ALCOHOL REPORTS

Monday, December 17, 2012

Imbalanced Synaptic Plasticity Induced Spatial Cognition Impairment in Male Offspring Rats Treated with Chronic Prenatal Ethanol Exposure

As chronic prenatal ethanol (EtOH) exposure (CPEE) may cause deficiencies in a variety of behavioral and cognitive functions, the aim of present study is to investigate the effects of CPEE on spatial learning and memory and examine the action of CPEE on synaptic plasticity balance in the hippocampus of adolescent male rats.

The animal model was produced by EtOH exposure throughout gestational period with 4 g/kg bodyweight, while the male offspring rats were used in the study. Morris water maze (MWM) test was performed, and then, long-term potentiation (LTP) and depotentiation were recorded from Schaffer collaterals to CA1 region in the hippocampus.

It was shown that escape latencies in learning period and re-acquisition period were prolonged in CPEE-treated group compared with that in control group. Furthermore, LTP was drastically inhibited, and depotentiation was distinctly enhanced in CPEE-treated group compared with that in control group.

It is suggested that the balance between cognitive stability and flexibility was broken by the bidirectional effects of long-term synaptic plasticity. In addition, the spatial cognition was attenuated by the alteration of synaptic plasticity balance in CPEE-treated male adolescent rats.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: zhangtao@nankai.edu.cn

Subjective Response to Alcohol Among Alcohol-Dependent Individuals: Effects of the Mu-Opioid Receptor (OPRM1) Gene and Alcoholism Severity

Subjective response to alcohol has been examined as a marker of alcoholism risk. The A118G single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the mu-opioid receptor (OPRM1) gene has been previously associated with subjective response to alcohol in heavy drinkers. This study seeks to extend the literature by examining the effect of OPRM1 genotype on responses to alcohol in a sample of alcohol-dependent individuals. A secondary aim of this study is to examine alcoholism severity as a predictor of subjective responses to alcohol.

Nontreatment seeking problem drinkers (n = 295) were assessed in the laboratory for clinical dimensions of alcohol dependence. Following prospective genotyping, 43 alcohol-dependent individuals across the 2 genotype conditions (AA, n = 23 and AG/GG, n = 20) were randomized to 2 intravenous infusion sessions: 1 of alcohol (target breath alcohol concentration = 0.06 g/dl) and 1 of saline. Measures of subjective responses to alcohol were administered in both infusion sessions.

Alcohol-dependent G-allele carriers reported greater alcohol-induced stimulation, vigor, and positive mood, as compared to A-allele homozygotes. There was no genotype effect on alcohol-induced sedation or craving. There was a statistical trend-level severity × alcohol interaction such that individuals at higher levels of severity reported greater alcohol-induced tension reduction.

These results support the hypothesis that OPRM1 genotype moderates the hedonic effects of alcohol, but not the sedative and unpleasant effects of alcohol, in a sample of alcohol-dependent patients. Results are discussed in light of a clinical neuroscience framework to alcoholism.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: lararay@psych.ucla.edu

Alcohol News - 51/2012

The Foreigner (Norway) - Christmas stress ups Norway drinking

25 percent of Norwegians drink to relieve the stress of the Christmas period. One in three in Oslo admits to doing so, a survey conducted by Ipsos MMI suggests.

ERR News (Estonia) - Searching for Historical Roots of Affair With Bottle

Which of Estonia's historical foreign occupiers is most responsible for the firewater epidemic? The Germans were the first to set a bad example, according to historians, but only the first.

Eubusiness - Alcohol causes a quarter of Europe road deaths

Alcohol abuse is responsible for around a quarter of the 30,000 people who die in road accidents across the European Union every year, the bloc's drugs agency said in a report published on Friday.

Helsinki Times (Finland) - Holidays induce a spike in alcohol sales

The sales of Alko, Finland’s alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly, are projected to surge by 90 per cent in terms of litres over the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

Reuters (Denmark/Finland) - Lundbeck's alcohol dependency drug wins EU green light

A novel drug to fight alcohol dependency was given a green light by European regulators on Friday, providing a boost to Danish drugmaker Lundbeck at a time when its top product faces a big drop in sales.

