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Biomedical subjects

W F Gabrielli

Publications and source records attributed to W F Gabrielli.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Subjective and objective measures of response to alcohol among young men at risk for alcoholism.

Biological sons of alcoholic men constitute one group at high risk (HR) for the development of alcoholism. A low dose of alcohol (0.5 g/kg) was administered to HR and control subjects. Measures based on self-ratings, an observer's assessment and visuomotor performance were used to compare the HR and control subjects before and after alcohol administration. Results showed HR subjects' self-ratings of intoxication and somatic symptoms were significantly lower than those of control subjects after alcohol administration. Measures based on an observer's assessment of the two groups did not distinguish them, but one measure of visuomotor performance did. Because the HR and control subjects did not differ in self-reported alcohol consumption or blood alcohol levels acquired in this study, it appears unlikely these factors could account for the differential responses to alcohol administration in HR and control subjects.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1986

Brain responses to sine wave modulated light (SML): reliability and relationship to spontaneous EEG.

Brain activity elicited by sine wave modulated light and spontaneous EEGs were obtained from 11 healthy adult males on two separate occasions. Within-subject correlations (test-retest correlation coefficients) for SML responses were high, and comparable to reliability estimates of spontaneous EEG activity in this sample. Reliability of the spontaneous EEG was evaluated using two measures: absolute and relative power. Although their magnitudes were comparable, the test-retest correlation coefficients for the right occipital were consistently higher than those of the left using absolute measures; this pattern was not reflected by test-retest correlations based on relative EEG measures. Finally, the SML responses to 5, 15, 18 and 24 Hz stimulation frequency rates correlated most highly with absolute measures of spontaneous EEG beta, whereas the SML response to 10 Hz stimulation yielded the highest correlations with spontaneous alpha activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The EEG in persons at risk for alcoholism.

Alcoholics tend to have a relatively small amount of alpha and a large amount of beta activity in their EEG. This pattern may be a consequence or an antecedent of alcoholism. Attempts to demonstrate this EEG pattern in subjects who were at high risk (HR) for alcoholism (because they had alcoholic fathers) have yielded equivocal results. However, electrophysiological changes elicited by a single dose of alcohol differentiated HR subjects from controls. The HR subjects exhibited greater increases of slow-alpha energy and greater decreases of fast-alpha energy after alcohol administration than controls. In another study, the HR subjects showed a greater decrease of a late positive component of the auditory-evoked potential after alcohol than controls. Thus the HR subjects show greater electrophysiological responses to alcohol than controls. These effects are not related to differences in alcohol metabolism, and they may reflect a biologic marker for CNS sensitivity to alcohol. Alternative interpretations of these findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are offered.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1985

Individual differences in anticipation of alcohol sensitivity.

Anticipations of the effect produced by a given amount of alcohol may be as important as actual responses to that amount of alcohol in determining patterns of alcohol use, yet previous research has focused only on physiological response and subjective reports of sensitivity upon administration of alcohol. In this study, the etiology of individual differences in reports of anticipated sensitivity was examined using a sample of 54 pairs of twins and adoptees for whom both members of each pair had consumed two drinks per hour for 2 hours at some time during the year before the study. Genetic influence was suggested for anticipated sensitivity to physical symptoms and coordination but not for other symptoms such as thinking problems, mood, or driving ability. The environmental influences responsible for individual differences in anticipated sensitivity are largely shared by family members, as indicated by the substantial resemblance for pairs of adoptees reared in the same family. Also explored was the correlation between anticipated sensitivity to alcohol and reported recent drinking behavior. In this sample (N = 204) it was found that an anticipation of less sensitivity related to a higher reported average number of drinks consumed per drinking session, independent of weight, sex, or age differences.

Adoption↗
PubMed1985

Drinking behavior in the Colorado adoptee and twin sample.

Using a sample of adult Colorado twins, nontwin sibling pairs and pairs of unrelated adoptees reared together (N = 346), the extent of the similarity in drinking behavior within pairs was estimated. The analyses, which go beyond those possible with a study confined just to twins, suggest that some alcohol-drinking behaviors may be genetically influenced. However, the genetic variance appears to be primarily nonadditive so that it contributes more to differences than to similarities between first-degree relatives. Alternatively, although less likely, these results might suggest a special common environment for identical twins that is not present for fraternal twins, nontwin siblings or unrelated adoptees reared together. Environmental analyses indicate that both types of twins share a special family environmental similarity that is not shared by nontwin siblings. Environmental influences that affect individual differences in drinking behavior appear to contribute more to dissimilarity than to similarity. The results do not support the contention that being raised in the same family contributes substantially to similarity in characteristics of drinking behavior.

Adoption↗
PubMed1984

Genetic influences in criminal convictions: evidence from an adoption cohort.

The possibility that genetic factors are among the causes of criminal behavior was tested by comparing court convictions of 14,427 adoptees with those of their biological and adoptive parents. A statistically significant correlation was found between the adoptees and their biological parents for convictions of property crimes. This was not true with respect to violent crimes. There was no statistically significant correlation between adoptee and adoptive parent court convictions. Siblings adopted separately into different homes tended to be concordant for convictions, especially if the shared biological father also had a record of criminal behavior.

Adoption↗
PubMed1983

The EEG after alcohol administration in men at risk for alcoholism.

The biologic sons of alcoholics constitute a group at high risk (HR) for alcoholism. A 0.5-g/kg dose of alcohol was administered to HR and control subjects aged 19 to 21 years. Blood alcohol concentration measurements failed to distinguish HR from control subjects, but quantitative measurements of EEG alpha activity differentiated them. The HR subjects exhibited greater increases in slow alpha energy and greater decreases of fast alpha energy after alcohol administration than controls; the HR subjects also showed greater decreases in mean alpha frequency after alcohol administration. These EEG findings suggest that subjects at high risk for alcoholism are physiologically more sensitive to alcohol than control subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Intellectual performance in children of alcoholics.

Alcoholics tend to show some cognitive deficits relative to nonalcoholics. The present study of a sample from a Danish birth cohort examined whether these deficits might be present in children at high risk for later alcoholism. The subjects were tested at age 12 with a Danish translation of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children. Risk status for later alcoholism was defined by parental alcoholism as determined by interview and medical records. Results suggest that Performance IQ deficits may be consequential to alcoholism whereas Verbal deficits (characteristic of the high risk children) may be antecedent to alcoholism.

Adolescent↗