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Aims: To test separatel the efficacy of a web‐based and a peer‐based brief intervention (BI), compared with an expanded usual care control (EUC) group, among military reserve component members using alcohoI in a hazardous and harmful manner. Design: In the randomized controlled trial, participants were assigned to: [1] web‐based BI with web‐based boosters (BI + web), [2] web‐based BI with peer‐based boosters (BI + peer) or [3] enhanced usual care (EUC). Setting: Michigan, USA. Participants: A total of 739 Michigan Army National Guard members who reported recent hazardous alcohol use; 84% were male, the mean age was 28 years. Intervention: The BI consisted of an interactive program guided by a personally selected avatar. Boosters were delivered either on the web or personally by a trained veteran peer. A pamphlet, given to all participants, included information on hazardous alcohol use and military‐specific community resources and served as the EUC condition. Measurements The primary outcome measure was binge drinking episodes in the past 30 days, measured at 12 months after the BI. Findings All randomized participants were included in the outcome analyses. In adjusted analyses, BI + peer [beta = −0.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.56 to −0.31, P < 0.001] and BI + web (beta = −0.34, 95% CI = −0.46 to −0.23, P < 0.001) reduced binge drinking compared with EUC. Conclusion: This satudy was a web‐based brief intervention for hazardous alcohol use, with either web‐ or peer‐based boosters, reduced binge alcohol use among Army National Guard members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The National Guard provides critical support both domestically and abroad with soldiers dispersed throughout America and spanning the urban‐rural continuum. To determine if location‐specific interventions may be needed, we compared the prevalence and severity of cannabis and alcohol use among National Guard members across localities. Methods: Michigan National Guard members were enrolled (N = 2,746) during drill weekends as part of a larger randomized behavioral trial. Cannabis (ASSIST; prevalence = 5%) and alcohol use (AUDIT; prevalence = 82%) were compared using hurdle regression models across locality status after adjusting for covariates. Findings: Prevalence of cannabis and alcohol use was predicted by locality (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.913, 95% CI: 0.838‐0.986, P =.029; AOR = 0.963, 95% CI: 0.929‐0.998, P =.038, respectively), with more use in urban localities. Neither severity of cannabis nor alcohol use was predicted by locality status. Conclusions: Prevalence of cannabis and alcohol use in the National Guard is differentially elevated across localities with higher prevalence in more central, densely populated areas. Findings may inform future work considering accessibility and utilization of prevention and treatment services for Guard members across the urban‐rural continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay approaches Gustafson's work through his two-volume Ethics from a Theocentric Perspective. It puts questions to Gustafson in four areas of concern in religious ethics: anthropocentrism, christology, revelation-inspiration, and practical ethics. The essay suggests that in Gustafson's magnum opus, both far more and far less is known about God than is warranted, and it concludes by questioning the truly Christian character of such theocentrism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study, which presents data on a sample of 70 pathological gamblers, 70 alcoholics in treatment, and 70 medical/surgical controls on the California Personality Inventory. Gamblers and alcoholics differed significantly from hospitalized controls on a number of scales, particularly on measures of socialization, ego control, and flexibility. The California Personality Inventory differs importantly from the MMPI in its general purpose, standardization groups, and theoretical foundation. While the MMPI picks out serious psychopathology typically found in disturbed and institutionalized populations, the CPI yields a picture of personality that uses dimensions found in all adults.

