Asking emergency department patients about their alcohol use and talking with them about how to reduce harmful drinking patterns is an effective way to lower rates of risky drinking in these patients, according to a nationwide collaborative study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

According to a study by the research group "Alcoholism and drug addiction", of the Universidad de Granada, although there are no specific reasons to become alcoholic, many social, family, environmental, and genetic factors may contribute to its development.

Alcohol triggers the activation of a variety of genes that can influence the health and activity of brain cells, and new research from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City sheds light on how that process occurs.

A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Army.

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati are reporting on a pilot program aimed at curbing alcohol abuse among college students. Early promising results from this intervention program were presented Nov. 18 at the annual conference of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Philadelphia.

A researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) is initiating a study of "mindfulness-based stress reduction," a technique often used in behavioral medicine for stress reduction but not before as an adjunct in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.

In a major study, a team at the University of Leeds sought to find out whether this is true by asking more than 180 former MPs about aspects of their post-Parliamentary life including how difficult it is to find a job, the support they receive from their political party and how it feels to lose their seat.

The negative consequences of alcohol use and abuse have a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. New research findings indicate that racial disparities in treatment completion could be reduced by increasing enrollment in residential alcohol treatment for African American and Hispanic alcohol abusers.

More than 250 million women worldwide smoke tobacco. Compared to men, women have a greater risk of smoking-related diseases, and also have more difficulty quitting. A new study, the first of its kind, has found that cigarette smoking and having a family history of alcoholism have different effects on sweet-taste perception and food cravings.

While both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the risk of developing alcohol dependence, it is believed to be a largely heritable – 52 to 64 percent – disease. Previous research had found a significant association between risk for alcoholism and DNA sequence variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the GABRA2 gene.

Impulsivity is a problem common to many different personality and psychiatric disorders, including alcoholism. A new study that looked at impulsivity among alcoholic subpopulations has found that, one, the inability to delay gratification may be a vulnerability marker for alcoholism, and two, certain inhibitory-control issues may be specific to antisocial and borderline personality disorders.

Alcoholics can now do without detox treatment thanks to a migraine pill. The drug, Topamax, works in a different way than three other medications already approved for treating alcoholism.