A year after the deadly drunk-driving crash in which a Long Island mother drove the wrong way down Taconic State Parkway and collided with an SUV—killing four children in her car, herself, and three adults in the SUV—the involved families are arguing over a forthcoming HBO documentary about the tragic event.

The New York Post reports that Daniel Schuler, the husband of the drunk driver, was offered $100,000 by a Brooklyn-based production company, which prompted the family of Guy and Michael Bastardi, two of the men riding in the SUV, to say they would sue if Schuler profited from the film.

Schuler’s lawyer Dominic Barbara said that all the money would go into a trust for Schuler’s son Bryan, the only survivor of the crash that occurred on July 26, 2009. Barbara added that the production company, Moxie Firecracker Films, plans to pay to have Diane Schuler’s body exhumed and re-examined, as husband Daniel wants to try to prove that she was not impaired by alcohol and marijuana when the accident occurred. The initial autopsy showed that Schuler had undigested alcohol in her stomach at the time of the crash, and a bottle of vodka was found near the crash site.

The Bastardi family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the estate of Diane Schuler, and their lawyer, Irving Anolik, said the film could violate the state’s Son of Sam Law, which keeps criminals (and in some cases their family and friends) from profiting off their crimes. Anolik said the Bastardis are waiting to get more information about the documentary before proceeding.

Sources: The New York Daily News, Matthew Lysiak, Trevor Kapp, and Bill Hutchinson, Families Fight Over Planned HBO Film of Taconic Death Driver Diane Schuler on Anniversary of Tragedy, July 27, 2010

The Daily Record, Aman Ali and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, Family may sue if husband exhumes wife’s body in Taconic crash, July 28, 2010

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 are involved in bone formations in rats.

John Callaci, PhD, bone biologist at Loyola University Health System, says that damage to the skeleton during young adulthood 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, about 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 drugs to minimize 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.

Behavioral economic analysis uses social, cognitive, and emotional factors to better understand the economic decisions of individuals. A new study from the University of Georgia suggests that behavioral economic analysis may also help scientists understand why some people crave alcohol and drugs. Although this method of study is relatively new, it could help develop new, more effective addiction treatments.

Published in the journal Addiction, the study was led by James MacKillop of the psychology department in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. MacKillop said that behavioral economics is a combination of psychology and microeconomics, and could potentially help fill in the gaps in understanding how cravings affect drug use.

Cravings and drug use haven’t been well understood in the past due to ambiguity, and one of the reasons for this might be problems with measurement. MacKillop said that behavioral economics puts cravings into measurable amounts such as number of drinks and amount of money spent.

The researchers surveyed 92 college students who were described as heavy drinkers, or those who had at least 21 drinks per week for males and 14 drinks per week for females. After being poured a glass of water and a glass of their favorite beer, the students were asked to rate their cravings for alcohol and estimate how much they would drink based on increasing prices.

Participants’ cravings increased when their favorite beer was present, and the beer also increased the relative value of alcohol in terms of behavioral economics. Partcipants said they would drink considerably more alcohol if the prices were lowered, but that they would still drink alcohol at higher prices.

This new method of analysis could be helpful for understanding why people quit drinking, smoking, or using drugs only to relapse and start using again. Behavioral economics could also help inform policymakers with raising alcohol and cigarette taxes.

Source: University of Georgia,Philip Lee Williams, The costs of desire: New economic behavior analysis by UGA researchers may help clarify the role of craving in addiction, July 15, 2010

A new study, which will be published in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, found that young adults with a religious upbringing are more likely to refrain from problem alcohol use than their non-religious counterparts during adolescence, even if they are predisposed to developing alcohol dependence. 

The study, conducted at the Institute of Behavioral Genetics, sought to determine whether religiosity had any influence over the genetic variance of problem alcohol use in both men and women by measuring their level of religious practice and alcohol consumption at two different points in their lives.

Participants included 691 sets of both male- and female-paired identical twins, 466 sets of both male- and female-paired fraternal twins, and 275 sets of opposite sex-paired fraternal twins. Both MZ twins (who share 100% of their DNA) and DZ twins (who share 50% of their DNA) were included in the study to consider the outcome of differing genetic variances. As a result, the greater religious involvement the participants had during adolescence, the lower their risk of alcohol abuse. Religiosity helped prevent these individuals from engaging in problem drinking behavior during adolescence, and was even able to persevere over their alcoholic predispositions. Participants with less religious outlooks were more at risk of their predisposed genes.

