Feature Channels: Alcohol and Alcoholism

• share
• favorite_border

New iPod smart phone app developed by University of Toronto measures frequency of tremors in alcoholics.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute solved the mystery of why a specific signaling pathway can be associated with alcohol dependence. The new research shows the gene, Nf1, regulates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that lowers anxiety and increases relaxation feelings.

• share
• favorite_border

New research findings from a study of 634 couples found that the more often they smoked marijuana, the less likely they were to engage in domestic violence.

• share
• favorite_border

Treatment for opioid addiction tampers with the testosterone levels of male but not female opioid users.

• share
• favorite_border

In states where it is legal to use medical marijuana to manage chronic pain and other conditions, the annual number of deaths from prescription drug overdose is 25 percent lower than in states where medical marijuana remains illegal, new research suggests.

• share
• favorite_border

On average, states allowing the medical use of marijuana have lower rates of deaths resulting from opioid analgesic overdoses than states without such laws. Opioid analgesics, such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are prescribed for moderate to severe pain, and work by suppressing a person’s perception of pain. A new multi-institutional study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, examined the rate of deaths caused by opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2010. Results reveal that on average, the 13 states allowing the use of medical marijuana had a 24.8 percent lower annual opioid overdose mortality rate after the laws were enacted than states without the laws, indicating that the alternative treatment may be safer for patients suffering from chronic pain related to cancer and other conditions.

• share
• favorite_border

Sticking to a general rule of pouring just a half glass of wine limits the likelihood of overconsumption. That’s the finding of a new Iowa State and Cornell University study to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy.

• share
• favorite_border

An Indiana U. study on substance abuse found that the interplay of gender, genetics and social integration produced different outcomes for men and women.

• share
• favorite_border

A federal law enacted to combat the use of “club drugs” such as Ecstasy — and today’s variation known as Molly — has failed to reduce the drugs’ popularity and, instead, has further endangered users by hampering the use of measures to protect them.

• share
• favorite_border

Current efforts to prevent prescription drug misuse among young adults need to consider peers — but not peer pressure — according to a Purdue University study.

• share
• favorite_border

Results of the study indicate that violence decreases as spirituality increases in persons who received the non-alcohol beverage. However, quite unexpectedly, violence actually increased as spirituality increased in persons who received the alcoholic beverage.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Frequent marijuana use can have a significant negative effect on the brains of teenagers and young adults, including cognitive decline, poor attention and memory, and decreased IQ, according to psychologists discussing public health implications of marijuana legalization at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention.

• share
• favorite_border

During the 12 months following intervention, no significant treatment differences were found between the two groups for drug use or for secondary outcomes.

• share
• favorite_border

Richard Saitz, M.D., of the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues tested the effectiveness of two brief counseling interventions for unhealthy drug use (any illicit drug use or prescription drug misuse) among primary care patients identified by screening.

• share
• favorite_border

In the first study of its kind, Prapti Gautam, PhD, and colleagues from The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles found that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) showed weaker brain activation during specific cognitive tasks than their unaffected counterparts.

• share
• favorite_border

The study, “Injection and Sexual HIV/HCV Risk Behaviors Associated with Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioids Among Young Adults in New York City, published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment (JSAT) explores within a social context the drug-use and sexual experiences of young adult (ages 18-32) nonmedical PO users as they relate to risk for HIV and HCV transmission.

• share
• favorite_border

Underage drinkers are three times more likely to drink alcohol brands that advertise on television programs they watch compared to other alcohol brands, providing new and compelling evidence of a strong association between alcohol advertising and youth drinking behavior.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Some music festival goers will be exchanging their concert wristbands for hospital patient identification bracelets as Pitchfork kicks off the summer music and drug season in Chicago. The Chicago emergency medical community braces for an increase in anticipated substance-abuse cases. “Heroin use is still an increasing issue in the Chicago area and during music fests, we anticipate seeing a number of drug overdose cases,” says Christina Hantsch, MD, FACEP, FACMT, toxicologist at Loyola University Health System.

• share
• favorite_border

Omega-3 fish oil might help protect against alcohol-related neurodamage and the risk of eventual dementia, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

• share
• favorite_border

Reducing the amount of alcoholic beverages consumed, even for light-to-moderate drinkers, may improve cardiovascular health, including a reduced risk of coronary heart disease, lower body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure, according to a new multi-center study published in The BMJ and co-led by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The latest findings call into question previous studies which suggest that consuming light-to-moderate amounts of alcohol (0.6-0.8 fluid ounces/day) may have a protective effect on cardiovascular health.

• share
• favorite_border

Underage drinkers between the ages of 18 and 20 see more magazine advertising than any other age group for the alcohol brands they consume most heavily, raising important questions about whether current alcohol self-regulatory codes concerning advertising are sufficiently protecting young people.

• share
• favorite_border

Workers with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are more likely to have a flat or declining "work trajectory," reports a study in the July Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

• share
• favorite_border

Neuroscientists leading the largest longitudinal adolescent brain imaging study to date have learned that a number of factors – genetics, brain function and about 40 different variables – can help scientists predict which teens will become binge drinkers.

