Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
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Although it is known that alcohol has vasoactive properties, previous studies have not investigated the relationship between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) after alcohol consumption. The aim of this study was to investigate effects of alcohol on CBF and CBV, both globally and regionally, in social drinkers. ⋯ In conclusion, a BAC of 0.08% causes both an average increase in global and regional CBF. There was stronger correlation between alcohol-induced changes in CBF and CBV in WM than in GM, suggesting the vasculature in the WM to be relatively more affected than the GM. Simultaneous measurements of CBF and CBV after acute alcohol intoxication in social drinkers are important in basic human neuroscience research to elucidate and understand brain physiology in the presence of exogenous neuro-pharmaceutical manipulations.
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To identify an optimal brief version of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and to evaluate its effectiveness as a screening test for problem drinking (PD), alcohol use disorders (AUD) and alcohol dependence (AD). ⋯ These results strongly support the usefulness of AUDIT-5 for screening of PD, AUD and AD in clinical settings in Korean male populations.
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The 2012 UK Government's Alcohol Strategy for England and Wales has been welcomed broadly and resulted only in muted criticism within the UK public health community. This is despite strong continuities with previous alcohol industry constructions of the nature of the problem and preferred policy responses. ⋯ There are, however, many problems with the wider content of the strategy, showing little interest in much needed industry regulation other than on price, and an absence of commitment to investment in research. Some dilemmas posed for the research community are discussed.
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Most policies and guidelines recommend that women abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. This can be difficult to achieve in developed nations where the majority of women consume alcohol and almost half of pregnancies are unplanned, leading to many pregnancies being exposed to alcohol prior to pregnancy awareness. Concerns have been raised that abstinence policies may lead women in this situation to terminate their pregnancy out of fear that they have harmed their baby; however, the evidence is limited. A recent study found that while few women reported alcohol as the reason for seeking an abortion, in almost all cases where alcohol was the reason, the women were either binge drinking or reported alcohol-related problems and the pregnancy was unplanned.
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To test the hypothesis that regional variations in the prevalence of alcoholic liver disease are contributed to by regional variations in 'softness' of drinking water, i.e. its mineral content. ⋯ Given experimental evidence that magnesium deficiency can aggravate liver damage from alcohol, soft water with its low magnesium concentration may be a factor additional to alcohol consumption in the development of liver damage. The parallel findings with osteoporosis admissions, explainable by low calcium and magnesium levels present in soft water, along with the known effect of heavy drinking on bone metabolism, provide corollary support for the hypothesis linking soft water with the pathogenesis of these two diseases.