However, the religious trend was not factor during adulthood, as the results demonstrated that religiosity did not affect the genetic variance of problem alcohol use once participants became older. The data was the same for both men and women.

The researchers conclude that the reduced genetic variance for problem drinking behavior during adolescence may be the result of greater moral and social control at that point in their lives, whereas individuals tend to experience fewer moral influences during young adulthood.

Although it’s clear that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can result in negative outcomes such as birth defects and brain damage, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is still extremely difficult to understand, treat, and prevent. Four first-year medical students from Georgetown University Medical Center examined the clinical treatment of FAS, finding that no new medical strategies exist to detect or prevent the debilitating syndrome that can result after prenatal exposure to alcohol.

Their study, published in Developmental Neuroscience, discovered a lack of sensitive and specific tools for diagnosing children with FAS. Although drinking during pregnancy is highly prevalent and there is a great deal of ongoing research, there isn’t much that translates to a clinical setting.

Sahar Ismail, now in her second year of medical school, worked with fellow students Stephanie Buckley, Ross Budacki, and Ahmad Jabbar on the study, which was a project for the Sexual Development and Reproduction Module under directorship of G. Ian Gallicano, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology.

Dr. Gallicano said that this study is important because even though the students combed through all available research on fetal alcohol syndrome, they found that nothing has changed clinically. While not every woman who drinks alcohol during pregnancy will have a child with FAS, so much is still unknown that all women are advised against drinking while pregnant.

Ismail said that it still isn’t known whether alcohol is a teratogen (a chemical that causes nervous system abnormalities) in the first days or weeks of pregnancy, when a woman may not know she is pregnant. While animal studies show that alcohol can have detrimental effects at any stage of fetal development, only a certain amount can be concluded about humans from animal studies.

The researchers can say with certainty that alcohol is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation. Although FAS only affects .2 to 1.5 live births in every 1,000, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)—a less severe form of FAS—is much more common.

The authors say that while there currently is no treatment or specific diagnostic tools to diagnose FAS early in pregnancy or after birth, there is ongoing research aimed at creating better diagnostic tools, including a panel of genes that are altered in the developing fetus and a kit to examine a newborn’s stool, which can identify certain chemicals that are present in FAS. Researchers are also seeking a way to find biomarkers that can inform physicians if a pregnant woman is drinking alcohol. One marker can be detected in the bloodstream for at least 28 days after alcohol use.

Despite this, the researchers say there has been little investigation into these concepts. 

There is a burden of disease on all the citizens of the world as we pay for diseases through taxes and increased costs in the health care system. According to a recent Science Daily release, the burden that is attributable to alcohol is 3.2 percent around the world.

In terms of alcohol consumption, Portugal claims the eighth position in the world. A recent study found that alcohol consumption in Portugal represents a heavy economic burden for the country’s health system.

"As a gastroenterologist, someone who takes cares of patients with liver diseases, I am very aware that alcohol-related liver cirrhosis is a disease with a very high morbidity and mortality," said Helena Cortez-Pinto, associate professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine and corresponding author for the study in the Science Daily.

In the process of this study, Cortez-Pinto and colleagues analyzed 2005 demographic and health statistics using the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) which sums the effects alcohol-related diseases (ARDs) can have on premature mortality.

According to Cortez-Pinto, a significant percentage of deaths – 3.8 percent – in Portugal were somehow caused by alcohol consumption. There is a tremendous burden of disease, resulting in 38,780 years of life lost for death or disability due to alcohol.

“The main source was liver disease at 31.5 percent, followed by traffic accidents at 28.2 percent, and several types of cancer and cardiovascular disease at 19.2 percent,” said Cortez-Pinto. “In addition, this collectively represented a total cost of €191.0 million ($239 million USD) in direct costs, representing 0.13 percent of Gross Domestic Product and 1.25 percent of total national health expenditures."

She also noted that this research identified males as being significantly more engaged in heavy drinking activities, while such activities were inversely correlated with the amount of education and strongly correlated with cigarette smoking.

