Effects of binge drinking almost immediate

Volume 116: January 28, 2013

Effects of binge drinking almost immediate

January 23, 2013

Brain damage can occur in as little as 24 hours after binge drinking, according to a new study. Researchers at the Universities of Kentucky and North Carolina have found that a protein called vimentin indicates damage to the hippocampus after heavy drinking episodes.

"We know that the extent of damage following alcohol exposure depends heavily on the manner in which it is consumed," says Kimberly Nixon, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at TheUniversity of Kentucky as well as corresponding author for the study. "Human studies suggest that binge-pattern drinking is more closely associated with brain damage. One study, for example, reported that binge drinking at least once per month in adulthood significantly increases the risk of developing dementia later in life. Animal models help provide the critical information that binge drinking, which produces high blood alcohol levels, directly causes damage."

Nixon and her colleagues administered a nutritionally complete liquid diet to adult male Sprague-Dawley rats that additionally contained either alcohol (25% w/v) or isocaloric dextrose every eight hours for either one or two days. The rodents were sacrificed immediately following, two days after, or seven days after alcohol exposure and their brain tissues were examined.

"This was really a simple study that took advantage of some new tools to look for evidence of brain damage," explains Nixon. "We didn't look for dying cells themselves, but we looked at more indirect indices of damage by looking at what happens to astroglia, one of the supporting cells for neurons. Astroglia react to brain damage by expressing several proteins that they do not normally express under healthy, happy conditions, one of which is an intermediate filament protein called vimentin. We saw a remarkable number of cells expressing this marker. It is one of those 'here is your brain, here is your brain on drugs' kind of findings where the expression was obvious to the naked eye in many brains with as little as 24 hours of high blood alcohol levels."

Source: GEN News

Wisconsin legislators push tougher drunk-driving laws

January 18, 2013

GRAFTON, Wis. - Almost every seat at the bar in Redheads Tavern is occupied. Noon is more than an hour away.

Most patrons ended their overnight shifts at local factories a couple hours ago and are enjoying conversation and $1 glasses of beer before heading home. Nobody here thinks some new proposals to toughen the state's drunken-driving laws are necessary, and no one denies the ingrained drinking traditions in Wisconsin, which ranks behind only the District of Columbia in alcohol consumption and binge drinking.

"There are drinking problems everywhere, not just in Wisconsin," says Jenny Hannert, 55, who works at a plastics factory. "We just embrace the fact that we like to drink."

Others at the bar note that the state, still home to many breweries, was settled by German, Irish and Polish immigrants for whom a drink at day's end was a reward for hard work. On cold winter days such as this one, they say, there's not much else to do.

Efforts by state legislators in Madison to crack down on drinking and driving, they agree, are an attempt to curtail personal freedoms. They're not sure new laws would make any difference. "They just need to enforce the ones we've already got," Hannert says.

Charlie Kroening, 50, says he doesn't think current laws are fair, either. Two drunken-driving citations he got more than 20 years ago should be expunged from his record, he says, but "they don't ever go away."

State Rep. Jim Ott and state Sen. Alberta Darling, both Republicans, disagree. They're trying again this year to pass legislation that would criminalize first drunken-driving offenses, make a third conviction a felony and establish mandatory minimum sentences for drunken drivers who cause crashes.

"We're the only state where a first offense is equivalent to a traffic ticket," Darling says. "That, to me, is sending the wrong message. We have to have this conversation in Wisconsin where we seriously talk about the culture of drinking and driving."

In the past decade, Ott says, "We've had about 2,000 alcohol-related fatalities, about 200 per year. ... There is too much drunk driving in Wisconsin."

Statewide, 225 people died in alcohol-related crashes in 2011 and 2,984 were injured. Of the 28,213 convictions statewide in 2011, 38.6% of drivers were repeat offenders.

Grafton, population 11,481, is in Ozaukee County, where one person died and 57 were injured in alcohol-related crashes in 2011. In that year, 64.5% of the county's 155 alcohol-related driving convictions were for repeat offenders - the highest percentage of any of Wisconsin's 72 counties.

Source: USA Today

Three-year grant to help bring down underage drinking, binge drinking

January 17, 2013

Final reports on the community's three-year effort to reduce underage drinking in Clay County show substantial reductions in underage drinking and binge drinking and officials say they will seek grant funding to extend the program.

The $540,000 Communities that Care grant to Clay Counts provided for increased law enforcement, counseling and public education campaigns including mock emergency drills beginning in June 2009 and ending in June 2012.

Clay Center police chief Bill Robinson and city councilwoman Rhys Baker told those gathered at Wednesday's Chamber coffee forum that portions of the program should be continued.

Baker said surveys taken each year show the number of students reporting taking five or more alcoholic drinks in a row over two weeks had dropped 36 percent, to 13.15 percent, down from 20.5 percent in 2007.

And the number of youths saying drinking alcoholic beverages would make them be seen as "cool" dropped from 7.3 percent in 2007 to 4.82 percent in 2011, a 34 percent decline.

And students reported the number of times in the previous month they drank beer, wine or hard liquor dropped similarly from 35.6 times a month to 23.71 times.

The number of youths reporting they believe they would be caught by police for drinking remained relatively unchanged from 64.1 percent in 2007 to 63.34 percent in 2011, although the number rose to 74.4 percent in 2009.

The survey covered young people in 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th grades.

Source: The Dispatch

Massachusetts: Belmont to use breathalyzers on students before dances

January 15, 2013

On the Belmont High School Wikipedia page, it's known simply as the "luau school."

In 2005, several Belmont High School students were rushed to the hospital with alcohol poisoning.

The dance ended early that year, and 12 students were suspended.

Since then, Belmont High School administrators have slashed the number of dances every year at the school and reduced the hours.

However, that hasn't reportedly stopped students from showing up drunk.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston says Belmont is putting together a plan to reduce drinking at school functions, and it involves the use of breathalyzers.

The students will be educated as to how the small device can detect even trace amounts of alcohol in the body.

Dr. Kingston says the tests will be administered by Belmont police officers who will meet student as they come through the door.

The practice is already happening in other Massachusetts cities and towns, but it is a first in this northwest suburb.

If the plan works, administrators hope to begin a new era of social functions at the high school.

Source: MyFoxBoston.com

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