A new study has found that binge drinking may put teenagers at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life. Published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, the study found long-term disruptions in many genes that play a role in bone formations in rats.

John Callaci, PhD, bone biologist at Loyola University Health System, says that damage to bones during adolescence may last decades. He noted that while data from animals doesn’t directly translate to humans, their findings suggest that a similar problem can occur in humans.

In 2008, Callaci and his colleagues found that adolescent rats who consumed amounts of alcohol comparable to human binge drinkers had 15 percent less bone mass build-up than rats that didn’t drink alcohol.

Their latest study looked at the effect of binge drinking on genes. The researchers injected rats with alcohol until their blood-alcohol level reached 0.28, which is very high. They were given this amount of alcohol on three consecutive days (acute binge drinking) or three consecutive days per week for four consecutive weeks (chronic binge drinking).

In acute binge-drinking rats, approximately 300 bone-related genes were disrupted, and in chronic binge-drinking rats, about 180 bone-related genes were disrupted. Alcohol either increased or decreased the amount of RNA (which helps make proteins, which are the foundation of bones) in the disrupted genes. The genes disrupted molecular pathways which are involved in bone metabolism and bone mass maintenance.

After 30 days of abstaining from alcohol (which translates to about three years in humans), the genes were still disrupted.

These results could help create new treatments to prevent bone loss in binge drinkers and others who have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis, though the best method of prevention is to avoid drinking alcohol, Callaci said.

Source: Science Daily, Are Teen Binge Drinkers Risking Future Osteoporosis?, July 18, 2010

Scientists have identified new genes and pathways that influence an individual’s typical pattern of brain electrical activity, a trait that may serve as a useful surrogate marker for more genetically complex traits and diseases, such as alcoholism.

A report of the findings by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health, appears online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This important advance sustains our hope for the potential of genome-wide association techniques to further the study of complex genetic disorders such as alcoholism," notes NIAAA Acting Director Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allow researchers to rapidly scan the complete set of DNA of many individuals to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or condition.

"One of the challenges in identifying the genes that underlie alcoholism is the large degree of genetic and environmental variability associated with the disease," explains first author Colin A. Hodgkinson, Ph.D., a geneticist in the NIAAA Laboratory of Neurogenetics. "Such variability has impeded even GWAS efforts to identify alcoholism genes. To overcome those difficulties, we used GWAS techniques to search for genetic variants related to EEG, or brain wave, patterns in a comparatively small sample of several hundred Native American individuals."

As unique as an individual’s fingerprints, EEG (electroencephalogram) patterns are highly heritable, and have been associated with alcoholism and other psychiatric disorders. The high degree of genetic similarity and common environmental exposure shared by the Native American individuals that comprised the study sample aided this search.

Working with David Goldman, M.D., chief of the NIAAA Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Dr. Hodgkinson and colleagues identified multiple genes that were associated with the amplitude, or height, of two of the four characteristic electrical frequencies that make up the wave patterns found in EEG recordings.

One of the genes, for example, was found to account for nearly 9 percent of the EEG theta wave variability seen in the Native American sample. Theta waves are relatively low-frequency brain waves, and previous studies have shown that their amplitude is altered among alcoholics. The researchers then showed that the same gene accounted for about 4 percent of theta wave variability in a sample of North American whites.

The gene’s diminished effect among whites, they noted, was likely a reflection of the greater genetic variability present in that sample. In the same study Dr. Goldman’s group went on to show that genetic variation in one of the genes identified for theta wave variability was also associated with an altered risk for alcoholism.

"While our main findings are for genes that influence EEG wave patterns, this study represents an important step toward the use of EEG as a surrogate marker for alcoholism," notes Dr. Goldman. "It also reveals new molecular pathways involved in addiction processes."

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at www.niaaa.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

The BBC reports that William Armstrong, the Greater Norfolk coroner, criticized supermarkets for selling alcohol cheaper than bottled water after a Norfolk man died after consuming as little as £10 worth of alcohol.

Tests showed Roger Prosser, 64, had a level of almost 500 milligrams of alcohol in his blood; the legal limit for drivers is 80.

"The huge amount that he drank could have been purchased at a supermarket for around £10. It is alarming that alcohol can be purchased at supermarkets at a price less than bottled water,” Armstrong said. "One of the witnesses said told me that wine and cider were Mr. Prosser’s poison—sadly that proved to be literally as well as metaphorically true."

