RSA 2016 Featured Research Findings

Newswise — The 39th annual Research Society on Alcoholism Scientific Meeting will take place June 25-29 in New Orleans, Louisiana. RSA 2016 provides a meeting place for scientists and clinicians from across the country, and around the world, to interact. The meeting also gives members and non-members the chance to present their latest findings in alcohol research through abstract and symposia submissions.

Below are eight programming highlights. For full press releases, images or abstracts, email [email protected].

Neurocognitive Predictors of Initiating Heavy Alcohol Use During Adolescence Underage drinking is a major public health and social problem in the U.S. The ability to identify at-risk children before they initiate heavy alcohol use has immense clinical and public health implications. A new study has found that demographic factors, cognitive functioning, and brain features during the early-adolescence ages of 12 to 14 years can predict which youth eventually initiate alcohol use during later adolescence around the age of 18.(Sunday, June 26, 10:25 a.m. ET)

Will You Stay or Will You Go? What Relationships Substance Users End During or After Treatment It’s no secret that social environments can play a role in the development as well as recovery from substance-abuse problems. A new study, designed to uncover how individual relationships respond to substance use and social influences, has found that the links between substance use and social connections are bidirectional and strong.(Sunday, June 26, 2:05 p.m. ET)

Mobile Breathalyzer Technology for Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment in Outpatient Settings: Data Trends and Best Practices Alcohol treatment has come a long way from enforced isolation in asylums, and technological advancements are particularly promising in terms of their capacity to improve treatment effectiveness. Promising research looks at the feasibility, implementation, validity and utilization of mobile momentary-assessment breathalyzers within the context of an intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment for alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). (Sunday, June 26, 5:40 p.m. ET)

Social Media-Based Prevention for Reducing Alcohol Use Problems Among Emerging Adults Health-promotion and disease-prevention efforts can no longer use a one-size-fits-all approach. Efforts targeting emerging adult populations – encompassing late adolescence and early adulthood – must embrace and utilize multi-pronged, multi-media approaches in order to be successful. This presentation discusses a unique media-awareness campaign designed to reduce binge drinking, as well as associated HIV/HCV risk, among Hispanic/Latino emerging adults. (Sunday, June 26, 5:40 p.m. ET)

HDAC Inhibitors, Chromatin, and Synaptic Remodeling in Alcoholism Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modifying gene expression – by alcohol, for example – rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. Recent evidence suggests that alcohol can inhibit activity of an enzyme called histone deacetylase (HDAC) in the amygdala, a brain region that is crucial for storing memories and regulating fear, anxiety, and other emotions. This presentation will address histone modifications in the rodent amygdala during chronic alcohol exposure and withdrawal. (Monday, June 27, 9:20 a.m. ET)

Examining the Association Between ‘Drunkorexia,’ Perceived Norms, and Drinking to CopeWhile many people view college drinking as the norm, less understood is that how students drink can place them at a higher risk for multiple problems. Drinking on an empty stomach usually means that someone will get drunk faster, given that food helps to absorb alcohol, slowing down alcohol absorption into the bloodstream. A growing trend among college drinkers is called “drunkorexia,” a non-medical term that refers to a combination of alcohol with diet-related behaviors such as food restriction, excessive exercising, or bingeing and purging.(Monday, June 27, 1:25 p.m. ET)

Alcohol, Advanced Age, and the Pulmonary Inflammatory Response After InfectionThe immune system in the elderly is dysfunctional and infections are more prevalent, more severe, and harder to defeat. Drinking alcohol has a variety of damaging effects on the immune system and organs – like the gut, liver and lung – which can be worsened by pre-existing conditions as well as consumption of prescription and over-the-counter medications that aged individuals often take. This presentation addresses how alcohol affects the elderly more dramatically, and also suppresses their ability to battle infections, like pneumonia, much more severely than it does younger individuals.(Tuesday, June 28, 9:40 a.m. ET)

Documentary: The Anonymous PeopleCurrent public perceptions about alcohol- and other drug-use disorders are out of step with scientific knowledge. There remains a general belief that these disorders are essentially moral failings and/or bad choices. This view is completely at odds with research demonstrating that these disorders are indeed a brain disease. A documentary called “The Anonymous People” features personal narratives that call for a fundamental reframing of the national conversation about substance-use disorders and recovery.(Wednesday, June 29, 11:00 a.m. ET)

RSA 2016 meeting program/daily schedule at: http://www.rsoa.org/2016meet-MeetingProgram.htm