Wednesday, March 31, 2010

What are the latest findings on studies of alcoholism?

The last set of facts to emerge regarding alcohol is staggering. A National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study of more than 43,000 American adults found that more Americans develop alcoholism each year than any other mental disorder.

Over a period of one year, nearly 2% became alcoholics need treatment for alcoholism and an additional 1% showed signs of excessive consumption of alcohol regularly. The damage is estimated to exceed over 180 million dollars annually andcontributes to nearly half of all car accidents, claiming 100,000 lives.

"Alcohol can change gene expression in the brain. This is considered responsible for many of the characteristics of addiction, such as tolerance, physical dependence and cravings, and the consequences of chronic alcoholism, as neurotoxicity (brain damage), "said Dr. R. Adron Harris, director of UT Austin Waggoner Center for Research on drug and alcohol.

Like a computer virus corruptssystem, the consumption of alcohol may also tinkering with proteins and regions of the brain, leaving its mark. In his study, he found that the tissue gene 163 / 4000 of the brain (4%) were found to differ by 40% or more between alcoholics and nonalcoholics.

The genes most sensitive to change were sensitive to the white stuff called myelin. Myelin is the insulation between the brain cells information carrier, which may explain why cognitive deficit is one of the effects of alcohol.

AHow researchers are looking into drug treatment of alcoholism is to study the alcohol affects the internal workings of the brain. For example, researchers at the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland recently tested twelve volunteers and compared the brain activity by magnetic resonance imaging.

The study found that consumption of alcohol is for volunteers to be able to identify images of faces of people who show fear. Theamygdala, which registers emotional reactions in the brain lit up when fearful faces were presented to volunteers sober, but after modest alcohol consumption, brain circuits threat detection were significantly blunted.

"At one end of the spectrum, less anxiety might enable us to approach a new person to a party," said Marina Wolf at the University of Medicine, Rosalind Franklin and science. "But at the other end of the spectrum, we may fail to avoid an argument or a fight," shesaid. She added that the study results compelling arguments against individuals who believe that the trend of bad decision after drinking alcohol "does not apply" to them.

The scary thing about alcoholism is that you can actually die of alcohol related withdrawal symptoms, if not properly managed. Since the excessive consumption of alcohol reduces the production of GABA neuroinhibitor, there may be an uncontrolled firing of synapses - the result of hallucinations, tremors,seizures, convulsions and heart failure. This is certainly not the case for everyone who loves the book a few drinks from time to time, but for every day drinking binge heavy substance abuse treatment careful monitoring is essential.

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