Declining trends in alcohol consumption among Swedish youth-does the theory of collectivity of drinking cultures apply?

Aims: To analyse trends in alcohol consumption among young people in Sweden between 2004 and 2012, to test whether the theory of collectivity of drinking cultures is valid for a population of young people and to investigate the impact of an increasing proportion of abstainers on the overall per capita trends.

Methods: Data were drawn from an annual survey of a nationally representative sample of students in year 11 (17-18 years old). The data covered 9 years and the total sample comprised 36,141 students.

Massive transfusion in paediatric and adolescent trauma patients: incidence, patient profile, and outcomes prior to a massive transfusion protocol.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to quantify the incidence, patient profile, and outcomes associated with massive transfusion in paediatric trauma patients prior to establishing a massive transfusion protocol.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of paediatric trauma patients treated at London Heath Sciences Centre between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2011. Inclusion criteria were Injury Severity Score (ISS) greater than 12 and age less than 18 years.

"The Glasgow effect?"- the result of the geographical patterning of deprived areas?

The aim of this research was to examine whether the excess mortality found in Glasgow, compared to other cities in the UK ("Glasgow effect"), could be attributed to patterns of the distribution of deprived neighbourhoods within the cities. Data on mortality and deprivation at a neighbourhood scale were used to examine the impact of the patterning of neighbourhood deprivation on mortality in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Analysis using a combination of GIS and statistical approaches, including a Moran׳s I test and Conditional Auto Regressive models to capture residual spatial autocorrelation, was carried out.

Integrated guidance on the care of familial hypercholesterolaemia from the International FH Foundation.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a dominantly inherited disorder present from birth that markedly elevates plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and causes premature coronary heart disease. There are at least 20 million people with FH worldwide, but the majority remains undetected and current treatment is often suboptimal.To address this major gap in coronary prevention we present, from an international perspective, consensus-based guidance on the care of FH.

Trends in non-drinking among Australian adolescents.

Background And Aims: Recent evidence suggests that there has been a sharp increase in non-drinking among Australian adolescents. This study aimed to explore the socio-demographic patterns of this increase to identify the potential causal factors.

Design: Two waves (2001 and 2010) of cross-sectional data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, a large-scale population survey.

Heavy drinking occasions in Australia: do context and beverage choice differ from low-risk drinking occasions?

Introduction And Aims: The aim of the current study is to look for differences in drink choice and drinking location between a recent heavy drinking occasion (RHDO) and usual low-risk occasions among those that recently had both types of drinking occasion.

Design And Methods: Seven hundred and seventy-four respondents to a population-based survey reported having a RHDO [8 + Australian standard drinks (ASD) for females, 11 + ASD for males] in the past six months also reported that their usual drinking occasion in at least one location involved less than five ASD. Drink choice and drinking locations for the RHDO and usual low-risk occasions were compared using confidence intervals.

Integrated guidance on the care of familial hypercholesterolemia from the International FH Foundation.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a dominantly inherited disorder present from birth that markedly elevates plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and causes premature coronary heart disease. There are at least 20 million people with FH worldwide, but the majority remains undetected, and current treatment is often suboptimal. To address this major gap in coronary prevention we present, from an international perspective, consensus-based guidance on the care of FH.

The big night out: what happens on the most recent heavy drinking occasion among young Victorian risky drinkers?

Introduction And Aims: In spite of the major focus on risky, single-occasion drinking by young people in Australia, little is known about the specific circumstances of risky drinking occasions. This study examines drinking behaviours and drinking contexts for the most recent risky, single-occasion drinking episode in a representative sample of young risky drinkers in Victoria, Australia.

Design And Methods: A representative sample of 802 young risky drinkers was recruited across metropolitan Melbourne and surveyed about their drinking and related behaviours.

Prevention trial in the Cherokee Nation: design of a randomized community trial.

Despite advances in prevention science and practice in recent decades, the U.S. continues to struggle with significant alcohol-related risks and consequences among youth, especially among vulnerable rural and Native American youth.

Autophagy in acute kidney injury.

Acute kidney injury is a major kidney disease associated with poor clinical outcomes. The pathogenesis of acute kidney injury is multifactorial and is characterized by tubular cell injury and death. Recent studies have shown autophagy induction in proximal tubular cells during acute kidney injury.

Improving the coding and classification of ambulance data through the application of International Classification of Disease 10th revision.

Objectives: This paper aims to examine whether an adaptation of the International Classification of Disease (ICD) coding system can be applied retrospectively to final paramedic assessment data in an ambulance dataset with a view to developing more fine-grained, clinically relevant case definitions than are available through point-of-call data.

Methods: Over 1.2 million case records were extracted from the Ambulance Victoria data warehouse.

