Innovative Alcohol Intake Pattern Measurement for Human and Animal Model Research

Public Health Institute, Oakland CA

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The National Alcohol Research Center (ARC) on the Epidemiology of Alcohol Problems at the Public Health Institute (PHI), Alcohol Research Group (ARG), Emeryville, CA (hereafter the Epidemiology Center or PHI Center), proposes to hold a Center Directors Meeting on the following topic: Innovative Alcohol Intake Pattern Measurement for Human and Animal Model Research on October 19 and 20, 2010 in Berkeley, California. This application for a R13 conference grant responds to PA-08-0149 and its theme is responsive to the first research priority recommendation made by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Extramural Advisory Committee, August 2006, intended to guide activities of the NIAAA Division of Epidemiology and Prevention: "Encourage systematic efforts to improve and standardize measures of patterns of alcohol exposure (acute, recent, or current history, and across the lifespan) and encourage their application across different grants, institutes, countries, and the medical system." A related recommendation focused on improving measurement of patterns of alcohol exposure to establish their effects on morbidity and mortality. While the PHI Epidemiology Center seeks to address these priorities in human and population studies, other Alcohol Research Centers focus on a wide range of topics involving biological, clinical, and community systems, including both human and animal model research. Recent advances have been made in self-report measurement of patterns of alcohol intake. Innovative technologies including physiological measures have been used to validate the new measures which have shown greater precision, coverage of national sales, and ability to predict alcohol dependence and acute harms. Similar advances are being made in measurement techniques in basic biomedical studies of alcohol effects. The meeting intends to bring together senior Alcohol Research Center leaders to examine and discuss the new work on alcohol consumption pattern measurement both in human population and clinical studies, and in animal model research that is at the heart of many of the advances in basic research on the etiology of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Our application at this time is prompted by an invitation from NIAAA to host the next Center Directors Meeting in the fall of 2010. The NIAAA has asked us to apply for the R13 Conference Grant for this purpose. The meeting would have a broad, multi- disciplinary viewpoint and engage the NIAAA and its Alcohol Research Centers in cutting-edge aspects of the topic we have selected. We plan to edit a special edition of a journal to collect the presentations at the meeting and bring them to a wider audience. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Relevance: It is timely to hold an interdisciplinary and translational meeting of senior Center leaders on alcohol pattern measurement that will cut across the fields of epidemiology, clinical and prevention research, and basic biological sciences relying on animal models. The cross fertilization and collaborations sparked will have the potential to accelerate the pace of science by sharing techniques of real-time ethanol intake measurement and indicators of blood alcohol level, crucial for better understanding alcohol-related morbidity and mortality.