Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have expanded a statewide program called Training, Research and Education Driving Safety (TREDS) with the goal of reducing deaths from vehicular crashes.
In every U.S. state, it is illegal for adults to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or greater. In 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that states lower the BAC limit for driving from .08 to .05 grams. Most industrialized nations have already enacted a .05 BAC limit. This study investigated whether lowering the BAC limit to .05 would be an effective alcohol policy in the United States.
Any amount of alcohol exposure during pregnancy can cause extreme lasting effects on a child, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Having a parent with an alcohol use disorder increases the risk for dating violence among teenagers, according to a study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions.
Health care costs for privately insured patients with alcoholic cirrhosis are nearly twice that of non‐alcoholic cirrhosis patients in the United States, according to research presented this week at The Liver Meeting® — held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) often co-occurs with chronic pain (CP), yet the relationship between the two is complex – involving genetic, neurophysiological, and behavioral elements – and is poorly understood. This review addressed the genetic influences on brain reward and stress systems that neurological research suggests may contribute to the co-occurrence of AUD and CP.
The book, titled “Drinking, Drug Use and Addiction in the Autism Community,” explores why addiction is more common among individuals with ASD than it is within the general population and investigates how addiction and autism affect one another.
Sometimes scientists do not see the value of sharing their knowledge and expertise with non-scientists and members of the public may believe that researchers enjoy a rarefied existence. This critical review addresses the important, yet limited gap that exists between these two realms by discussing the Spit for Science project. Spit4Science is a university-wide research undertaking at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) that focuses on alcohol and other drug use and related mental-health outcomes. It incorporates two forms of participatory research that have gained increasing attention in recent years, community-engaged research and citizen science.
Michigan Technological University is leading a $1.8 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) study to understand alcohol’s effects on sleep, blood pressure and brain activity
Approximately 10 percent of Americans take a proton pump inhibitor drug to relieve symptoms of frequent heartburn and acid reflux. That percentage can be much higher for people with chronic liver disease. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered evidence in mice and humans that these medications alter gut bacteria in a way that promotes three types of chronic liver disease. The study is published October 10 in Nature Communications.
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Wayne State University $2,063,188 for a new study that will analyze longitudinal data spanning 20 years collected from five U.S. cohorts, including 480 African-American mothers and children in the Detroit Longitudinal Cohort Study, to take a closer look at the key developmental outcomes and prenatal alcohol exposure levels that characterize FASD.
Although alcohol is a legal substance for adults age 21 or older, it is the leading illicit substance used by underage American youth. Prior research has shown that youth exposed to alcohol advertisements have a greater risk of drinking. Alcohol-industry groups have developed voluntary codes, such as the Beer Institute Advertising & Marketing Code, stating that their advertising and marketing materials are intended for adults of legal purchasing age who choose to drink. This study examined whether alcohol brands more popular among youth were more likely than other brands to have aired television advertisements that violated the alcohol industry’s voluntary code by including youth-appealing content.
Ride-hailing services reduce drunk-driving crashes in some cities, reports a new study from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania this month in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The research is the first to look at the specific effects of ride-hailing, or “ride-sharing,” within specific cities, rather than averaging data across multiple cities.
Friday and Saturday nights seem to be the universal nights for partying. They are the peak times for heavy drinking by young adults, often beyond what is considered heavy episodic drinking (HED) – five or more drinks per occasion for men, four or more for women. Although heavy drinking is assumed to be intentional, in fact very little is known about the extent to which heavy drinking is pre-planned and the factors that might contribute to a person’s drinking more than he or she intended. This study investigated drinking intentions at the beginning of an evening and individual and situational factors linked to subsequent drinking.
Hackensack Meridian Health Bayshore Medical Center recently launched the Opioid Overdose Recovery Program (OORP) designed to help combat drug addiction in the Bayshore region. Made possible through a state grant and provided by the RWJBarnabas Health Institute for Prevention, the program is designed to provide peer-to-peer bedside counseling with the goal of getting individuals who have been reversed by Narcan into an appropriate treatment program following an opioid overdose.
In an analysis of the epigenomes of people and mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Institutes of Health report that drinking alcohol may induce changes to a cholesterol-regulating gene.
Researchers from the University of Adelaide have found a new link between the brain's immune system and the desire to drink alcohol in the evening.
Alcohol use among underage youth – younger than 21 years of age – remains an important public-health issue, despite a decline in the past decade. The alcohol beverage industry denies that it promotes its products to underage youth. This study investigated whether alcohol brands popular among underage drinkers (12 to 20 years of age) are more likely than other alcohol brands to be advertised in magazines with large underage readerships.
