High school students who report using alcohol, cannabis or nicotine at higher risk for suicidal thoughts and other mental health disorders

High school students who reported using cannabis, alcohol, or nicotine were more likely to have thoughts about suicide, feel depressed or anxious, have unusual experiences, and exhibit inattention or hyperactivity, according to recent survey-based study conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University of Minnesota.

Young Adults’ Simultaneous Use of Alcohol and Marijuana Linked to More Drinking, More Negative Alcohol Consequences, and More Hours High

Up to one in four young adults use alcohol and marijuana simultaneously (i.e., use at the same time with overlapping effects), a behavior linked to a greater risk of adverse consequences. Given the expanding legalization of non-medical marijuana use, there is an urgent need to better understand the effects of simultaneous use and who is most vulnerable to adverse outcomes.

Alcohol makes you more likely to approach attractive people but doesn’t make others seem better looking: Study

It’s “liquid courage,” not necessarily “beer goggles”: New research indicates that consuming alcohol makes you more likely to approach people you already find attractive but does not make others appear more attractive, according to a report in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Medical expert offers 11 outdoor safety tips to shield against summer hazards

Cranking summer fun up to 11 first requires sensible safeguards against summer hazards. Dr. Stephanie Lareau, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, shares 11 safety tips for keeping summer plans fun and safe.

Concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis leads to higher levels of drinking in the longer term

Co-existing use of alcohol and cannabis can lead to negative outcomes such as the development of a substance-use disorder, poor academic and occupational performance, and psychiatric disorders when compared to use of either drug alone. New research that examines simultaneous alcohol/cannabis use has found higher levels of drinking after 18 months. These results and others will be shared at the 46th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) in Bellevue, Washington.

Bilingual, digital health tool helps reduce alcohol use, UC Irvine-led study finds

An automated, bilingual, computerized alcohol screening and intervention health tool is effective in reducing alcohol use among Latino emergency department patients in the U.S., according to a study led by the University of California, Irvine. “This is the first bilingual, large-scale, emergency department-based, randomized clinical trial of its kind in the country focused on English- and Spanish-speaking Latino participants,” said lead author Dr.

A vicious cycle: How alcohol’s impact on the brain makes us more likely to drink

Heavy alcohol use creates a vicious cycle: It changes signaling pathways in the brain, which in turn affects cognitive functions like decision-making and impulse control — and makes the individual more likely to drink. The mechanism behind this may involve the brain’s immune system, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Multiple substance use disorders may share inherited genetic signature

New research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis identifies a common genetic signature that may increase a person’s risk of developing substance use disorders. The work eventually could lead to universal therapies to treat multiple substance use disorders and potentially help people diagnosed with more than one.

Study Suggests Alcohol Consumption Linked to Acceleration of Alzheimer’s Disease

In a new preclinical study, scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine showed that even modest amounts of alcohol can accelerate brain atrophy, which is the loss of brain cells, and increase the number of amyloid plaques, which are the accumulation of toxic proteins in Alzheimer’s disease.

Rutgers Addiction Research Expert, Director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center, Available to Comment on Dry January, Health Benefits and Steps for Success

Danielle Dick, Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and inaugural director of the Rutgers Addiction Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, is available to speak on the benefits of joining the Dry January challenge and steps for…

Problems with Alcohol Increase After Weight-Loss Surgery in Adolescence

Youth who underwent metabolic and bariatric surgery as teenagers are at heightened risk for alcohol use, according to the first study to document long-term alcohol use and associated issues in this population. Researchers found that after eight years, nearly half of study participants had alcohol use disorders, symptoms of alcohol-related harm, or alcohol-related problems. Results were published in the journal Annals of Surgery.

Smoking & drinking means higher surgery risks, but health coaching before surgery could help

Two habits are riskier than one when it comes to surgery-related problems, according to a new study of cigarette and alcohol use before an operation. A second study shows coaching about drinking-related surgical risks in the weeks before their operation helped patients cut their drinking in half on average.

