Mental illness genetically linked to drug use and misuse, study finds
If mental illness runs in your family, your genetic makeup may also make you more likely to use drugs and alcohol, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
The good thing that happens with graduated license laws
State laws designed to help teens gradually ease into full driving privileges may have an unintended effect: lowering rates of teen alcohol consumption and binge drinking, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Americans drink less when cigarettes cost more
Washington University researchers Melissa Krauss and Richard Grucza, PhD, led a team that analyzed data from all 50 states and found that higher cigarette taxes and policies prohibiting smoking in public places are associated with a decrease in alcohol consumption.
School-age drinking increases breast cancer risk
Here’s a sobering fact for millions of young women: The more alcohol they drink before motherhood, the greater their risk of future breast cancer. School of Medicine research links increased breast cancer to drinking between early adolescence and first full-term pregnancy.
Legal drinking age linked to women’s suicide, homicide risk
New research by Richard Grucza, PhD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that a legal drinking age of less than 21 is linked to a higher risk of homicides and suicides among adult women.
Girls with family history of breast disease should avoid alcohol
A new study shows that adolescent girls with a family history of breast disease – either cancer or the benign lesions that can become cancer – have a higher risk of developing benign breast disease as young women than other girls. And unlike girls without a family history, this already elevated risk rises with increasing alcohol consumption.
A sobering demonstration
Occupational therapy students learn the powerful effect of alcohol on an egg to demonstrate fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Adolescent drinking adds to risk of breast disease, breast cancer
Girls and young women who drink alcohol increase their risk of benign (noncancerous) breast disease, says a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University. Benign breast disease increases the risk for developing breast cancer.
Sensitivity to alcohol affected by genes active in neurons
In these brain sections of neonatal mice exposed to ethanol, mice deficient in certain enzymes (right) exhibit much more neurodegeneration as indicated by the black material in the dying neurons.Can you blame your genes if you can’t handle your liquor? A new study conducted at the School of Medicine may pave the way to finding out. Researchers found that the brain’s response to alcohol is partially under the influence of two genes. The genes, studied in both adult and newborn mice, were found to affect sensitivity to alcohol intoxication, interest in alcohol consumption and risk of developmental brain damage from alcohol.
Sensitivity to alcohol affected by genes active in neurons
In these brain sections of neonatal mice exposed to ethanol, mice deficient in certain enzymes (right) exhibit much more neurodegeneration as indicated by the black material in the dying neurons.Can you blame your genes if you can’t handle your liquor? A new study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may pave the way to finding out. Researchers found that the brain’s response to alcohol is partially under the influence of two genes. The genes, studied in both adult and newborn mice, were found to affect sensitivity to alcohol intoxication, interest in alcohol consumption and risk of developmental brain damage from alcohol.
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