National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Early Childhood Neurobehavioral Assessment for the Differential Diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder Bethesda Marriott Hotel Bethesda, Maryland March 8–10, 2000 The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and The National Institutes of Health National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke...

NIH researchers seek to expand treatment options A smoking-cessation medication may be a viable option for the treatment of alcohol dependence, according to a study by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The study found that varenicline (marketed under the name Chantix), approved in 2006 to help people stop smoking, significantly reduced alcohol consumption and craving among people who...

Relapse to uncontrolled drinking after periods of sobriety is a defining characteristic of alcoholism and is often triggered by stress. A new study in rats reports that a specific receptor for a stress-response transmitter may play an important role in stress-induced relapse. The study, a collaboration between scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of...

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Director Ting-Kai Li, M.D., announced today that Ralph W. Hingson, Sc.D., M.P.H., has joined NIAAA as the Director of NIAAA's Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research. I am delighted that Dr. Hingson is now part of the NIAAA leadership," says Dr. Li. "His knowledge and expertise will be invaluable assets to the...

Many alcohol studies rely on participants to self-report how much and how often they drink, which can, at times, result in unreliable data. Biomarkers (biological markers) based on indicators in blood or other bodily fluids can be objective measures of alcohol use. Some biomarkers directly measure whether an individual has recently been drinking by measuring components of alcohol in blood...

Thursday, May 24, 2007

CONTENTS A. Legislation, Budget, and Policy B. Director’s Activities C. NIAAA Staff and Organization D. Research Priority Emphasis and Core Support Teams E. NIAAA Research Programs F. Scientific Meetings G. Outreach H. Multi-Media Products from NIAAA I. What’s Ahead A. Legislation, Budget, and Policy Congressional Activity Legislation Introduced for NIAAA Name Change Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Senator Joseph Biden have...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) today announces the start of Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions (COMBINE), a nationwide study that targets persons with the diagnosis alcohol dependence, commonly known as alcoholism. COMBINE is the first national study to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral treatments alone and in combination with medications. It begins at a time when...

Patients with a certain gene variant drank less and experienced better overall clinical outcomes than patients without the variant while taking the medication naltrexone, according to an analysis of participants in the National Institutes of Health's 2001-2004 COMBINE (Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions for Alcohol Dependence) Study. About 87 percent of patients with the variant who received naltrexone. experienced good...

April 23-24, 1998 • Ramada Inn • Bethesda, Maryland Abstracts Activities of the Center for Addiction Research and Education Michael F. Fleming, M.D., M.P.H. From the Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin The University of Wisconsin Center for Addiction Research and Education (CARE) has a number of projects that focus on the prevention of alcohol problems in...

General Alcohol Policy A combination of Federal, State, and local laws help shape the role alcohol plays in the United States, including how we: Manufacture alcohol Sell alcohol Decide who can drink alcohol Respond to alcohol-related problems The primary Federal law governing alcohol policy is the 21st Amendment, which repealed national prohibition. It also gives individual States control over: Whether...

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...

A study reported in the Journal of Family Practice (Volume 48, Number 5) shows that brief intervention can reduce alcohol consumption in problem drinkers aged 65 years and older. Project GOAL (Guiding Older Adult Lifestyles) is the first U.S. randomized controlled clinical trial to test the effectiveness of brief counseling by community-based primary care physicians in older problem drinkers. "Following...

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has released a new guide for health care practitioners to help them identify and care for patients with heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders. Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician's Guide [ PDF ]is now available free online ( www.niaaa.nih.gov )...

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM Summary of the 117th Meeting February 6-7, 2008 The National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism convened for its 117th meeting at 5:30 p.m. on February 6, 2008, at the FishersLaneConferenceCenter in Rockville, Maryland, in a closed session, and again at 8:15 a.m. on February 7, also in closed session. The...

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...