Over the last decade several large studies have spotlighted the importance of conducting health research in the English-speaking Caribbean in general and Trinidad in particular. It appears that the Caribbean is a cultural/biological """"""""crossroad"""""""" that has allowed important insights into potential gene/environment interactions. Recent studies in the Caribbean have also spurred the generation of a new set of theories on the etiology of several different health disorders including alcoholism. The overall objective of the proposed research is to enhance understanding of the biological and psycho social risk and protective factors related to alcohol dependence on the Islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The project CO-I and the PI have engaged a highly skilled group of investigators to work on this research program that include: faculty and graduate students from the University of the West Indies and the Berkeley Alcohol Research Group psychiatrists from clinics and hospitals on the islands of Tobago and Trinidad, as well as statisticians and epidemiologists from the Caribbean Epidemiology center. The PI has begun a plan to train the C0-1 and her staff to appropriately design a study, recruit subjects, efficiently carry out the study design, collect and analyze data, and publish the results. The hypothesis that specific biological and psychosocial factors may influence alcohol dependence in the two dominant (East Indian, African) ethnic groups in Trinidad has been tested in a pilot study. Preliminary results suggest that alcohol dependence and alcohol-induced morbidity is influenced by ADH genotype as well as select psychosocial risk factors. A research plan to extend the pilot studies on Trinidad and Tobago has been devised and described. Collaborations with geneticists at the University of California, San Francisco Gallo Center and the Univ. of Indiana have been established in order to eventually conduct association and linkage studies. Study findings can be compared to similar studies being conducted in the US. We believe these studies will allow for the identification of risk and protective factors for alcoholism in these islands. ? ?
| Walker, Brendan M; Drimmer, David A; Walker, Jennifer L et al. (2010) Effects of prolonged ethanol vapor exposure on forced swim behavior, and neuropeptide Y and corticotropin-releasing factor levels in rat brains. Alcohol 44:487-93 |
| Moore, Shelley M; Liang, Tiebing; Graves, Tamara J et al. (2009) Identification of a novel cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase allele, ALDH1A1*4. Hum Genomics 3:304-7 |
| Shafe, S; Gilder, D A; Montane-Jaime, L K et al. (2009) Co-morbidity of alcohol dependence and select affective and anxiety disorders among individuals of East Indian and African ancestry in Trinidad and Tobago. West Indian Med J 58:164-72 |
| Montane-Jaime, L Karelia; Shafe, Samuel; Joseph, Roma et al. (2008) The clinical course of alcoholism in Trinidad and Tobago. J Stud Alcohol Drugs 69:834-9 |