The Local (Sweden) - Pilot sticker lands French wine with Swedish ban

The Swedish state alcohol-monopoly has banned a French wine from its shelves because the label shows a pilot in action, prompting the importer of the "Flying Solo" wine to appeal the ban.

The Local (Sweden) - Systembolaget to bring booze to Swedes' offices

After its home delivery trials failed to created a stir, Sweden’s state-run liquor store monopoly Systembolaget announced on Friday that it would be trialing delivery to customers’ work places.

Politics.co.uk (UK) - Cameron defies Clegg over 'illiberal' alcohol pricing policy

David Cameron is continuing to commit to a policy of minimum alcohol pricing of 45p per unit, despite many Cabinet members opposing the move.

Deutsche Welle (Germany) - Too much meat and alcohol

Many Germans still stick to their unhealthy diet of too much meat and alcohol. Though there are some positive trends, too many Germans are still overweight and also at risk of other illnesses like cancer.

Telegraph.co.uk (UK) - David Cameron fights to save minimum alcohol pricing

David Cameron is fighting to save his plans for minimum alcohol pricing to tackle Britain's binge drinking epidemic, after a revolt among senior Cabinet ministers.

Deccan Herald - Alcohol, marijuana worsen white-matter integrity

Chronic alcohol and marijuana consumption during youth is associated with compromised neurocognitive abilities in later adolescence and adulthood, researchers say.

WalesOnline (Wales) - Minimum price on alcohol will help save lives

ALCOHOL consumption in the UK has increased rapidly in recent years, and now, according to the World Health Organisation, it is the leading risk factor for premature death and disability in developed countries after tobacco and blood pressure.

Radio 1 (UK) - Thousands of people at risk through Christmas drinking

Thousands of people will be putting their lives at risk over Christmas because of accidents and illnesses caused by alcohol, say A&E doctors.

Eurekalert - Alcohol marketers use drinker identity and brand allegiance to entice underage youth

While exposure to alcohol marketing is prevalent, and associated with both initiation and progression of alcohol use in underage youth, exactly how it works is not well understood. A new study of alcohol-specific cognitions – whether someone thinks of him/herself as a drinker or having a favorite brand of alcohol – has found that drinker identity and brand allegiance are indeed factors linking alcohol marketing and problematic drinking among experimental underage drinkers.

The Hindu - In 2010, high BP, smoking and alcohol were the big killers

The leading risk factors for global disease burden in 2010 were high blood pressure, tobacco smoking (including second-hand smoking) and alcohol use; 20 years earlier, they were childhood underweight, household pollution from sold fuels and tobacco smoking, including passive smoking.

BBC News - Alcohol dependency: When social drinking becomes a problem

Alcohol-related health issues among baby boomers are on the rise. Daily drinking can start off as a social event but turn into dependency, addiction experts say. So when does social drinking become alcoholism?

The Nation (Thailand) - Alcohol sales set to be banned at roadside stalls

Starting from the New Year holiday period, roadside food stalls will be banned from selling alcoholic drinks, while all sales of alcoholic beverages will be limited to 11am-2pm and 5pm-midnight, Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong said yesterday.

The Guardian (UK) - Social workers need more training on drug and alcohol issues

Alcohol and other drug issues are a central part of much of social work practice, and if key issues in this area are missed, interventions linked to other behaviours or problems will not be so effective. So why are so many social work degrees leaving students uneducated about problematic substance use?

Science Daily - Alcohol Pricing Policies Save Lives and Increase Profits, Experts Say

Setting minimum prices for alcohol increases health and economic benefits, say international experts, who met December 10 for a seminar on alcohol pricing and public health.

Forbes (USA) - A Sober Assessment of High-Risk Drinking on College Campuses

A few years ago, in the middle of a snowy night, an officer of the Cornell University Police Department found a shirtless young man sitting on a rock in the creek in one of our gorges, dangling his feet in the water. Asked what he thought he was doing, the student explained that he was calling a friend to pick him up.

Medical Xpress - Alcohol hinders recovery from injury, research finds

A Massey University researcher has found drinking alcohol after suffering a soft tissue injury significantly increases recovery times.

