Women tend to survive longer than men if infected with the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus (HCV) - but if they drink heavily, that survival advantage completely disappears, according to a new study.

In a survey of non-indigenous West Australian women, 79.8 percent reported drinking alcohol in the three months before becoming pregnant.
Nearly half of the women (46.7%) surveyed reported that their pregnancy was unplanned.
More than half (58.7%) drank alcohol during pregnancy despite recommendations of abstinence.

New research reveals the brain's capacity to regenerate -- however, the sooner alcoholics abstain from drinking the more they may recover.

13,500 Australian drinkers were discussed for the study of Flinders University in South Australia, which says that A$437 million (U.S.$344 million) a year is the cost of boozy nights and hangovers. This is the result of 2.6 million skipped working days.