Drink-fuelled attacks alarm A&E BBC News, UK - "You can't really say it's just down to the increased availability of alcohol over the 24-hour period but these changes are set against that background. ...
Nigeria: The Child-Witches And the Mother-Witches AllAfrica.com, Washington - Well as you would have guessed, you escaped by whiskers because this woman of God and filmmaker never met your parents. You may never receive an award for ...
Garland fights what it considers boarding houses Dallas Morning News, TX - He noted that alcohol and drugs have been found during police searches at the houses. Steve Killen, Garland's director of code compliance, said inspectors ...
I'll drink to that: Prohibition repeal turns 75 WRAL.com, NC - The temperance movement built up over decades, spearheaded by people who argued that alcohol was ruining lives, especially of the working classes. ...
Lawmakers must tighten drunk driving penalties Daily Cardinal, WI - People who consume large amounts of alcohol and then get behind the wheel not only put themselves in danger but others on the road as well. ...
Back To School: More Stressful Than Parents Think MarketWatch - Your kid may roll his eyes, but he'll hear you. Frequent discussions with kids about the risks of drugs and alcohol go a long way. Research shows that kids ...
St Annes detox centre - here to help Blackpool Gazette, UK - "When you drink, you don't think about things from that point of view, you just want to drink. "I haven't drunk for 11 months now. ...
Action against rowdy Brits abroad BBC News, UK - 31 minutes ago The UK ambassador, Simon Gass, says the problems are all to do with alcohol. He said: "If you have a resort in which there are very large numbers of bars ...
A parting shot The Publican, UK - You only drink beer out of glass because that?s what you are used to and that?s how you were taught to drink beer. CA: But the plastic things are changing. ...
Sober Talk: Alcohol and nicotine ? an addictive link Ithaca Journal, NY - By Kathleen M. Blair ? Special to The Journal ? August 7, 2008 Before you take your next drink or smoke that cigarette, consider this: alcohol and tobacco ...
Binge drinking puts young women at risk Canada.com, Canada - Aug 5, 2008 "It's not even always how much you're drinking but what you're drinking. Like, if a girl is drinking a stereotypical man-drink like whisky or dark rum or ...
Source: Google News
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that many problems might be caused by alcohol do you still drink too much? ...
Gender differences in alcohol consumption: effects of measurement - DA DAWSON, L ARCHER - Addiction, 1992 - Blackwell Synergy ... last 2 weeks in which any alcohol was consumed. The questions asked were the following.
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A THREE-SAMPLE TEST OF A MASKED ALCOHOL SCREENING QUESTIONNAIRE - MF FLEMING, KL BARRY - Alcohol and Alcoholism, 1991 - Med Council on Alcohol ... contains the four CAGE questions expanded for weight loss, smoking, fitness and alcohol. ... about your weight, how much you smoke, how much youdrink, how unfit ...
Alcohol Consumption and Stroke Mortality 20-Year Follow-up of 15 077 Men and Women - H Hansagi, A Romelsjo, MG de Verdier, S Andreasson … - Stroke, 1995 - Am Heart Assoc ... Yes/No" and if no: "Did youdrinkalcohol before that time? Yes/No" and if yes:
"When did you stop drinking alcohol? In the year ... " and "Why did you stop? ...
Cigarettes may be driving you to drink more; Study: Nicotine lowers alcohol concentrations, so it takes more booze to get the
desired effect.
Those cigarettes may make you drink more.
A new study done on rats shows that nicotine can reduce blood-alcohol concentrations and thus lead to heavier drinking.
"Since the desired effect of alcohol is significantly diminished by nicotine, particularly among heavy or binge drinkers such as college students, this may encourage drinkers to drink more to achieve the pleasurable or desired effect," said Wei-Jung Chen, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapies at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station, Texas, and lead author of the study, published in the August issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Cross tolerance debated
The notion that there's cross tolerance for certain drugs -- in which a decrease in the reward from one drug seems to facilitate the use of another to achieve the same effects -- has been debated for more than 50 years.
Only two other studies have looked at the interactions between nicotine and alcohol, so little is known about the effect of nicotine on alcohol, said Scott Parnell, the latest report's co-author and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of North Carolina.
How the study worked
For the new study, Chen and Parnell and colleagues administered nicotine doses adjusted for weight along with an alcohol dose delivered either directly into the stomachs or the abdominal cavities of female rats. The blood alcohol content was measured against the nicotine doses at various times.
Chen said it was clear that the presence of nicotine significantly reduced peak blood alcohol content, but this was only observed when the booze went into the stomach, not when it was injected into the abdomen.
Toxic byproducts increase
"In humans, this means that persons desiring to drink to effect will need to drink more alcohol while smoking in order to reach this effect, and this will lead to increased amounts and lingering presence of toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism," said Susan Maier, a health scientist administrator at the National Institutes of Health, which sponsored the study.
Moreover, she said, cross tolerance can lead to permanent changes in the physiology of metabolism, so beneficial drugs may not be as well-absorbed in some people who smoke and drink.
Likewise, the fact that nicotine only interferes with the processing of alcohol when ingested is important. "Nicotine appears to delay the emptying of the stomach contents, including alcohol, into the intestines. A portion of the alcohol molecules are subject to metabolism within the stomach, leaving less alcohol passing from the stomach to the intestinal tract for absorption," and putting less alcohol into the bloodstream, Chen said.
"These findings ... highlight the effects of polydrug interactions, which has implications for the effects of other drugs, not necessarily illicit drugs, that may be co-used with alcohol, such as aspirin," Maier added.
