alcohol tagged posts

Sections of amnion with hematoxylin and eosin stains demonstrating meconium-related findings (original magnification ×40). (A) Normal amniotic epithelium (e); (B) vacuolated amniotic epithelial cells with pale vacuoles (v) and meconium-laden macrophages (m) below the basement membrane; (C) proliferation (p) of amniotic epithelial cells, demonstrated by numerous dark nuclei.

In the US, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is the most common preventable cause of developmental delay. Animal studies have shown some of the adverse effects of PAE on placental development, but few studies have examined these effects in humans. This is the first study to examine the effects of prenatal exposure to methamphetamine, marijuana, and cigarette smoking on human placental development.

Researchers collected p...

“Alcohol abuse costs almost $220 billion to the U.S. economy every year. That’s a shocking number. We need a better treatment right now.” Tiruveedhula is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. The exact causes of alcoholism are not well understood, but the researchers explain that the urge to drink is related to the brain’s pleasure centers. Scientists have found that alcohol triggers the brain to release dopamine, the same neurochemical whose levels increase in response to pleasurable behavior like eating, sex or listening to music.

Some drugs currently available to treat alcoholism are aimed at dopamine. “They dampen out the dopamine system a little bit, so you don’t get so happy when you have an alcoholic beverage,” says James Cook, Ph.D...