Title: The role of alcohol in the incidence of hospital-treated unintentional injury: a data linkage study

Supervisors: Assoc. Professor Janneke Berecki and Dr Angela Clapperton

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of injury. Although this is common knowledge, there is limited information available on the injury circumstances, causes and injury types associated with alcohol consumption. Data available for research in this area are limited: alcohol consumption is not well captured in administrative hospital data. This research aims to address this gap in knowledge through a series of studies into alcohol and unintentional injury in Victoria, Australia. This will help develop methodology to better capture alcohol involvement in injury cases presenting to hospital, as well as identify alcohol-related injury risks that can be addressed through prevention strategies.

Study 1

The aim of the first study is to develop ICD-10-AM (International Classification of Diseases) coding to identify alcohol involvement or history in injury-related hospital admissions data. The coding will then be validated by medical chart review.

Study 2

Using the hospital-admitted injury cohort selected in Study 1, the next study will aim to determine how injury admissions with alcohol involvement differ to those without, in terms of patient demographics, injury cause, type and severity, and injury outcomes such as complications and length of stay.

Study 3

The aim of Study 3 is to determine the injury risk profile of those exposed to alcohol. A cohort of patients with hospital-recorded alcohol exposure, intoxication or alcohol-related health problems will be followed over time using linked hospital data and death data. Injury incidence in this cohort (hospital admissions as well as injury deaths) will be compared to injury incidence in a matched control group.

Alcohol dependence is undertreated in Denmark and worldwide, and many patients relapse. There is a strong need for new treatments based on a better understanding of how alcohol, and abstinence after prolonged alcohol use, affect the brain. After alcohol ingestion, the brain partly switches its energy use from glucose to the alcohol metabolite acetate – and more so in heavy drinkers, in whom the switch persists after abrupt abstinence. This led to the hypothesis that when acetate levels suddenly drop, the brain may be “starved” despite normal blood glucose, and that this may contribute to withdrawal symptoms. We further hypothesized that ketone bodies, like acetate, can act as alternative fuel in the brain and alleviate withdrawal symptoms. We found that ketogenic diet or a ketone supplement to regular diet reduced acute symptoms in rats and mice.

Here we will test

1. whether ketogenic diet or ketone supplements can reduce prolonged alcohol withdrawal symptoms that contribute to relapse
2. whether they can reduce alcohol-induced brain damage
3. whether co-dependence on nicotine changes effectiveness of ketogenic treatments. 

The project combines extensive behavioral testing with neuroimaging and neurotransmitter analysis.

The “Decision and Adaptation” group at the ”Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine” (Bordeaux Neurocampus, France) is seeking to recruit a postdoctoral researcher to join their group.

The project, entitled Noradrenaline and prefrontal neural dynamics for monitoring behavioural flexibility, aims to investigate the rules of the locus coeruleus (LC)/noradrenergic (NA) drives on specific cortical dynamics when the subject is engaged in exploring or exploiting the environment. 

Applications will include a detailed CV with publications list, a brief statement of research experience and interests.

Change Grow Live are looking to recruit a Specialty doctor for their substance misuse treatment service in London.

The post holders will work under the Consultant Psychiatrist for the service and have responsibility to work with a multi-disciplinary team to provide holistic care for client of both services. 

The post-holders will contribute to the service to ensure that service users consistently receive high quality services that adhere to the best practice guidelines and achieve high professional standards. They will be responsible for contributing to the overall performance of the service to ensure that contractual output targets are achieved. They will be required to record and input client data and information in order that the service operates within contractual, administrative and financial requirements.

The successful candidates will be expected to provide a constant stimulus for improving clinical services and be a role model. They will have a recovery-focussed approach to treatment.

Successful candidates will be able to access a well-developed monthly CPD program, receive regular structured supervision and be fully supported in the appraisal and revalidation structure. All doctors within CGL receive weekly protected CPD and are encouraged and supported to get involved in clinical audit and research. Applicants for the above role should have experience in addiction medicine.

The Opportunity  

• 2-Year, Fixed-Term opportunity until 30 June 2022
• Academic Level A – B: $77K - $127K (+ 17% superannuation & leave loading)
• Sydney, Australia based.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will hold an NDARC Postdoctoral Fellowship and work closely with senior researchers at NDARC, providing support across a number of ongoing drug and alcohol research projects in alignment with NDARC’s core workplan areas. The role of Postdoctoral Research Fellow reports to a senior researcher appropriate to their research interests and expertise and has no direct reports other than an expectation to contribute to HDR supervision. 

