Feature Channels: Alcohol and Alcoholism

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Adolescence can be a challenging time for both young people and their parents. Adolescents often face temptations to experiment with various substances and, unfortunately, this is the time when problem substance use typically begins. Vulnerability likely stems from at least two changes that occur during adolescence: although there are rapid increases in sensation seeking during early- to mid-adolescence, gradual improvements in impulse control become evident only during later adolescence. This study examines how these processes develop in high-risk youths.

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Individuals with alcohol dependence (AD) often have sleep-related disorders such as insomnia, circadian-rhythm sleep disorders, breathing-related sleep disorders, movement disorders, and parasomnias such as sleep-related eating disorder, sleepwalking, nightmares, sleep paralysis, and REM sleep behavior disorder. The last comprehensive review on this topic was published in March 2005. This review examines the various aspects of insomnia associated with AD, especially using findings over the last decade, and employing updated diagnostic criteria for sleep disorders found in the third edition of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders.

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Can having a few drinks help people with clinical depression feel better? Yes. At least in terms of biochemistry.

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Highly caffeinated energy drinks (EDs) have been of concern to the public-health community for almost a decade. Many young people consume EDs with alcohol to decrease alcohol’s sedative effects and stay awake longer, enabling them to drink more alcohol. Adding to the growing body of research linking ED consumption with risk-taking and alcohol-related problems, this study examined its relationship with drunk driving. Importantly, the researchers differentiated between the different ways in which EDs are consumed: exclusively with alcohol, exclusively without alcohol, or both with and without alcohol depending on the occasion.

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While the association between alcohol and homicide may seem obvious, there has been no recent study of alcohol involvement in homicide victimization in U.S. states. This study drills down into the subject, looking at how often alcohol was involved in homicide victimization, and what socio-demographic and other factors may be predictors.

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Heavy drinking can lead to neurophysiological and cognitive changes ranging from disrupted sleep to more serious neurotoxic effects. Aging can also contribute to cognitive decline. Several studies on the interaction of current heavy drinking and aging have had varied results. This study sought to elucidate the relations among age, heavy drinking, and neurocognitive function.

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Trauma exposure has consistently been reported as a risk factor for alcohol use and related problems. Further, racial differences in alcohol use, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and trauma exposure between European American (EA) and African American (AA) women have been reported previously. This study sought to identify racial differences in alcohol involvement, and to examine the risk conferred by specific trauma exposures and PTSD for different stages of alcohol involvement in EA and AA women.

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A study led by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pitt Department of Psychology has identified a possible link between adolescent sleep habits and early substance abuse. The study, published today in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that both sleep duration and sleep quality during late childhood predict alcohol and cannabis use later in adolescence.

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Cells in the lung are constantly exposed to oxygen and intermittently exposed to other environmental factors, resulting in a susceptibility to oxidative injury. Both alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and cigarette smoking heighten pulmonary oxidative stress, likely due to antioxidant depletion. Pulmonary oxidative stress damages innate immunity, which can contribute to increased pneumonia susceptibility and severity. This study sought to understand whether measures of pulmonary oxidative stress in upper airway fluid are comparable to measures in the lower airways, and whether either compartment is preferentially affected by AUDs and/or smoking. If upper airways’ and lower airways’ oxidative stress indices are similar, less invasive methods to assess pulmonary oxidative stress, such as mini-bronchoalveolar lavage (mini-BAL) or sputum evaluations, could be used in research and clinical settings.

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A research team from the University of Louisville has received a Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence grant of more than $11.5 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to explore diseases of the liver—hepatobiology and toxicology.

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Suicide was the tenth leading cause of death in the United States in 2013. There is clear evidence that intoxication and chronic, heavy drinking are often associated with suicide. While alcohol policies are known to be effective in reducing excessive drinking, this review undertakes a critical look at the literature on the relationship between alcohol policies and suicide.

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The Developmental Exposure Alcohol Research Center (DEARC) at Binghamton University is joining the cause to increase awareness of the risks of drinking alcohol while pregnant.