Earlier this week, the Government unveiled new measures to cut down on irresponsible drinking in England and Wales, including a ban on all-you-can-drink promotions and a move to force bars and pubs to offer smaller glasses of wine.

The Conservatives have also promised to review the "open all hours" policy introduced by the Government.

However, moves in Scotland to set a minimum price for alcohol in supermarkets—which offer lager for as little as 25p a can and wine for £2.50 a bottle—have faltered.

Armstrong first attacked low-price drink offers last July after he dealt with three inquests into alcohol-related deaths. At the time, he said: "The cost of alcohol is a factor – because it is so cheap it is not a costly business to get drunk. It has become an entrenched part of our culture not just among the young but older people as well.”

"In my role I deal with death and disaster every day but I am still surprised and shocked by the extent of excessive alcohol consumption going on and the effect it is having—it is a major public health problem."

This week’s hearing in Norwich into the death of Prosser, who lived in Loddon, Norfolk, was told that he had been a heavy drinker for more than 30 years.

Armstrong said: "A substantial number of deaths are now linked to alcohol abuse—and there is a relationship between the cost of alcohol and the damage that abuse causes. Doing something about this should be a priority."

Over the holiday weekend, many people were arrested for drunk driving in Chatham County, Georgia, from Garden City to Savannah to Thunderbolt.

Garden City police pulled over a driver on New Year’s Eve after they caught him speeding and weaving from lane to lane. The man’s family was in the car with him, and he was charged for driving under the influence.

The video of the arrest shows one officer who found beer in the car. "We found this open bottle of Heineken," the officer said. Police took the driver to jail, took his family home, and towed his car.

He was just one of nearly 100 people in Chatham County arrested this weekend for drinking and driving. Several of those arrested were underage.

"That is a staggering number and just to keep in mind that’s only the ones we caught," said Georgia State Patrol trooper first class Chad Gray. "Most of the people we pulled over this weekend were coming from the downtown area, the bars, and downtown Savannah."

While Gray has heard every excuse in the book, he says he didn’t hear many this weekend. "Most of them weren’t surprised, they knew we were going to be out, they took a chance, most took it and went on their way about it," he said.

Police say one drunk driver ended up in the hospital after he flipped his car and ended up in Franklin Square.

"There are still people who are going to do it and until we see a drastic decrease in the numbers, until there’s not a problem anymore, we are going to be out there doing our job," Gray said.

New findings about alcohol’s effects on the brain and potential drug treatments that prevent damage to brain cells has led to three federal grants totaling $3.1 million for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

The grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will advance the work of UAMS’ Cynthia J.M. Kane, Ph.D., and Paul D. Drew, Ph.D., professors in the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences of the College of Medicine. Their studies could become the foundation for medicines that block the toxic effects of alcohol as well as treat alcoholism

"We’re excited about our findings, and this new round of funding gives us the opportunity to take a major step toward preventing the neurological harm caused by alcohol," said Kane, an alcohol researcher at UAMS. "It is my hope that adults, adolescents, and even the fetuses of alcoholic mothers can benefit."

Kane and her colleagues found in earlier studies that drinking causes loss of neurons in the brain and that glial cells (which provide support and protection for neurons) are also primary targets of alcohol. In addition, they discovered that alcohol’s impact on the glial cells increases the vulnerability of neurons to alcohol damage.

Kane, Drew, and others at UAMS have been studying the signaling mechanisms inside neurons and glial cells that cause alcohol consumption to result in neuron and glial cell death, failed communication between cells, impaired brain function, and inflammation within the brain. Their discoveries led to the identification of drugs that block this cascade of events, preventing the inflammation, neurodegeneration, and death and dysfunction of brain cells.

Kane’s alcohol research at UAMS was seeded by funds from the UAMS Foundation and has been continuously funded by NIH since 2000. She is the lead investigator, with Drew as co-investigator, on the largest of the three new grants: $1.7 million over five years.

The grant will enable Kane and Drew to focus on the mechanisms by which the drugs provide protection against alcohol and evaluate their success individually as well as in combination therapies.

"The drugs we are looking at right now are FDA-approved drugs," Kane said. "If we find that they work, then they well may be able to be used in humans."

