Several major physiological changes or disease states occur more frequently in alcohol abusers or prolonged high users. These include: cancer, immunosuppression, and nutritional deficiencies. They interact with potential enhancement of cancer growth or survival. Clearly alcohol abuse yielding cirrhosis is associated with immunosuppression of cellular immune functions. Severe, prolonged ethanol consumption frequently is associated with one or more nutrient deficiency. Such deficiencies are more common when there are other major problems such as liver or pancreas damage and in prolonged alcohol abusers should influence the host defenses against pathogens and tumors. The amount and frequency of nutritional and immunological deficiencies with "binge" or less severe alcohol abuse is less clear, but animal studies suggest they are frequently present. Clearly, nutrient deficiencies are common in alcohol abusers and could play significant roles in ethanol associated problems including immunosuppression. Data summarized suggest that immunosuppression caused by nutritional deficiencies and/or direct effects of ethanol and its' metabolites on lymphoid cells is a potential component of cancer in alcohol abusers. However the frequent occurrence of nutritional deficiencies, immunosuppression, and certain cancers in severe, prolonged ethanol abusers is an association, not proven cause and effect.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|
Metab Brain Dis
January 2025
Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus N, Denmark.
Background & Aims: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE), one of the most serious prognostic factors for mortality in alcohol-related cirrhosis (ALD cirrhosis), is not recorded in Danish healthcare registries. However, treatment of HE with lactulose, the universal first-line treatment, can be identified through data on filled prescriptions. This study aimed to investigate if lactulose can be used as a surrogate marker of HE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In the United States, complete abstinence persists as the standard for demonstrating recovery success from substance use disorders (SUDs), apart from alcohol use disorder (AUD). Although the FDA has recently indicated openness for non-abstinence outcomes as treatment targets, the traditional benchmark of complete abstinence for new medications to treat SUDs remains a hurdle and overshadows other non-abstinent outcomes desired by people with SUDs (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLearn Mem
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
Early life trauma has been shown to facilitate habitual behavior, which may predispose individuals toward perpetuating maladaptive behaviors. However, previous investigations did not account for other traumatic childhood experiences like racial/ethnic discrimination exposure, nor have they examined the interaction of trauma and habits on real-world adverse outcomes. To examine these effects, we recruited 96 young adults (20.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychiatry Res Neuroimaging
January 2025
Departamento de Morfologia e Genética, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a multifactorial disease closely related to neurodevelopment and environmental factors that influence behavior. This study explored the relationships between brain volume and behavior from an Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) based on the Research Domain Criteria. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from recent patients with AUD (n = 50) and healthy controls (HC=50).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrug Alcohol Depend
January 2025
RAND, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address:
Importance: States have implemented multiple policies likely to influence opioid prescribing; few national general population studies examine those policies' effects on per-capita opioid morphine milligram equivalents (MME) dispensed.
Objective: To examine state policies' effects on opioids per-capita MMEs dispensed at retail pharmacies.
Design: A longitudinal study of associations between MME per capita and implementation of policy interventions at different times across states.
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!