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Background: In Germany today, there are more than 1.8 million persons who are dependent on alcohol, and 1.6 million persons whose use of alcohol is harmful. The many complications of alcohol use are both mental and physical--in particular, gastrointestinal and neurological. Yet more than 80% of persons whose alcohol use is problematic still receive no treatment for their harmful use or dependence, despite contact with the health-care system. Methods: This article is a selective review of the pertinent literature, including guidelines, meta-analyses, and Cochrane Reviews. Results: The treatment is divided into an early interventional and motivational phase, qualified withdrawal, long-term cessation therapy, and a stabilization phase. Pharmacotherapy with acamprosate or naltrexone increases the rate of abstinence (number needed to treat: 12 and 20, respectively). If a patient lacks the motivation to abstain from alcohol entirely, reduced consumption can be agreed upon as a goal of treatment. 85% of patients relapse if no further treatment is given after initial detoxification. Conclusion: What is needed in routine medical practice is practical diagnostic evaluation followed by individually tailored treatment, based on the severity of the condition, the development of the patient's motivation to be treated, and the local treatment options (e.g., outpatient addiction clinics, counseling centers, or day clinics). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about the cost-utility of population-based alcohol interventions. One barrier to research has been the lack of preference weights needed to calculate Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs). Preference weights can be estimated from measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The objective of this study was to describe preference weights for the full spectrum of alcohol use.Methods: This cross-sectional study included participants in both the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS; 1999-2002) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS; 2000-2003). The AUDIT-C alcohol screen was derived from NHIS with scores categorized into 6 groups (0,1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12 points), ranging from nondrinking (0) to very severe unhealthy alcohol use (10-12). AUDIT-C scores were mapped to EQ-5D and SF-6D preference weights using the linked datasets and analyses adjusted for demographics.Results: Among 17,440 participants, mean EQ-5D and SF-6D preference weights were 0.82 (95% CI 0.82-0.83) and 0.79 (95% CI 0.79-0.80), respectively. Adjusted EQ-5D preference weights for nondrinking (0.80; 95% CI 0.79-0.81) and moderate unhealthy drinking (0.85; 95% CI 0.84-0.86) were significantly different from low-risk drinking (0.83; 95% CI 0.83-0.84), but no other differences were significant. Results for the SF-6D were similar.Conclusions: This study provides EQ-5D and SF-6D preference weights for various alcohol use categories in a representative U.S. adult sample. However, neither measure suggested meaningful differences in HRQOL based on AUDIT-C categories. Self-reported alcohol consumption may not be associated with preference weights or generic instruments may not capture alcohol-related differences in HRQOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines taste as a factor in beer's arrival as a symbol of modernity in India, Japan, and China. From nineteenth-century colonial production of India pale ale to contemporary attempts by global brewing firms to profit from a burgeoning Chinese market, beer has had an important but largely unexamined role in modern Asian-European encounters. This paper follows distinct agents of transmission--merchants, migrants, and empire builders--and their interactions with local drinking cultures to shape the particular tastes and meanings associated with beer in these countries. The case studies illustrate the different relationships that each country had with Western imperialism: India as a subject of British occupation, China as a site of commercial competition between imperial rivals, and Japan as a nascent imperial power in its own right. Beer gained least acceptance in the Indian subcontinent, in part because of Hindu and Muslim moralizing, and it symbolized western modernity for those who wished to challenge traditional culture. South Asian preferences often focused more on alcohol content than on the taste of malt or hops. The Japanese became Asia's most avid consumers of beer, adapting German lagers to local tastes. Chinese beer drinking has been limited to cities, and local brands are also bland, which reflects the place of beer within Chinese meals as a neutral grain. More broadly, I suggest that beer became a subject for nation-building efforts in Asia precisely because of its cosmopolitanism, which provided status to nationalist ideologues and supported their program of transcending regional rivalries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and spirits are widely consumed around the world. However, alcohol and its metabolite acetaldehyde are toxic and harmful to human beings. Chronic alcohol use disorder or occasional binge drinking can cause a wide range of health problems, such as hangover, liver damage and cancer. Some natural products such as traditional herbs, fruits, and vegetables might be potential dietary supplements or medicinal products for the prevention and treatment of the problems caused by excessive alcohol consumption. