Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Sep 2012
Variation in documented care for unhealthy alcohol consumption across race/ethnicity in the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System.
The VA Healthcare System has made progress implementing evidence-based care for unhealthy alcohol use, but whether there are differences in care across race/ethnicity is unclear. We describe alcohol-related care for 3 racial/ethnic groups among VA outpatients with unhealthy alcohol use. ⋯ Among VA patients with unhealthy alcohol use, black patients had the highest, and Hispanic the lowest, prevalence of documented alcohol-related care. Future research should evaluate contextual and system-, provider-, or patient-level factors that may attenuate racial/ethnic differences in documented alcohol-related care, as well as whether differences in documented care are associated with differences in outcomes.
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Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. · Sep 2012
Nucleus accumbens mGluR5-associated signaling regulates binge alcohol drinking under drinking-in-the-dark procedures.
Alcohol increases the expression of Group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) and their associated scaffolding protein Homer2 and stimulates phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) within the nucleus accumbens (NAC). Moreover, functional studies suggest that NAC Group 1 mGluR/Homer2/PI3K signaling may be a potential target for pharmacotherapeutic intervention in alcoholism. ⋯ Taken together, these data further implicate Group 1 mGluR signaling through Homer2 within the NAC in excessive alcohol consumption.