Heterogeneous population effects of an alcohol excise tax increase on sexually transmitted infections morbidity.

Background And Aims: Alcohol taxes reduce population-level excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, yet little is known about the distribution of the effects of alcohol taxation across race/ethnicity and age subgroups. We examined the race/ethnicity- and age group-specific effects of an excise alcohol tax increase on a common and routinely collected alcohol-related morbidity indicator, sexually transmitted infections.

Methods: We used an interrupted time series design to examine the effect of a 2009 alcohol tax increase in Illinois, USA on new cases of two common sexually transmitted infections (chlamydia and gonorrhea) reported to the US National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System from January 2003 to December 2011 (n = 108 repeated monthly observations).

Seeking help because of others' drinking.

Introduction And Aims: Many individuals contact and are assisted by community and emergency services because of someone else's drinking. Previous studies have focused on family members accessing services, such as Alcoholics Anonymous due to significant others' drinking; however, little is known about service use in the broad community. This paper aims to estimate the prevalence of contacting the police and seeking help from health services because of others' drinking and to compare the profiles of individuals seeking services with those who did not contact a service.

Integrated guidance on the care of familial hypercholesterolaemia from the International FH Foundation.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a dominantly inherited disorder present from birth that markedly elevates plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and causes premature coronary heart disease. There are at least 20 million people with FH worldwide, but the majority remain undetected and current treatment is often suboptimal. To address this major gap in coronary prevention we present, from an international perspective, consensus-based guidance on the care of FH.

Changes in Australian attitudes to alcohol policy: 1995-2010.

Introduction And Aims: In 2009 Wilkinson and colleagues reported a downward trend in support for alcohol policy restrictions in Australia between 1995 and 2004. The aim of the current study is to examine more recent data on policy support in Australia, specifically for policies covering alcohol availability up to 2010, and to examine specific demographic shifts in support.

Design And Methods: Data was taken from the National Drug Strategy Household Surveys from 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010 (n = 80,846), primarily responses to attitude items on policy restriction and demographic questions.

Emerging functions of autophagy in kidney transplantation.

In response to ischemic, toxic or immunological insults, the more frequent injuries encountered by the kidney, cells must adapt to maintain vital metabolic functions and avoid cell death. Among the adaptive responses activated, autophagy emerges as an important integrator of various extracellular and intracellular triggers (often related to nutrients availability or immunological stimuli), which, as a consequence,may regulate cell viability, and also immune functions,both innate or adaptive. The aim of this review is to make the synthesis of the recent literature on the implications of autophagy in the kidney transplantation field and to discuss the future directions for research.

The role of off-licence outlets in binge drinking: a survey of drinking practices last Saturday night among young adults in Australia.

Introduction And Aims: To examine where young adults purchase their alcohol on Saturday nights and how this relates to binge drinking.

Design And Methods: This study used an online survey of a non-probability-based quota sample of 2013 Australians aged 18-30 years who had consumed alcohol in the past year. Participants who purchased alcohol from off-licence outlets the Saturday night before answering the survey were compared with participants who purchased only from on-licence outlets with regard to how much they drank (binge drinking was defined as five or more drinks), how much they spent on alcohol, where they drank, their risk of an alcohol use disorder and other demographic factors.

Associations between alcohol outlet densities and adolescent alcohol consumption: a study in Australian students.

Objective: To assess whether the density of alcohol sales outlets in specific geographic communities is associated with adolescent alcohol consumption.

Method: A cross-sectional representative sample of secondary school students from Victoria, Australia (N=10,143), aged between 12 and 17 years, self-reported on alcohol use in the last 30 days in 2009. The density of alcohol outlets per local community area was merged with this information.

Prevalence of IgY antibodies against Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in a critically endangered parrot (kakapo, Strigops habroptilus) and associated responses to vaccination.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to estimate levels of IgY antibody against the bacterium Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in serum samples collected from the critically endangered kakapo (Strigops habroptilus, Psittaciformes, Aves) before and after vaccination against this bacterium. Relative IgY antibody titres in pre-vaccination serum samples (n = 71 individual kakapo) were normally distributed with the exception of four outliers which displayed low IgY levels. Notably all four low IgY samples were collected from fledglings 3 - 6 months old.

Alcohol consumption and liver disease in Australia: a time series analysis of the period 1935-2006.

Aims: The aim of the study was to examine for Australia whether the link between population alcohol consumption and liver disease mortality varies over time, using 71 years of data.

Methods: Overall and gender-specific rates of liver disease mortality were analysed in relation to total alcohol consumption as well as for different beverage types by using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series methods. Separate models were developed for the entire time period and for two sub-periods (1935-1975, 1976-2006).