National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Data from large epidemiological studies highlight the intertwined nature of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and personality disorders. This review: describes the co-occurrence of AUD with antisocial personality disorder and borderline personality disorder examines prevalence and effects of these personality disorders and their co-occurrence with AUD discusses the treatment and overall implications of these complex co-occurrences To learn more, read the...

AUDs often untreated Alcohol use disorder, or AUD, is the medical diagnosis for problem drinking that causes mild to severe distress or harm. A new study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, reports that nearly one-third of adults in the United States have an AUD at some time...

Few observations in psychiatry have been documented as long and as consistently as the association between anxiety and the chronic misuse of alcohol. Research has shown that up to 50% of individuals receiving treatment for problematic alcohol use also met diagnostic criteria for one or more anxiety disorders. The latest article from Alcohol Research Current Reviews provides an overview of...

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala recently announced the appointment of six new members to the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The Council advises on the conduct and support of biomedical and behavioral research, health services research, research training, and health information dissemination with respect to the causes...

Thursday, February 7, 2013

November 8, 2013, 8:30am – 5:30 pm Room 24, San Diego Convention Center 8:30 am - Welcome / Opening Remarks Kenneth Warren, Ph.D. Acting Director, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Antonio Noronha, Ph.D., Director, Division of Neuroscience and Behavior, NIAAA 8:40 am - Overview on brain pathways to recovery from alcohol dependence Changhai Cui, Ph.D., Program Director, Division...

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory report in the current Journal of Neurochemistry (Volume 78, Number 5) that they used gene therapy techniques to increase levels of dopamine D2 (DRD2) receptors and reduce drinking in rats previously trained to self-administer alcohol. Panayotis Thanos, Ph.D., Nora Volkow, Ph.D., and colleagues used a partially inactivated virus as a...

A study in the current Archives of General Psychiatry (Volume 56, pages 719-724) shows that nalmefene, an opioid antagonist that is not now commercially available in the oral form studied, is effective in preventing relapse to heavy drinking in alcohol dependent individuals. Barbara J. Mason, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Miami School of Medicine found from a 12-week...

Many people admitted to hospitals in the U.S. have alcohol use disorders that go undetected, according to a new study by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The finding, published in the April 12, 2004 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, underscores a need to screen...

An article in today’s Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal (Chen, S; Wilkemeyer, M; Sulik, K; and Charness, M. Octanol antagonism of ethanol teratogenesis, FASEB J. 10.1096/fj00-08620fje and Volume 15, Number 9, July 2001) reports that the long-chain alcohol 1-octanol successfully blocks a mechanism leading to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Viewed as paradoxical because it is the...

Promising results from a randomized, controlled clinical trial of the medication The generic anticonvulsant medication gabapentin shows promise as an effective treatment for alcohol dependence, based on the results of a 150-patient clinical trial of the medication. Conducted by scientists supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, the study...

NIAAA-funded scientists report that early life dietary choline supplements improve some of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) four years after treatment ended. The results of this study suggest that choline treatment during an important time window during early childhood can alter brain development in a way that produces lasting therapeutic behavioral effects for...

A clinical trial investigating a potential treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) was announced by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The study will assess the safety and efficacy of gabapentin enacarbil (HORIZANT) in extended-release tablets for treating moderate to severe AUD. NIAAA is part of the National Institutes of Health. Gabapentin is already widely prescribed to...