Scoop.co.nz (New Zealand) - Kapiti Police: strong line to prevent alcohol-related harm

Kapiti Police are extremely happy with the decision of the Liquor Licensing Authority (LLA) to not renew the on-licence for the Retro Bar in the Kapiti Lights Complex.

Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) - New alcohol alliance predicts 300 drink deaths this summer

HEAVY drinking will kill 300 people and cause thousands more to be assaulted or put in hospital this summer, according to fresh analysis from a new body, the NSW/ACT Alcohol Policy Alliance.

The Age (Australia) - The national abuse of alcohol makes it our most harmful drug

THE hundreds of ways we describe being drunk, many of an unprintable nature, are a measure of a pervasive and damaging drinking culture. In this season of schoolies week, Christmas and New Year, Australia's drinking habits are on display in all their mindless and all-too-often tragic excess.

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New figures released: Alcohol grows as risk factor for death and disability

Alcohol is the leading risk factor for death and disability in Southern sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and most of Latin America. This is one of the conclusions from a new calculation of the Global Burden of Disease, figures which were launched in London today. > > > > Read More

Thursday, December 13, 2012

News Release - Study to curb alcohol-exposed pregnancies receives funding

A Sanford Research initiative to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in American Indian communities has been granted funding of more than $800,000 by the National Institutes of Health.

Titled “Tribal collaborations in the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies,” the three-year project will focus on non-pregnant American Indian women and will be led by Jessica D. Hanson, PhD, an assistant scientist for the Center for Health Outcomes and Prevention Research at Sanford Research.

Hanson and her team plan to use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. That model is currently in use with the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota as part of Project CHOICES, which--through the use of motivational interviewing and encouragement of contraception use--is focused on the prevention of AEP in non-pregnant American Indian women seen at tribal clinics.

The study aims to implement and sustain the already successful CHOICES program, or a similar initiative, at other tribal health facilities in South Dakota. > > > > Read More

Avoiding Addiction When It's in Your DNA

To understand more about the link between addiction and genes, science correspondent Miles O'Brien drinks a mixture of 30 grams of pure ethanol and Diet Coke, the equivalent of three stiff drinks, and undergoes a series of tests. > > > > Read More

European Research Council PhD Studentships

University College London -Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Press Release - Global Beer, Wine and Spirits CEOs Back New Initiatives

Building on their longstanding commitment to public health, the world’s leading producers of beer, wine and spirits have agreed to a new series of actions in five key areas that are designed to strengthen and expand existing efforts to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. Ten targeted actions over the next five years include:

 Reducing underage drinking, via enforcement of current laws and encouraging governments to introduce and enforce minimum purchase ages

 Continuing to strengthen and expand marketing codes of practice that are rooted in our resolve not to engage in marketing that could encourage excessive and irresponsible consumption, with a particular focus on digital marketing

 Making responsible product innovations and developing easily understood symbols or equivalent words to discourage drinking and driving and consumption by pregnant women and underage youth

 Reducing drinking and driving by collaborating with governments and non-governmental organizations to educate and enforce existing laws

 Enlisting the support of retailers to reduce harmful drinking and create ‘guiding principles of responsible beverage alcohol retailing’
> > > > Read More

Monday, December 10, 2012

Neural Evidence for Emotional Involvement in Pathological Alcohol Craving

The study included 17 detoxified alcoholic patients and 25 social drinkers. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation (blood oxygen level-dependent signals) while participants reported craving and emotion in response to visually presented, alcohol-related stimuli and emotional stimuli.

In the craving-rating paradigm, negative emotional stimuli as well as alcohol cues activated craving-related brain regions in alcoholic patients. Activations of the inferior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex by negative emotional stimuli were negatively correlated with craving; meanwhile limbic activation was positively correlated with craving. For the emotion paradigm, greater limbic activation was evident by alcohol-related stimuli in the alcohol-dependent group.

Our findings constitute neural evidence for emotional involvement in pathological craving for alcohol, underscoring the importance of emotion management in abstinent alcoholic patients for relapse prevention.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: keen@yuhs.ac

Reducing craving is a key to success in the treatment of alcohol dependence. The emotion circuit may be involved in pathological craving for alcohol. In this study, we investigated neural correlates of emotional involvement in craving in alcohol dependence.