A British lemonade brand has sparked a police inquiry in Maine because of its alcohol content. The Associated Press reports that a high school student in Maine consumed half a bottle of Fentimans lemonade before reading about the alcohol content, which was listed on the lable as less than 0.5 percent.

Not wanting to get in trouble, he showed it to school administrators, who called police, who referred the matter to state officials. U.S. anti-drinking groups got involved, warning parents and retailers about the drink’s potential perils.

"We see it as slightly absurd," said Tiffany McKirdy, operations director at Fentimans, a specialty brewer in northern England. "It looks to us like utter hysteria, the fact that the principal contacted the police and the substance abuse officials got involved.”

She said the company was concerned about underaged drinking and received occasional inquiries about the alcohol content, but said that “it is legally classified as a soft drink."

McKirdy said a person would need to drink about 28 bottles of the lemonade in order to consume the alcohol found in a typical pint of beer.

Fentimans managing director Eldon Robson said the concerns raised in Maine reflects the prudishness of the devout men and women who left England in search of the new world.

"Maine is of course where our Puritanical forefathers went because Britain was not strict enough and it has been said that Puritans are people who are always worried that someone, somewhere might be having fun," he said, adding that he found the situation amusing.

But it is not a laughing matter in Houlton, Maine, where police chief Butch Asselin asked the state’s liquor licensing authorities to determine if the Victorian-style lemonade could legally be sold to minors.

"It wasn’t so much that we were trying to give Fentimans a black eye," he said. "We just want to make parents aware it contains alcohol. I’ve never had it, it’s probably very good, but their Web site says it can be used for mixed drinks."

He pointed out that nonalcoholic beers with similar residual alcohol content cannot be dispensed to minors under Maine law.

The police chief is also concerned because a Google search of Victorian lemonade turned up recipes calling for it to be made with gin. He is concerned young people will read those recipe and add gins to their Fentimans.

He is waiting for the state’s attorney general to issue a ruling clarifying the drink’s legal status.
The case has drawn the attention of two advocacy groups trying to combat teenage drug and alcohol abuse. Both the Aroostook Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and the statewide Maine Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse believe the drink poses a potential threat.

"We got involved because we wanted parents and retailers to know this product does have some alcohol in it so they can make their own decision about whether to sell the product and whether to let their children drink it," said Clare Desrogiers, director of the local group.

Toyota Motor announced that it is developing anti-drunk-driving equipment that will lock the ignition of a vehicle if high levels of alcohol are detected in the driver.

The system features a hand-held breathalyzer equipped with a digital camera that detects alcohol consumption and photographs the driver’s face for identification, a company statement said.
If the driver tests positive, the system either warns him or her, or locks the vehicle’s ignition depending on the level of alcohol detected, Toyota said.

The carmaker is conducting tests with affiliate truck maker Hino Motors, and will install the equipment in selected trucks and other vehicles of fleet customers that include companies and government organizations.
The device will alert fleet administrators if the driver is detected with excessive alcohol levels, Toyota said.

Nissan Motor is currently developing similar equipment. In the United States, certain states earlier this year passed legislation requiring drunk-driving offenders to install breathalyzer ignition locks in their cars.
 

A 34-year-old mother accused of driving drunk and killing a teen on his bicycle is distraught over the boy’s death and has sought alcohol and psychological counseling, according to her lawyer. Caroline Goss of Mattituck, New York, is charged with drunk driving, endangering the welfare of a child, and driving with an open container of alcohol in her vehicle.

The registered nurse, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 when she fatally struck 15-year-old Joseph Marino on August 12 in Hampton Bays, could face more serious charges, depending on what investigators learn from further blood test and reconstructing the accident.

Her attorney, Tony Palumbo, said Goss is overwhelmed. “I’ve spent about six hours with her, and she spent all but about 10 minutes crying,” he said. “Regardless of fault, this is a terribly tragic accident and she sends her deepest condolences and sympathy to the family.”

Goss was driving her 2001 Jeep Cherokee north on Ponquogue Avenue when she hit the teen at around 8:40 pm. Her six-year-old son, who was sitting in the front seat, was not injured. Goss told police she had just reached for her phone before hitting the teen, said Robert Clifford, spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota.

