National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

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...

Thursday, June 9, 2016

In a commentary published in April in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research , Raye Litten, Ph.D., and other NIAAA scientists describe the evolution of our understanding of the heterogeneity of alcohol use disorder (AUD), and outline new treatment and research regimes that follow from the recognition that alcohol problems are manifested along a continuum of severity, ranging from...

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Table of Contents NIAAA BUDGET UPDATE ON CRAN (COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON ADDITION AT THE NIH) DIRECTOR'S ACTIVITIES STAFF TRANSITIONS & AWARDS HONORS & AWARDS NEW RFAs/NOFOs NIAAA COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA COVERAGE SELECT NIAAA STAFF ACTIVITIES WHAT’S AHEAD NIAAA RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS NIAAA BUDGET FY 2014 After a lengthy continuing resolution, the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2014 (H.R. 3547) was signed by the...

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced it will convene the first meeting of the Steering Committee on Underage Drinking Research and Prevention on September 20, in Bethesda, Maryland. The new committee comprises leaders with broad and varied expertise in child and adolescent development, neuroscience, genetics, prevention research, public policy...

Researchers have identified a genetic factor that may predispose young people to harmful drinking habits. A team of scientists interviewed college students about their alcohol consumption and then analyzed their genetic profiles, or genotypes. They found that students who shared a particular variant of the serotonin transporter gene (5HTT) consumed more alcohol per occasion, more often drank expressly to become...

Research suggests that chronic alcohol use may increase the risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by altering the brain’s ability to recover from a traumatic experience. While alcoholism is often linked with PTSD, few studies have explored how chronic drinking may subsequently make a person more prone to such anxiety disorders. In a new study, researchers at the NIAAA observed...

Children born to mothers who both drank and smoked beyond the first trimester of pregnancy have a 12-fold increased risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) compared to those unexposed or only exposed in the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a new study supported by the National Institutes of Health. SIDS is the sudden, unexplained, death of an infant...

In a recent study, Cindy L. Ehlers, Ph.D., and colleagues examined the clinical course of alcohol use disorder (AUD)—as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM–5)—in a sample of young adult (ages 18–30) individuals of Mexican American (MA) and Native American (NA) descent. Face-to-face interviews using the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism...

Thursday, February 5, 2015

"What are you waiting for - last call, or a wake-up call?" is the question to be posed by alcohol research and treatment leaders at a media briefing to be held 10:30-11:30 A.M., Tuesday, April 4, in Georgetown University's Copley Hall. The briefing launches the second annual National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD), a national outreach program designed to educate people...