Feature Channels: Alcohol and Alcoholism

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Experts take an in-depth look into a favorite college pastime by understanding the dangers and risks of alcohol.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set off a firestorm of controversy this month when they suggested that women stop drinking alcohol if they are trying to get pregnant, or could get pregnant.

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BOSTON – While the protective connection between moderate alcohol consumption and heart health has been well-studied, new research from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health suggests that the association is more complicated than is widely accepted. Researchers found that in the hour following even moderate consumption of alcohol, the risk of heart and stroke doubled.

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Researchers have discovered one reason why adolescents are more prone to drug addiction than adults, with findings that could lead to new treatments for addictive disorders.

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Prescription drug abuse is at a crisis level in Pennsylvania. In this story from the Pennsylvania Health News Service, the history of the crisis and the long political path the Commonwealth took to build a prescription drug monitoring system for physician use is examined.

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Slow-wave sleep – during which the brain turns events into permanent memories – is fragmented in adulthood in people exposed to high levels of alcohol in the womb. This is according to a study conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and recently published online in the journal Neuroscience.

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When a mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy, even a small dose, she can increase the chances that the next three generations may develop alcoholism, according to a new study from Binghamton University. A research team led by Nicole Cameron, assistant professor of psychology at Binghamton University, was the first to investigate the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy on alcohol-related behavior (consumption and sensitivity to the effect of alcohol) on generations that were not directly exposed to alcohol in the uterus during the pregnancy.

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In this month’s release, find new embargoed research about using community-based approaches to treating Ebola in Sierra Leone; the alcohol industry’s actions to reduce drunk driving; and tobacco-free pharmacy laws’ effect on tobacco retailer density.

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The majority of the alcohol industry’s actions around the world to reduce drinking and driving either lack evidence of effectiveness or haven’t been studied, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

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Headlines about America’s worsening drug epidemic have focused on deaths from opioids—heroin and prescription painkillers such as OxyContin. But overdose deaths have also soared among the millions of Americans using benzodiazepine drugs, a class of sedatives that includes Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin, according to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Health System and the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. Their findings appear online today in the American Journal of Public Health.

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In a recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, a research team led by Dr. Dorit Ron at the University of California, San Francisco examined whether a single exposure to alcohol can induce memory and behavioral changes that could promote future drinking.

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Dr. Palamar and his team of researchers are the first to examine whether ecstasy users are unknowingly or unintentionally using "bath salts" and/or other novel psychoactive drugs.

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Psychedelic drugs such as LSD hold promise for palliative care for an aging population, said University of Saskatchewan medical historian Erika Dyck.

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With use of synthetic opioid “designer drugs” rising, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have a new strategy to curb addiction and even prevent fatal overdoses, reporting successful preclinical tests of a vaccine that prevents the synthetic opioid fentanyl from reaching the brain.

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Alcohol itself can directly damage liver cells. Now researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report evidence that alcohol is also harmful to the liver for a second reason — it allows gut bacteria to migrate to the liver, promoting alcohol-induced liver disease. The study, conducted in mice and in laboratory samples, is published February 10 in Cell Host & Microbe.

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Native Americans are more likely to abstain from alcohol than whites are, and heavy drinking and binge drinking rates are about the same for both groups, according to a UA study.

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A study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is offering a glimmer of hope to alcoholics who find it hard to remain sober because their abstinence is hounded by stubborn, difficult-to-treat depression.

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When it comes to prescription painkillers, the difference between controlling pain and dying from an overdose may come down to how strong a prescription the doctor wrote, according to a new study in veterans. And the threshold for safe prescribing may be lower than most people think – or than most guidelines recommend.

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Alcohol withdrawal adds challenges to caring for critically ill patients, and nurses must be diligent at each stage of care to minimize complications, according to an article in the clinical practice journal, Critical Care Nurse. The article provides much-needed guidance to critical care nurses and other clinicians whose patients may have alcohol use disorder, including abuse and dependency conditions of varying severity.

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New Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests there may actually be less serious crime near outpatient drug treatment clinics than other community businesses.

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A UAB study found that minority Americans who encounter discriminatory sentiments and actions are more likely to experience panic attacks, and smoking or consuming excessive amounts of alcohol were also identified as factors.

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A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analysis of registered medical marijuana users found that a hodgepodge of law and policy changes since 2001 had varying effects on the number of people consuming what in many states remains an otherwise illegal drug for its purported health benefits.

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Youth are being targeted with alcohol-related advertisements on social media platforms, according to new research by a Texas A&M University professor.

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A set of “no buy” list criteria developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health could greatly reduce underage viewers’ exposure to alcohol advertising on cable TV, a new study finds.

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A new study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions explores the effects of the Great Recession of 2007-09 on alcohol use among people who remained employed.