The Department of Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health Physicians is seeking to fill an immediate opening for a full-time BE/BC Addictions Psychiatrist as Medical Director for our Addiction Services treatment team in Indianapolis.

The post holder will work under the supervision of the head of sector in the Support to policy team. This post has two main functions. First, to coordinate the production of outputs in collaboration with other members of the EMCDDA scientific teams and provide support for analysis and reporting on the European drug situation across all areas of the agency’s scientific work programme, second, to act as a drug policy analyst. 

Topic

Life after serving my country: Development, Implementation and Evaluation of a Psychosocial Intervention for Retired Athletes and Military Service People with Addictive Behaviours

Project description 

Although various governing bodies and sport institutes have developed career transition programmes to assist individuals to develop careers outside sport, career transition support for retired athletes who are exposed to addiction to drugs, alcohol, and gambling is under-researched. Drugs, alcohol and gambling are recognised as negative coping skills following career termination which requires behaviour changes. Rates of common mental health disorders in UK troops are similar or higher to those of the general population, and overall operational deployments are not associated with an increase in mental health problems in UK regular forces. However, there does appear to be a correlation between both deployment and increased alcohol misuse and post-deployment violence in combat troops.

The main goal of this project is to develop a novel psychosocial intervention that can contribute to enabling retired athletes and military service personnel to understand their social identities and available social support and to develop psychological/mental skills to apply to their transitions process without addiction to negative behaviours such as drugs, alcohol, and gambling. 

This position will report to the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) to ensure successful strategic development, creation, implementation of a number of key ASAM educational offerings and resources.

The Associate Director/Director will work closely with course planning committees, faculty, other medical/medical education organizations, and other members of the ASAM staff team in support of ASAM’s strategic priorities.

The Associate Director/Director will be responsible for developing strategies for the successful continuation of competency-based educational activities with a focus on the ASAM Fundamentals of Addiction Medicine (including all Fundamentals curriculum activities such as live workshops, online workshops, ASAM ECHO series, and online modules), the ASAM Review Course in Addiction Medicine, the ASAM Motivational Interviewing Workshop and special grant funded projects such as the National Association for Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) trainings.

The Associate Director/Director will also work closely with the CLO and other members of the professional development team to conduct needs assessments and evaluations and incorporate feedback from participants in education activities. The Associate Director/Director will also continue to evolve learner engagement and outreach to new audiences. Candidate must quickly develop a broad understanding of the ASAM education programs and be able to set priorities in work assignments.

As our new Behaviour Change Programme Manager, your primary task will be to help hundreds of thousands of people to take control of their drinking, notably through our flagship Dry January campaign and the Try Dry app. Working closely with colleagues in the communications team, you will be designing, developing, implementing and marketing Dry January and our other cutting-edge behaviour change programmes. You will be supported to set - and meet - ambitious plans and targets. You will also work with multiple internal and external stakeholders to drive up our impact and, where applicable, to identify opportunities to bring in income to support the further expansion of this work.

To be successful in this role, you will have demonstrable experience of running successful projects and programmes that deliver positive social and/or behavioural change. You will be a strategic and creative thinker, who can see the potential of Dry January and our other programmes and will strive to reach it. You will be an outstanding organiser, able to manage a complex and diverse workload. And you will be adept at producing engaging communications for public audiences, managing relationships with multiple stakeholders, and analysing data to create meaningful reports.

Closing date: midnight on Wednesday 20 May 2020

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board are currently looking for a Consultant to join an innovative team at the forefront of addiction services in Wales and working in close partnership with commissioners and third sector providers.

GSSMS provides comprehensive treatment to individuals with a variety of addiction issues as well as complex mental and/or physical health issues. You will become part of a team that is committed to service development and will have the opportunity to contribute to a number of innovative projects in Wales thus advancing the quality of addiction services.

AIR is seeking to hire a senior leader, knowledgeable about substance use disorders, and an expert in evidence-based policies and practices that federal, state and local agencies can implement (across systems of health care, public health, criminal justice, and human services) to address substance use disorders.

