health 58

he effects of heavy drinking among young people on the brain have been looked at closely in a mini review published i n  Frontiers in Psychology  by Anita Cservenka, Assistant Professor at Oregon State University et.al. "Adolescence is a time when the brain still matures including not only biological development but also maturation of psychosocial behaviours. Given the increase of binge and heavy drinking in young people, understanding the effects of consuming large quantities of alcohol on neural development and the impact on cognitive skills is very important" says Assistant Professor Cservenka. Binge or heavy episodic drinking means four or more standard drinks within a two-hour drinking session for females, five or more drinks for males. The review highlights existing research that examines the harmful effects of such drinking habits with a view to inform future studies. "We looked at six areas to determine the deleterious impact of heavy drinking on brain ...

The synergistic effects lasted between 2 and 3 hours. Also, peak impairment occurred not at peak alcohol levels but 30 to 60 minutes after, despite receiving rest intervals in between testing. The findings suggest that individuals who have previously had inadequate sleep should refrain from performing safety critical tasks for several hours after the consumption of alcohol, even when their breath alcohol content is lower than that required by law. As performance impairment is still apparent with frequent breaks, breaks without sleep should not be seen as safety measures to mitigate impairment. "Many individuals may make a decision to drive based on the amount of alcohol consumed and the time since consumption. Our data suggest this represents an unperceived risk following inadequate sleep, since performance impairment remains many hours after alcohol was consumed," said Dr. Clare Anderson, co-author of the  Human Psychopharmacology  study. for more information visit...

The immediate period after a myocardial infarction (MI; heart attack) represents a unique window of opportunity to encourage patients to quit smoking. Using data (from between April 2007 and December 2013) from a large MI registry, Neha J. Pagidipati, M.D., M.P.H., of Duke University, Durham, N.C., an d colleagues examined patient factors associated with early prescription smoking cessation medication (SCM) use (defined as filling of a prescription within 90 days postdischarge or supply remaining from a pre-admission fill). Prescription SCMs included in the study were bupropion and varenicline. Among the 9,193 smoking patients (median age, 70 years) with MI in this analysis, 97 percent received smoking cessation counseling during their hospitalization, yet only 7 percent had early-prescription SCM use (bupropion, 47 percent; varenicline, 53 percent). Varenicline use dropped from 12.6 percent in 2007 to 2.2 percent in 2013; bupropion use stayed consistently low (2.5 percent in 2...

More than 2800 Australian students aged 12-17 took part in a survey of drinking behaviour, conducted by researchers from the University of Adelaide's School of Psychology and the Population Health group at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). The results of the study, now published in the journal  BMC Public Health , provide a snapshot of the prevalence of alcohol consumption among students, and the factors that most influence their drinking behaviour. This research has been supported by Cancer Council SA and SA Government. "Harmful alcohol use is a serious problem in Australia, and drinking patterns are often first set in adolescence," says lead author Jacqueline Bowden, behavioural scientist and Manager of Population Health Research at SAHMRI, and researcher with the School of Psychology, University of Adelaide. "With alcohol contributing to four of the top five causes of death in young people, and a leading cause of cancer i...

he study, published online today in the  International Journal of Epidemiology , also found that, contrary to widely reported research findings, suicide and alcohol-related deaths are not to blame for increasing mortality rates among middle-aged whites. The results call into question recent reports suggesting that what have become known collectively as "despair deaths" -- by suicide, alcohol and drugs -- are on the rise among white Americans, particularly men, facing a lack of economic opportunity and an increase in chronic pain. "We find little empirical support for the pain-and distress-based explanations for rising mortality in the U.S. white population," said lead author Ryan Masters, an assistant professor of sociology at CU's Institute of Behavioral Science. "Instead, recent mortality increases have likely been shaped by the U.S. opiate epidemic." Masters said metabolic diseases, including heart disease , obesity and diabetes, are also ...

Having a glass of wine. Credit score: © WavebreakmediaMicro / Fotolia Ingesting alcohol improves reminiscence for data discovered earlier than the ingesting episode started, new analysis suggests. Within the College of Exeter research , 88 social drinkers got a word-learning activity. Individuals have been then cut up in two teams at random and informed both to drink as a lot as they appreciated (the typical was 4 models) or to not drink in any respect. The following day, all of them did the identical activity once more -- and people who had drunk alcohol remembered extra of what they'd discovered. The researchers are eager to emphasize that this restricted optimistic impact must be thought-about alongside the well-established damaging results of extreme alcohol on reminiscence and psychological and bodily well being. "Our analysis not solely confirmed that those that drank alcohol did higher when repeating the word-learning activ...