The effects of alcohol can have negative consequences for those who engage in heavy episodic drinking. Consuming large amounts of alcohol can lower inhibitions, cause a person to relax, and perhaps enable them to make choices they otherwise would not, such as getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

Party-goers might soon be drinking enriched cocktails. Recent research indicates that oxygen-enriched drinks could have a positive effect on blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Baek, Lee and Kwon (2010) wanted to compare the effects of oxygen-enriched drinks on BAC after consuming alcohol to the BAC when only alcoholic drinks were consumed.

The researchers recited 49 healthy adults who had volunteered to participate in up to three experiments. There were 30 participants used in each of three experiments; several of the individuals participated in more than one of the three experiments.

The participants were asked in two phases of each of the experiments to drink 40 ml every five minutes of a drink that was 19.5 percent ethanol by volume and enriched with varying amounts of dissolved oxygen concentration. In one phase, the participants were given “normal” alcohol, and in the other phase they were given oxygen-enriched alcohol.

The researchers measured the BAC levels of the participants at regularly timed intervals by using breath samples.

The results of the study show that no difference was found between oxygen-enriched alcohol and normal alcohol in its ability to raise BAC levels in the participants.

However, there was a difference observed in how soon the participants reached a 0.000 percent BAC. Those who drank an oxygen-enriched drink reached 0.000 percent BAC sooner than those participants who consumed a regular alcoholic drink.

There was no BAC level difference noted between the drinks until 150 minutes had passed after consumption.

There are limitations that may affect the results of this study. The small sample size and use of several participants across multiple experiments may compromise the results. Also, the maximum BAC levels measured in the study were below the U.S. legal limit of 0.08 BAC for driving.

The results of this study may indicate a way to decrease the negative consequences associated with alcohol. It may be possible that the use of oxygen-enriched drinks may help lower the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents because BAC levels are able to move more quickly back to normal.

The drinks may present additional problems, too. With a promise of returning to a normal BAC sooner, individuals may consume more alcohol to achieve a desired intoxication effect. More research is needed to understand the full benefits and risks involved with introducing oxygen-enriched alcohol.
 

When a loved one seems to be struggling under an alcohol use disorder, their family and friends often have difficulty determining whether there is an actual problem that requires addressing. There are often many factors that play into the minds of people watching someone who may have an alcohol problem.

There have been many variables considered when determining whether a person may be struggling with alcohol, and one variable is the person’s genetic makeup. Naturally, a person with ancestors who have had alcohol use disorder may be more carefully watching for an alcohol problem.

A recent study at Virginia Commonwealth University examined the measures used to determine genetic risk for alcohol dependence. They identified four relatively simple measures of drinking behavior. The four measures have the potential to make the process for identifying genetic risk easy and fast.

Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., is the director for the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics and a professor of human and molecular genetics at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Kendler led the team that established the four simple steps to determining genetic risk for alcohol use disorder.

The lifetime history of alcohol-dependence was examined for 5,073 twins. The twins were same-sex adults who were recruited from the Virginia Twin Registry. They were examined against four measures of alcohol consumption at the time of heaviest drinking.

The four measures that were used were drinking frequency, regular quantity, maximum quantity and drunk frequency. The researchers used Dianostic and Statistical Manual-Fourth Edition criteria.

The researchers found that the four measures were accurate in assessing the genetic risk for alcohol dependence. The four measures were especially accurate in women who participated in the study. A large proportion of men were also accurately assessed using the measures.

The study was first published online in the Early View issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimentall Research. It will also appear in the June 2010 print issue of the same publication.

The research performed in the study indicates that assessing risk for those who may be struggling with alcohol may become easier using the four measures. It may become simpler to identify those who are predisposed for alcohol use disorder and target them for intervention and education.

As researchers learn more about the risk factors for alcohol use disorder, it will become easier for those at risk to receive treatment and education before the problem has put down permanent roots.
 

Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) conducted a study and found that CDP-choline, a dietary supplement sold as a brain-boosting agent and being tested as a treatment for stroke and traumatic brain injury, may block brain damage that can result from alcohol consumption early in pregnancy. Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist in the MCG Schools of Graduate Studies and Medicine led the study, and Dr. Guanghu Wang, a research scientist at MCG, was the study’s co-author.