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A liver hormone works via the brain’s reward pathway to reduce cravings for sweets and alcohol in mammals, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

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A crackdown on Florida’s “pill mills” – clinics dispensing large quantities of prescription painkillers often for cash-only and without proper medical examinations – appears to have dramatically reduced the number of overdose deaths in the state from these drugs and may have also led to a drop in heroin overdose deaths, new research suggests.

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If governments want to discourage smoking among young people, both high taxes and smoking bans do the job – but bans may have one key advantage.

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Excessive alcohol consumption is a global public health issue. In the United States, binge drinking is the most common form ― so common, in fact, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports approximately one in six adults binge drinks about four times each month. Now, a study by University of Missouri School of Medicine researchers shows that chronic alcohol use, when combined with repeated binge drinking, causes more damage to the liver than previously thought.

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How many shots of alcohol does it take to fill a plastic, red solo cup? The answer is 11 and that’s just one of the questions New Mexico State University students are asking fellow students as part of the “Aggies Winning Choices” project.

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Billions of dollars have been spent on developing drugs and supplying them around the world, but which companies’ drugs are actually making an impact? The Global Health Impact Index, headed by Binghamton University Associate Professor Nicole Hassoun and highlighted in a new article published Friday in PLOS ONE, addresses this issue by ranking pharmaceutical companies based on their drugs’ impact on global health.

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Increasing state alcohol taxes could help prevent sexually transmitted infections, such as gonorrhea, according to University of Florida Health researchers, who found that gonorrhea rates decreased by 24 percent in Maryland after the state increased its sales tax on alcohol in 2011.

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Prescription opioid abuse has reached epidemic proportions, but new research led by UB psychiatric nursing researcher Yu-Ping Chang found motivational interviewing, a form of behavioral counseling, is an effective tool at curbing misuse.

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Researchers at the University of Georgia have found links between certain patterns of connections among Facebook friends and drug and alcohol use among college-aged females.

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The study is among the first nationally representative studies in the US to examine the linkages between nonmedical use of opioids and heroin in high school seniors. The researchers examined associations between frequency and recency of nonmedical use of opioids and heroin. Sociodemographic correlates of use of each drug were also examined.

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For the first time, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have created detailed “fingerprints” of a class of surface receptors that have proven highly useful for drug development.

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Article Body 2010 Genetic variation within the endocannabinoid system may explain why some survivors of childhood adversity go on to become dependent on marijuana, while others are able to use marijuana without problems, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis. “We have long known that childhood adversity, and in particular sexual abuse, is associated with the development of cannabis dependence.

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University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy Professor Chang-Guo Zhan, teamed with fellow UK Professors Fang Zheng and Sharon Walsh, and Professor Mei-Chuan Ko from Wake Forest University, recently received $6 million in funding over five years to further develop a potential treatment for cocaine abuse.

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Health experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine are calling on lawmakers and regulators to close loopholes in the Orphan Drug Act they claim give drug companies millions of dollars in unintended and misplaced subsidies and tax breaks and fuel skyrocketing medication costs.

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November 19, 2015 marks the date of the Great American Smokeout, when cigarette smokers are asked to refrain from smoking for one day in hopes that the effort will lead to quitting forever. Most people know a smoker they would like to see stop, but wonder if making that request is appropriate. Research from the University of Vermont says “yes” – smokers who are exposed to cues to stop are twice as likely to try to quit.

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Hilary Tindle, M.D., MPH, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Tobacco, Addiction and Lifestyle (ViTAL), rattles off the data without taking a breath: smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the world; on average 480,000 people die every year from smoking-related diseases; and tobacco use costs the United States $300 billion in health care costs and lost productivity annually.

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Quit and Stay Quit Monday (QSQM) and The Great American Smokeout are combating the number one cause of preventable deaths in the United States. On Thursday, November 19th the 39th annual Great American Smokeout celebrates smokers kicking the habit. Research shows smokers are most successful when they have continued support. Using weekly words of encouragement and accessible free materials, QSQM helps guide clients to success throughout the quitting process.

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Use of electronic cigarettes – or e-cigs, for short – has increased among adolescents, but the jury is still out on how many young people are becoming addicted, and how harmful they are for both young people and adults, relative to cigarettes.

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A long-acting enzyme that rapidly and safely metabolizes cocaine in the blood stream is currently being investigated in animal models as a possible treatment for cocaine overdose. This research is being presented Oct. 29 at the 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and Exposition, the world’s largest pharmaceutical sciences meeting in Orlando, Fla. Oct. 25–29.

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Studies have demonstrated how just a few sessions of binge drinking during adolescence can knock out neurons (shown in blue arch) in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory core.

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A large-scale survey of African-American men and women found that those who rarely or never exercised had about twice the odds of abusing alcohol than those who exercised frequently, a finding that could have implications across all groups.

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Drug abusers are not completely abandoning prescription opioids for heroin, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Instead, many use the two concurrently based on their availability. The findings also reveal regional variations in the use of heroin and prescription painkillers.