• share
• favorite_border

Orgasms aren’t just good for your sexual relationship; they may also promote good communication. Results of a new study published in the latest edition of Communication Monographs reveal that in the aftermath of having experienced an orgasm, people are more likely to share important information with their partners. And, that communication is likely to be positive.

• share
• favorite_border

The so called fatty liver disease that long time drinkers develop may extend to the lung in a newly discovered side effect of drinking in rats that researchers are calling fatty lung disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Hundreds of thousands of American youth are following marijuana-related Twitter accounts and getting pro-pot messages several times each day, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They said the tweets are cause for concern because young people are thought to be especially responsive to social media influences, and patterns of drug use tend to be established in a person’s late teens and early 20s.

• share
• favorite_border

While there is no hard data to support the whole “coffee will stunt your growth” line that grownups have been using for years, there is concern about what the effects might be of increased caffeine consumption among young people.

• share
• favorite_border

A Johns Hopkins-led research team has found that motivational interviewing, along with standard education and awareness programs, significantly reduced secondhand smoke exposure among children living in those households.

• share
• favorite_border

A study just published in the journal Substance Use & Misuse by researchers affiliated with New York University’s Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), examined a national sample of high school seniors to determine who is currently at high risk for ecstasy use. Although ecstasy use in the U.S. is not as prevalent as in the late 1990s and early 2000s, its use remains popular among adolescents and young adults. The authors feel the popularity of ecstasy use may be related to increasing popularity of electronic dance festivals.

• share
• favorite_border

People with significant hypothyroidism can experience impaired driving similar to those who are driving when intoxicated by alcohol, a new study finds. The results were presented Sunday at the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society: ICE/ENDO 2014 in Chicago.

• share
• favorite_border

Youth who binge drink are often choosing spirits (“hard alcohol”), particularly vodka, and their binge drinking is concentrated among a relatively small number of brands, according to a new study from researchers with the Boston University School of Public Health and the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Intoxicated trauma patients have a reduced risk for cardiac and renal complications, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study.

• share
• favorite_border

Community opioid overdose prevention programs (OOPPs)—including the use of naloxone for rapid drug reversal—can improve bystander responses to overdose of heroin and related drugs, according to a review in the June Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study has identified a causative link between a key cell stress response pathway and alcoholic liver disease advancing understanding of how this disease develops.

• share
• favorite_border

Amphetamines can delay exhaustion during exercise in the heat by increasing the temperature at which it occurs. The potential cost? The risk of suffering from exertional heat stroke.

• share
• favorite_border

A nationwide survey of heroin users indicates that they are attracted to the drug not only for the “high” but because it is less expensive and easier to get than prescription painkillers, and Washington University researchers have found that many suburban drug users have made the switch.

• share
• favorite_border

A group of 11 genes can successfully predict whether an individual is at increased risk of alcoholism, a research team from the United States and Germany reports

• share
• favorite_border

Money changes everything. To date, lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers have accounted for the largest number of cancer deaths. In response, these cancers currently receive the most research funding from the National Cancer Institute and are highlighted through public health campaigns, special event fundraising and celebrity spokespeople. And the extra money and attention is working to end those cancers and move other cancers up in frequency of cause of death.Cancer Research reports that “by 2030 more people will be diagnosed with breast, prostate and lung cancers than with pancreatic cancers, but more pancreatic cancer and liver cancer patients will die of their disease.”

• share
• favorite_border

Young adults who smoked water pipes in hookah bars had elevated levels of nicotine, cotinine, tobacco-related cancer-causing agents, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in their urine, and this may increase their risk for cancer and other chronic diseases, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

• share
• favorite_border

A team led by Maciej Goniewicz of Roswell Park Cancer Institute found that high-voltage electronic cigarettes may expose users to increased levels of toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.

• share
• favorite_border

Heavy social drinkers who report greater stimulation and reward from alcohol are more likely to develop alcohol use disorder over time, report researchers from the University of Chicago, May 15 in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings run counter to existing hypotheses that innate tolerance to alcohol drives alcoholism.

• share
• favorite_border

Parents' attitudes toward substance use may help to explain observed racial/ethnic variations in prescription drug misuse among teens, reports a study in the May Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

• share
• favorite_border

Social work researchers from the University of Washington have found that among a group of active-duty Army personnel who use illicit drugs, the most abused substance is synthetic marijuana, which is harder to detect than other drugs through standard drug tests.

• share
• favorite_border

Four percent of Canadians aged 12 to 14 years old had consumed five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the preceding year, according to a new study from the University of Toronto. The study was published this week in the journal ISRN Public Health. The findings also indicated that the odds of binge drinking were twice as high among youth with three or more chronic conditions.

• share
• favorite_border

People who grew up with a parent who abused alcohol may be 85 percent more likely to attempt suicide than people whose parents did not abuse alcohol, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

• share
• favorite_border

Today, Gov. O’Malley signed legislation banning the retail sale of alcohol 190-proof and stronger effective July 1. Maryland joins the ranks of more than a dozen other states that ban the sale of such products, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.

• share
• favorite_border

Today, Gov. O’Malley signed legislation banning the retail sale of alcohol 190-proof and stronger effective July 1. Maryland joins the ranks of more than a dozen other states that ban the sale of such products, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.