Road-traffic injuries (RTIs), which are often fatal, are regrettable consequences of modern transportation. According to the World Health Organization, low- and middle-income countries have road-traffic fatality rates that are double those of high-income countries. It is well established that drinking alcohol increases the risk of a traffic crash. This study examined the role that alcohol plays in the risk of RTIs in 10 countries located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brief interventions in a primary care clinic can reduce patients’ risky substance use by 4.5 days per month — a 40 percent decline among the Latino patients surveyed — compared with people who did not receive the brief intervention.
Studies have shown that an early age of drinking initiation (ADI) increases the chance of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). There is limited evidence that ADI differs across ethnic groups. This study examined whether the pathway from ADI to AUD symptoms by early adulthood is influenced by two factors: ethnicity and having the alcohol metabolizing gene variant allele, ALDH2*2. This allele produces an inactive enzyme that leads to higher levels of acetaldehyde during alcohol metabolism, which are associated with unpleasant effects after drinking alcohol and a decreased risk for an AUD.
People tend to adjust behaviors across their lifespans as they adopt new roles – such as marriage or parenting – that are incompatible with prior behaviors. The transition to parenthood appears to be particularly relevant for women, leading to a reduction in alcohol consumption. This study of maternal alcohol use is the first to focus on age at transition to motherhood as a predictor of trajectories of risky drinking during a 17-year span.
BOSTON - Drinking too much alcohol can damage the liver, but investigators have discovered a protective response in the organ that might be targeted to help treat alcoholic liver disease. The team - led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania - also found that the same protective response may be involved in aversion to alcohol and could therefore help in the treatment of alcoholism.
Intoxicated, heavy drinkers have a tendency to act rashly in response to negative emotions, which can intensify the risk for intimate partner aggression, according to a study by Georgia State University and Purdue University.
Heavy drinking can have a number of negative consequences, including sex that is later regretted. Low sensitivity (LS) to alcohol’s effects – which characterizes the person who can “drink everyone under the table” – is a known risk factor for heavy drinking and its consequences. This study investigated LS and regretted sex from an unusual perspective, asking whether LS could be protective in some contexts, given that LS drinkers are generally less impaired from drinking at a given level. More specifically, the investigators tested whether LS was associated with differences in reports by men and women of alcohol-related regretted sex.
Older adults who consume alcohol moderately on a regular basis are more likely to live to the age of 85 without dementia or other cognitive impairments than non-drinkers, according to a University of California San Diego School of Medicine-led study.
Brittany Todd Texas Tech University has named Brittany Todd, associate director of the Office of Student Conduct, as director of the Risk Intervention & Safety Education (RISE) office. She will begin in the new position today (Aug. 1), filling the spot left when Kimberly Simón was named the university’s Title IX administrator in April.
Researchers have shown that a new genetic test could potentially help stem the tide of the opioid epidemic by predicting which patients are at risk of abusing prescription opioids. These findings were presented for the first time at the 69th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in San Diego.
A new study shows that a change in policy placing more restrictions on all hydrocodone-containing drugs has successfully decreased the use of certain opioids such as Vicodin. This research and a second study illuminating regional drug use trends in Canada were announced today at the 69th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego, and could help to guide future strategies for combatting addiction.
Despite being saddled with many factors associated with drug and alcohol problems, undocumented immigrants are not increasing the prevalence of drug and alcohol crimes and deaths in the United States, according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Drinking alcohol results in an alcohol use disorder (AUD) when consumption becomes excessive and dependence develops. Both stress and anxiety can contribute to the development of an AUD. Chronic stress can increase drinking, and chronic drinking can elevate anxiety and dysregulate normal responses to stressors. Behavioral flexibility and adaptive behavior – essential for controlling excessive drinking – are core functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), This study used mice to examine the effects of combined alcohol and stress exposure on PFC function.
Many studies of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) use tasks that involve monetary rewards or losses to examine individual decision-making vis-à-vis alcohol and other substance use. Yet drinking typically occurs in specific social and incentive contexts that do not involve economic decision-making. This study examined decisions about attending, and drinking in, hypothetical drinking/social contexts wherein several different incentive and disincentive options were provided to the individual.
