The Promises and Pitfalls of Digital Technology in Its Application to Alcohol Treatment
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Stress and the HPA Axis: Role of Glucocorticoids in Alcohol Dependence
Stress, generally defined as any stimulus that disrupts the body’s internal balance (i.e., physiological homeostasis), has long been suggested to be an important correlate of uncontrolled alcohol consumption or relapse to drinking following a period of abstinence. Large epidemiological studies have reported that a variety of stressors are associated with increased alcohol consumption and binge...
Alcohol’s Burden on Immunity Following Burn, Hemorrhagic Shock, or Traumatic Brain Injury
The incidence of traumatic injury in alcohol-intoxicated individuals continues to escalate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012a), more than 38 million American alcohol users consume 5 or more drinks on the same occasion (i.e., binge drink) and do so about 4 times per month. This behavior is highly conducive to unintentional or accidental traumatic injury, which...
Alcohol Use Disorder: The Role of Medication in Recovery
Introduction
It is estimated that nearly 14.6 million Americans currently meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD)1 included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5),2 and approximately 88,000 die from alcohol-related causes in the United States each year.3 An older term, “alcohol dependence,” is equivalent to the DSM-5 criteria for AUD...
Alcohol and Skeletal Muscle in Health and Disease
Introduction
Alcohol misuse is the most common form of substance misuse and is associated with liver, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases as well as with infections and cancers.1 Although an estimated 20% to 25% of people who drink heavily develop alcohol-related liver disease,2 40% to 60% of people with alcohol misuse have alcohol-related myopathy.3 Evidence that alcohol use leads to skeletal...
Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Girls and Women
Introduction
Although the awareness of the negative impact of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) was already alluded to in ancient writings1 and the impact of ethanol embryopathy in animal models was studied as early as 1910,2 the conceptualization of a syndrome associated with PAE was not recognized within modern medicine until the mid-20th century.3,4 The syndrome or disorder was not uniformly...
Since 1976, when the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) issued its first report on alcohol misuse by college students, research advances have transformed our understanding of excessive drinking on college campuses and the negative outcomes that follow from it. For instance, we now know that a broad array of factors influence whether a particular college student will choose...
The Endocrine System and Alcohol Drinking in Females
Effects of Alcohol on Tumor Growth, Metastasis, Immune Response, and Host Survival
Alcohol use and abuse have been implicated as etiological factors in the genesis of an increasing number of cancer types in both men and women. In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) listed both beverage alcohol (i.e., ethanol) and its major metabolite, acetaldehyde, as tumor-inducing substances (i.e., carcinogens) in humans. The most recent worldwide statistic from 2002...