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of effective natural products for the prevention and treatment of hangover and alcohol use disorder, and special emphasis is paid to the possible functional component(s) and related mechanism(s) of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate measures of alcohol consumption are critical in assessing health harms caused by alcohol. In many countries, there are large discrepancies between survey-based measures of consumption and those based on alcohol sales. In England, surveys measuring typical alcohol consumption account for only around 60% of alcohol sold. Here, using a national survey, we measure both typical drinking and atypical/special occasion drinking (i.e., feasting and fasting) in order to develop more complete measures of alcohol consumption. Methods: A national random probability telephone survey was implemented (May 2013 to April 2014). Inclusion criteria were resident in England and aged 16 years or over. Respondents (n = 6,085) provided information on typical drinking (amounts per day, drinking frequency) and changes in consumption associated with routine atypical days (e.g., Friday nights) and special dinking periods (e.g., holidays) and events (e.g., weddings). Generalized linear modelling was used to identify additional alcohol consumption associated with atypical/special occasion drinking by age, sex, and typical drinking level. Results: Accounting for atypical/special occasion drinking added more than 120 million UK units of alcohol/week (~12 million bottles of wine) to population alcohol consumption in England. The greatest impact was seen among 25- to 34-year-olds with the highest typical consumption, where atypical/special occasions added approximately 18 units/week (144 g) for both sexes. Those reporting the lowest typical consumption (≤1 unit/week) showed large relative increases in consumption (209.3%) with most drinking associated with special occasions. In some demographics, adjusting for special occasions resulted in overall reductions in annual consumption (e.g., females, 65 to 74 years in the highest typical drinking category). Conclusions: Typical drinking alone can be a poor proxy for actual alcohol consumption. Accounting for atypical/special occasion drinking fills 41.6% of the gap between surveyed consumption and national sales in England. These additional units are inevitably linked to increases in lifetime risk of alcohol-related disease and injury, particularly as special occasions often constitute heavy drinking episodes. Better population measures of celebratory, festival, and holiday drinking are required in national surveys in order to adequately measure both alcohol consumption and the health harms associated with special occasion drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of alcohol prohibition in the United States has been the subject of continuing debate. Due to a lack of data, one question that remains unanswered is the effect prohibition had on the actual production of alcohol. This article attempts to answer this question by estimating prohibition's impact on the yields of grains that constitute the principal inputs in alcohol production. Using a variety of data sources and exploiting the variation in timing of state prohibition law adoption, we estimate the effect of prohibition on several measures of crop production. Our preferred identification strategy compares contiguous counties in states with differing prohibition laws. Our findings suggest that state prohibition laws decreased the production of barley and may have increased the production of corn. Using these estimates, we calculate that prohibition decreased alcohol production, and by extension consumption, by at least 18 gallons per adult per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Despite substantial attention being paid to the health benefits of moderate alcohol intake as a lifestyle, the acute effects of alcohol on psychomotor and working memory function in older adults are poorly understood. Method: The effects of low to moderate doses of alcohol on neurobehavioral function were investigated in 39 older (55-70 years; 15 men) and 51 younger (25-35 years; 31 men) social drinkers. Subjects received one of three randomly assigned doses (placebo, .04 g/dl, or .065 g/dl target breath alcohol concentration). After beverage consumption, they completed the Trail Making Test Parts A and B and a working memory task requiring participants to determine whether probe stimuli were novel or had been presented in a preceding set of cue stimuli. Efficiency of working memory task performance was derived from accuracy and reaction time measures. Results: Alcohol was associated with poorer Trail Making Test Part B performance for older subjects. Working memory task results suggested an Age x Dose interaction for performance efficiency, with older but not younger adults demonstrating alcohol-related change. Directionality of change and whether effects on accuracy or reaction time drove the change depended on the novelty of probe stimuli. Conclusions: This study replicates previous research indicating increased susceptibility of older adults to moderate alcohol-induced psychomotor and set-shifting impairment and suggests such susceptibility extends to working memory performance. Further research using additional tasks and assessing other neuropsychological domains is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examines the use of alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) as a predictor of alcohol problems and alcohol-related consequences and accidents two years later in a college student sample. Method: Longitudinal data on AmED use, alcohol consequences, and alcohol problems were collected from the fall of students' second year of college to the fall of their fourth year (N = 620, 49% male). Results: After we controlled for demographic indicators and heavy episodic drinking, AmED use was a consistent predictor of negative alcohol-related outcomes 2 years later. Compared with no AmED use, both infrequent (i.e., one to three times per month) and frequent (i.e., one or more times per week) AmED use were associated with an increased risk of negative alcohol consequences and harmful/hazardous alcohol use (≥8 