Southampton Police Detective Sgt. Randy Hintze said Joseph had just stopped on his bike to talk to friends when he was struck. Clifford said police found a cup containing alcohol in the front seat of the car and a half-full bottle of vanilla vodka in the back seat. Goss was convicted in 2003 of driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Right after the accident, Goss jumped out of the car and performed CPR on the boy, trying to save him. Goss, who is divorced and also has a 10-year-old son, works in the intensive care unit at John T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.

Goss was released on $20,000 bail last week, but has yet to return to work, her lawyer said. The incident occurred as state lawmakers called for stiffer penalties last week for those who drive drunk with children in the car.

The Child Passenger Protection Act, proposed by Gov. David Paterson, would make it a felony for motorists to drive drunk or under the influence of drugs with passengers under age 16.

After being arrested for driving under the influence and causing an accident, former Alexandria police chief David P. Baker pleaded guilty and is expected to serve a five-day sentence in the Arlington County jail. The popular chief was arrested July 25 after his city-issued Ford Explorer collided with another vehicle in Arlington County and he failed a series of sobriety tests.

The Washington Post reports that Baker’s blood-alcohol level was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit of .08. Baker ended his 40-year career with the Alexandria Police Department three days after the incident with a remorseful letter.

Baker’s attorney, James Clark, said: “He is supposed to be a role model, an example. He believes he made a mistake and he should pay the appropriate price for it…He used bad judgment; he drank too much, and he got behind the wheel of a car.”

Arlington General District Court Chief Judge Dorothy H. Clarke sentenced Baker to 180 days in jail and ordered him to pay a fine of $1,500. Baker will also lose his driver’s license for the next year. Clarke suspended 175 days of the sentence, which means that Baker will have to serve the mandatory five-day minimum sentence for driving with such a high blood-alcohol level. Clarke also suspended all but $300 of the fine and ordered Baker to attend the county’s Alcohol Safety Action Program for DUI offenders.

In a written statement, Baker apologized to the woman whose car he hit, and noted that he let down the community he loved and served for so many years. “As much as it pained me, resigning from my post as Chief was the appropriate decision given my actions,” he wrote. “I offer no excuses for my bad decisions and behavior because there are none. And I am, and will be, forever haunted by the personal embarrassment and humiliation I caused to those who have supported, mentored and guided me through my personal life and long and rewarding public safety career.”

A former Massachusetts fire captain, his wife, and their son pleaded guilty to providing alcohol to minors, which led to the death of a young man who had just left their home. David A. Holman, 19, died after the car he was driving flipped over and hit a tree on July 29, 2007. Police learned that he had been drinking at the home of Edgar Lesko, who was then a fire caption in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Lesko, 53, his wife Deborah, 52, and their son Andrew, 21, each pleaded guilty to four counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor. Andrew, who was under 21 at the time of the accident, also pleaded guilty to one count of procuring liquor for someone under the age of 21.

The court heard that Andrew has illegally purchased a 30-pack of beer and a bottle of liquor and was drinking the alcohol with a group of underage friends when his parents got home. Edgar and Deborah both knew that the teens were drinking at their home. Andrew and another underage friend were at the scene of the accident when police arrived, and police later found empty beer cans and a half-empty bottle of rum at the Lesko home.

Police asked Edgar Lesko if he wanted to return to the accident scene so he could drive his son’s car home, but Edgar said he was too drunk to drive. Edgar’s lawyer said that his client suffers from a severe bi-polar disorder that forced him to leave the Northampton Fire Department for several months prior to the accident. He was put on administrative leave after the fatality but has since retired from the department.

Tina and Jeffrey Holman, David’s parents, each described their devastation at the loss of their son. “One of the joys in my life was watching David become a fine young man,” his mother said.

She continued, “My hopes and dreams for his future were starting to come true. David had a yearning for life, and it was so much fun listening to him, watching him, and enjoying him as he was just getting started. All of this has been taken away from me and has devastated me.”

Jeffrey explained that the trauma of their son’s death had caused him and his wife to divorce. “Our family has basically been destroyed by this tragic event,” he said.

Andrew, who had known David since sixth grade, broke down and sobbed as the Holmans spoke. His lawyer asked the judge to accept his client’s plea without a guilty finding to avoid putting his college scholarship at risk. He also said that Andrew, former captain of the Northampton High School football team, has volunteered to speak with high school football players about his experience to warn others about underage drinking.