Background: In order to understand the validity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV) alcohol abuse and dependence diagnoses, studies are needed in both clinical and general population samples. The purpose of this study was to examine the construct and criterion-oriented validity of DSM-IV alcohol dependence and abuse in the general population with respect to factor structure and their relationship to family history of alcoholism, treatment utilization, and psychiatric comorbidity.

Preventing disruptive behavior in elementary schoolchildren: impact of a universal classroom-based intervention.

A population-based, randomized universal classroom intervention trial for the prevention of disruptive behavior (i.e., attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems, and conduct problems) is described.

Alcohol-related aggression and drinking at off-campus parties and bars: a national study of current drinkers in college.

Objective: This study examines relationships between alcohol-related aggression and drinking at off-campus parties and bars. Other background variables include gender, year in school, residence and heavy drinking in college.

Method: The study participants were respondents in the 1997 and 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, national surveys of students attending 119 4-year U.

Hierarchical modeling of sequential behavioral data: an empirical Bayesian approach.

The authors review the common methods for measuring strength of contingency between 2 behaviors in a behavioral sequence, the binomial z score and the adjusted cell residual, and point out a number of limitations of these approaches. They present a new approach using log odds ratios and empirical Bayes estimation in the context of hierarchical modeling, an approach not constrained by these limitations. A series of hierarchical models is presented to test the stationarity of behavioral sequences, the homogeneity of sequences across a sample of episodes, and whether covariates can account for variation in sequences across the sample.

The impact of current residence and high school drinking on alcohol problems among college students.

Objective: This study examines relationships between type of (current) residence, heavy episodic drinking in high school and alcohol-related problems among college students.

Method: The study participants were respondents in the 1993, 1997 and 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS) surveys of students attending 119 4-year U.S.