UCLA researchers use artificial intelligence tools to speed critical information on drug overdose deaths

Fast data processing of overdose deaths, which have increased in recent years, is crucial to developing a rapid public health response. But the system now in place lacks precision and takes months. To correct that, UCLA researchers have developed an automated process that reduces data collection to a few weeks.

Study of pre-teens yields surprises about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana

They may only be in 4th or 5th grade, but 1 in 10 pre-teen children already say they’re curious about using alcohol or tobacco products, and 1 in 50 say they’re curious about using marijuana, a new study shows.
As many as 3% of the nearly 12,000 9- and 10-year-olds surveyed say they already have a friend who uses one of these substances. And those who said they did were also much more likely to be curious about trying alcohol or tobacco and other nicotine-containing products themselves.

Research Shows Alarming Increases in Deaths from Alcoholic Cirrhosis in the U.S.

Researchers conducted an original research study utilizing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) to compare trends in mortality from alcoholic cirrhosis in the U.S. in 1999 with those 20 years later in 2019.

Five New Studies Examine Eating Behaviors in Teens and Young Adults

The developmental changes and growing independence that characterize adolescence and young adulthood can make these stages of life both exciting and challenging. New studies at NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE shed light on the eating behaviors and diets of teens and young adults around the world.

A ‘factory reset’ for the brain cures anxiety, drinking behavior

Gene editing may be a potential treatment for anxiety and alcohol use disorder in adults who were exposed to binge drinking in their adolescence, according to the results of an animal study published in the journal Science Advances. The researchers used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-dCas9 in their experiments to manipulate the histone acetylation and methylation processes at the Arc gene in models of adult rats.

Is Your Alcohol Sanitizer Safe and Effective? Chula’s Pharmaceutical Science Has Developed a User-friendly and Rapid Test Kit to Keep People Away from COVID-19.

Chula Pharmaceutical Science helps increase public confidence to keep COVID-19 at bay with their new test kit to verify the safety and efficacy of hand sanitizers and alcohol-based gel and spray products.

Mechanisms of addiction: Psychology professor receives NIH grant for brain research

A five-year, $2.59 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow a psychology professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York to study the mechanisms of addiction.

Chronic Alcohol Consumption Inhibits Intestinal Absorption of Vitamin B7, May Lead to Deficiency

Article title: Effect of chronic alcohol exposure on gut vitamin B7 uptake: involvement of epigenetic mechanisms and effect of alcohol metabolites Authors: Kalidas Ramamoorthy, Subrata Sabui, Padmanabhan Srinivasan, Saleh Al-Juburi, Quang Pham, Brian D. Chu, Rita D. Simoes, James M.…

Slowing down grape ripening can improve berry quality for winemaking

Wine grapes are particularly finicky when it comes to their environment. For instance, heatwaves and droughts lead to earlier berry ripening and lackluster wine. And these types of episodes are expected to intensify as Earth’s climate changes. Now, researchers reporting…

About the cannabis and alcohol relationship: it’s complicated

Not only is cannabis the most commonly used illicit – in a number of states – drug among people who drink alcohol, cannabis is also by far the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S. overall. New research findings tease out the nuanced relationship between alcohol and cannabis through a survey of regular cannabis users who also report drinking alcohol, as well as heavy drinkers in treatment who also use cannabis. These findings will be shared at the 44th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA), which due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be held virtually this year from the 19th – 23rd of June 2021.

Higher alcohol content beer popularity growing, as overall beer consumption down

PITTSBURGH, June 10, 2021 – Americans are consuming more craft beer with higher alcohol content but are drinking less beer by volume, according to a new analysis led by epidemiologists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.…

Alcohol companies earned billions from underage drinking in 2016

PISCATAWAY, NJ – Underage youth consumed $17.5 billion worth, or 8.6 percent, of the alcoholic drinks sold in 2016. Products from three alcohol companies–AB Inbev, MillerCoors and Diageo–accounted for nearly half of youth consumption, according to a new study published…

Are social, behavioral risk factors associated with mortality among us veterans with COVID-19?

What The Study Did: An observational study of more than 27,000 veterans who received a positive test result for COVID-19 reports that risk factors such as housing problems, financial hardship, alcohol use, tobacco use and substance use weren’t associated with…