Feature Channels: Alcohol and Alcoholism

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Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) occurs on a spectrum of severity. The majority of people who drink excessively develop a fatty liver, which though often symptom free, can progress to a state of inflammation, fibrosis, and cell death that can be fatal. Little is known about liver disruption that may occur in problem drinkers who are not alcohol dependent. To help understand the development of ALD, this study used a rodent model to examine differences in liver damage between binge drinkers and heavy drinkers.

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Older adults suffering from multiple chronic health conditions and depression are nearly five times as likely to be problem drinkers as older adults with the same conditions and no depression.

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Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) develop with time and in stages. Following the initiation of drinking, some people progress to problem drinking, and then develop a “cluster” of specific problems to comprise an AUD. However, not all stages of AUD development have been studied equally. This report examines high-risk families to understand underlying influences across multiple stages of AUD development.

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A new analysis of 12 long-term studies published since 2008 from across the globe finds that young people under the legal drinking age who are more exposed to alcohol marketing appear more likely to start drinking early and also to engage in binge drinking.

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Experiments in mice by researchers at Johns Hopkins suggest that if the goal is to ease or extinguish fearful emotional memories like those associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol may make things worse, not better. Results of their study demonstrate, they say, that alcohol strengthens emotional memories associated with fearful experiences and prevents mice from pushing aside their fears.

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Driving while impaired (DWI) causes more than 10,000 deaths per year in the United States. Although enforcing criminal sanctions for DWI is the traditional response, the success of these measures has been inconsistent. This study looked at risk perceptions as a method of reducing the frequency of DWI - in other words, whether the threat of being apprehended for DWI can deter people from engaging in this behavior.

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State laws requiring ignition interlocks for all drunk driving offenders appear to reduce the number of fatal drunk driving crashes, a new study by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Colorado School of Public Health researchers suggests.

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The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing has received a $3.25 million federal grant to continue its research to identify risk and protective factors related to drinking and drinking-related problems among sexual-minority — lesbian or bisexual — women.

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Gambling addiction activates the same brain pathways as drug and alcohol cravings, suggests new research.

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College matriculation is often associated with increases in the frequency and intensity of drinking. This study used a national sample to examine the association between being a college student and changes in excessive drinking from late adolescence through young adulthood and whether students’ residing with their parents during the school year affected the association.

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Bai jiu (白酒) are distilled spirits made and used throughout rural China for everyday use and special occasions. Distillation of bai jiu is regulated lightly or not at all and nearly every town or village has a distiller. Little is known about the composition of these Chinese spirits, a gap this study seeks to fill given the health risks associated with their high ethanol and high acetaldehyde concentrations.

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The Addiction Medicine Foundation today announced the accreditation of two additional fellowship programs to train addiction medicine physicians. The Foundation has supported the establishment of 44 addiction medicine fellowship training programs to date, based at major medical schools and teaching hospitals across North America, and is committed to establishing a total of 125 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited addiction medicine fellowship programs by 2025.

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Residential “in-patient” treatment for substance abuse is a preferred option for those seeking to recover. However, relapse within the first year following discharge ranges from 37% to 56%. Engagement in aftercare improves this statistic; only about half use outpatient care, and even fewer stick with it. Researchers explored the factors that hinder and help individuals transition from long-term residential substance abuse treatment centers to the community.

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High school girls with body image behavioral misperceptions are more likely to have had at least one alcoholic drink, as well as engaged in episodes of heavy drinking, than their peers without these misperceptions.

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Teenagers' use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco declined significantly in 2016 at rates that are at their lowest since the 1990s, a new national study showed.

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Although alcohol is believed to play a role in college sexual assaults, a new study finds no evidence that male students’ binge drinking per se boosts their odds of becoming a perpetrator.

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Trends of self-reported past-month binge alcohol use and alcohol use disorder were examined among adults age 50 and older. The researchers found significant increases in past-year alcohol use, past-month alcohol use, past-month binge drinking, and alcohol use disorders.

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A liver transplant is usually the last-chance remedy for end-stage liver disease. Quality of life and/or survival rates within the first five post-transplant years, independent of the primary reason for the transplant, are similar to those for patients with other types of cirrhosis. Alcohol relapses after liver transplantation are a critical issue and severe alcohol relapse can have dire consequences. This study compares the routine post-transplant evaluation of drinking with one obtained through a specific addiction consultation.

