Native Americans resolve alcohol use disorder: "Whatever it takes or all that it takes".

Objectives: There is a growing awareness of the prevalence of abstinence and rates of remission from alcohol problems among Native Americans (NAs). Past NA remission research has included epidemiological studies, treatment outcomes, and qualitative inquiry. In this study, we sought to qualitatively examine how NAs resolved moderate to severe alcohol use disorder (AUD) and maintained long-term sobriety.

AA attendance and abstinence for dually diagnosed patients: a meta-analytic review.

Background And Aims: There is consensus that best clinical practice for dual diagnosis (DD) is integrated mental health and substance use treatment augmented with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) attendance. This is the first quantitative review of the direction and magnitude of the association between AA attendance and alcohol abstinence for DD patients.

Method: A systematic literature search (1993-2017) identified 22 studies yielding 24 effect sizes that met our inclusion criteria (8075 patients).

Race/ethnicity and racial group composition moderate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based relapse prevention for substance use disorder.

Introduction: Mindfulness-based relapse prevention has shown promise as a treatment for substance use disorder but its efficacy according to racial/ethnic minority status and group composition is unknown.

Method: This is a secondary analysis of existing data (Bowen et al., 2014) testing individual race/ethnicity and racial/ethnic group composition as moderators of mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP).

"Being able to speak": What individuals in jail perceived as helpful about participating in alcohol-related brief interventions.

Background: A significant proportion of individuals within the criminal justice system meet criteria for a substance use disorder. Treatments for individuals who are incarcerated with substance use disorders show minimal to no benefit on postrelease outcomes, suggesting a need to improve their effectiveness, particularly those that can be delivered in a brief format. The purpose of this study was to describe what individuals in jail with substance use disorders perceived as being helpful about 2 brief alcohol-focused interventions, which can be used to inform future treatments with this population.

Descriptive drinking norms in Native American and non-Hispanic White college students.

Objective: College students tend to overestimate how much their peers drink, which is associated with higher personal alcohol use. However, research has not yet examined if this phenomenon holds true among Native American (NA) college students. This study examined associations between descriptive norms and alcohol use/consequences in a sample of NA and non-Hispanic White (NHW) college students.

Pilot Outcome Results of Culturally Adapted Evidence-Based Substance Use Disorder Treatment with a Southwest Tribe.

Introduction: Although American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) have exhibited high rates of alcohol and drug use disorders, there is a paucity of substance use disorder treatment outcome research. In addition, there exists controversy about whether evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are culturally appropriate given they were derived mainly by and for non-Hispanic White populations and do not explicitly include aspects of AI/AN culture and worldview.

Methods: In this pilot study, we collaboratively culturally adapted two EBTs, Motivational Interviewing and Community Reinforcement Approach (MICRA), and evaluated substance use and psychological outcomes at 4- and 8-months post baseline assessment.

"It Might Actually Work This Time": Benefits and Barriers to Adapted 12-Step Facilitation Therapy and Mutual-Help Group Attendance From the Perspective of Dually Diagnosed Individuals.

Most U.S. healthcare professionals encourage mutual-help group involvement as an adjunct to treatment or aftercare for individuals with substance use disorders, yet there are multiple challenges in engaging in these community groups.

Cultural adaptation, psychometric properties, and outcomes of the Native American Spirituality Scale.

Spirituality is central to many Native Americans (NAs) and has been associated with recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs). However, no published questionnaire uniquely taps tribal-specific spiritual beliefs and practices. This hinders efforts to integrate traditional NA spirituality into SUD treatment and track spiritual outcomes.

Longitudinal trajectories of readiness to change: alcohol use and help-seeking behavior.

Objective: Pre-post changes in readiness for change (RC) are commonly assessed in treatment outcome studies, often with contradictory results. Little is known about 12-month RC trajectories among those initiating change or about the association between RC and either within- or between-person alcohol use or time-lagged help-seeking behavior.

Method: This observational longitudinal study measured RC as ambivalence, problem recognition, and taking steps.

Longitudinal study of urban American Indian 12-step attendance, attrition, and outcome.

Objective: Strong opinions have been voiced about the "fit" between 12-step treatment, community-based 12-step practices, and American Indian beliefs and values. Little is known, however, about the relative benefit of 12-step programs for urban American Indians, although they are the most widely accessed type of treatment by American Indians. This study investigated rates of 12-step attendance, attrition, and substance use outcomes for American Indians for 9 months relative to non-Hispanic White participants.

Do changes in selfishness explain 12-step benefit? A prospective lagged analysis.