The article, published in Cell Death and Disease, explains that alcohol consumption in early pregnancy increases levels of a lipid called ceramide, which significantly increases cell death among cells critical to skull and brain formation. Resulting neural crest damage includes the brain’s "skin" (the multi-layered meninges that provides protection and nourishment) producing less TGF-β1, a growth factor that is critical for brain and bone development. This finding may help explain the cranial bone and cognitive defects that can result in fetal alcohol syndrome.

Dr. Bieberich explained that “there is just a little window,” about four weeks after conception, when neural crest cells emerge for a few days before morphing into other cell types that help form numerous organs. This is often before a woman knows she is pregnant. The studies indicate the potential for lasting damage to the fetus if a woman drinks, for example, several glasses of wine within an hour during that window.

Because ceramide is known to induce cell death and be activated by alcohol, the researchers thought it could be a culprit for the damage caused during pregnancy. They found high levels of ceramide both in mouse cells and pregnant mice exposed to alcohol along with a five-fold increase in apoptotic (or dying) cells. "There is a clear correlation," Dr. Bieberich said.

They also found that neural crust cells aren’t as touch and replaceable as they once thought; in fact, 25 percent of mouse embryos exposed to alcohol during that critical period had defects in the fibrous joints that connect the skull. "You get a snowball effect: The neural crest is damaged, the meninges doesn’t develop properly, and tissue-like bone and brain that are regulated by the meninges don’t develop properly either," Dr. Bieberich said.

When the researchers added ceramide-neutralizing CDP-choline to the mouse cells, cell death and ceramide levels were reduced. Alcohol prompts the body to produce more ceramide from the brain lipid sphingomyelin, a major component of cell membranes. The researchers found that CDP-choline pushes back toward producing less ceramide, preventing damage as long as the drinking stops.

"Ceramide can be bad or good," notes Dr. Bieberich, who has shown, for example, ceramide’s role in helping early stem cells evolve into embryonic tissue. But alcohol upsets the natural balance.

Follow-up studies, funded by the March of Dimes, include determining whether CDP-choline can rescue cells after the fact or whether it or a similar supplement would need to be taken preventively.

"Hopefully we can rescue some of the cells by triggering or signaling the back reaction," Dr. Bieberich said. He also wants to see if CDP-choline affords the same protection in pregnant mice that it does in laboratory cells.

Actor Rip Torn was arrested January 29th in Litchfield, CT, after drunkenly breaking into a bank near his home armed with a loaded revolver. Torn apparently thought he was at home, as he took off his hat and boots and left them by the door. When officers arrived, they found that his blood-alcohol content was 0.203, about two-and-a-half times the legal limit for drivers in Connecticut. Torn’s attorney said he remembers nothing about that night.

The Associated Press reports that on Tuesday, the 79-year-old actor pleaded not guilty to trespassing, carrying a weapon while intoxicated, carrying a weapon without a permit, burglary, and criminal mischief.

His attorney, A. Thomas Waterfall, said he hopes Torn can apply for accelerated rehabilitation, in which first-time offenders can have their record cleared if they meet court-ordered requirements. Since the arrest, Torn has completed inpatient alcohol rehabilitation, participated in outpatient treatment, agreed to periodic urine analysis, gotten rid of all his weapons, and other conditions set forth by the court. Waterfall said Torn is also continuing with Alcoholics Anonymous. “He looks better and better each time you see him,” Waterfall said.

"I don’t believe that jail is anything that would be of any use to Mr. Torn (or) to the citizens of the state of Connecticut. I just don’t see that as being a reasonable resolution to this case," Waterfall said.

Court records show that Torn didn’t brandish the weapon when the officers confronted him, and he has no history of violence. His permit to carry a firearm in Connecticut had expired in October 2007.

Waterfall acknowledged that the weapons charge could complicate Torn’s application for accelerated rehabilitation, which typically is an option only for nonviolent offenders.

Last year, Torn was given probation in a Connecticut drunken-driving case and entered an alcohol-education program. Last week, a Connecticut judge dismissed the drunken-driving charge against him based on his successful completion of that program. Torn also has two previous drunken driving arrests in New York.