The study included 17 detoxified alcoholic patients and 25 social drinkers. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation (blood oxygen level-dependent signals) while participants reported craving and emotion in response to visually presented, alcohol-related stimuli and emotional stimuli.

In the craving-rating paradigm, negative emotional stimuli as well as alcohol cues activated craving-related brain regions in alcoholic patients. Activations of the inferior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex by negative emotional stimuli were negatively correlated with craving; meanwhile limbic activation was positively correlated with craving. For the emotion paradigm, greater limbic activation was evident by alcohol-related stimuli in the alcohol-dependent group.

Our findings constitute neural evidence for emotional involvement in pathological craving for alcohol, underscoring the importance of emotion management in abstinent alcoholic patients for relapse prevention.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: keen@yuhs.ac

Drinking Patterns and Their Predictive Factors in CONTROL: a 12-Month Prospective Study in a Sample of Alcohol-Dependent Patients Initiating Treatment

To describe the drinking patterns and their baseline predictive factors during a 12-month period after an initial evaluation for alcohol treatment.

CONTROL is a single-center, prospective, observational study evaluating consecutive alcohol-dependent patients. Using a curve clustering methodology based on a polynomial regression mixture model, we identified three clusters of patients with dominant alcohol use patterns described as mostly abstainers, mostly moderate drinkers and mostly heavy drinkers. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify baseline factors (socio-demographic, alcohol dependence consequences and related factors) predictive of belonging to each drinking cluster.

The sample included 143 alcohol-dependent adults (63.6% males), mean age 44.6 ± 11.8 years. The clustering method identified 47 (32.9%) mostly abstainers, 56 (39.2%) mostly moderate drinkers and 40 (28.0%) mostly heavy drinkers. Multivariate analyses indicated that mild or severe depression at baseline predicted belonging to the mostly moderate drinkers cluster during follow-up (relative risk ratio (RRR) 2.42, CI [1.02–5.73, P = 0.045] P = 0.045), while living alone (RRR 2.78, CI [1.03–7.50], P = 0.044) and reporting more alcohol-related consequences (RRR 1.03, CI [1.01–1.05], P = 0.004) predicted belonging to the mostly heavy drinkers cluster during follow-up.

In this sample, the drinking patterns of alcohol-dependent patients were predicted by baseline factors, i.e. depression, living alone or alcohol-related consequences and findings that may inform clinicians about the likely drinking patterns of their alcohol-dependent patient over the year following the initial evaluation for alcohol treatment.

Read Full Abstract

Request Reprint E-Mail: jjean-bernard.daeppen@chuv.ch

FASD News - 50/2012

NEWS and ARTICLES

HealthCanal.com (Australia) - Population-based study provides new alcohol and pregnancy data

From the findings of the first-ever population-based study of its kind in Australia, a Curtin University researcher has released a report highlighting the impact of maternal alcohol consumption on the health and development of children.

Herald Sun (Australia) - Hospitals under fire from medical chief for offering alcohol to pregnant women

HOSPITALS are offering pregnant mums wine and beer - despite doctors' alarm over the number of "booze babies" born with brain damage.

SBS (Australia) - MPs want fetal alcohol warning on drinks

All alcoholic drinks should carry a health warning for pregnant women, a parliamentary committee says.

Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand) - Booze risks for unborn spur mum into action

A mother of a disabled son is pleading for warning labels to be slapped on alcohol to prevent hundreds of children being born brain-damaged every year.

ABC Online (Australia) - Inquiry to report on fetal alcohol problem

Australia's love of alcohol is well documented - even celebrated. Less publicised are the consequences of pregnant women who drink and damage their unborn babies.

Lethbridge Herald (Canada) - Reaching out to FASD victims

As a former young offenders centre employee and group home worker, Brent Lorenz learned to work with struggling kids before they got wrapped up in a life of crime. Now a constable with the Lethbridge regional police, he's the only police officer in the world who deals specifically with youth who have fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

Canada First Perspective (Canada) - Society 'will feel impact' of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

A First Nations leader said fetal alcohol spectrum disorder — also known as FASD — is an "alarming" problem amongst Canada's Aboriginal population.