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College student marijuana use continues its nearly decade-long increase, according to the most recent national Monitoring the Future study.

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There may be a way to switch off the urge for compulsive drinking, according to a new study in animal models led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

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Heavy drinking frequently causes liver inflammation and injury, and fatty acids (FAs) involved in pro- and anti-inflammatory responses could play a critical role in these processes. This study evaluated heavy drinking and changes in levels of omega-6 (ω-6, pro-inflammatory) and omega-3 (ω-3, anti-inflammatory) FAs in alcohol dependent (AD) patients who showed no clinical signs of liver injury.

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Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified 34 neural factors that predict adolescent alcohol consumption. The list, based upon complex algorithms analyzing data from neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging studies, was significantly more accurate —approximately 74 percent — than demographic information alone.

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If you really want a drink right now, the source of your craving may be a pea-sized structure deep inside the right side of your brain, according to scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

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Researchers have discovered an enzyme that plays a leading role in the formation of compounds that give aged wines their sought-after aroma.

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Researchers know that youth with a family history of alcoholism have a greater risk of developing an alcohol use disorder; this heightened vulnerability may be due to impulsive behavior. For this study, researchers examined “waiting” impulsivity – a tendency toward prematurely responding to a reward, and previously associated with a predisposition to drinking. The study sample comprised young, moderate-to-heavy social drinkers who were either positive (FHP) or negative (FHN) for a family history of alcoholism. Impulsivity was assessed after an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.

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A new University of Cincinnati study looks at how young women's beliefs about alcohol and sex affect condom usage during sexual encounters involving alcohol.

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University of Helsinki researchers have previously demonstrated that a point mutation in a gene of serotonin 2B receptor can render the carrier prone to impulsive behaviour, particularly when drunk. Now the research group has established that the same mutation may shield its bearers from obesity and insulin resistance, both of which are associated with type 2 diabetes.

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Rats bred to abuse alcohol accumulated numerous genetic differences, many of which occurred in regulatory regions of the genome, reports Feng C. Zhou at Indiana University in Indianapolis and William Muir at Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana, and colleagues in a study published on August 4 in PLOS Genetics.

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Researchers compared self-reported sexual experiences related to use of alcohol and marijuana, to examine if and how marijuana use may influence risk for unsafe sexual behavior.

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Loyola researchers have discovered a potential new health concern related to excessive alcohol consumption.Adults who drink excessively were found to have less nitric oxide in their exhaled breath than adults who don’t drink. Nitric oxide helps protect against certain harmful bacteria.

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Adolescence is both a time of rapid neurobiological changes and of the initiation of drinking – alcohol is the most commonly used substance among students in grades eight to 12. Binge-drinking effects are particularly concerning, although it is unclear whether and how much it affects neurocognitive performance. This study looked at two questions: first, whether moderate, binge, or extreme-binge drinking in adolescence had an impact on later performance in tests of verbal learning and memory (VLM); and second, whether the amount of alcohol consumed is associated with specific changes in learning and memory during six years of adolescence.

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According to researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine, you might be. Drug-seeking behavior can be prompted or cued by certain kinds of drug-associated stimuli. Prior research shows that this behavior likely depends on interactions between the brain’s frontal activity and release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the ventral striatum (a structure deep inside the brain that is related to motivated behavior and reward). Previously, the authors of this study, using positron emission tomography (PET), found that beer flavor alone (from small, non-intoxicating amounts of beer) elicited dopamine release in beer drinkers. Here, the authors examined a subset of the previous group, using a similar design, but with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) – a technique that reveals brain activation.

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Study Sheds New Light on the Origins of Human Alcohol Consumption

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Craving consists of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral elements related to a desire to drink alcohol, and can be experienced during intoxication, withdrawal, and/or prior to relapse. Different types of craving are hypothesized to be associated with different neurotransmitter systems. For example, reward craving may be mediated by dopamine and opioids, obsessive craving by serotonin, and relief craving by glutamate. This study used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to examine the correlation between craving and glutamate levels in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) of patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs).