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Andre Maciel, an assistant marketing professor at Nebraska, spent three years studying craft beer drinkers and how they train their taste buds to prefer craft beer over mass-market brands.

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Resilience considerably reduces risk for developing alcohol use disorders, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.

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Certain personality traits – such as disinhibition (a lack of restraint) and impulsivity – increase the chances of developing alcohol use disorders (AUDs).

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UCLA study looks at theta burst stimulation as intervention in problem behaviors

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In the largest study of its kind, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and colleagues in Europe identified a gene variant that suppresses the desire to drink alcohol.

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A Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researcher has found that addiction treatment results improved when teens in a residential program stopped smoking.

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The holiday season sometimes brings with it excessive alcohol consumption. Women need to be aware that even a lit bit of holiday cheer can cause some serious health problems.

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Researchers from around the country who are studying alcohol’s negative effects on the body discussed their latest findings during a meeting at Loyola University Chicago’s Health Sciences campus.

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Research from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions suggests the approach to preventing alcohol and drug use by some adolescents should begin in early childhood.

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Repeated binge drinking during adolescence can affect brain functions in future generations, potentially putting offspring at risk for such conditions as depression, anxiety, and metabolic disorders, a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study has found.

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Siblings bear responsibility for the spread of problem behaviors. Identifying the exact nature of that influence has proven difficult, because behavior problems in siblings can also be traced to friends, shared genetics and shared experiences with parents. Evidence describing how problem behaviors spread between siblings has been scarce – until now, thanks to a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study on identical and fraternal twins.

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Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and the Omni-Net Birth Defects Prevention Program in Ukraine have identified a blood test that may help predict how severely a baby will be affected by alcohol exposure during pregnancy.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Texas A&M College of Medicine and the Omni-Net Birth Defects Prevention Program in Ukraine have identified a blood test that may help predict how severely a baby will be affected by alcohol exposure during pregnancy.

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Researchers at the University of Washington tested a telephone-based intervention for military members struggling with alcohol abuse, with promising results. Participants significantly reduced their drinking over time, had lower rates of alcohol dependence and were more likely to seek treatment.

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Recent research suggests that some women restrict food before and while drinking, quite possibly to compensate for alcohol-related calories. This can result in a combined state of fasting/alcohol intake, which can lead to higher breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs). Artificially sweetened alcohol mixers are also a commonly reported weight-control strategy. To determine whether artificial sweeteners accelerate alcohol responses or sugar dampens its effect (or a combination of both), this study investigated the effects of consuming alcohol with mixers containing no sweetener, sugar, or artificial sweetener on BrACs in a group of young women.

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Researchers found that rodents that had been exposed to stress had a weakened alcohol-induced dopamine response and voluntarily drank more alcohol compared to controls. The blunted dopamine signaling to ethanol arose due to changes in the circuitry in the ventral tegmental area, the heart of the brain's reward system.

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Scientists who use postmortem brain tissue to study alcohol’s effects on brain structure and function will find this research interesting. Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is an alcohol metabolite and its concentration in whole blood samples is a biomarker of drinking habits. For this study, scientists examined PEth levels in postmortem brains of individuals known to have had alcohol use disorders (AUDs).

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Researchers in the social sciences have been searching for a holy grail: an accurate way to predict who is likely to engage in problematic behavior, like using drugs.

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The latest research and features in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.

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Have you heard of the CNN effect? There is also a “fake ID effect:” This is when a fake piece of identification facilitates later harms. Researchers already know that underage college students who obtain and use false identification are at risk for negative outcomes. This study investigated the strength of the fake ID effect to determine whether having a fake ID is a signal of being at risk or it actually increases the likelihood that a student will suffer alcohol-related problems.

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Researchers conducted a cross-sectional chart review of 1,085 patients older than 18 who presented to the KATH emergency department within eight hours of an injury and found 382 subjects, or 35 percent, tested positive for any level of alcohol in their systems.

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In an effort to put the brakes on sobering statistics related to teenagers driving under the influence, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine will join forces with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) to reduce alcohol-impaired driving among San Diego youth ages 15 to 20.

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A unique research project at The Ohio State University aims to analyze drinking behavior the way engineers might analyze a mechanical system.

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Engineers funded by NIBIB have developed a small device, worn on the skin, that detects alcohol levels in perspiration and sends the information to the uses smart phone in just 8 minutes. It was designed as a convenient method for individuals to monitor their alcohol intake.

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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.