AllAfrica.com (South Africa) - South Africa: Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Campaign in Carnavon

Alcohol is killing the moral fibre of our society, and it has now reached a point where unborn babies are disabled for life due to the fact that mothers are consuming alcohol during pregnancy. This phenomena has rocked the rural town of De Aar, to point where it is now the town with the highest reported incidences of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.

UPCOMING EVENTS

First International Conference on Prevention of FASD

Call for Abstracts Now Open

Provincial Outreach Program - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and the Justice System (webinar)

This webcast will share knowledge and information about FASD and the justice system by:

· briefly exploring what Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is;

· presenting on a program designed and implemented by the Asante Centre for youth involved in the justice system with FASD (including findings and statistics);

· sharing research findings focusing on substance abuse (drug and alcohol programs for youth with FASD) being lead by the Asante Centre; and

· describing Manitoba’s Youth Justice FASD program for youth involved the criminal justice system (including challenges and recommendations)

SFU - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Conferences

This conference is a 3-day juried hearing of evidence and scientific findings that allows for the engagement and collaboration of citizens, decision makers in government, and the justice system in addressing a specific set of key questions on legal issues of FASD.

MATERIALS and VIDEOS

Best Start - Breastfeeding and Alcohol Use: Parent Knowledge and Behaviours in Ontario, 2011

The Best Start Resource Centre would like to thank Leger Marketing for completing this Ontario parent survey about breastfeeding and alcohol use, providing the data analysis and identifying preliminary trends.

NOFAS - Tania Peterman on living with FASD

The National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) is the leading voice and resource of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) community. Founded in 1990, NOFAS is the only international non-profit organization committed solely to FASD primary prevention, advocacy and support.

CAPHC - Beyond Screening - Understanding the Core Deficits and Diagnosis of FASD

This webinar is an extension of our webinar series on screening tools for FASD.

IN OTHER LANGUAGES

Rodinka (Slovakia) - Čo by ste povedali tehotnej, ktorá pije alkohol?

Takouto jednoduchou otázkou začínala konferencia Návratu, venovaná FAS-cinujúcim deťom. Tak si skúste sami pred sebou v duchu odpovedať.

Delfi (Estonia) - Karskusliit: kinkige oma veel sündimata lapsele alkoholivaba 9 kuud

Alkoholi tarvitamine raseduse ajal põhjustab erinevaid kahjustusi vähemalt 1%-le Euroopa Liidu elanikest, mõjutades seega umbes 5 miljonit inimest. Tegemist on seega Euroopa Liidus sünnidefektide ja arenguhäirete juhtiva põhjusega, mis on samas 100% ennetatav.

Read Full Newsletter

Sunday, December 9, 2012

PROSPECTIVE CORRELATES OF DRINKING CESSATION: VARIATION ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE

To assess age variation in correlates of drinking cessation.

Prospective study of a U.S. general population sample.

Face-to-face household interviews.

Past-year ≥monthly drinkers interviewed at baseline and 3-year follow-up (n=14,885).

Baseline values and selected changes over follow-up in alcohol consumption, alcohol use disorder (AUD), sociodemographic and health characteristics, other substance use and psychiatric comorbidity were used to predict drinking cessation in three age groups

Correlates of drinking cessation varied over the life course, with pregnancy/presence of an infant, nicotine or drug use disorder, incident AUD, cluster A personality disorder, liver disease and incident retirement being important at younger ages and high-school graduation, family income ≥$70,000, volume of ethanol intake, Asian race/ethnicity, mood disorder and incident cardiovascular disease being significant at older ages. Age-invariant correlates included smoking cessation over follow-up, OR=2.82 (95% CI=1.62-4.92) to 3.45 (2.20-5.39); college education, OR=0.42 (0.27-0.65) to 0.54 (0.36-0.83); Black and Hispanic race/ethnicity, OR = 1.74 (1.18-2.29) to 1.88 (1.21-2.93) and 1.58 (1.11-1.25) to 1.73 (0.83-3.63), respectively, and months since last drink, OR=1.24 (1.13-1.36) to1.29 (1.19-1.39).