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Beer isn’t just for nuts and pretzels anymore. You can now find the perfect brew to accompany your favorite food, whether it’s picnic fare or haute cuisine, according to one of the nation’s top brewmasters. There are even beers that pair well with desserts, says Keith Villa, founder and head brewmaster of Blue Moon Brewing Company, a division of MillerCoors. In a July 18 presentation at IFT16: Where Science Feeds Innovation, hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Villa offered insight into how to choose a beer to accompany different dishes on the menu.

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Alcohol abuse exacts a major toll on health and health costs in the United States and is the 3rd leading preventable cause of death. Researchers at the University of Louisville have received a nearly $8 million grant from the NIH that designates them as an NIAAA Alcohol Research Center.

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Children whose caregivers misuse alcohol or use, produce or distribute drugs face an increased risk of medical and behavioral problems. According to a new clinical report by experts at Beth Israel Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Children’s Hospital, pediatricians hold the unique position to assess risk and intervene to protect children. The report is available online today and will appear in the August print edition of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Association of Pediatrics.

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Working memory can be thought of as short-term memory, temporarily holding ideas and recent events in the mind for quick recall. Working memory often declines with age; it may also be susceptible to interactions between age and alcohol use. Frontal theta power (FTP) and posterior alpha power (PAP) are electrophysiological measures of brain activity associated with cognitive effort and maintenance of visual information. This study looks at alcohol effects on FTP and PAP during a working memory task in younger and older social drinkers.

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Energy drinks combined with alcohol (AmEDs) were once available for purchase as a premixed beverage, until 2010 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determined that the combination was unsafe. However, the popularity of AmEDs continues to rise, fueled by private consumers and bartenders. There are a variety of risks associated with AmEDs, including a greater chance of binge drinking than with alcoholic beverages alone. This study investigated whether consuming high-caffeine energy drinks mixed with alcohol results in a greater desire to drink alcohol than alcohol alone.

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A new University at Buffalo study is helping researchers better understand how post-traumatic stress disorder fluctuates in students during their first year of college.

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A small rise of 1% in alcohol prices could significantly reduce violence-related injuries in England and Wales, consequently reducing their burden on hard-pressed emergency departments, concludes a study by Cardiff University.

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By activating particular neurons, we may be able to influence alcohol drinking behavior, according to new findings published by researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence (AD) are two of the most common and debilitating disorders diagnosed among American military veterans. AD and PTSD often occur together, and this co-occurrence has a worse prognosis than either disorder alone. Alcohol craving is related to relapse, but the relationship between PTSD symptoms, craving, and relapse is not well understood. This study is the first to explore the effects of trauma-induced and stress-induced imagery on alcohol craving, affect, and cardiovascular and cortisol responses in a laboratory setting.

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Researchers at the University of Iowa have found another negative health outcome linked to discrimination: alcohol abuse.

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Binge drinking — almost a rite of passage — peaks during the college years. So this begs the question, “Are there specific characteristics associated with high-level binge drinking habits in college students?”

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Current 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 alcohol and substance-use disorders and recovery.

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The 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.

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While 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.

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As Rutgers University's substance abuse helpline enters its second year, it counts its success one call at a time

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in the U.S. regulates the age at which individuals can legally purchase and possess alcohol in public. An MLDA of 21 has been linked to a number of benefits, including a lower risk for alcoholism in adulthood. However, no studies have examined linkages between exposure to MLDAs during young adulthood and mortality later in life. This study examined if young adults – college and non-college students – exposed to a permissive MLDA (younger than 21) had a higher risk of death from alcohol-related chronic diseases compared to those exposed to an MLDA of 21.

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Gender and a family history of alcoholism (FH) are two genetically determined factors known to affect someone’s risk for developing alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). Adolescence is also a critical period for the development of AUDs; drinking habits can be unstable and environmental factors such as peer pressure may be substantial. This study looked at how gender and FH might affect alcohol use in a sample of 18- to 19-year-olds from the Dresden Longitudinal Study on Alcohol use in Young Adults (D-LAYA).