on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT]). Frequent AmED use was also associated with serious alcohol problems (≥16 on AUDIT) and an increased risk of alcohol-related accidents in the subsequent 2 years. Conclusions: Prospective risks of alcohol consequences related to AmED use suggest a continued need for research and policy to address the surveillance, etiology, and prevention of AmED use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most alcohol users do not seek treatment voluntarily. They are brought forcibly or by the threats received from their family, and rarely come by their own will to quit alcohol. Their experience with alcohol is too positive, and the negative effects are perceived too minimal. During this period, if the individual is given motivational intervention to cease consuming alcohol, the chances of accepting to stop the drinking habit are more likely. A motivational intervention is any clinical strategy designed to enhance client motivation for change. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy of motivational intervention among patients with alcohol dependence syndrome in terms of enhanced motivational level. Materials and methods: The study adopted the pre-test post-test quasi experimental design with a sample group of 30 patients with alcohol dependence syndrome admitted in the de-addiction centre. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was applied to the client for screening of psychosis. The Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES scale) was applied to assess the motivational level on day one. Six sessions on motivational intervention were administered to the client on alternate days depending on the level of motivation. And on the 15th day, post-test was administered by the same SOCRATES scale to assess the level of motivation. Results: The study findings concluded the efficacy of the motivational intervention module developed for patients with alcohol dependence syndrome. Conclusion: The results of the study supported the evidence that motivational intervention on patients with alcohol dependence syndrome enhances the motivational level of the patients with alcohol dependence syndrome to quit alcohol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent African urbanist scholarship has suggested the need to delve deeper into our understanding of the everyday lived experiences in African cities. While this is essential for our understanding of African cities, researching lived experiences is fraught with methodological and ethical challenges. This is true for any topic when the researcher–subject gap is shaped by differences in nationality, class, race, norms and education, but especially so for the study of sensitive topics such as violence, sexuality, HIV/AIDS and xenophobia. Geographers have begun considering the ethics of researching particular sensitive issues, but not yet fully engaged with the international literature on the ethical and methodological challenges of researching such topics. To begin filling this gap, we reflect on experiences researching the lived experience and policy engagement with alcohol in Cape Town. We seek to apply and adapt the literature on sensitive topics specifically to the South African context. Our paper examines challenges which arose during the fieldwork and strategies developed to mitigate these. We emphasize how examining a topic with strong normative associations, which is bound up with illegality and community divisions, creates a need for particular attentiveness to research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the epidemiology of Alcohol consumption in Tehsil Hassan Abdal, district Attock, Punjab, Pakistan. Material and Method: The Medico legal cases record from 2009 - 2011 were studied for alcohol cases at Civil Hospital Hassan Abdal. Results: In the selected medico legal cases alcohol consumption was surprisingly repor ted only in male gender. Conclusion: The involvement of younger males in alcohol consumption was found to be predominant. The trend of alcohol consumption was noted among both urban as well as rural population, with more urban cases as compared to rural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines an overlooked class of alcohol products, described herein as multiple fruit-flavored alcoholic drinks in a can (MFAC). The article describes how characteristics of these products likely contribute to hazardous alcohol consumption among youth. Government regulation of these products may be needed to protect adolescent and young adult populations. National substance abuse surveillance systems should consider immediate adoption of MFAC use indicators to determine use and harm associated with these products, and to assess the effectiveness of future regulatory actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcoholic beverages are widely consumed. Depression, the most prevalent mental disorder worldwide, has been related to alcohol intake. We aimed to prospectively assess the association between alcohol intake and incident depression using repeated measurements of alcohol intake.Methods: We followed-up 5,505 high-risk men and women (55 to 80 y) of the PREDIMED Trial for up to seven years. Participants were initially free of depression or a history of depression, and did not have any history of alcohol-related problems. A 137-item validated food frequency questionnaire administered by a dietician was repeated annually to assess alcohol intake. Participants were classified as incident cases of depression when they reported a new clinical diagnosis of depression, and/or initiated the use of antidepressant drugs. Cox regression analyses were fitted over 23,655 person-years.Results: Moderate alcohol intake within the range of 5 to 15 g/day was significantly associated with lower risk of incident depression (hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 0.72 (0.53 to 0.98) versus