Factors associated with ceasing alcohol use in US adults appear to differ over the life course, reflecting age variation in both their prevalence and impact and supporting the importance of role transitions and health problems (the “sick quitter” effect). The most consistent correlates of drinking cessation included factors reflecting ability/inability to give up potentially addictive substances and factors associated with perceived acceptability of drinking and subgroup-specific drinking contexts that might facilitate/impede continued drinking.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: deborah.anne.dawson@gmail.com

Saturday, December 8, 2012

A public seminar with special relevance for policy makers and researchers

from the spheres of health, crime prevention and finance

Sponsored by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC) and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA)

The seminar will provide an overview of latest results from an international research team investigating the impact of alcohol pricing policies on public health and economic outcomes, including:

the burden of disease attributable to alcohol in Canada

public opinion on alcohol policies

new provincial case studies linking price changes and health outcomes

an overview of alcohol pricing policies in Canada and

a Canadian Alcohol Policy Model
designed to predict the health and crime prevention implications of alternative provincial alcohol policies.

A panel of eminent stakeholders will reflect on the implications of these findings for alcohol policy and public health in Canada. > > > > Read More

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Obtaining the Optimal Dose in Alcohol Dependence Studies

In alcohol dependence studies, the treatment effect at different dose levels remains to be ascertained. Establishing this effect would aid us in identifying the best dose that has satisfactory efficacy while minimizing the rate of adverse events.

We advocate the use of dose-finding methodology that has been successfully implemented in the cancer and HIV settings to identify the optimal dose in a cost-effective way.

Specifically, we describe the continual reassessment method (CRM), an adaptive design proposed for cancer trials to reconcile the needs of dose-finding experiments with the ethical demands of established medical practice.
We are applying adaptive designs for identifying the optimal dose of medications for the first time in the context of pharmacotherapy research in alcoholism.

We provide an example of a topiramate trial as an illustration of how adaptive designs can be used to locate the optimal dose in alcohol treatment trials.

It is believed that the introduction of adaptive design methods will enable the development of medications for the treatment of alcohol dependence to be accelerated.

Read Full Article (PDF)

The GAPC13 is being held October Monday 7th October - Wednesday 9th October. The theme of the conference is 'Alcohol, Civil Society and Public Health: from Local and National Action to Global Change'

There will be the opportunity to submit abstracts of papers to present either orally or in poster format. NGOs should start thinking about examples of their advocacy and mobilisation work that would be of interest to the global community > > > > Read More

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Acute ethanol responses in Drosophila are sexually dimorphic

In mammalian and insect models of ethanol intoxication, low doses of ethanol stimulate locomotor activity whereas high doses induce sedation. Sex differences in acute ethanol responses, which occur in humans, have not been characterized in Drosophila.

In this study, we find that male flies show increased ethanol hyperactivity and greater resistance to ethanol sedation compared with females. We show that the sex determination gene transformer (tra) acts in the developing nervous system, likely through regulation of fruitless (fru), to at least partially mediate the sexual dimorphism in ethanol sedation.

Although pharmacokinetic differences may contribute to the increased sedation sensitivity of females, neuronal tra expression regulates ethanol sedation independently of ethanol pharmacokinetics.

We also show that acute activation of fru-expressing neurons affects ethanol sedation, further supporting a role for fru in regulating this behavior.

Thus, we have characterized previously undescribed sex differences in behavioral responses to ethanol, and implicated fru in mediating a subset of these differences.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: ad3030@columbia.edu or heberleinu@janelia.hhmi.org.

Monday, December 3, 2012

News Release - Research reveals why some teenagers more prone to binge drinking

New research helps explain why some teenagers are more prone to drinking alcohol than others.

The study, led by King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) and published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides the most detailed understanding yet of the brain processes involved in teenage alcohol abuse.

Alcohol and other addictive drugs activate the dopamine system in the brain which is responsible for feelings of pleasure and reward. Recent studies from King’s IoP found that the RASGRF2 gene is a risk gene for alcohol abuse, however, the exact mechanism involved in this process has, until now, remained unknown. > > > > Read More

Aims