An international website dedicated to providing current information on news, reports, publications,and peer-reviewed research articles concerning alcoholism and alcohol-related problems throughout the world. Postings are provided by international contributors who monitor news, publications and research findings in their country, geographical region or program area of interest. All postings are entered without editorial or contributor opinion or comment.
Aims
For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
This paper explores how collective social norms can have individual-level genetic foundation. Our study is the first we know to report a plausible link between genetically founded individual preferences in a fraction of a population and social norms governing behavior of all individuals.
As our motivating example, we focus on patterns of Excessive Drinking in Social Situations (EDSS) across Europe that are possibly triggered by genetically caused variations in personality. The genetic trait is shyness, which correlates with eye color.
Øystein Bakke
The Price of Everything, The Value of Nothing: A (Truly) External Review Of BERL’s Study Of Harmful Alcohol and Drug Use
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
15.6.2009
The Finnish Parliament on Monday approved a ten per cent increase in alcohol taxes. The higher tax rate is expected to raise alcohol prices by an average of 4.5 per cent from the beginning of October. . . . . .
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Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health System
Crossing Our Lines is a bipartisan agreement for comprehensive health reform reached by Senators Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, and Bob Dole. It is the culmination of an inclusive year-and-a-half effort that included strategic outreach to key health care stakeholders, a series of state-based public policy forums, and months of personal deliberations by the Leaders.
Pg. 53 Ensuring Budget Neutrality—Guarantee that the entire reform package is budget neutral by paying for the remaining cost of approximately $200 billion . . . . .. . . . . Congress could choose from among the following proposals, or others, to offset the remaining deficit:
. . . . . Increase cigarette and alcohol taxes
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Neurotoxicity Research Volume 16, Number 1 / July, 2009 pp.50-59
The TaqIA single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs1800497), which is located in the gene that codes for the putative kinase ANKK1 (ANKK1) near the termination codon of the D2 dopamine receptor gene (DRD2; chromosome 11q22–q23), is the most studied genetic variation in a broad range of psychiatric disorders and personality traits. A large number of individual genetic association studies have found that the TaqIA SNP is linked to alcoholism and antisocial traits.
Current data show that the TaqIA polymorphism may be a marker of both DRD2 and ANKK1 genetic variants. ANKK1 would belong to a family of kinases involved in signal transduction. This raises the question of whether signaling players intervene in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Basic research on the ANKK1 protein and its putative interaction with the D2 dopamine receptor could shed light on this issue.
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Request Reprint E-Mail: jhoenicka@gmail.com
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Journal of Mass Spectrometry Published Online: 12 Jun 2009
A new validated method for the quantitation of the abnormal phospholipid phosphatidylethanol (PEth) - a biomarker for ethanol uptake - has been developed by LC-ESI-MS/MS following miniaturised organic solvent extraction and reversed phase chromatography with phosphatidylbutanol (PBut) as internal standard.
Because of its higher sensitivity, there is a potential to detect single heavy drinking by LC-MS/MS, when PEth is formed in very low concentrations.
This opens a new field of application of PEth to uncover single or multiple heavy drinking at a lower frequency and with a larger window of detection in blood than before by HPLC/ELSD or by use of other direct markers, e.g. ethyl glucuronide or ethyl sulfate.
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Request Reprint E-Mail: wolfgang.weinmann@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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The National Youth Council of Ireland are launching a unique report tomorrow (Tuesday June 9th) at 12pm entitled “Get ‘em Young – Mapping young people’s exposure to alcohol marketing in Ireland.” The report will be launched in Buswells Hotel by Senator Joe O’Toole and will show the prevalence of alcohol marketing across the country and its impact on young people.
This report is the first of its kind in Ireland as it involves young people recording their experience of alcohol advertising and marketing in their own surroundings.
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Published: June 15, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
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Men are worried that drinking too much alcohol will affect their appearance according to a new survey for the Know Your Limits campaign published today.
Released during Men's Health Week, the statistics show that watching the waistline is no longer only the preserve of women, with more than one in three men (37%) claiming they would reduce their drinking to cut down on the number of calories they consume. Only money-saving (44%) is a bigger incentive.
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Published Online: 11 Jun 2009