abstainers). Specifically, wine consumption in the range of two to seven drinks/week was significantly associated with lower rates of depression (HR (95% CI) = 0.68 (0.47 to 0.98)).Conclusions: Moderate consumption of wine may reduce the incidence of depression, while heavy drinkers seem to be at higher risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: This article summarizes the literature on the implementation costs of alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) in medical settings. Method: Electronic databases were searched using SBI- and cost-related terms. Methodological approaches and cost estimates were abstracted from each study and categorized based on the cost methodology. Costs were updated to 2009 U.S. dollars. To determine a cost measure, we excluded outliers and computed the median of the remaining cost estimates. Results: Seventeen studies with cost estimates were identified for further study. Costs ranged from $0.51 to $601.50 per screen and from $3.41 to $243.01 per brief intervention (BI). Cost estimates were lower when an activity-based cost methodology was used, in primary care settings, and when the provider was not a doctor. The median cost of a screen is approximately $4, and the median cost of a BI is approximately $48. Conclusions: Screening cost estimates had more variation than BI cost estimates. Provider type and service delivery time drive the cost variation. Interpretation of cost differences was limited by insufficient reporting of the cost methodology. Cost estimates presented here are similar in size to the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System and Current Procedural Terminology reimbursement amounts, suggesting that insurance-based service reimbursement may be sufficient to sustain alcohol SBI in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine whether the clustering of underage risky drinking and its consequences within communities might arise from shared perceptions regarding underage drinking as well as the social context of drinking. Method: The Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Randomized Community Trial provided data from repeated cross-sectional samples of 5,017 current drinkers (2,619 male) ages 14-20 years from 68 communities surveyed in 2004, 2006, and 2007. Alternating logistic regressions were used to estimate the influence of social factors on the clustering of getting drunk, heavy episodic drinking, nonviolent consequences, and driving after drinking or riding with a drinking driver. Results: The clustering of getting drunk, heavy episodic drinking, and nonviolent consequences was no longer statistically significant after adjustment for drinking with friends and drinking with parents. Parents providing alcohol explained the clustering of heavy episodic drinking and nonviolent consequences, whereas drinking with other underage drinkers and friends providing alcohol explained the clustering of nonviolent consequences. Drinking with friends or other underage drinkers and friends providing alcohol increased the risk of these behaviors, whereas drinking with parents and parents providing alcohol were protective. Perceptions regarding peer drinking, community norms, consequences for drinking, and drinking at a party did not influence clustering. Conclusions: These findings suggest that interventions to reduce underage risky drinking in communities should focus on the differential effects of the social context in which drinking occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This paper presents the synthesis of findings from a literature review study of drinking cultures across five West European countries (France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK), examining the nature and features of drinking typologies before proposing a new dimensional approach. Study design: The study incorporated a systematic literature search covering the period 1980-2010 for literature from each of the five countries. Methods: Researchers reviewed abstracts and selected relevant material, leading to the inclusion of 203 articles from database searches plus 26 records from other sources. A summary of key findings are presented here. Intercoder reliability checks were performed to ensure consistency in inclusion in the review according to pre-ordained selection criteria. The review was further supplemented by the inclusion of gray literature including policy documents obtained from a range of sources. Results: It was found that sociocultural contexts have a major influence on drinking cultures, and this is an area in which there have been dramatic changes over the past 30 years. Differences were found between the countries in terms of drinking cultures, the way in which alcohol is viewed, and how alcohol-related policy and practice operates. However, there seems to be an increasing homogenization of drinking cultures across many countries, strongly influenced by Anglo-US cultural zeitgeist. Modern drinking patterns have emerged, offering a complex and often overlapping schema of drinking typologies. Conclusions: The study suggests that the wet--dry dichotomy is no longer relevant and that a revised version of a more recent dimensional approach featuring three dimensions -- hedonism, function and control -- may be better placed to describe and measure contemporary drinking cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of a study on the role of alcoholic beverages in the incidence of pancreatic cancer mortality in nonsmokers. According to the authors, nonsmokers who consumed three or more alcoholic beverages per day have 36 percent higher risk of mortality while smokers have 6 percent higher risk. They add that consumption of two or more alcoholic beverages was linked with an increased risk in both smokers and nonsmokers. They indicate the absence of association between beer or wine consumption with pancreatic cancer mortality.