This senior person will lead AIR’s Center for Addiction Research and Effective Solutions through research, policy, and technical assistance. They will work with AIR staff in building new work that fulfills AIR’s mission to conduct and apply the best behavioral and social science research to improve lives, especially for the disadvantaged.

This senior leader will develop and execute a strategy to grow a body of work, building on AIR’s existing foundation in the following areas: provider interventions including safe prescribing practices, evidence based treatment (to include medications for addiction treatment), recovery supports, and promotion of patient and family engagement in the treatment of substance use disorders; cross-sector strategy and engagement; communication campaigns; development, implementation and evaluation of  interventions across a number of settings.

The University of Colorado Boulder seek a highly motivated individual to support all aspects of our research. Current projects in the lab focus on identifying the influences of cell-type-specific pathways from the brain's reward center, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), on reward and aversion processing in addiction and depression.

Job Description

Responsible for participant screening and recruitment for investigator-initiated studies on tobacco use treatment, multi-center research studies, and patient-oriented clinical and translational research projects within a specific Division focused on tobacco dependence, under general supervision. Works directly with faculty, study physicians, research coordinators, project managers, and other research staff. Performs chart review, telephone screening, in-person screening visits, consenting of participants, processing and shipping of labs, entering data into databases, and the provision of behavioral counseling interventions focused on smoking cessation.

This research assistant will primarily recruit and conduct interviews and data collection for a randomized controlled trial looking at the effectiveness of a brief counseling intervention at decreasing pain and substance use problems in Veterans.

Essential Duties

1. Researches and collects data through site or home visit intakes; library research; structured interviews; or through other means for designated research assignments.
2. Records and compiles information related to research data. Codes data accordingly to research specifications. Uses a computer terminal to input and retrieve data and to generate reports.
3. Processes and summarizes data using scientific or statistical techniques. Assists in data interpretation and analyses. Reports on status of research activities.
4. Recruits study participants and ensures that subject recruitment and follow-up are completed per protocol procedures.
5. Orders and maintains inventory of supplies. May assist in designing, developing, and modifying research experiments, procedures, or survey instruments. May assist research and support staff.
6. Performs additional functions incidental to research activities.

This position is located in the UNODC Programme Office in Tunisia (POTUN) with duty station Tunis, operating under the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) based in Cairo, Egypt.

The incumbent will work under the overall guidance of the UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, based in Cairo, and the direct supervision of the Research Officer (Criminal Intelligence Analysis) in Tunis. Technical advice and support will be sought from the relevant units in UNODC headquarters in Vienna.

The top ten health conditions that contribute to global disease burden in high-income countries include depression and anxiety (common mental health disorders), alcohol and smoking linked conditions (alcohol use disorders, lung cancers and heart disease) and diabetes. Notably, these are all non-communicable conditions which have early life risk factors that include mental health, adiposity and substance use (nicotine, alcohol).

This 3-year PhD project offers an exciting opportunity to undertake research into health across the life course and across generations.

Project Title: Leveraging Process Models of Self-Regulation to Understand Self-Quitting in Scotland

Description: Despite ambitious targets to quarter smoking rates by 2034, the prevalence of smoking in Scotland has plateaued. Scientific understanding and related policy recommendations are further complicated by findings that most individuals who quit smoking long-term do so unassisted. Little is currently known about these self-quitters, often because they achieve cessation outside of any formal program.

The project will apply a self-regulation framework to

1. provide evidence-based insights into unassisted cessation, and,
2. test if the psychological mechanisms underlying unassisted cessation predict and encourage cessation in new-quitters.

The project will take a mixed-method approach to investigate health behaviours in community members related to smoking cessation.

Change Grow Live is looking for an experienced Clinical Psychologist who can ensure the delivery of a high quality, accessible and inclusive psychological service for people with complex needs.

The post holder will promote psychologically informed and trauma-informed practises within the team and wider service through consultation, case management, training, reflective practice, and research. The service will offer a range of psychological and psychosocial interventions including, but not limited to Motivational Interviewing, CBT, EMDR, and relapse prevention.

The Research Coordinator will provide oversight and administrative support for research projects in the Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit within the Section of General Internal Medicine.

The CARE Unit is an academic unit addressing clinical, education, and research aspects of alcohol and other drug use and disorders. Primary responsibilities of this position include assisting Principal Investigators/CARE Unit faculty, with guidance from a senior research manager, in conducting and monitoring research studies.