Theologians are often criticized for having little distinctive or important to say on bioethical issues. Such a critique overlooks, however, the protective dispositive, and directive ways in which faith can inform reason. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The June 1975 issue of the Hastings Center Report published the Deliberations and Recommendations of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects concerning the regulation of fetal experimentation. The Commission's most controversial conclusions were as follows: First, it voted to allow non-therapeutic research on the human fetus, provided important biomedical knowledge could not be gained in any other way, proper consent had been obtained, and the research imposed 'minimal or no risk to the well-being of the fetus' (Recommendation 4). Because interpretations of the last phrase varied in the case of fetuses scheduled for abortion, the Commission recommended that a national ethical review body be able to rule on disputed cases (Recommendation 5). In the case of research during abortion and research on the non-viable fetus ex utero, the Commission's interpretation of permissible 'harm' was restricted to the proviso that 'no intrusion into the fetus [may be] made which alters the duration of life' (Recommendation 6). The Commission also recommended further research on abortion techniques (Recommendation 12). The Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare accepted the Commission's Recommendations almost without change-the major modification was to request paternal consent rather than to rely on the fact that 'the father has not objected.' The DHEW regulations were published in the Federal Register on Friday, August 8, 1975, and written comments on them were invited. Already, however, a number of commentators including several members of the Commission had offered either dissenting or qualifying remarks. Some are printed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proposed that the, animal experiments on inescapable shock may serve as a model for PTSD in humans. Learned helplessness theory, which also derives from the experiments on inescapable shock, proposes that helplessness behavior in humans is the result of people's expectations about events which they perceive to be uncontrollable. The way a person explains or attributes cause to events which occur influences these expectations. The symptoms of PTSD and helplessness behavior heavily overlap. The present study tested whether there was, in fact, a relationship between a proven mea- sure of the attributional style proposed by helplessness theory, the A ttributional Style Questionnaire, and measures of PTSD in a group of 99 patients seeking treatment for alcohol dependence and/or pathological gambling. Consistent, significant relationships were found between learned helplessness attributional style and a variety of measures of PTSD. Also replicated were earlier reports of a relationship between coaddiction (alcohol and gambling) and symptoms of PTSD. The usefulness of learned helplessness theory in explaining PTSD and devising treatments for portions of the disorder are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a rejoinder to A. Robertson's arguments on cloning's ethical acceptability in the March 1994 issue of the `Hastings Center Report.' Background on cloning under blastomere separation; Discussions on life, wholeness and individuality.

We surveyed mouse left ventricular (LV) transcriptome (36,899 transcripts) response to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the ischemic/infarcted freewall (IF), the surviving LV free wall (FW) and the interventricular septum (IVS). At six time points post-AMI (15 min to 48 hr), transcripts were assayed in both AMI- and sham-surgery mice. We identified 515 AMI-responsive genes in the IF zone, 35 in FW, 7 in IVS with three genes induced in all three regions. Increases in steady-state transcript levels were observed in the IF for L-arginase 1, L - arginase 2, four enzymes of polyamine biosynthesis and a protein inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase. The degree of induction of AMI-responsive genes was significantly higher in IF vs. FW vs. IVS. For example, L-arginase 1 was induced 121-fold within the IF, 60-fold in the FW and 8-fold in the IVS. None of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isozymes showed transcriptional upregulation (p<0.05) within any LV region at any of the measured time-points. Thus NO production may be regulated, in part, by inhibition of NOS and coordinate depletion of the NOS substrate, L-arginine. Alternatively, NOS and L-arginase may draw from separate pools of L-arginine. In the latter scenario, L-arginase 1 induction would function primarily to drive proline biosynthesis and polyamine production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L-Arginase 1 (ARG1) is the single most highly induced transcript in the mouse left ventricle after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Within ischemic/infarcted tissue (IF), the ARG1 transcript is induced 121-fold by 24 h post-AMI. In addition to induction of the ARG1 transcript, arginase specific activity is elevated 34-fold at 48 h increasing to 42-fold by 1-week. The L-arginase 2 (ARG2) transcript is also induced along with transcripts encoding enzymes of polyamine biosynthesis and a protein inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity. Thus, nitric oxide production may be regulated, in part, by inhibition of NOS and depletion of the NOS substrate, L-arginine, by L-arginase. In addition, L-arginine may undergo conversion to polyamines as part of the stress response and/or to proline (collagen biosynthesis). To test these hypotheses, we produced antibodies against ARG1, ornithine decarboxylase, antizyme inhibitor and protein-inhibitor of NOS. As judged by western blot and immunohistochemical analyses, ARG1 and the antizyme inhibitor polypeptides show induction in the IF. We have further evaluated the regional and cell-type specificity of their induction by AMI within the mouse left ventricle. Support: NIH grants P20 RR15640 and R15 HL71239 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To mark the 15th anniversary of the Hasting Center Report, six authors who have written for the Report since its beginning comment briefly on an article or a theme from the Report that has had an impact on their thinking or on the way that bioethics has developed as a discipline. The titles of the commentaries are as follows: "In praise of William May's 'attitudes'" (A.M. Capron); "On opening human experimentation to moral debate" (S. Bok); "Learning from Ramsey" (R.A. McCormick); "Toward a science of particulars" (E.J. Cassell); "Challenging the power of codes" (R.M. Veatch); and "Relating moral principles and moral behavior" (D. Callahan).