The article offers information about a study on the effect of alcohol use on in vitro fertilization (IVF). The prospective cohort study involved men and women, and took into consideration the type of alcohol consumed, amount and frequency of drinking. It found that drinking as few as four alcoholic beverages lowers IVF live birth rate.

The presents a study on the interaction between alcohol intake, risk of myocardial infarction, biochemical risk factors, and alcohol dehydrogenases. Danish population of 9584 men and women were assessed from 1991 to 2007. Results indicate that no association was made between alcohol intake and myocardial infarction. It is concluded that an increased alcohol intake was associated with a decreased risk of myocardial infarction, decreased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and fibrinogen, and increased diastolic and systolic blood pressure.

Background. This investigation was designed to identify individual and contextual factors associated with airline passengers' alcohol use, and to explore potentially dangerous in-flight alcohol consumption. Methods. Passengers waiting to board 24 domestic flights at an international airport in the South Atlantic United States were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire. Eighty percent of those approached agreed to participate. Our findings are based upon the responses of 1,548 adults. Results. A majority (84%) of passengers indicated that they did not intend to consume alcoholic beverages on the plane they were waiting to board. Passengers who were more likely to report that they would drink were on longer flights, traveling with friends, and anticipating First or Business Class seating. Passengers who had already consumed alcohol that day and those who drank more often generally were also more likely to say that they intended to consume alcohol, as were people who thought that in-flight alcohol use was enjoyable, acceptable, and unlikely to make jet lag worse. Eighty-nine percent of the passengers who said they intended to drink reported that they would purchase one to two drinks. Conclusions. Very few respondents reported intentions that would pose a risk to others. Future studies should validate alcohol consumption and sample passengers at multiple airports throughout the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a medical research study which examined the association between regular alcohol consumption and the incident of atrial fibrillation among women. Participants were initially healthy women older than 45 years and free of atrial fibrillation at baseline. Questionnaires were used to assess alcohol consumption at baseline and at 48 months. Atrial fibrillation was reported by the participants via yearly questionnaires. The time to the first episode of atrial fibrillation was the main outcome measure. Consumption of up to two alcoholic beverages per day was found not to be associated with increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation among healthy middle-aged women. A small but statistically significant increased risk was found for consumption of two or more drinks per day.

Aims To assess the prospective association between alcohol consumption and self-rated health: in particular whether there is a relationship between stable alcohol intake and health; whether health is affected by changes in alcohol consumption; whether having a chronic condition alters the relationships between stable and changing alcohol intake and health; and whether the health of longer-term abstainers is different from more recent and intermittent abstainers. Design Longitudinal analysis of a prospective, population-based study. Setting Australia. Participants A total of 13 585 randomly selected 45–50-year-old women surveyed in 1996, of whom 9396 (69%) were resurveyed in 1998, 2001 and 2004. Measurements Estimates for the General Health subscale of the SF-36 for different levels of alcohol intake adjusted for having a chronic condition, depression, smoking and other factors. Findings Longitudinal models of consistent alcohol intake showed mean scores for general health of moderate drinkers were significantly better than that of non-drinkers [mean difference = 4.3, standard error (SE) = 0.61], occasional drinkers (mean difference = 3.1, SE = 0.52) and heavy drinkers (mean difference = 2.1, SE = 1.00). Among moderate drinkers, a decrease or variation in alcohol consumption was associated with a significant decline of three to four points in general health. Similar results were obtained when women with an existing chronic condition were excluded from these models. The health of recent abstainers and intermittent drinkers was the same as longer-term abstainers. Conclusions Consistent moderate drinkers had the best health even after adjustment for having a chronic condition, depression and life-style factors. Poorer health was associated with decreased alcohol intake among occasional and moderate drinkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers several topics: The perceived availability of alcoholic beverages, the purchase of alcoholic beverages, prevalence of drinking and prevalence of intoxication. All these variables are analyzed at the individual level. Because most European societies have some minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) this information is used to describe the society's formal regulation of physical alcohol availability to adolescents. Cross-sectional self-reported anonymous data from the 2003 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) was used. Perceived good availability of wine and spirits increased the probability of purchasing wine and spirits and the probability of drinking wine and spirits. There