12-Step attendance is associated with increased abstinence. A strong claim made in 12-step literature is that alcoholics are pathologically selfish and that working the 12 steps reduces this selfishness, which, in turn, leads to sustained alcohol abstinence. This study tested this assumption by investigating the linkages between 12-step attendance, pathological narcissism, and drinking.

Paraneoplastic manifestations of lymphoma.

Paraneoplastic syndromes are manifestations of malignancies that have produced effects that are distant from the primary tumor or metastases. Paraneoplastic syndromes are not caused by local effects of compression or infiltration into tissues, but are generally due to ectopic hormone production, autoimmune phenomena, or overproduction of cytokines. Paraneoplasia may be the presenting symptom of underlying malignancy and can affect almost any organ system, such as the neurologic syndromes associated with small-cell lung cancer or hypercalcemia associated with squamous cell carcinomas.

Expression of the mucosal vascular addressin, MAdCAM-1, in inflammatory liver disease.

Aims/background: The integrin alpha4beta7 and mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1) are involved in normal recirculation of lymphocytes between the blood and the tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. In this study we have examined the expression of MAdCAM-1 in human liver.

Methods: MAdCAM-1 expression was determined in archival human liver tissues by immunohistochemistry.

Preclinical safety evaluation of rhuMAbVEGF, an antiangiogenic humanized monoclonal antibody.

Recombinant humanized antivascular endothelial growth factor (rhuMAbVEGF) is a monoclonal IgG1 antibody that is being developed as an antiangiogenic agent for use in treating a variety of solid tumors. Preclinical safety studies included an immunohistochemical tissue cross-reactivity study, in vitro hemolytic potential and blood compatibility studies, and multiple dose toxicity studies. Toxicity studies were conducted in cynomolgus monkey because rhuMAbVEGF is pharmacologically active in this species and does not bind rat or mouse vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

GFRalpha1 is an essential receptor component for GDNF in the developing nervous system and kidney.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a distant member of the TGFbeta protein family that is essential for neuronal survival and renal morphogenesis. We show that mice who are deficient in the glycosyl-phosphatidyl inositol (GPI) -linked protein GFRalpha1 (GDNFRalpha) display deficits in the kidneys, the enteric nervous system, and spinal motor and sensory neurons that are strikingly similar to those of the GDNF- and Ret-deficient mice. GFRalpha1-deficient dopaminergic and nodose sensory ganglia neurons no longer respond to GDNF or to the structurally related protein neurturin (NTN) but can be rescued when exposed to GDNF or neurturin in the presence of soluble GFRalpha1.

Differential innervation of individual melanotropes suggests a role for nonsynaptic inhibitory regulation of the developing and adult rat pituitary intermediate lobe.

Dopamine and GABA were detected in intermediate lobe axons around birth, and early axons were closely apposed to glial cells and processes, possibly using them for guidance. In the adult, axons containing colocalized dopamine and GABA were distributed in a distinct pattern within the lobe, with plexuses located dorsally and ventrally. Axons preferentially followed glial processes in interlobular septa, yet were also interspersed between melanotropes.

Reduced levels of globular and asymmetric forms of acetylcholinesterase in rat left ventricle with pressure overload hypertrophy.

The aim of the present work was to determine the effect of abdominal aortic stenosis on molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in rat heart. Pressure-overload, left ventricular hypertrophy was produced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by suprarenal abdominal aortic constriction. After two weeks the relative heart weight was increased over 20% compared to sham-surgical controls, mostly due to left ventricular enlargement.

Glycyl-L-glutamine regulates the expression of asymmetric acetylcholinesterase molecular forms in cultured cardiac post-natal myocytes.

Asymmetric acetylcholinesterase (AChE) forms were associated with pre-natal but not post-natal ventricular myocytes, when myocytes were cultured in a defined medium on laminin-coated plates for 72 h. In contrast, globular AChE molecular forms were associated with both pre-natal and post-natal myocytes. Glycyl-L-glutamine (10(-4) or 109-6) M), but not glycyl-D-glutamine or glycyl-L-glutamate, induced the expression of asymmetric AChE molecular forms by the cultured post-natal myocytes.

Acetylcholine levels, choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase molecular forms during thyroxine-induced cardiac hypertrophy.

The effects of left ventricular hypertrophy induced by hyperthyroidism on three biochemical markers of parasympathetic innervation were investigated. In response to subcutaneous injections of thyroxine (400 micrograms/kg; T4) for 6 days, the left ventricle, but not the right, developed significant hypertrophy (20%). In the enlarged left ventricle, acetylcholine (ACh) content and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity per chamber were elevated approx.