Alcohol Increases Women's Risk Of Intimate Partner Violence
Alcohol increases the risk of violence in couples - especially violence both to and by the female partner. A new study of couples found that experienced intimate partner violence found 30.2 percent reported alcohol use before or during the event. Severe partner violence was more than twice as likely when the woman drank alcohol, said study co-author Raul Caetano, M.D. The likelihood of severe male-on-female violence tripled and the likelihood of severe female-on-male violence more than doubled when the woman drank. The study, which appears online and in the April issue of the journal Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, evaluated data from 436 U.
Omeros Announces National Institute On Drug Abuse's Support For Phase 2 Clinical Study In Addiction Program
Omeros Corporation (Nasdaq: OMER) announced that the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is providing support for the Company's Addiction program. NIDA will fund substantially all of the costs of a Phase 2 clinical study to be conducted by New York State Psychiatric Institute researchers. In its Addiction program, Omeros is developing proprietary compositions that include peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma) agonists for the prevention and treatment of addiction to substances of abuse, such as opioids, nicotine and alcohol, as well as other compulsive behaviors, including eating disorders. The Company's data from earlier European pilot clinical studies and animal models of addiction have demonstrated a previously unknown link between PPAR-gamma and addiction disorders.
Nurses: Mandatory Code Needed To Tackle Alcohol Harm, UK
The Royal College of Nursing welcomed a new Department of Health campaign to combat excessive drinking as it responded to news from the Office of National Statistics that the number of deaths caused by alcohol consumption is continuing to rise. Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: "Nurses see the devastating consequences of alcohol misuse everyday, and have consistently warned about the hidden dangers of drinking too much. It is an absolute tragedy that every year more and more people are dying as a result of excessive drinking. "It is vital that people are made aware of the dangers of excessive drinking through effective and widespread education initiatives such as the new campaign launched today by the Department of Health.
The Brain's Developing Pain Regulatory System Can Be Altered By Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
Prenatal alcohol exposure is widely known to impair brain development in exposed offspring. Rodent studies have shown that developmental deficits in newborns related to altered levels of a brain chemical called serotonin (5-HT), leading to subsequent alterations in patterns of neonatal acute pain responses and/or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress reactivity. New findings show a "blunted response" to an acutely painful event - a heel lance - in alcohol-exposed human newborns, indicating that prenatal alcohol exposure may alter the brain's developing pain regulatory system. Results will be published in the April 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
Among Older Drinkers, Social Factors Can Both Predict And Sustain Alcohol Misuse
Social factors have consistently been implicated as a cause of vulnerability to alcohol use and abuse. The reverse is also true, in that individuals who engage in excessive drinking may alter their social context. New research on drinking among older adults has found that older adults who have more money, engage in more social activities, and whose friends approve more of drinking are more likely to engage in excessive or high-risk drinking. Results will be published in the April 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. "Ours is one of the first studies to focus longitudinally on high-risk drinking among older adults, " said Rudolf H.
One In Ten Jobless Young People 'Driven To Drugs Or Alcohol', Survey Finds
Older teenagers and young adults who are out of work face poorer health and lower happiness, with one in 10 claiming that unemployment drove them to drugs or alcohol, according to new research. A Princes Trust study, based on interviews with over 2, 000 unemployed 16 to 25 year olds, also found out-of-work young people were more likely to feel ashamed, rejected and unloved. If the current economic downturn mirrors previous recessions these could become 'permanent psychological scars', the charity warned. The survey also showed that one in four unemployed young people believed their joblessness had caused arguments with their parents or other family members and one in three felt down or depressed.
Alcohol Use And Cognitive Decline Among The Elderly
Studies of alcohol use and cognition among the elderly are rare and have mixed results. A study of drinking among the elderly in Brazil has found that heavy alcohol use is associated with more memory and cognitive problems than mild-to-moderate alcohol use, especially among women. Results will be published in the April 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. "There is a scarcity of information about alcohol use and the elderly, " said Marcos Antonio Lopes, corresponding author for the study and currently a visiting lecturer at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, "which needs to be resolved in order to construct a real diagnosis and promote proper health care for this population.
Neural Processing Differences In ADHD In Individuals With And Without Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
The adverse effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on behavioral, cognitive, and social development can lead to a range of symptoms referred to as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Attention and cognition problems seen in individuals with a history of prenatal alcohol exposure often resemble those linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ). An assessment of these disorders has found that while children with FASD may meet the behavioral criteria for ADHD, their attention difficulties differ in subtle but important respects. Results will be published in the April 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
Response To Alcohol Advertising Study - The Stroke Association, UK
In response to the alcohol advertising study in the BMJ, Joe Korner, Director of Communications at The Stroke Association said: "Drinking too much alcohol is known to cause long-term harm to your health. So it is of great concern if companies are pushing against the boundaries of advertising guidelines on alcohol, as this report suggests. We know that heavy drinking can raise blood pressure, which is one of the main risk factors for stroke. People who regularly drink a large amount of alcohol have an increased risk of stroke and it's important people are more aware of the chance they are taking with their health." Source The Stroke Association
Study Finds Self-Control To Be Contagious
Before patting yourself on the back for resisting that cookie or kicking yourself for giving in to temptation, look around. A new University of Georgia study has revealed that self-control - or the lack thereof - is contagious. In a just-published series of studies involving hundreds of volunteers, researchers have found that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely exert self-control. The researchers found that the opposite holds, too, so that people with bad self-control influence others negatively. The effect is so powerful, in fact, that seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for just 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of volunteers.