were no similar associations for beer. Perceived good availability was related to prevalence of drinking, but not to prevalence of intoxication. The importance of minimum legal age for purchasing various alcoholic beverages was minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a summary of a symposium presented at the 2005 Research Society on Alcoholism annual conference organized by Dan J. Neal and chaired by William R. Corbin. Event-level data, wherein each “event” (e.g., day) is captured as its own data point, capture the complex patterns of drinking and other high-risk behaviors in ways that the typical aggregate approach cannot. Because of their richness, methodologies that incorporate event-level data are becoming more common in alcohol research. At least 3 distinct forms of event-level data can be gathered: retrospective data (those collected on a single occasion, using memory aids to help each participant reconstruct all drinking events over a specific period of time), daily monitoring data (reporting on all events for that day), and momentary assessment (those recorded immediately following a drinking event or in response to a prompt from researchers). The goal of this symposium was to address many issues associated with event-level methodology, as well as demonstrate projects that are currently implementing such innovative data collection. The 4 presentations included in this symposium were “Realizing the Promise and Avoiding the Pitfalls of Retrospective Daily Estimation Assessments of Alcohol Use” by Frances K. Del Boca; “Using Interactive Voice Response Technology to Assess the Alcohol-Victimization Link” by Kathleen Parks, Linda King, and Ann Pardi; “Methodological Issues in Using Personal Data Assistants to Self-monitor Alcohol Consumption” by R. Lorraine Collins, Mark Muraven, and Charlene Vetter; and “Collecting Event-level Data Using the World Wide Web” by Dan J. Neal and Kim Fromme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms that regulate how the brain perceives the intoxicating effects of alcohol is highly relevant to understanding the development and maintenance of alcohol addiction. The basis for the subjective effects of intoxication can be studied in drug discrimination procedures in which animals are trained to differentiate the presence of internal stimulus effects of a given dose of ethanol (EtOH) from its absence. Research on the discriminative stimulus effects of psychoactive drugs has shown that these effects are mediated by specific receptor systems. In the case of alcohol, action mediated through ionotropic glutamate, γ-aminobutyric acid, and serotonergic receptors concurrently produce complex, or multiple, basis for the discriminative stimulus effects of EtOH. These receptor systems may contribute differentially to the discriminative stimulus effects of EtOH based on the EtOH dose, species differences, physiological states, and genetic composition of the individual. An understanding of the receptor mechanisms that mediate the discriminative stimulus effects of EtOH can be used to develop medications aimed at decreasing the subjective effects associated with repeated intoxication. The goal of this symposium was to present an overview of recent findings that highlight the neurobiological mechanisms of EtOH's subjective effects and to suggest the relevance of these discoveries to both basic and clinical alcohol research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consumption of alcoholic beverages is a health problem and also a social problem pertaining to the whole society. Whereas in the past, overconsumption of alcohol was the domain of males, at present attention has shifted to females and adolescents, whose consumption of alcohol is on the rise. This, being at the root of many illnesses, is a major health-threatening factor. Furthermore, alcohol consumption is connected to other health-damaging behaviours (mainly smoking), which, in consequence, lead to even more serious illnesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a study which examined the relationship between alcohol consumption patterns and incidence of ischaemic heart diseases in Northern Ireland and France. Study subjects were recruited in Belfast, Northern Ireland and in three centers in Lille, Strasbourg and Toulouse, France between 1991 and 1994. The findings of the study are presented.

The article reports on the study that examines the economic and health risks of alcohol consumption to the National Health Service in Great Britain. It shows that 31,000 deaths were recorded in 2005 due to alcohol consumption and 10% of all disability-adjusted life span. It suggests that regular consumption of three to four units a day for men and two to three units for women will not pose health risk. However, acute and chronic heavy alcohol consumption can cause sickness absence (SA).

The article reports on the results of research which was conducted in Finland in an effort to determine the social effects of substantial price cuts on alcoholic beverages. Researchers found that lowering the price of alcoholic beverages is associated with a 16% increase in alcohol related mortality among men and a 31% increase in mortality among women in the country. Researchers also found that the lowered prices also led to an increase in chronic diseases associated with heavy drinking in the country.

Reports on a study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The known association between alcoholic beverages and a risk for upper-gastrointestinal-tract and other forms of cancer; Finding that polyamines caused the conversion of acetaldehyde into crotonaldehyde, an environmental pollutant, which leads to DNA damage and the possible development of cancer.