It’s no secret that university life often includes alcohol use, which can sometimes cause harm. Yet harm can also extend beyond the drinker, such as “secondhand harm” that is caused by intoxicated people: accidents or domestic, physical, or sexual violence; interrupted sleep or property destruction; and arguments, problems with relationships, or financial problems. Prior research suggests that more than 70 percent of college undergraduates have experienced harm from other students’ drinking. This study examined the prevalence and types of secondhand harm among Canadian undergraduates, and whether certain personality risks for alcohol use disorder – impulsivity, sensation seeking, hopelessness, anxiety sensitivity – can predict secondhand-harm exposure.
Fewer Australian teenagers are drinking alcohol but more needs to be done to curb the drinking habits of Aussie school students, based on the findings of the latest study by Adelaide researchers.
The use of medication to treat attention deficient hyperactivity disorder is linked to significantly lower risk for substance use problems in adolescents and adults with ADHD, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and led by Indiana University.
A definitive guide to the findings from cutting-edge clinical research on addiction to front-line clinicians is found in a new book, Integrating Psychological and Pharmacological Treatments for Addictive Disorders published by Routledge.
One of the many negative consequences when fetuses are exposed to alcohol in the womb is an increased risk for drug addiction later in life. Neuroscientists in the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions are discovering why.
Prior research suggests that college students, males, and people drinking alcohol at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs are at particularly high risk for driving after drinking. Breath-testing devices are not usually found at these drinking establishments, so patrons generally assess their own intoxication levels using internal (feelings of intoxication) and external (number of drinks consumed) cues. This study examined bar patrons’ self-estimates of their breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs) in natural drinking environments.
Advancements in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have allowed people living with HIV/AIDS to maintain a quality of life similar to those without HIV infection. Medication adherence is key, however, as non-adherence to ART can lead to poorer HIV suppression, decreased CD4 cell count, and an increased risk for antiretroviral drug resistance. Prior research has shown that alcohol use is common among persons living with HIV/AIDS, and that the rate of current heavy drinking may be almost double that of the general population. This study examined whether “at-risk” alcohol use – defined as more than three drinks per day for women and more than four drinks per day for men – was associated with ART non-adherence among persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Prior research suggests that binge drinking may increase people’s risk of developing alcohol use disorders (AUDs), especially adolescents and young adults. It is unclear whether different drinking patterns – for example, intermittent versus regular drinking –have a different impact on the compulsive drinking that characterizes people with AUDs. This study used rats to examine whether chronic intermittent alcohol access facilitates a transition to compulsive-like drinking.
Some individuals struggle to make healthy decisions about their drinking in risky situations. Technology can help. Researchers are finding ways by which digital interventions can help people make smarter drinking decisions, leading to reduced alcohol-related injuries and illness. These findings will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
Unaccompanied homeless youth, especially females, have high rates of sexual and physical victimization – both before and after leaving home. These findings and others will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
Military sexual trauma (MST) is defined as sexual harassment and/or sexual trauma experienced during the course of military service. It includes uninvited or unwanted verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature, such as attention, verbal remarks, touching, sexual coercion, sexual assault, and rape. It happens to both men and women, and can have not only mental and physical but also behavioral health consequences such as substance use/abuse. Recent findings will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
Alcohol use exists on a spectrum, ranging from abstinence to low-risk use, to hazardous use, to abuse. Unhealthy drinking includes the last two categories – risky or hazardous use, and drinking that has become a disorder. Both can be identified by amounts consumed, as well as associated behaviors and consequences. Both comprise a red flag for help or change. This real-world advice will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
In just seven years, the number of marijuana-positive drivers increased 50 percent, according to the 2013-2014 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol & Drug Use by Drivers. On the flip side, the percentage of alcohol-positive drivers decreased 77 percent between 1973 and 2013-2014. These results and others will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
The first three months of sobriety pose the greatest risk for relapse, and the greatest challenge for intervention efforts. Results from a pilot study suggest that a lifestyle physical activity intervention supported by a Fitbit device can successfully supplement existing alcohol treatment among depressed women during early recovery. These results will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
Epigenetics refers to how certain life circumstances can cause genes to be silenced or expressed, become dormant or active, over time. New research shows that adolescent binge drinking can lead to epigenetic reprogramming that predisposes an individual to later psychiatric disorders such as anxiety. These data will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28.
The more alcohol that people drink, the more their cells appear to age. In a new study that will be shared at the 40th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Denver June 24-28, researchers found that alcoholic patients had shortened telomere lengths, placing them at greater risk for age-related illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia..
The 40th annual Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Scientific Meeting will take place June 25-28 in Denver, Colorado. RSA 2017 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].
Virginia Ramseyer-Winter, assistant professor of social work, found negative body image is associated with increased tobacco and alcohol use, with implications for both young men and women.
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